The Hotel Everland is a portable, green, rectangular room.
Conceived by Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann, it’s been stationed in beautiful landscapes and cities in Switzerland, Germany, and France.
In the picture below, it sits like a jewel on the roof of the contemporary art space, Palais De Tokyo in Paris.
The views from the large windows provide uniquely stunning views.
While inside the green and white container is a comfortable room with a king-size bed, a fully working bathroom in beautiful blue mosaic tile, a large lounge, a record collection, an over-stuffed mini-bar (included in the price), and breakfast is delivered to your door in the morning.
However, unlike a traditional hotel, guests are allowed to stay for one night only in the year and it's also open to museum visitors during the day.
Everything, including top class service, seems to deliver the ideal of luxury and indulgence most modern hotels want to deliver.
Well worth experiencing, the room costs around €333-444 to book for the night and bookings happen online exclusively.
To give everyone a fair shot, bookings can be made only two months in advance and new booking slots are opened every week.
Ref. http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2007/12/everland_hotel.php
no comments
Many brands don't seem to want to educate their customers, just in case all the extra effort goes to waste or benefits a competitor. Not so Intelligentsia Coffee. This small chain operates a ‘lab’ in New York dedicated to helping people learn more about coffee.
They offer barista classes, coffee and food pairing, home-brewing, milk steaming and latte art, cupping, espresso and brewed coffee tasting.
Ref. http://www.influxinsights.com/blog/article/2417/making-your-customers-smarter.html
http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/about/about-us
Hint Mint was founded on the idea that simple objects (like a tin of mints) can also be beautiful lifestyle accessories.
Calling themselves the original designer mint, Hint Mint turn a commodity product associated with bad breath into a ‘designer breath accessory’, and describe their mints as a ‘gesture of kindness’, hinting to potential buyers that they ‘need this mint’.
As well as beautiful and functional pocket accessories, Hint Mint is also using their limited edition approach to support worthwhile causes like breast cancer.
(Thanks, Wadey, for sharing your trip to the Algerian coffee shop.)
Ref. http://www.hintmint.com/
Male grooming brand, Bulldog, is biting back.
Their 100% masculine products provide an answer to those stripped down ‘for men’ versions of female brands.
Bulldog’s affordable range also aims to provide men with a new, natural and pioneering alternative to the chemically over-laden grooming sector.
Packaged with strong but simple branding, Bulldog clearly knows its market: men who care about their skin but who aren’t interested in fussy lotions and potions.
Simple and reasonably priced, it does the trick without the girlie frills – just right for these credit crunch times. (A big thank you to Lee for this.)
Ref. http://meetthebulldog.com/
How can you help shoppers feel less guilty when shopping for luxury? One of the hottest new stores in Paris, Merci, is fusing fashion with philanthropy. The store's light, loft-like space is as trendy as any other concept store, and stocks brands such as Stella McCartney, special versions of Annick Goutal perfume, flowers and used books.
The ‘guilt-free’ difference is that all profits, after operating costs are paid, go to children's charities. Last month, Merci (founded by Marie-France Cohen as a way of giving back after selling luxury children's clothing label, Bonpoint) opened a temporary one-month shop in New York with help from Gap.The charity aspect may give consumers another reason to visit the store, Ms. Cohen says, although she believes ‘a consumer who’s tempted by an item goes back to being just a consumer.’
More and more companies are homing in on the ‘guilt-free’ aspects of environmentally safe products, and are even trying to do their bit to reduce waste and – interestingly – overconsumption. Last year, upscale Swedish clothing brand, Filippa K, opened a secondhand store in Stockholm that sells its own used clothes for at least 50% off.
Ref. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704597704574487342734060448.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_lifestyle
In these eco-conscious times, the stakes just get higher and higher.
Even wine can be more natural than you think.
The so-called 'natural wine' phenomenon has its roots in France.
The big daddy of natural wine was a Beaujolais-based fourth-generation winemaker and chemist called Jules Chauvet, who died in 1989.
His exacting approach to winemaking and wine-tasting gave birth to the natural wine movement, which has gathered steam since his death.
Paris is the naturalists' epicentre and there are growing numbers of 'natural wine' bars in San Francisco, New York, Tokyo - and London.
The London phenomenon is largely thanks to one leading wine importer, Les Caves de Pyrene. As well as running tasting for the wine professionals, they also run the critically acclaimed wine bar Terroirs which is where most Londoners are likely to have encountered these ‘natural wines'.
But Terroirs is not alone; other wine bars with lists of 'natural wines' include Artisan & Vine, and Green & Blue.
The term 'natural wine' is a direct translation from the French vin naturel, but it seems to lose something in the journey across La Manche.
Douglas Wregg, a director of Les Caves de Pyrene and self-confessed wine naturalist, describes the process simply as, ‘from vineyard to bottle, there's nothing added in and nothing taken out’.
Ref:
http://www.timeout.com/london/connect/food+drink/blog/150/whats-the-big-stink-about-natural-winer
http://www.lescaves.co.uk/shop
http://www.terroirswinebar.com/wine.htm
We all love dodgily translated ‘Chinglish’, where moisturisers claim to ‘eliminate horniness’ and signs for smoking points read ‘smoking pot’. Unfortunately, Shanghai City officials are on a mission to wipe out these hilarious mis-translations that lend so many ads, signs and menus a whole new meaning. But not in time for the launch of Coca-Cola’s new dairy product, Minute Maid’s ‘Pulpy Super Milky’.
It sounds like just another Chinglish clanger but Pulpy Super Milky and its campaign slogan, ‘My Delightful Fusion Lifestyle’, was actually developed – and named – specifically for Chinese consumers. Not the ones who speak fluent English but the 1.3 billion Chinese who speak little or no English, and who love cute, clumsy, whimsical-sounding English. In other words, Chinglish sells.
The lesson from a naming perspective? Trust your audience – even if it means putting common sense and Oxford English Dictionary to one side.
(Thanks for this one, Nat)
Ref.http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2009/10/16/Minute-Maids-Super-Milky-Mangles-English-For-Profit-In-China.aspx
ShopSavvy is a comparison shopping tool. You can find items by either typing them on your phone keyboard or using the camera to scan the bar code. Once you've found a product, ShopSavvy tells you the cheapest local or online price. For local products, you can get map directions, visit their website, or call the store. For online products, you can visit their website or share the product using Facebook or Twitter. You can also set ShopSavvy to automatically share your scans with Twitter, but this gets very spammy very fast and is a feature probably best leaving off.
In addition to finding the best price on items, you can compare user reviews, add it to your wish list, or set a price alert to let you know when it drops below a certain price. This is particularly handy for things like games and movies that you don't need to own in a hurry. ShopSavvy also keeps a history of items you've scanned, so if you want to remember the name of that camera you looked at the other day, you can just refer to your product history.
Ref. http://google.about.com/od/socialtoolsfromgoogle/gr/Shopsavvy_rev.htm
UK entertainment retailer, HMV, has launched Pure, a customer loyalty scheme that offers members the chance to snap up a range of limited edition or hard-to-find items not available on the high street.
Following a successful trial in the West Midlands and East Anglia, Pure HMV is about to be rolled out nationwide. Money spent either in the shops or on HMV’s website will be added to a user’s account, with 100 points available for every £1 spent.
Examples of items on offer include a guitar signed by Kasabian, tickets for the UK Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen premiere, signed artwork by Paul McCartney and the chance to work as a roadie at the upcoming Download Festival.
‘The Pure HMV rewards scheme will be unique in the market place,’ HMV’s head of CRM marketing Matt Button stated. ‘There is no other card out there that gives people access to such amazing, ‘money-can’t-buy’ rewards. The real beauty of it is that in getting our customers closer to the music, film and games they love, Pure HMV will help us get even closer to our customers.’
Ref. http://www.mcvuk.com/news/34267/HMV-launches-new-customer-reward-scheme
Nobody buys laundry detergent, toilet paper and toothpaste online, do they? They might soon be about to. Especially as ‘Alice’, a new, US-based e-commerce site is offering free shipping, streamlined reordering and a platform for consumers and manufacturers to connect.
The site claims to offer more than 6,000 unique products from hundreds of different manufacturers at prices that are 20% – 30% lower than other online stores. You begin by creating a free account and then selecting a list of your favourite products, ordering only the items you need right then. Each shipment is bundled together in a single box and delivered to your door. Meanwhile, Alice organises all the products on your list, finds coupons and deals for them, and reminds you to reorder when you’re likely to be running low.
Although Wisconsin-based Alice works much like any other online retailer from the consumer's perspective, behind the scenes it’s more like a marketplace, where manufacturers sell directly to consumers. Alice makes no retail margin, and instead allows manufacturers to control product assortment and pricing in its own direct sale to the end consumer. Because no retail middleman is involved, the consumer receives significant cost savings. In addition, Alice's model allows brands to form a direct relationship with consumers, enabling personalised coupons, sampling and loyalty programmes.
Ref. http://www.springwise.com/retail/alice/
It's no secret that skin care products become less effective and even unhygienic with age. Yet, few companies actually emphasise the freshness of their merchandise. LA-based Odacité, however, make a big deal of their manufacturing dates. They produce freshly made organic and preservative-free skin-care products. Stating that ‘freshness is the key to effectiveness’, Odacité marks each product with a 'freshiency Date', showing the month of manufacture and the month after which the product will start to degrade.
Rather than let their tubes and jars sit on store shelves, Odacité only sells its products online and made in small batches so they can be shipped to customers immediately. Customers are advised to keep their products in the fridge to help preserve them. And to really hit the brand's point of difference home, it even sells a branded mini-fridge. The company claims there are serious health benefits to its methods, since it can make moisturisers, cleansers, eye-creams, etc. with as few chemicals as possible. Prices start at $45 for a jojoba exfoliant. Odacité isn't the first skin care company to place an increased emphasis on freshness; it resembles a high-end version of Lush, which also manufactures in small batches but sells its products at its own stores around the world.
Ref. http://www.springwise.com/fashion_beauty/odacite/
2 comment(s)
Manzine is a quirky, DIY take on the male glossy magazine. It’s produced by a group of writers and designers who work for the likes of The Guardian and British GQ. The zine’s lo-fi materials (it looks photocopied), obscure articles and generally rough-hewn aesthetic give Manzine a distinctive quality that’s hard to come by these days. The zine is distributed at various locations around London, and is also available for order on their blog, http://themanzine.blogspot.com/.
Ref. http://www.psfk.com/2009/10/manzine-a-return-to-the-lo-fi-print-zine-aesthetic.html
http://www.weatherpattern.com/
…and think like The Poetry Society who knitted a giant poem to celebrate its centenary. Revealed in its full glory at the British Library, the eye-popping 13x9m, hand-knitted version of Dylan Thomas’s ‘In my Craft or Sullen Art’ quickly drew an admiring crowd. (Thanks to our resident poet, Laura, for this one.)
The poem is the work of more than 1000 knitters and crocheters worldwide, who furiously clicked needles and hooks throughout September to turn the poem’s individual letters into colourful 12-inch squares. Judith Palmer, Director of the Poetry Society, said, “We wanted to celebrate the Society’s centenary with a fun, grand-scale project in which many people could participate, that was about ‘poetry’ but also summoned up the idea of ‘society’, to reflect all the thousands of people who’ve kept the Society going since 1909. The time, commitment and creative skills that people have given to this enterprise has been overwhelming.”
Ref. http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/knit/
Campbell's Help Grow Your Soup campaign is aiming to raise money to help maintain farm buildings. Members of the public can vote for one of ten barns (all are either family farms or school farms) that need some preservation work. Campbell’s will work with National FFA (formerly Future Farmers of America) members and alumni, along with community volunteers, to restore the five barns that get the most votes. Plus, for every vote through January 5 next year, Campbell will put $1, up to $250,000, toward agricultural education through FFA.
Located inside Japan’s Urban Design Center Kashiwa-no-ha, the Ogori cafe looks innocuous enough, but there’s a surprise in store. In a nutshell, you don’t get what you ordered; you get what the person before you ordered, and the person after you gets what you ordered. Thus, if you’re in on the game, you can choose to lavish the next customer with delicious treats or try your luck at being cheap. Either way, it’s an interesting experiment that explores surprise, kindness and encourages strangers to strike up conversation.
Ref. http://www.psfk.com/2009/10/ogori-cafe-service-with-a-surprise.html/ogori-cafe-service-with-a-surprise-3
Greg Taylor
Blogging for:
Member since: 03 Jun 2008
Last login: 06 Nov 2009
Total Posts: 195
