The Espresso: Edition 96
header-espresso header-item header-pages

Your Say

Get Newspaper delivered

Deliver to a Friend

Wednesday June 1 2011

 Facebook Like Button   Tweet Button

Letter From the Editor - Edition 96

Looking Into the Future

When speaking in front of corporate audiences, quite often companies are focused on their own business and a vision for their company. But when you pose the question 'what will your industry look like in five or ten years time'? you get long looks of bewilderment, fear and in most cases cluelessness. Getting ahead of the game is New York City. Funded by Audi, the Audi Urban Future Initiative has challenged five of New York City's leading young architectural firms to take part in an exhibition project around New York and the future. The five New York City architects have been asked to develop new visions for the future of urban life using Manhattan as their testing ground. The exhibition will take the form of a massive scale model of Manhattan which will present the five future scenarios. From what The Espresso has seen recently, Audi are certainly taking the forefront in terms of visionary thinking with where the future of urban transport may go and how they can capitalise on that thinking. The ideas and images developed through the exhibition will be further stretched and expanded as they are connected to social media networks resulting in an explosion of discussion and innovation from interested onlookers who also have a curious mind and opinion. 

Fashion

Pretty Preppy

Tommy Hillfiger's new range is called The Prep World . To promote it he has jumped on the pop-up bandwagon and set up a shop in the middle of the meat packing district of New York. But whats unusual about this pop-up is that it is modelled on a Hampton's beach house a'la Beverly HIlls 90210 complete with a grass dog house and a cliché looking American Pie house that acts as a store AND billboard for the Prep World range. They are also hosting daily workshops on 'Prep Styling'. The house is going on the road and you can expect to see the Tommy Hillfiger Pop-Up Beach House Prep World in Paris, London, Madrid, Amsterdam, Milan and Tokyo. Will it make it's way down under?

Arts

Chocoholics 

Somner Redstone is an American Media magnate who's family owns CBS, Viacom, MTV, Nickelodeon and a bunch of other stuff. Naturally in his lifetime he has met some pretty influential people. He once said that every creative person that he knows is creative in more than one way which is why when we saw this story on fashion icon Karl Largerfeld it wasn't surprising at all for Espresso readers. Karl's latest creation? An edible, life size chocolate sculpture of Baptiste Giabiconi. The amazing sculpture is part of a promotion that Karl Lagerfeld is doing to promote his collaboration with Magnum ice-cream. There have been a series of stunts for Magnum featuring the icon and this one has certainly got the social media world tweeting and booking about his creativity. But it hasn't stopped there. Lagerfeld, the well known creative director of Chanel has designed a hotel suite in Paris made of chocolate. Every Espresso reader who like their chocolate is currently drooling. This is an amazing promotion by Magnum  ice-creams and certainly has gone outside the normal chocolate box and defined a new way of associating themselves with a fashion icon and also breaking some rules about how you might go about typically using chocolate. Interesting, although Largerfeld loves chocolate he does not eat it! Karl Lagerfeld said "I like chocolate, I don't eat it but I like the smell of it. People can drink with their eyes, I can eat with my nose. I would love to have a perfume based on chocolate"...stay tuned.

People

From Death We Grow

Now we know that this one wont be for everybody, however its amazing where you will find innovation popping up. Spanish designer Martin Azua has come up with an idea where the charcoaled remains of a loved one will actually grow into a tree to commemorate their life forever. Its essentailly an urn made of biodegradable material including coconut shell and compacted peat and cellulose. You place the ashes of your loved one inside, plant the urn and hey presto the seeds inside start to germinate and eventually grow into a tree. You can choose the sort of tree that you want  and no doubt this will find a market with a new age audience who are looking for a way to remember their loved ones.

Travel

May I Take Your Bags?

It was only a matter of time before hotels got into the act of innovating the customer service process. The Yotel in New York's Times Square which opens in June is chock-a-block full of high-tech gadgets like touch screen check-ins, retractable beds and mood lighting. Its also where you will find theYoBot a robotic arm in the lobby of the hotel that will take your bags and automatically put them away for you in a locker. At the same time it gives you a receipt so when you come back, you show your receipt and the robot will then give you your bag back. You pay for the service but one would think that you would feel better about leaving your bags with the concierge. The only downside is that it does take away the human element of concierge and this certainly is a sign of the times to come.

Loading...

Taking a Leaf Out of the Latest Technology

This concept should open up the thinking for any entrepreneurial business with its potential. Leaf Snap uses the same face recognition technology that is currently being used by app's and cameras. Leaf Snap is a free mobile app that helps you identify the leaf of any tree species from photographs. You simply take a photograph of flowers, fruit, leaves, seed or bark and Leaf Snap can identify the variety photographed. It's currently only being used to identify trees in New York City and Washington DC in the States but this idea will soon spread no doubt. This is sure to hit the mark with gardening enthusiasts. 
pull-quote

Your Say

Get Newspaper delivered

Deliver to a Friend
www.garybertwistle.com | View Espresso archives Facebook Like Button   Tweet Button

Subscribe

The Espresso is a weekly free newspaper designed specifically for those who want to look at things differently.

Delivered to your inbox every Wednesday afternoon, you can receive the world's first ever newspaper dedicated to creativity, imagination, and problem solving.

Gary scours the world to find interesting tips, tools and news to give you a new or different perspective on the world around you.