Category: Design

  • Laila Gohar x Muller Van Severen

    Laila Gohar x Muller Van Severen

    Laila Gohar and Muller Van Severen present a collaboration that was initiated by a mutual enthusiasm and interest in each other’s work and which results in the presentation of ‘The Pigeon Table’. The Pigeon Table by Laila Gohar x Muller Van Severen will be presented during the Salone del Mobile in Milan in June 2022.


    ​
    ​    The piece is inspired by a conversation around mud brick pigeon houses in Egypt, Laila’s homeland. By very intuitively sending things -images, drawings, ideas- back and forth, the eventual design came to live.
    ​
    ​It is difficult to describe in words what binds the two parties, because it is mainly an expressive connection. It is the love for authenticity, everydayness, a form of banality that can be ingenious, the rudimentary, the techniques…

    “The Pigeon Table is an object made out of love for food and service, being together, conviviality and the pleasure of dining. It is an invitation to our world, our party, a dinner with an ode to what brings us together. Although we have never met in real life we feel we have been sitting at this table for years.”

    The Pigeon Table by Laila Gohar x Muller Van Severen will be presented during the Salone del Mobile in Milan in June 2022. By appointment only.

  • 4 Tips for Finding the Right Sustainable Accommodation

    Now that the pandemic is slowly being pushed out of the way, and normality is starting to peek its head back out, people from all over the world are going out of their homes and choosing to do something fun. Whether this is visiting the thriving city of Rotterdam, or somewhere else in the world, people want to get out of the house. But with that said, it’s vital to recognize the environmental impact that travel does on the planet. You can donate to organizations to plant trees but that doesn’t necessarily do anything for you and other travelers to over stop their consumption habits.


    Image credit 

    So, how can you improve being an eco-friendly traveler? While it’s going to depend on your travel methods such as using edmunds for your car needs or opting into public transport, you’re also going to want to think about the accommodation too. The actual transportation itself is only one thing to keep in mind, but there’s a lot that needs to be considered. Here are some tips for finding the right eco-friendly accommodation methods for your travel.

    Use booking accommodation platforms that are dedicated to sustainability

    There are more than enough online platforms to go around which are completely dedicated to only displaying accommodations for travelers that are entirely eco-friendly. So, whenever you’re searching for eco-friendly hotels or other forms of accommodation, your best bet would be to search there first.

    Check for some type of “Green” label on booking websites

    Whether you’re wanting to search through some of the biggest online accommodation platforms online, or maybe you’re wanting something a little more simplistic such as AirBnb, don’t forget to check how sustainable said accommodation is. Usually, most websites will have some type of a “green” label.

     This indicates that the hotel or BnB is either entirely eco-friendly, or they have some options that travelers can opt into for being eco-friendly. This could be something as small as not changing the bed set or towels during your stay, but it could be as large as using low-flow toilets, showers, and only local produce.

    Don’t be afraid to reach out

    There’s nothing wrong with reaching out and asking questions, so, why not do it? If you see a hotel or BnB that piques your interest, just reach out and ask a bunch of questions. Ask what eco-friendly methods they put into practice. Usually, these accommodations will be more than happy to explain what they do.

    Beware of greenwashing

    Greenwashing is a marketing tactic whereby “green” products are promoted as being better for the environment and/or more ethical than they actually are. This is done primarily through deceptive advertising, or by devaluing existing systems that genuinely work. While it’s often used to sell products, you’ll find plenty of it within the travel industry too. So, how can you be sure if a hotel or some other accommodation is using greenwashing? Here are some things to look out for:

    • Vague language
    • Lots of buzzwords
    • Lack of proof

    Greenwashing happens more than enough within this industry, so make sure you know what to spot so you can prevent giving your business to these types of people and businesses. 

  • How To Keep Your Carpets Clean

    If you live in a home with wall-to-wall carpeting or a house full of rugs, you are well aware of how fast your soft, attractive flooring may become dingy and unclean due to foot traffic. Because your daily habits and cleaning techniques have a significant impact on how well your carpets perform, there may be more you can be doing to ensure that your carpet looks and smells its best all of the time. Here are a few suggestions for treading more gently, ranging from how you vacuum to your position on wearing shoes in the house.

    Image

    Remove any stains as soon as possible

    The longer you put off dealing with spills and food or pet stains, the more difficult it will be to clean them up later on, and the more harm they will do to your carpet as well. To ensure that your rugs and carpets last as long as possible—and that they remain as clean as possible—be meticulous about cleaning up any spills as soon as they occur. Also keep in mind that different materials and types of stains need the use of different cleaning procedures, so be sure you are using the correct solution for your carpet.

    Always remove your shoes

    If you truly want to keep your carpet clean, make it a rule that shoes must be removed as you enter the house so that you do not track in dirt and debris from outside. You may even wear socks or stylish cork-soled lounge shoes or slippers to wear about your home to preserve carpeting from oils and grime from your feet if you want to go the additional mile. Just make sure you never wear them outdoors.

    Invest in a high-quality vacuum cleaner

    You might believe that any vacuum cleaner would do the job, but if you have a lot of carpeting in your house, it is absolutely worth it to spend a little more money on a high-quality vacuum cleaner. Keeping your carpets clean on a regular basis is one of the most essential things you can do to maintain their appearance, and you should make sure your vacuum is up to the task.

    Vacuum your home twice a week

    While we are talking about vacuuming, make sure you are doing it on a regular basis. First and foremost, you should be cleaning your carpet at least twice a week; but, the manner in which you vacuum is important as well. According to Martha Stewart, you should vacuum each location on your carpet 8 to 12 times, depending on how much foot traffic the region receives, and you should vacuum in all different directions to get the most dirt and debris out. If you do not believe you will be able to keep up with the twice-weekly vacuuming, consider investing in a robot vacuum to take up the slack in between your hands-on sessions with the vacuum.

  • Dutch Design Week: Hungry for Design

    Dutch Design Week: Hungry for Design

    Taking place in October each year, Dutch Design Week (DDW) is the largest design event in Northern Europe and presents work and concepts from more than 2,600 designers to more than 355,000 visitors from home and abroad. In 2020, DDW is taking place online and the city that hosts this design festival, Eindhoven, has launched a video series called ‘Hungry for Design‘ that asks the question: What happens when the worlds of design and gastronomy come together?

    With current safety measures in the Netherlands and restaurants closing their doors again, this six-part series connects top chefs with local designers, and the chefs are challenged to develop a dish based on the work of the designer. Emerging, talented designers with different backgrounds – from a social designer to an architect and from a sound designer to a material researcher – have been paired with chefs such as Dick Middelweerd, Naresh Ramdjas and Cas Pikaar. Bringing the different disciplines together results in special collaborations, common ground when it comes to the creative process, and, of course, great food.

    The episodes are hosted by moderator and food designer Annelies Hermsen, daughter of Michelin chef Toine Hermsen and Design Academy Eindhoven alumna. The series is now available on ThisisEindhoven.com and the YouTube channel of @Eindhovencity:

  • Lockdown Stories: Lydia Caldana

    Lockdown Stories: Lydia Caldana

    Lockdown Stories is a series of short interviews with creative entrepreneurs and businesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Since its beginnings, the main goal of Future Positive has been to share inspiring projects happening all around the world and, during these strange and difficult times for independent businesses and creators, we want to continue providing support and visibility. If you’d like to be featured in this series, please get in touch at hello@thefuturepositive.com and tell us your story.

    Lydia Caldana
    Foresight Strategist and Consumer Insights Specialist. Lydia researches culture and strategises the present and the future; focusing on emerging behaviors and how they change people’s values and attitudes to help brands create long-lasting relationships with people through products, services and communication.
    Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
    www.lydiacaldana.com

    When did the lockdown start for you and how has your business been affected? And how has it affected your clients?

    Life in New York City has pretty much changed drastically on March 9, 2020. As a freelance qualitative researcher and trend forecaster, a lot of what makes up my work always was online. Many of the partner consultancies I work with are based in London, UK and São Paulo, Brazil, so all relationship, briefs, presentations and most of the data collection already was digital.

    What has changed is the inability to live life in New York City, which is a big source of innovation and inspiration for the research I conduct. As much as the lockdown has pushed for transformation and evolution in virtual terms, people’s lives also take place in the physical layer, that has a crucial role in activating senses and enhancing product/service experience.

    Clients which centered their business around events (concerts, festivals, sports, etc) or B2C services (mobility, tourism, food service, etc) have seen an instant impact on everything from number and quality of employees, to the supply chain, the attention to online presence and commerce, and business model.

    Have you found any new ways of working or have come up with new services during this time?

    I have seen how ways in which I had been leading my business become the go-to solution for a time that demands agility and cost-efficiency. Things like meetings becoming emails, and desk-based research/phone interviews for monitoring and predicting consumer behavior (instead of field research or physical interviews) have become more and more popular. I have structured a new methodology that combines inputs from consumers, experts and the academia – online – that form a 360 perspective of behavior and projection of future scenarios.

    What are some of the positive takeaways you have experienced during this time?

    It has been really nice to see some unity. While there is still privatization of solutions and initiatives to COVID-19, citizens from all over the world have been sharing similar difficulties and an increased communal feeling of empathy. Global events that affect almost all countries in the world have the power to mobilize people around one big goal. The pandemic is also leveraging other urgent issues, like sustainability.

    What are some of the trends you have identified so far?

    The pandemic is both a global and a local crisis. On a micro level, we are already seeing how cities are reimagining themselves to increase citizen participation, reduce traffic and pollution rates and promote inclusivity. Milan and NYC already have plans that, through small but spread-out changes, will lead them towards more human-centered places.

    Something else that is shifting is the value placed on people’s homes and what is inside of them. When houses were built and used simply as places to come to for sleep or change of clothes, furniture and appliances didn’t have a big role in budgets and time. With people being forced to experience more homebody lives, they are realizing that a lot of what they have is either not goof/efficient enough or clutter.

    Urban spaces in dense cities for people with fast-paced lives required products and services that dealt with a series of tasks for them. With this relationship to the house and its chores being re-established, processes and rituals of cooking, cleaning and caring are demanding from products more in terms of precision and less in terms of quantity. There are only so many laundry detergents one can store.