Hue Are You?

The American Design Club opened their third exhibit, Hue Are You? last Friday at Future Perfect in Brooklyn. Focusing on the theme of color, the show features a vibrant mix of furniture, jewelry, and revamped found objects from up and coming American designers. The show's theme was color, and the designers did a perfect job of mixing bright hues with fun and quirky objects. The show runs until April 30th, so there's still time to wander through the exhibit and maybe pick up and item or two to support up and coming designers.

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New Old Things - Refab: Clinic

Speaking of mid-century modern... If you dream about owning vintage pieces from the 1950's and 60's - visit Refab: Clinic. They have a bright, fun website featuring all sorts of decorative accessories that they classify as "happy vintage modern home furnishings". The prices are quite affordable - and if you look close enough you might find a little piece of childhood nostalgia hiding on their shelves. Read More..

Recapturing Americana: Beauty is Patriotic

Everyone has patriotic, presidential fever! The beauty, makeup and fashion retailer Sephora has created their own pursuit of liberty and gorgeous skin with their in-store displays. We particularly love the creation of a "Beauty Bill of Rights"!

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Fast Food & Fun for the DFB Generation

The DFB (Digital-From-Birth) generation is a unique group of future consumers that don't see their environment quite the same as we would have at their age. At anywhere from age zero to thirteen, this generation is creating experiences and memories in uniquely different ways.

Case in point, this amazing McDonald's PlayPlace near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The "McVillage" aims to teach children how their food gets from the farm, to the market and then to the table. Designed by uxus design, this innovative area for kids features cozy and quaint spaces for children to play, pretend and experience food and fun - all inside of McDonald's. The pictures speak for themselves!

via: DesignSponge

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Innovation in Service: Rent a Christmas Tree

Worried about the commitment and complications of getting a live Christmas tree? Wondering about how you can help the environment and STILL experience having a live tree, filling your living room with the scent of natural pine throughout the holidays? Do you feel a little blue when you see all those live trees discarded curbside after Christmas has passed? Then, The Living Christmas Tree has a great service for you.

They will deliver a live tree of your choice to your doorstep and return after Christmas to pick up the tree and replant it in the outdoor environment. Year after year a family can enjoy a living tree without damaging our increasingly fragile eco-system. Some watering and care is required so the tree adapts to the changing indoor and outdoor environment, but this tree comes without any guilt, so the trade off is minimal. Employees at the company are considered a "cast of characters" named Scotty Claus, Jingle Bella, P.R. Blitzen and so on. How's that for a great service with holiday cheer?

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Trendspotting Paris: Christmas at Flamant

We're in Paris, trendspotting Christmas retail and as always, the displays at Flamant were beautiful and elegant. We loved the snow covered displays, the rustic table settings and their use of smoky color and subtle sheen. We hope you enjoy a little bit of Parisian Christmas!


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Biking in Style

The latest edition of our newsletter (sign up for this free service by clicking the 'email us' icon in the right hand column of the blog) talked about the increase of bike ownership and bike servicing. Wouldn't you know it that today we stumbled upon an outstanding bike perfect for the fashion-conscious?

Last year, the Gap offered a brightly striped holiday Vespa. This year they are going even greener, selling blue argyle-printed Electra bicycle. The bike comes two sizes, the adult version for $499 and a kid's version for $299. This brightly patterned bike is part of Gap's holiday campaign that centers on the theme of "your own". Their campaign features celebrities providing a handwritten response to various fill-in-the-blank taglines about the holiday season. Check out the campaign's remix of Jingle Bells featuring Flo Rida, Selma Blair and Rainn Wilson below:

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Costco Goes Green, Saves Money

Yesterday's Sphere Trending Newsletter was all about ways to go green and save money. (If you don't receive this twice-monthly newsletter and would like to receive your free subscription - email us using the link in the right hand column.)

To keep with the topic of yesterday's publication, today's post is about the retailer Costco making strides to make their company more efficient and environmentally friendly. Here are some excerpts from the article that we enjoyed, or you can read the whole piece here.

"We have been doing these things because they were efficient and bring cost reductions," says Karen Raines, Costco's director of corporate sustainability. "And now we're finding out they're also green."

Energy savings: a top priority:

Operating nearly 400 warehouses in the United States requires a tremendous amount of energy1.9 billion kilowatts last year, to be exact. Several programs reduce energy requirements in the warehouses.

One such small change is producing big results - All new refrigeration, air-conditioning and lighting systems in the buildings are high-efficiency units that minimize energy usage. Older buildings are being upgraded with more efficient equipment. A recent tune-up of lighting and air-conditioning control systems in 350 warehouses reduced energy consumption by about 5 percent.

Reducing waste in the buildings:

Another big source of waste is produce - as much as 1.5 tons a week per warehouse. Costco is testing programs in several buildings to keep this produce out of landfills by paying composting companies to pick it up, for a rate lower than what garbage companies charge. For example, in Palm Springs, California, two warehouses are sending the waste produce to a worm farm, where it is composted into mulch. The trimmings from meat and grease from Costco's rotisserie chickens are also reusable. These wastes have traditionally gone to rendering companies, which make them into animal feed and other products. But now, biofuel producers in some regions have started buying the meat trimmings and chicken grease.

Smart advances in packaging

In many cases, products and their packages can be designed to be greener. For example, by making square plastic milk bottles, 224 gallon-size bottles can now fit on a pallet, compared to 210 round bottles. It doesn't sound like a lot, but spread out to all warehouses, the larger pallet count saves 521 truck trips to the warehouses per year, eliminating fuel usage and exhaust emissions. The same approach is being applied to dozens of products, from laundry detergent to nuts.

To read the rest of this article, visit SEED. Read More..

Buffalo Exchange - Hip and Thrifty Retail

Many consumers note price as a consideration when choosing between a green product or a traditional item. Buying second hand is one way to keep green ideals without breaking the bank. However, the words "thrift shop" don’t always conjure images of couture and the idea of sifting though musty racks keeps many people away. Retailer Buffalo Exchange is breaking the barriers between thrift store and hip retail.

A sustainable company that works to protect the environment by reusing and recycling clothing, it is a choosy shopper’s source for fashionable clothing and accessories. Items are bought, sold and traded directly with store customers, and used garments can be traded for any item in the store, including jewelry and brand-new clothing. The ever-changing inventory includes designer wear, vintage clothing, jeans, leather and one-of-a-kind items. The chain now offers gift cards as a great solution for greener holiday gift giving.

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Unique Retail: Meatpacking District NYC

If you're in the NYC area, the Meatpacking District is always a key place to stop for innovative retail, services and products. Husband and wife Renata Bokalo and Roman Lubaauto opened Auto in 1999 as, "a lifestyle store curating collections for the modern home and person". The bright white design of the store and it's fixtures allows the product to pop and be noticed, especially the vivid and eye-catching line of Missoni home products. The store also features housewares, bedding, furniture, books and fashion accessories as well as a selection of baby and kids items.

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Retail Innovation: Holy Cow

The Holy Cow Company is based in St. Louis Park, MN and has made it their mission to design and produce the best clothing on earth. Their clothing is made with certified 100% organic cotton, hand screen printed with water based ink and created in healthy working conditions that enhance the lives of individuals producing their products. A unique feature of their products is the 9-digit tracking number that comes with each garment. This number allows the customer to track their garment back to it's field of origin. Check out Holy Cow's Flickr page for more behind-the-scenes photos of their farms, their people and their products.

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Trendspotting Stockholm: Grandpa

Vintage merging with high fashion was a big story in Stockholm with many retail venues specializing in the "what's old is new again" theory for both fashion and home goods. One of our favorite stores, Grandpa, is a mix of high fashion, vintage furniture and clothing and a soup kitchen. The founders of Grandpa aimed to create a store where an eco-conscious focus on fashion in both high and low price categories creates happy people. Committed to their local community, their two stores offer music and art events as well as a soup kitchen giving to those in need. Read More..

Trendspotting: Stockholm

Cheeky signage at Bookbinders Design was inspirational, yet fun. Their colorblocked displays and shelves were eyecatching and their graphic designs on book bindings were a new direction for memory albums.
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Trendspotting: Stockholm

Great color-blocked merchandising, dramatic lighting, moody black tones and eye-catching display ideas seen at Rodebjer:

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Bullseye Bodega

Another temporary installment hitting NYC tomorrow is Target's Bullseye Bodega. Only around for four days the four retail "bodegas" will open in Manhattan to feature Target's designer partnerships. Beginning September 12th stop by the Bodega to preview the latest from 22 designers including: John Derien, Thomas O'Brien, Isabelle de Borchgrave, Michael Graves, Christiane Lemieux of DwellStudio, Rachel Ashwell, Victoria Hagan and Sean Conway. If you're not into the designer duds, the displays, packaging and signage will certainly capture the imagination!

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