Next Design Perspectives – The future of creativity and design 2nd edition- October 29th 2019, Milano Hub

Conference Proceedings

INDEX

1. Stefania Lazzaroni, General Manager Fondazione …………………………. 2 2. Marco Bizzarri, President and Ceo of Gucci…………………………………………….. 2 3. Andrea Illy, Chairman Fondazione Altagamma: WELCOME SPEECH………………… 3 4. Deyan Sudjic, Curator of Next Design Perspectives 2019, Director at Design Museum, LondonA career dedicated to journalism, teaching and writing: WHY DESIGN MATTERS………………………………………………………………………………… 4 5. Lisa White, Director of Lifestyle & Interiors and Future Innovations, WGSN: THE 6 KEY TRENDS FOR CREATIVE INDUSTRIES for 2020-2021……………………………….. 6

MOBILITY: THE ROAD AHEAD 6. Johanna Agerman Ross, Founder, Disegno and Curator, Victoria & Albert Museum, ………………………………………………………………………………………… 21 7. Klaus Busse, Head of Design at Maserati, Fiat and Lancia, EMEA, FCA Design…………… 21 8. Philipp Rode, Executive Director, LSE Cities, Urban Age Programme London Schools of Economics and Political Sciences…………………………………………………………. 23 9. Carlo Ratti, Director Seanseable City Lab MIT, Boston……………………………… 26 10. Hong Zhou, President Huawei European and Russian Research Institutes………………..28

FASHION IN A DIGITAL ERA 11. Adrian Cheng, Founder K11 Group……………………………………………………… 30 12. Nadja Swarovski, CEO Swarovski……………………………………………………….. 32 13. Vittorio Radice, Vice-Chairman LaRinascente…………………………………………. 35 14. Sara Ferrero, Ceo Valextra……………………………………………………………… 36 15. Carolina Issa, Ceo and Fashion Director Tank Magazine……………………………….. 38

DESIGN FOCUS: FUTURE WITHIN FU(RNI)TURE 16. Claudia D’Arpizio, Partner Bain & Company……………………………………………..41

DESIGN: HOW WE WILL WORK AND LIVE 17. Marcus Engman, CEO and Creative Director Skewed………………………………… 47 18. Roberto Cingolani, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Leonardo……………… 50 19. Patricia Urquiola, Designer……………………………………………………………… 53

FOOD AND HOSPITALITY: YOU ARE WHERE YOU EAT 20. Ilse Crawford, Designer, Academic and Creative Director, Studio……………………… 54 21. Piero Lissoni, Architect…………………………………………………………………… 57 22. Davide Oldani, Chef, D’O……………………………………………………………… 58 23. Tom Dixom, Designer and Entrepreneur………………………………………………… 59 24. Final Conversation………………………………………………………………………. 61

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// MORNING //

1. Stefania Lazzaroni General Manager Fondazione Altagamma

AN INTRODUCTION

“The Next Design Perspectives has been created by Altagamma to envision the trends that will affect fashion, design, food, hospitality and at the end of the day the way we live. But first of all we are very honored to have you be in such as amazing location so I really want to thank the person that is our host today and welcome on stage, Marco Bizzari, President and CEO of Gucci”.

2. Marco Bizzarri President and Ceo of Gucci

GUCCI COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY IN MILANO AND SALONE DEL MOBILE CALL TO ACTION

“Where you are today is an ex-hanger. This place was building airplanes during World War II and it is the place where Alessandro Michele, our Creative Director, is hosting all our shows. And I am very pleased to be part of his dream as well. The topic of this conference is about the future of creativity and it’s the same topic as last year, and I think there is not a single answer to this question.

The way which we interpret that in Gucci is that creativity is about freedom, self-expression and respect. Respect in terms of values and respect in terms of environment. We’re very crazy about the environment in Gucci, starting from our CEO Francous Henry Pinault, and we announced in September to become completely carbon neutral as a company to offset everything that we cannot use through innovation. I think the amazing ideas this conference will share are very relevant for the future of design and our environment.

Starting from last September we decided to make sustainable fashion show donanting 2000 trees to Milano, which we planted together with Mayor Sala recently in Parco Nord in Milano, to leave a visible sign of our activity despite the fact that we recycle everything and we promote biodiversity, I think it is important as well to take care of the community of where we are living.

Our Hub is meant to be open to everybody. We decided as well to donate one tree for each of you in order to reach sooner or later Sala’s target of 3 million trees for Milano, in order to give back to the city. I invite you to do the same when you do events, starting from Salone del Mobile”.

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3. Andrea Illy Chairman Fondazione Altagamma

Sapiens is only 200.000 years old and it represents only 0,05s - if we consider the Earth age as one day - but in a fraction of this time we have been able to create our own era, Anthropocene.

Anthropocene corresponds to only 40 nanoseconds (billions of seconds), which is a time in the same order of magnitude of a nuclear explosion.

Since 1850, year of the first application of fossil fuels, which triggered the first , thanks to an extraordinary acceleration of our fundamental human activities, our population grew 11 times (cagr 1,4%) and our life expectancy became 15y longer (~1/5y).

Fossil fuel consumptions grew enormously (cagr 7%) and the land covered with forest decreased by 1/3 (cagr -0,2%). In the last century, this caused a 40% increase of GHG (cagr ~0,2%), which clearly shows us that we exceeded the capacity of our Planet to “digest” the byproducts of combustion. We are simply burning too much, and we can’t continue at this rhythm, or global warning will become more and more devastating, but also irreversible and self- powered. While deforesting and emitting GHGs, we might have also destroyed up to 40% of natural biodiversity, at a rate which is 100-1000 time higher than normal and increased plastic production and consumption 300 times (cagr 9%).

The human activity responsible for these balance sheet has been extractive production, with the exception of one: more or less one century after the beginning of Anthropocene, around the end of 1950, Sapiens made the first generative production, with the invention of the chip.

Already now, thanks to artificial intelligence, Sapiens can process amounts of knowledge which would be otherwise be impossible to access. Within the next two decades the total amount of chips will surpass the number of human neurons and bioinformatic will create the first generation of biorgs, which sooner or later will certainly develop the capacity to self reproduce. This time has been named singularity. The essence of my message is extremely positive: not only the environmental damage we created during Anthropocene is relatively contained, but it’s highly reversible also thanks to a kind of new semi-organic species we created…

We are talking about the highest intelligent human activities: regenerative production It means using the waste of our past extractive production as resources for the new regenerative production. Are we becoming scavengers? Yes, scavengers of a very sophisticated kind. For example, the excess of heat caused by global warming is a kind of ‘secondary energy’ which can be used instead of extracting, while cooling the planet at the same time. This is already being done at microscale level. Thanks to illimited and free solar energy, atmospheric carbon will become the new well, and carbon will also boost its mineral applications with new materials like graphene. We can already design a machine for that…

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is what the most influential scientist and writer since Charles Darwin – James Lovelock, the father of the theory of Gaia – described as the new era of Novacene in his last book.

Novacene requires us to change the way we think and design:

3 o We have been the effect of our Planet abundance, but now we reached the limit and abundance is becoming scarcity. o We cannot think linearly anymore, because everything is complex and most of the time chaotic. Even the paradigms of science will have to evolve from deterministic to probabilistic. o We cannot be incremental anymore, relying upon technological roadmaps. o We need to invent new un-imaginable technologies, new machines, new ways to regenerate resources in a circular way, so that resources become infinite.

That’s radical thinking and creativity and that’s the reason-why of NEXT DESIGN PERSPECTIVES. Moreover, this this also the role of industry, as the ultimate responsible of building the society.

4. Deyan Sudjic Curator of Next Design Perspectives 2019, Director at Design Museum, London A career dedicated to journalism, teaching and writing

BACK TO THE FUTURE: WILLIAM MORRIS, RALPH NADER, BUCKMINSTER FULLER AND DESIGN FOR THE REAL WORLD

“Excuse me for a moment if I give you a picture from the past because I think it’s really worth reflecting a little bit on what design is, why it matters and its many definitions.

So this image is William Morris, in some ways the man who invented the modern concept of design. He was active at the moment in which the industrial revolution cut the connection between the maker and the user and design became the new process involving mass production, I think that design had two very different directions in that moment, two very understandings what design might be.

William Morris, who was a quite extraordinary combination of a revolutionary socialist wallpaper designer, believed that there was a deep moral mission for what design should be. He once said that you should have nothing in your home which you don’t know to be useful or you don’t believe to be beautiful. He was desperately worried about the end of craftsmanship and the renewal of dignity for the individual. He believed there should be a world in which everyone had wonderful things but with his reluctance to use the machine he found it quite hard to do that. I might call him a critical designer, perhaps the conscience of all of us who followed. He himself had very strong ideas of the ecology of his time.

- There are such various definitions of what design might be. This is another face, almost from the past, Ralph Nader, still with us, who published in the 1960s a very famous book called “Unsafe at any Speed” and he looks at the Corvair, this General Motors Chevrolet which was invented in many ways - it was rear-engined, water-cooled and yet was toppling over an embarrassing large number of times. So he wrote this critique of General Motors and of the car industry in Detroit in general, exploring what it is that goes wrong when manufacturers don’t put safety at the heart what they do. Let us not forget that this is a time when manufacturers thought that seat belts and air bags were unnecessary destruction gimmicks. Now that that moment has passed I think you also need to remember the experiences of the Boeing 737 Max that reminds us that manufacturers are still sometimes tempted to cut corners to decide the best way to make a new aircraft is to use existing airfranes and to put larger engines under the wings - so difficult things for the stability of the aircraft.

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Design can also be a cultural critique as well as a critical one or a practical one and its now 30 years that started the and reminded us that the objects we have in our homes have emotional resonances as well as practical ones. There is something about every day life that design can be used to celebrate.

“THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT THE FUTRE IS TO DESIGN IT”

- I have been asked about the ideas that design can be used to predict the future or to change it. Many people are actually predictive with this name but I like this message; but I like to think of Buckminster Fuller as perhaps the most eloquent exponent of it. And I have to say that Mr. Fuller did not predict the future entirely, but the three-wheeled car which you see here is the car which he owned in 1934, which unfortunately crashed into a tree and killed a bystander on the day of its launch which undermined the idea of three-wheeled cars. He was also someone who had a vision about what might be next. The bubble over Manhattan was some kind of awful warning or a practical proposal for a way of safeguarding the future of the planet; he was the man who came up with the wonderful idea of spaceship earth. And of course he did inspire one of his major followers, Norman Foster who actually worked for Fuller earlier and who has created the headquarters for Apple - a flying saucer office, a whole town in the same building.

- There are other ways in which designers can speculate and leave us with ideas about what’s actually happened and whether we think it’s a desirable thing or not. So going back to the World’s Fair in New York in 1939, General Motors commissioned Norman Bel Geddes, the architect and designer, to create an idea of what the future city might be and here are the spectators, 5000 people a day, to look at this gigantic model of what General Motors thought we would all be living in in the 50s. This was 1939, a remarkably prescient idea about what many cities actually look like, but perhaps not the quite desirable one as it seemed at the moment. The idea of shaping the way the future would look, it takes a long time for it to go and die: there’s a similar idea of the New York World’s Fair of 1964-65 but by this time this idea or vision of what we might be living in seems much less desirable. This was the I could say the three horsemen of the Apocalypse in the mid twentieth century in that car: Robert Moses the man who flattened Manhattan, Henry Ford II, and Walt Disney - the three people whose idea about the city were stood up to at the moment. This is also the period of Jack Jacobs represented the voice of the average citizen who thought it was time to fight back about these ideas of what the future might be like. When we are suspicious of big plans and we tend to think that small citizen involvement is the way we get to the results.

- When I was a student we read Victor Papanek “Design for the real world” - it was a book which at the time seemed completely unbalanced. It begins with a memorable phrase: “There are few professions more dangerous and deadly than , but not many”. This was a view which now is common in design schools now.

NOW: We’ve gone through a period in which design seems much more flamboyant, something much more formal, something that is much more about aesthetics. I now see a generation which has now returned to the kind of thinking that happened at that time. I see generations now whose idea about design work is to find ways in which you might produce plastic-free houses or supermarkets, exploring not just why you shouldn’t use plastic but also why consumers are interested in the idea of seeing their food before they buy it. Or you can see a generation who are trying to explore ways in which we might remind consumers that the real luxury is to be able to drink water from a tap rather than from a plastic bottle and you can see some designers who have come up with an idea like this one for a terracotta bottle which celebrates the joy of the tap which people can refill and use for a long time – terraccotta is an old material that can keep water cool for a long time. Or you

5 might think about how students and younger designers are working on projects like this, that is an idea of a mobile surgical hospital which you can put in a backpack: a transparent plastic case which a high performance filter which cleans the air for surgery far away from hospitals. There are some things which change the world in ways which we never expect, sometimes things which apparently are quite minor like… This is was the London Dock in 1938 when London was at its largest, when the whole world shipping operated through upstream docks near city centers in which tens of thousands of ships arrived each year and created thousands and thousands of jobs. And this extremely low tech invention, the shipping container, killed every upstream dock in the world in a matter of two decades and turned that ship dock into an empty wasteland which then by a fluke the government in the UK offered incentives which they thought would create a few low rung shifts for industrial jobs, suddenly was used to create a new financial center for . Or we think about the humble tin box; always think about the idea of how we consume, the traditional idea of post war shopping mall, the abundance of the shelves has been completely been transformed by this in the last 11 years in this (Amazon mobile phone), which created this, which has also created that and our traditional retail world starts to shut down. Our idea about privacy has been completely transformed. The idea that we would actually allow Amazon to send people to our home whom we don’t know to put things in while we’re not there would have been completely implausible until very recently. Or the way we navigate our cities, they way we have food delivered to our homes throug Uber and delivery services… the way these digital innovations, they’re only 11 years old but they have had a huge impact on the way we live. And the way we meet each other and date. What happens to bar districts if you actually don’t need to go to hook up with someone physically when you can do it by mobile phone? Or the way we experience the world - so many of these inventions they turn into something else as the downside of these things. It starts to become a crime. But in the end I think what really matters to me is that design is one of the few ways of looking at the world which tries to integrate multiple viewpoints and one of the difficult things which faces us whether it is aging, or how we move around cities or how we consume, is not solved by any one group. Aging is not simply about medicine or about patiences or about architects designing homes where you can live in when you are 80 or furniture or works for people who have arthritis. It’s all of those things, yet so few of those people communicate or speak to each other and that’s to me why design really does have a future.

5. Lisa White Director of Lifestyle & Interiors and Future Innovations, WGSN

American, I live in and I work in London, which makes me traveling around the world quite a lot. We have offices all around the world.

THE 6 KEY TRENDS FOR CREATIVE INDUSTRIES for 2020-2021

- THE AGE OF SYSTEM - THE END OF MORE - THE HOME HUB - THE AGE OF GAP - INCLUSIVE NETWORKS - DIGITAL CRAFTMANSHIP

WGSN has been in the business of decrypting trends—not just design trends and consumer trends, but the evolving, long-term trends we can call movements, for over 20 years. For 2020 your strategy is already in place. Our job today is to prepare you for 2021 and beyond.

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METHODOLOGY “This is a rather exhaustive chart of our methodology, which takes a look at our quantitative research on the left based on Big Data and retail analytics through sourcing and curation. On the right is our qualitative research in trend forecasting, focusing on Lifestyle shifts, social dynamics, market and retail dynamics and creativity. Both are necessary to win in the future.

What I will be presenting now is just an example of our consultancy work, combining consumer, market and product trends to give directions on how companies can create the right, relevant products that people will love and want to keep. We help our consumers win in the digital economy. So I will take you into 6 of our Key Future trends, just a top-level look as we only have half an hour.

Why are we looking at future trends? Because only by understanding the challenges and opportunities will brands navigate and survive.

1. THE AGE OF SYSTEMS

More than a trend, it’s a movement that is going to happen for the next couple of years.

In an increasingly complex world, we will require a powerful combination of design thinking and systems thinking to address the economic, political and societal challenges. Bringing these two areas together will see issues reframed as opportunities, where design and creativity can be used to develop long-term solutions for people, the environment, and business.

Designing better systems will become even more crucial than the design of the products themselves. We will move from product-focused design towards systemic design and long term thinking – for example, replacing linear supply chains with circular resource models. It is now time for brands to rethink internal systems to maximise long-term opportunities.

As a counter movement to the short-term gains that are currently being prioritised, long-term thinking has started to emerge in artistic and cultural fields, and this will ultimately influence business. Businesses are now experimenting with ways to make this type of thinking more commercial by emphasising innovation and making sure that the craft and time that goes into creating products is effectively communicated.

In many ways today, short-term gains are being prioritised over the future collective good of business and the planet. Companies are continually seduced by short-term metrics to the detriment of long-term brand health. As a counter movement, long-term thinking has started to emerge in artistic and cultural fields and it will ultimately influence business. This chart is from two advertising executives who established the Long Time Project to think more radically about the future. As you can see here, nature has been her for millennia. Fashion, not so long, so we need to think more deeply about the past and the future. They encourage us to “THINK LIKE A GOOD ANCESTOR”!

Some businesses are now experimenting with ways to make this type of thinking more commercial, emphasizing the use of more independent production processes or making sure the craft and time that goes into products is effectively communicated in marketing efforts.

Clarins unveiled its long-term project to become a 100%-owned field-to-jar brand. The beauty

7 company acquired 200,000 acres of land in the to grow and study plants for the future development of its skincare and make-up formulas.

Lexus applied long-term thinking through the lens of craftsmanship. The auto brand created a 60,000- hour documentary about four Japanese artisans, showing the thousands of hours of practice and dedication it takes to develop skills.

The Long-term prosperity of your brand depends on Long-Term thinking. I believe that Long-term prosperity is an equation that looks like this: Process, Purpose, People and Provenance OVER Product and Short-Term Profit.

Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of investment powerhouse BlackRock wrote earlier this year in his letter to CEOs, “As we enter 2019, commitment to a long-term approach is more important than ever – the global landscape is increasingly fragile and, as a result, susceptible to short-term behavior by corporations and governments alike.” And he also said: “Society is increasingly looking to companies, both public and private, to address pressing social and economic issues. These issues range from protecting the environment to racial inequality. Companies that fulfill their purpose and responsibilities to stakeholders reap rewards over the long-term.” And he is an investment banker.

The systems that affect climate change are front and centre, as they influence politics, economics, migration, and many other areas. We are seeing that a concern for nature, couples with advances in technology, are creating some of the biggest systemic advances.

Let’s look at some examples.

As you know, water is becoming increasingly scarce. I have experienced myself water shortages living in places as far-flung as California, Cape Town and Corsica. Nothing coming out of the tap. It is a reality. What are water companies going to do to insure they have a business in the long term? Change their systems and speak with their customer.

Evian's supply chain remains its most important asset, and it's critical that its integrity remains intact and the environment untouched in order to continue sourcing. While water bottle consumption is on the rise, the planet becomes more at risk from the resulting damage of single-use plastics if consumers don't recycle as they hydrate. Evian has committed to sustainable systemic design. Evian works closely with water experts to support the ecosystem rather than put a strain on it. In 2017, it opened a €280 million carbon neutral bottling facility close to the water source it extracts from. Evian intends to achieve a carbon neutral global certification from the Carbon Trust by 2020.

By 2025, it aims to achieve full circularity with the goal of using 100% recycled plastic for its production of bottles, excluding its labels and caps. The brand is teaming with Canadian-based Loop Industries who have developed new technology that extracts petrochemicals from plastic to create a high quality recycled plastic material.

To communicate, EVIAN launched a YouTube series exploring the role circularity plays in the supply chain. By teaming up with editorial partner Vice, which speaks to progressive young people, and creating a storyline around their circular systems and Evian is prioritising transparency, and showing viewers what real change looks like.

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They also collaborated with Virgil Abloh for their limited edition “one drop can make a rainbow” collection to promote reusable bottles in a stylish way.

Fashion designer Roland Mouret has compared hangers to the plastic straw—throwaway objects that damage the enviroment. He says “Single-use plastic has too much presence in luxury life.” -It is estimated that 100 billion hangers are produced and used this way every year, with 85% ending up in landfill. When clothes are shipped from factories to stores, they are often put on cheap hangers that are immediately discarded when they arrive at the shops to be put on more beautiful hangers for customers. Mouret calls it “FASHION’S DIRTY SECRET.” He collaborated with Arch and Hook to create a new hanger called “Blue” which debuted at London Fashion Week last month. It is made from recuperated marine plastic and can be entirely recycled. The British Fashion Council has teamed with with Mouret – these are systems that have to be worked on together. “We can’t make it alone. We need to collaborate with other companies, maybe very different ones, to make sure we move things forward for the better system.” he says,

And here are some interesting collaborations with tech—I am particularly inspired by the Internet of Textiles, which is transforming fabrics into networked devices. Google’s Project Jacquard — the company’s touch-sensitive fabric technology — has collaborated with Levis to launch a smart jacket that lets you change your music or answer your phone with a swipe of a cuff in the fabric. Here is the latest collaboration between Google and Yves Saint Laurent: the Cit-E smart backpack, featuring a touch-sensitive shoulder strap for controlling a connected smartphone and taking photos.

Let’s see designer Benjamin Hubert’s collaboration with Airbus. He developed a smart textile for economy class seating, which would allow passengers to monitor and control their seat conditions using their phone. Called Move, each chair is made up of a knitted, one-piece seat secured over a lightweight frame. Digitally knitted from a polyester wool blend with an integrated conductive yarn, the smart seat cover is connected to a series of sensors that detect both the passenger's body and the conditions of their chair. This includes temperature, seat tension, pressure and movement – conditions that can be monitored and controlled by passengers via their phone, using Layer's Move app. You can choose more support, more warmth or coolness, and the chair also reminds you to get up and move and hydrate.

This is my favourite product design system from the last Salone here in : • Panter & Tourron create ultra-light and sustainable, tool-free furniture for people who move often, or just want lightness of being. AN ENTIRE LIVING ROOM. It is a collection is a set of flat-packed furniture essentials—a chair, table, two lights, and a screen that together weigh less than 20 kilograms and can be easily assembled anywhere, stretched using tensile strength. It is a system that can make regular furniture obsolete. "The idea was to make sustainable furniture but really beautiful looking and it’s not obvious that it's eco-furniture," said Tourron. It’s perfect for people who move and rent.

Systems of sourcing and “growing” are also key. Last year we spoke of lab-grown diamonds, but I think Opals are going to be key—they feel very digital and modern, and have that sort of unicorn glow to them. But their sourcing has to be ethical and environmental. • On the left is Lingjun Sun’s ethically sourced Opal: he worked for 10 years as an opal-cutter in Australia and just launched his own brand after a masters at Saint Martens, mixing ethically sourced opals with things like anodised aluminium and Corian, gold and silver. Lab grown Opals by Sente on the right—these are grown, not mined, and have an amazing

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high-tech quality to them.

2. THE END OF MORE

Our second trend is THE END OF MORE.

Consumption will be decreasing over the next 10 years, even 50%, as low-impact consumerism becomes more mainstream and interest in sustainable processes and products rises globally.

Attention is beginning to shift to reducing the amount of new raw materials and new things being introduced into the supply chain. At current consumption rates, we will need the equivalent of 1.7 Earths to maintain these levels, but there is only one earth. Our customers are increasingly aware of this.

In the future, people will want access over ownership; instead of having more things, they will simply want their desires fulfilled. This shift will take the form of an immaterial economy based on emotions, experience and knowledge. People will be looking for quality over quantity in their consumption, and they will be finding different ways to achieve this, such as through the rental economy and the purchase of resourceful essentials.

For new products, young designers and forward-thinking companies will be looking for ways to use bio-design and waste streams in innovative and compelling ways. As businesses adapt to appeal to more conscious consumers, they also will find that the opportunities will generate cost savings – estimated at $60bn by 2030 in Europe alone.

Going circular pays The circular economy has been valued as a trillion-dollar opportunity. Replacing linear supply chains with circular resource models not only negates the need to introduce new materials into the manufacturing process, but also the volatility in pricing that often affects raw materials. Current examples: - IKEA is creating new product ranges from its own waste materials: If you make waste, use it Unavoidable waste, both natural and industrial, should be treated as a valuable resource. - Etat Libre D’Orange’s 2018 I Am Trash fragrance was made using an upcycled extraction process that distils oils from previously used organic material (on a smaller scale).

The fabric you see was presented at last year’s conference by bio designer Natsai-Audrey Chieza of Faber futures. She uses pigment-producing bacteria to replace traditional dyeing techniques that are damaging to the environment. Last year, this might have seen a bit “out there” but this project has just won a major prize, the Index Award, which will push it forward immensely, and Natsai has just been listed as one of London’s most influential people. Speaking of prizes, a new capsule collection the LVMH Prize Finalist - Duran Lantink - created with Browns, is changing the definition of deadstock. He cuts up and re-pieces designer dead-stock, creating one-of-a-kind items, wild collaged mash-ups of luxury brands.

BIO DESIGN, which was featured last year here at the event, and by Paola Antonelli’s fantastic exhibition at the Triennale, at the Pompidou Centre and St. Etienne Biennal, and at the Cooper Hewitt in NYC will be increasingly important. Here are two young designers working with seaweed, as an abundant, and beautiful, resourceful essential.

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Canadian-Iranian designer Roya Aghighi has created clothes made from algae that turn carbon dioxide into oxygen via photosynthesis, as a more sustainable alternative to fast fashion.

On the right is the work of design futurist Charlotte Mc Curdy, who’s reframes the idea of light as an energy source. Her installation, After Ancient Sunlight is about creating new materials with current-day sunlight, not with fossil fuels and materials plastic that basically burn ancient sunlight. This is a carbon-negative raincoat she made based on seaweed—growing design with today’s sunlight. This creates a path to the future where materials actually help us combat climate change. She says that growing things can take away the guilt of consumption—and that consumption can be carbon- negative behaviour. Growing materials also bypasses paralyzed policy so we can act.

RE-COMMERCE is getting bit, and it’s only going to get bigger. This REVERSE SUPPLY CHAIN retrieves used product from a customer and makes it available to others. Between January 2018 and June 2019 resale app DEPOP doubled its user base to reach 13 million people worldwide. And they recently collaborated with Selfridges in London to showcase their top sellers online and in store. They also collaborated with Ralph Lauren to sell vintage pieces in the Ralph Lauren store on New Bond street. How can you capture and create these systems for your brand?

The RealReal x Burberry A new partnership whereby you consign any Burberry item on The RealReal resale platform and receive a personal styling appointment and British High Tea at a Burberry Store, making you an even more devoted customer. Burberry’s heritage craftsmanship means that are meant to last, so they can be resold a number of times. Their brand can touch many more people.

“The RealReal shares our ambition to promote the circular economy and keep clothing in use for longer. We know that the enduring quality of Burberry pieces means their appeal and value is long- lasting. Through this new partnership we hope to not only champion a more circular future but encourage consumers to consider all the options available to them when they’re looking to refresh their wardrobes.” — Pam Batty, VP Corporate Responsibility, Burberry

WELCOME TO THE ERA OF SOCIAL SELLING!

Interesting example is San Francisco-based Storr which enables anyone to open a store from their phone in three clicks, for free. Users can make their own shop, picking items from over 175 retailers (Adidas, RE/DONE Denim) and receive a 5-30% commission on sales. Storr is important because it’s people-powered, and unlike Amazon or Instagram, anyone can sell on Storr—and people like to buy from their friends.

I like to say, buy Great Basics and Rent the Fun. The rental economy has arrived with luxury.

Panoply is a new online luxury fashion rental brand based in France. They work with 40 designers, from Carven to Kenzo, Etro and Valentino, and you can rent per item or have a monthly subscription starting at 69 euros. You can also buy the gently used items at a very low price.

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People can experiment more with style, and have fun with it. my dream: What I want is to arrive in a city and have a delivery of beautiful rental clothing that I have chosen for my stay, that I can leave in my hotel afterwards, and travel hands-free. Gibbon is a new startup intended for travellers from Asia. The climate can be very different, so if you fly from Singapore to Amsterdam and London, you will be able to rent a coat and sweaters, fit in with the fashionable locals, and give it all back when you return. I am putting this out there—can you imagine what you could create working together at Altagamma: someone arrives in Milan and can rent , cars, jewels, receive beauty products in sustainable, returnable containers. Live the luxury Italian life and not have to pack a single thing.

And I want to leave this chapter with a book recommendation-it is a bit controversial, but there are some interesting things to consider.

In his book “More From Less”, which was just published, author and co-founder of the MIT’s Initiative for the Digital Economy, Andrew McAfee suggests there’s a new reason for being optimistic about the future on this planet: we’re past the point of 'peak stuff' and we are going toward a process of DE-MATERIALISATION. For example more and more objects are being incorporated into one single device: your SMARTPHONE—which is now phone, answering machine, TV screen, game console, recording device, stereo—everything that used to be a separate device. So we are producing less devices. I’ll talk about dematerialisation more in our last trend…

3. THE HOME HUB

Our relationship to the idea of home is changing, and so is what we do in this space as our home habits are evolving. It is becoming a key space for innovation, both for comfort and for community for overwhelmed consumers seeking calm and protection. Consumers will bring more activities into the home – Fuelled by Millennials, who spend 70% more time at home than the general population, this shift is about more than retreating; it is also about optimising the home as a system to make time for meaningful experiences both inside and outside.

Staying home is becoming easier and more aspirational. Feeling at home with a brand, in store and online, will be key. In a world of anxiety, we need to think of brands as safe spaces.

In the future, we will be able to do many more things in the home. We now see food delivery bringing restaurants into the home, and Netflix bringing the cinema in. Next is bringing fitness and workouts into the home. MIRROR brings live-streamed fitness classes to the home via a $1,500 mirror-like LCD screen that connects to a range of classes, from barre to yoga.

Last year we talked about the importance of aftercare, of repair, so that the products your customers buy can live the longest and best life possible—having repair shops and artisans within your shop. What is interesting is that people will increasingly want to have a hand in the care of their products themselves, and this is something we see in the home.

The French philosopher Gaston Bachelard wrote in his book “Poetics of Space”: “A house that shines from the care it receives appears to have been rebuilt from the inside, as though it were new inside. We can sense how a human being can devote himself to things and make them his own by perfecting their beauty.” Se we see caring for the home, and even sweeping and cleaning it as a type

12 of mindfulness. In the UK, Sophie Hinchliffe has almost 3 million followers on Instagram—all of whom say her devotion to home cleaning has inspired them and helped them with anxiety issues. So here we can see the opportunity for household products as beauty products, which we are already seeing with premium handwash, and also house cleaning products that are beauty-quality— you can use them on your skin or on your floor!

Ashley & Co A New Zealand owned and operated company based in Auckland. Our business began over decade ago in a garage; a creative experiment led by the ever-curious Jackie Ashley. Potions were concocted and scents created, informed by Jackie’s memories of exotic travel and a childhood growing up in Hong Kong. - We savour scents and memories informed by the past, but our spirit is anchored firmly in the present, in the richness of our modern lives. Not beholden to a particular style or trend, we instead hope for an element of timelessness in our range so we can effortlessly be part of others’ lives.

We pride ourselves on long-lasting, memorable scents and on superior products. To achieve the best, we manufacture in New Zealand so we can oversee the process and maintain quality from whoah to go. Perfect is how we like it.

Custodian Erin Rouse is a broom maker and sculptor. She attended Rice University in Houston, Texas and has a BA in Visual Arts. Erin started making brooms while working at Lindsey Adelman Studio. Prior to that, she worked in the Style department at Martha Stewart Living magazine. She is interested in the overlap of art and domestic life. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and dog.

Cleaning can also be sexy… It’s about having an even more intimate relationship with your surroundings… We are seeing more products with ingredients that work for both body and for home, like these from sustainable brand Supernatural. I love some of their client quotes--cleaning with their products “Not only leaves my countertops sparkling, but lickable!” and another: “I’ve never felt sexy cleaning, until now.”

This idea of home comfort has been extending to public spaces & retail Outside of the home, public spaces (including retail) continue to soften and become more homelike in order to welcome customers and put them at ease (whether from pollution, the weather or social unrest). Designs and amenities are inspired by the comforts and conveniences of home. And there is a real shift for these spaces towards becoming ‘community builders’.

Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP MARKT pop up in Toronto, left, is a good example. Beyond offering the brand’s must-have products across the fashion, home, beauty, and wellness categories, the Toronto shop hosts special programs, including “no-makeup” makeup master classes with Beautycounter. The look feels like a hospitality space or a beautiful but cozy home, with a soft palette and tactile materials.

The BMW Vision Next uses a palette of dusty pinks and warm woods with suede-touch fabrics. The future of cars is not just spaces of shared mobility, but also spaces of pleasure, of a home away from home, especially as we move to driverless cars that will enable other activities. On another note, a UK car insurance brand, Tempcover, recently released a survey that showed that many Brits are having sex in their cars. With a lack of private space in urban areas to a need for a

13 cosy private space in the country, 44% of Brits have had sex in their cars. They broke this down by car brand as well—the hotspot for BMWs and Land Rovers is on the roof, by the way…

AT HOME IN THE WORLD Let’s get back to public spaces: we are seeing the return of private member’s clubs—another Anglo-Saxon speciality. These are intended to be a home away from home, and also make you feel at home in the world, from New York to London to Singapore. The new clubs have nothing to do with cigar-laden gentleman’s clubs. They look like idealised living spaces that allow you to relax and connect with like-minded individuals. Ethel’s Club, on the left, is the first private social and wellness club designed for people of colour, and is based in Brooklyn. Top right, the Conduit in London is for those focused on social and environmental change. The Straits Club in Singapore is for progressive opinion leaders and content creators. All of these foster a sense of community, and home.

4. THE AGE GAP

Now we need to talk about THE AGE GAP.

In many parts of the world, the population is living longer at a time of falling birth rates. This scenario is starting to cause intergenerational friction as younger people are faced with picking up the increased tax bill for the cost of long-term elderly care. Governments will be looking to keep older people healthy for as long as possible to avoid excessive tax burdens. The opportunity for businesses and brands is to become the champions and facilitators of increasing the longevity dividend for ageing individuals.

At the same time, in other parts of the world, especially in emerging economies, the population is growing younger and brands need to know how to address the opportunities that these generations represent, as these populations are already digitally savvy and moving into middle- and higher- income ranges - this will create an opportunity for luxury brands.

Let’s look at Asia in particular, with the Silver Tsunami Boomers. Curious and independent, Asian Boomers are prioritising themselves by exploring creative ways to bring vitality to their lives.

Despite the burden of double care, for both their parents and adult children, Asian Boomers are prioritising their happiness and investing more time and money on leisure, travel and wellness. In the past few years, Asian Boomers have shown rapid online penetration, spending more of their free time exploring new media. With an age-inclusive mindset, Asian Boomers are striving to break the age barrier and reimagine style and beauty in old age.

Parallel to the Silver Tsunami Boomers there is a surge in Youth populations in Asia, and specifically in Southeast Asia. The median age for most of the South East Asian countries is below 30 years old. In Philippines, 31% of the population is aged below 15, and 70% of Malaysians are aged under 35.

Moving forward, their diversity of culture, access to global knowledge, as well as strategic geographic location, will rapidly shape up the economy.

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With 600 million people and more than 2.5 trillion dollars in GDP, South East Asian economies make up one of the youngest and fastest-growing regions in the world. While the rest of the world is more preoccupied with the turbulent present, South East Asia is already thinking about and preparing for the future.

According to a DBS study, Vietnam could surpass Singapore’s economy by 2029, thanks to the diversification of the Asian global supply chain. To maintain its growth momentum and provide jobs for a growing youth population, Vietnam is planning for a digital future. It realizes that its own industries can be cannibalised by relying only on foreign sector and it should have a total domestic transformation that engages digitally with the rest of the world.

Indonesia is moving fast into the digital space, with an internet user growth rate 3 times faster than the global average, and an internet user community that’s still only 56% of its total population.

But where are the next youth superpowers? Eyes are also on Africa and India as the next generations of leaders, creatives and shoppers will come from these regions. More than half of In>dia's population (600m) is under 25 and by 2050, Africa's youth population will increase by 50%, making it the most youth-populated continent.

The luxury industry is being re-invented by the youth population and their interests, particularly with street-style.

The Yo-Hood luxury streetwear event, which is held annually in Shanghai. The latest event, this summer, imagined Asia in the year 3019 as a Youthquake. Dazed China was launched at the event. This partnership is interesting as the Dazed/streetwear cross-border ecosystem is being brokered by Adrien Cheng, exec director of Chinese brand Chow Tai Fook.

Vietnamese youth are hungry to participate in global culture and commerce. The launch of There VND Then signals an important moment for Vietnam’s fashion scene. Just opened, this multiform concept store imports outside brands to connect Vietnam with the rest of the world. Its next goal is to engage local brands and talents. Soon, it will launch a creative workspace called Collab, to help cultivate a new talent and offer a forum for sharing ideas.

So how will brands speak to the old and the young. From Boomers and Gen Z, we can see that both young and old consumers are becoming increasingly “tech savvy”. Digital platforms and social media need to be adapting to varied user ages and creating content and apps that fit each age group.

On the right, is the older generation: Capitalising on rising numbers of senior users, Chinese social media app Tangdou now boasts 200m users, evolving from a dance tutorial platform for the elderly to a content platform and networking app. We're seeing a new generation of senior gamers as well. Levono came up with the world's first senior esports team. Based in Stockholm, The Silver Snipers has an average age of 67 – challenging the assumption that older adults are disconnected from technology. Seoul has partnered with LG U+ to launch the "50+ Bravo Life" project, which will nurture selected Boomers as YouTube content creators and this summer ran a YouTube creator camp to educate ten Boomer teams on video production, content strategy, PR and marketing.

Tik Tok & Douyin

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With a user base of creative teens, short-form video app TikTok has emerged as a new content hub that’s driving hit songs, products and marketing campaigns. TikTok is one of the fastest growing and most exciting apps today for brands to create experimental content and connect with connect with Gen Z. The popular short video sharing platform has generated more than 1bn downloads (including Douyin), with 663m of those occurring in 2018. The billion download figure is already five times the size of its predecessor, Vine, at its peak usage.

Another way of connecting older and younger generations is through new experiences – especially environmental therapy.

With shifting age norms, brands must avoid lumping all older adults together and understand the diverse ageing experience. This includes shopping behaviours catering to both the old and the young. Businesses need to think carefully about where and how to grow and adapt in a way that will benefit not only their business, but also shoppers and the local community.

Westfield has outlined how its mall of the future might integrate environmental therapy, with hanging sensory gardens, open walkways and green space both inside and outside at its upcoming shopping centres. With wellness a priority, the concept also includes a ‘betterment zone’ where visitors can reflect in mindfulness workshops. Westfield will also introduce allotments and urban farms, allowing customers to pick their own produce for meals.

Luxury leisure hubs New York's newest billion-dollar shopping and leisure hub, Hudson Yards, aims to shake up the city's arts scene with its very own culture venue, The Shed. Inside, visitors can find a number of galleries, a 500-seat theatre and a 17,000 sq ft, 1,250-seat hall for large-scale performances and shows. Additionally, a rehearsal space, local artist lab and event space can be found on the top floor. The Shed‘s ground floor is home to a bookshop and a bar, which appeal to all ages.

5. INCLUSIVE NETWORKS

Last year I presented Allclusive Design. Design for all will ramp up in 2021, as universal design strategies are adopted by governments, institutes and brands alike. As consumer demand for inclusive design grows, diversity will be recognised and celebrated across a more fuller spectrum than ever before.

But inclusion is going way beyond sizing.

• Neurodiversity is a rising topic in the art scene. New London gallery Hart Club is dedicated to raising the profiles of neurodiverse artists and offering positive representation. By changing the language around mental diversity, it's exposing the potential creative power – and benefit – of literally thinking differently. This drawing is by David Bassadone, a 72 year old neurodiverse artist artist who has been drawing for his entire life. It’s time for brands to engage and champion outsider artists.

• Pluriversal Thinking & Design: a name coined by Colombian-American anthropologist Arturo Escobar in his 2018 publication "Designs for the Pluriverse", Pluriversal design is dedicated to

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• Challenging conventional Western knowledge with a wider diversity of perspectives. Especially perspectives from cultures who have been on earth for a long, long time, like Pre-Columbian populations in North America, African cultures or aborigines in Australia. THEY STILL HAVE WHAT WE HAVE LOST—a connection to the earth and to ancient cultures.

We see First Nation Canadian artist Ooloosie Saila, who is fighting to get her art produced, and paid for, in an equal manner to white Canadian artists.

Barbara Sanchez-Kane: a Mexican fashion designer who addresses national identity, gender equality and immigration. Her collections are loud, and draw attention to the issues, sending political messages through fashion but also through activism and performance art. This is an image her show at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, a performance featuring her girlfriend and singer Morena Valdés addressing the issue of violence towards women.

Pluriversal design is also about getting diverse viewpoints into your thinking and design process by including people on your business and design teams from other background and co-create solutions, so you can create products and services that respect and reach more people. You can’t create a diverse brand without diversity on your team.

We are seeing Retail slowly becoming more inclusive. My favourite expression of Inclusion is still by Verna Myers, VP of Inclusion at Netflix: Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance. We can’t just pretend to be inclusive, we have to do so actively.

Back to retail, this is Coal Drops Yard, on the left, the latest new shopping experience in London, designed by Thomas Heatherwick. In between the lovely COS lifestyle store and the Caravan interiors shop is also the Store Store, which is dedicated to promoting design, craft and the arts now that funding for those has been cut in the UK. They offer free after school and summer school classes in making things, to get kids designing who normally don’t have access to that discipline. This is something I could see luxury brands engaging with—featuring the amazing craft and creative skills that you need to create your products and transmitting those to a younger generation.

International brands and cross-border e-commerce purchases have dominated retail, especially Asian retail (but also in LATAM), i but driven by the improved quality of domestic goods and the emergence of new nationalism, Asian youth are now looking to networks of retailers that are celebrating local heritage.

To connect with Asian shoppers who are rediscovering local brands, companies need to focus on unique retail spaces that co-exist and connect with local communities. This can be through store design that incorporates local materials and traditions; or through collaborations with local artists and brands to enhance the in-store experience.

Iconsiam, Bangkok's newest and largest mall to date, celebrates Thai culture through arts and crafts in a series of attractions, and by allowing the many luxury brands within the mall to express their connection with Thailand. At Louis Vuitton, display tables resemble Thai pagodas, while the use of Thai silk throughout is designed to reflect the rippling Chao Phraya river. Similarly, Cartier's fixtures and fittings resemble lotus flowers and echo Thai architecture. It's an approach that hasn't yet been seen at any other mall in the world, setting Iconsiam apart from others in the region. They even have their own small floating market on the ground floor that aims to promote the arts, culture and foods of Thailand's 77 provinces.

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Dongchoon175 is a new shopping centre in Yongin, South Korea. The lower corridors host Dongchoon Market, a "curated lifestyle pop-up for modern Koreans" that introduces small, local businesses and emerging artists that embrace cultural heritage and eco-friendly values.

And one last slide in this trend, on Respectful Design, which is about more fully including nature in the design process.

Respectful Design removes the human being from the centre of the universe, and it focuses on a more holistic vision that concentrates on the connections between all living forms, such as plants, animals and minerals. • Dutch artist Thijs Biersteker collaborated with Italian scientist Stefano Mancuso to create this installation at the Fondation Cartier in Paris that shows a live “discussion” between trees. Mancuso explains that trees have very sensitive methods of communication—since they cannot move, they send out waves of energy and volatile compounds to exchange information with their neighbours. So we need to think of of natural beings as a sentient beings, again, getting back to indigenous wisdom that we have lost.

You might have heard that in Australia they have just stopped allowing people to climb Ayers Rock, that beautiful red rock that is sacred to indigenous peoples. When this happened, on aborigine man said “It’s time the rock had a rest.”

6. DIGITAL CRAFTSMANSHIP

And our last trend is all about DIGITAL CRAFTSMANSHIP.

As today's consumer increasingly straddle both physical and digital realms, forward-thinking brands and retailers are adopting Extended reality—a mix of virtual and real-life technology—to prepare for this shift.

Going forward, product-less stores will provide a more immersive and engaging shopping journey, while digital-only clothing and interiors unlock limitless creativity for the next generation of designers. Purpose-driven Gen Z and Millennials will also embrace the idea of digital design as it presents a new opportunity to tackle the desire for newness, the industries’ environmental issues and create more sustainable design systems. These new systems and approaches will become possible due to the arrival of the 5G network in 2020.

What is 5G, and what will be its impact? “5G is the connectivity technology of the future.” It is all about making better use of the radio spectrum and enabling far more devices to access the mobile internet at the same time. Everything we currently do with out smartphones we’ll be able to do faster and better. This doesn’t include all of the new services and things that we’ll be able to introduce and use. It will affect multiple industries, including - smartphones, gaming, automobile to name a few.

The world is going mobile and we're consuming more data every year, particularly as the popularity of video and music streaming increases. Existing spectrum bands are becoming congested, leading to breakdowns in service, particularly when lots of people in the same area are trying to access online mobile services at the same time. 5G is much better at handling thousands of devices simultaneously, from mobiles to equipment sensors, video cameras to smart street lights.

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We are seeing a new generation of digital designers and artists that create sensation, tactility, and emotion that communicates a sense of craft in the virtual world.

One of the most talented is Lucy Hardcastle, and she has recently worked with both Bentley and to take their brand further. She often turns to arts such as glassblowing or painting to inform her digital shapes and textures. She says “To me, craftsmanship and art correlate through the relationship I have with materials. I believe that craft is about developing a collaborative relationship with whatever material you’re using, whether it be digital or physical. Equally, as an artist, it is important to have that close connection.”

This artwork has been inspired by the Bentley EXP 100 GT – a concept car that has been designed to mark the luxury automotive brand’s centenary. All of the newest elements of the car, including Bentley's Artificial Intelligence system, which pre- empts passenger requests, and an Air Purification System that monitors pollution levels – are linked to the preservation of ancient craft and artistry.

Lucy Hardcastle worked for Chanel This is her digital journey to make the invisible, visible. Inspired by CHANEL Nº5 L’Eau

At some point in the future, you may be making digital only products. This is the concept of the digital fashion house, Fabricant – who merge digital design, visual effects and traditional pattern cutting techniques to create fully digital collections.

Generation Z spend a considerable portion of their lives in digital communities, and it follows that they want to dress and present themselves in a way that is true to them. Digital clothing allows this, and also allows for their very strong ethical and environmental values to be respected. because the clothes are digital, either they don't get manufactured at all of if they come to real life they only are produced on demand - cutting hugely on the costs. So you can wear something new on Instagram or Tik Tok every day.

This item sold on May 28 for 9,500 $ - so it is luxury, but last November, Scandinavian retailer Carlings released its first digital clothing collection. Customers supplied a photo that designers at Carlings manipulated so it appeared that they were dressed in the apparel.

They hired several influencers to promote the collection on Instagram and it sold out in a week, each piece cost between €10 and €30, each with a limited production run of up to 12.

DIGITAL PERSONAS And digital personas are increasingly coming to the fore—I hope you are all following Lil Miquela on Instagram—on the right. We have a marketing cast study report only on her. She is a 19 year old digital avatar and influencer— with 1.7 million followers. Brazilian-American, she is lovely and personable and engaging and doing some amazing brand collaborations, with Samsung, streetwear brands, and Coachella. She can do anything. She has become a brand and you need to follow her.

Here is Bjork’s avatar. She recently created a full VR experience with James Merry and you can experience it in London at Otherworld—I am going next week. Apparently it is an out of body experience that lets you feel her art fully—she worked with James Merry on this and he said it is amazing to see people wearing VR headsets that are so moved they have tears streaming down their cheeks.

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Their latest project is a full virtual reality version of Vulnicura in which seven VR videos by different directors follow Björk’s path through heartbreak and recovery in the Icelandic landscape, from a verdant valley into a dark lava tube and out the other side.

In 2014, we got an Oculus Rift headset and set it up in her kitchen in New York … she just got a gut reaction to it, and it also happened to really suit the nature and content of the Vulnicura album. It wasn’t a gimmick, it wasn’t like: “Oh, VR is hot, let’s force ourselves to do VR videos”; it was actually more like the weird, airless, almost suffocating and isolating early VR stuff we tried, she realised it could really fit these heartbreak songs... it was just a really good overlap between the medium and the content. I think people are still figuring out how VR is going to position itself in our lives,

The first one we did in Australia, it was amazing hearing the noises: there were people crying, laughing and gasping and people talking to Björk like she was in the room. For 80%, 90% of the people there it was their first time in VR. So I’m really happy that was their first experience. It’s so beautiful seeing tears coming out of the bottom of a VR headset. It’s like a humanity and technology mashup in a really beautiful way.

And Virtual and extended reality will also create spaces for people to inhabit—to work together over long distances, and to shop virtually. You can create a meeting room or a store that looks any way you want it to look, and change it overnight. This is the green room meeting room by Haworth. It could be a Martian landscape or it could be your grandmother’s sitting room. You can create anything for people to inhabit in XR.

Research from Accenture, found that 80% of executives believe it’s important to leverage XR solutions to close the gap of physical distance when engaging employees and customers.

What is interesting to observe here is that in XR we see BEHAVIOUR CHANGES > introverted people feel more comfortable and engage more in a virtual environment. So this is also about neurodiversity.

And how about the digital beauty industry?

To stay ahead in an increasingly crowded and competitive retail landscape, stores must also become smarter, seamlessly integrating the online and offline worlds that modern consumers are familiar with.

Beauty retailers are optimising their stores to stay relevant in a digital age, turning spaces into beauty playgrounds by embracing experimental, immersive and discovery-led experiences. Department stores are supersizing and revamping beauty floors that will resonate with younger shoppers.

Harrods’ newly renovated beauty hall offers an immersive brand experience for both luxury and cult beauty labels across 90,000 sq ft. Features include a virtual play area with Magic Mirrors, a beauty concierge, master classes and treatment rooms.

Giorgio Beauty's travelling global pop-up also offers a theatrical store experience with virtual make-up stations, a connected mirror, photo booths and vending machines.

And for our final slide, I wanted to show how Extended reality can look for luxury: this is the

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Trophy for the League of Legends, the online e-sports multi-player game and Louis Vuitton. The championship finals are on November 10 and for this most prestigious prize in e-sports, Nicolas Ghesquiere has designed unique champion skins and a capsule fashion collection. Vuitton has also designed a real-life case for the trophy.

So with this final slide I hope you feel you feel you have some pivotal information to help you win in design and retail in 2021.

// MOBILITY: THE ROAD AHEAD //

6. Moderator: Johanna Agerman RossFounder, Disegno and Curator, Victoria & Albert Museum, London

To start off the panel and set the scene, I offer you a quote that I hope you might recognize

“Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz? My friends all drive Porches, but I must make amends."

In the opening line of one of the Janis Joplin's most famous songs, she in invoking enlightenment through the purchase of a luxury German automobile

In her characteristically raspy voice, the American singer-songwriter pokes fun at the society obsessed with buying things as a way of building self-worth and identity. While our attitudes to consumption have altered very little in the fifty years since this song was first released, these symbols of our consumption have changed drastically. The car is no longer the same identity builder that it once was; our vehicles are moving from individual possession to service models, shared by many. And then in cities, car ownership makes little sense and with almost 50% of the world's 7.7 billion inhabitants now living in cities, we are in need of workable alternatives. And yet despite this growing population - if you travel to London for example, it’s flattening out - as increasing numbers of people are using other varieties to travel from A to B, ride-sharing apps for example, or electric or non-electric bicycles and scooters. Bicycles are our new status symbols in the same way of cars were at one point and people invest the same way they used to or they still do invest in cars. They spend several thousands pounds on the right bicycle or the right scooter. Meanwhile, to Uber is now a verb for transporting yourself across the city, whether you’re using gas or not. At the same time, self-driving vehicles are entering the market and the expectations of a vehicle’s performance are changing significantly in line with this development. Speed or engine power might be not the criteria for how we actually choose our mode of transport in the future; it might be what level of entertainment system is on offer, or what conference call ability it has or how physically fit it will make you or how clean it will make the air. ===

7. Klaus Busse Head of Design at Maserati, Fiat and Lancia, EMEA, FCA Design

ITALIAN CAR DESIGN AND THE ERA OF INFORMATION

I am not a very good mathematician, I am here to speak more about the emotional side of cars. But first we should all agree what a car is. A car is nothing else but one of many, many tools to get you from A to B. Last Sunday I came back

21 by plane from China , yesterday I came by train from Torino, this morning I came by bus from the hotel. I am car guy but that was the weapon of choice. There are scenarios where I would always choose a car, for example these beautiful roads in Norway, but there are other roads where you might take a car and they are not as spectacular these road. So what can I do, what can my team do, to make this travel from A to B a rich beautiful experience? what can we do so that even in this world of self-owned cars or partially owned cars or a not owned car, that our cars are not just a commodity but are still an object of design

For us, it all start with the origins of our products and the British automotive industry embrace that, the British cars are clearly identifiable as a British cars. They can never be a German car or an Italian car or a French car. The same is true of course for our friends from my home country in Germany, where it’s very much about careful progression, stability and quality and the embrace of the machine. This vehicle here, we took out the Audi rings, but they very much embrace the fact that this car doesn’t want to look like it has ever been touched by the human hand: it is designed by a computer and built by a machine and this is a very respectful approach to their brand message about quality and precision.

Now, in we embrace the Italian way and nation. on the left we have a brand that I absolutely love Alessi, which turns a simple object into something optimistic, that puts a smile on your face Then we have Michelangelo. So it’s a very warm culture, about sculpture Our Fiat 120 embracing this optimistic Italian product design; Tonale that embraces the beautiful design of sculpture.

You might want why a German can stand up here and speak about . Actually the exterior designer of the Alfa Romeo Tonale is Greek, the interior designer is Russian, the head of the studio is American. So, how can we have the authority to speak about Italian design?

Well, we are the ingredients who come from all around the world that help create an iconic Italian product – because at the end of the day, it is the process that turn international ingredients into something very Italian, like with the expresso coffee beans that come from all over the world to make an Italian iconic beverage.

So, what is that Italian process? We are still very much embracing the fact that our sculpturers and people working in our Centro Stile, are working in the way of their ancestors, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. We embrace the Human shape, the sculpture. We believe that through evolution our brain has been trained to embrace the human shape and consider the human shapes as something positive, not negative, not threatening, like harsh angles.

So when we design our cars , even though yes we have virtual reality, yes we use the computer milling, digitalizing, everything, but at the end of day it’s still the human hand, the human touch that is the key to beautiful design here in in the automobile industry. And the result as you might notice. This is the Alfa Romeo Tonale, and it's not just about the beautiful sculpture of this car, it’s also identifying the right elements that make your product instantly recognizable (the scudetto in the front, the telephone dial wheels on the side) bc we have these iconic elements. Everything in between can be pure and relaxed. So we can create attention we avoid distraction. We can design desire.

We also have some American brands in our portfolio. We have Chrysler automobiles. And the same is true for American brands. They very much embrace that the Jeep in this case is from America. And the key here is I refuse to accept any proposals from my team when it

22 comes From fashion, Gucci or Armani. I want them to be inspired by what is inspiring for jeeps is nature. We threw out chrome, we replaced it with copper, now this might sound old to you because we are in 2019 and now you see copper all over in the car industry. But back when we did it, inspired by nature, we were the first ones to do it. I’ll give you another example of what we do with our American cars: again how to infuse passion and how to infuse soul: this is what we called Easter eggs. We call Easter eggs all these details that the salesmen will not tell you about that the commercials will not tell you about and you might never discover them, or you might, but they are there to put a smile on your face to show the passion of the design: this is what we call the dead pedal - this is where you rest your foot when you’re in the car. It could be any design. Look at the pattern of your foot pedal if you have a car: in our cases we have it turn into Moscow. On the left you see the name spelled out in the rivers and rocks… instead of random patterns these areas are for Jeep. And then on the top right we put skylines of Detroit embroidered into the rubber mat. And you see the history of mini-vans in the rubber mat of Chrysler Pacifica.

Let me move to another area: the new challenge is this - the design in the information age, or I would provocatively say, the design in the distraction age. Attention is a limited resource, we all have limited resources of attention. Right now I am fighting for your attention, and your phone is also fighting for attention. I am competing with your phone.

What can we do in cars to help you get through the day without distracting you, bc we are still pretty far away from self driving car, there are prototypes but before all of us can use them we are still have to keep our eyes on the road and avoid distraction. So the scenario is not who has the biggest screen, the story is how to get you the relevant information. And we have made many mistakes in the automotive industry, we believed that every feature needs a button so you can show what you paid for. Even when we went to screens, we made the same mistakes putting all the information onto this screen and not only the relevant information. So, no matter what the input device was, whether it was touching the button or the screen or now today voice, we have a challenge ahead where we can do much better in the automotive industry and that is to go from the crowded overloaded information to a curated experience, something where the information is pre- selected timely and only relevant for the time you need them.

We designers have to be information curators, we have to be storytellers - the Easter eggs - sculpturers, creating attractive shapes , we have to be craftsmen. Without quality and without embracing our team and engineering part we would fail. We have to be visionaries and understand what’s going on the society because above all to make a car will be relevant in the future, the self- owned car, we have to create an experience. Bc we believe the experiences will last beyond the product.

8. Philipp Rode Executive Director, LSE Cities, Urban Age Programme London Schools of Economics and Political Sciences

THE CITY AS THE ULTIMATE MOBILITY MACHINE AND A QUICK JOURNEY INTO TRASPORTATION SCENARIOS

I am going to take the mobility them a level up. Let’s make the case that it’s the city that is the ultime axcessibility machine that provides us with what we actually want, and what we want is access to each other and access to goods and services and perhaps most importantly access to inspiration and ideas.

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Moving Parts – The Making and Breaking of cities When we talk about the city we often talk about the city as a static object and we forget that it’s made of moving parts as much as it is made of statics objects.

And I would go on and argue that these moving parts, it’s the case of automobiles, are ultimately making or breaking cities. Let me take you first on a very quick journey how transport systems, technological innovations and the city have always been co-produced.

This a photo of Victorian London in the19th Century and a it’s a reminder of the combination of the terrace house which would have been impossible without the little steam train in the background and horse drawn tram. It was the first time the city could expand, as a result of mobility provided on a daily basis and over greater distances.

And with next industrial revolution became even better in creating urbanity, as you can see in Broadway in : it’s the electrification of our cities, electric trams but maybe more importantly, electric elevators for the first time allowing us to go vertical beyond eight stories. It created an enormous amount of urban life compressed into confined spaces in places like New York and at the time.

And then Post War came another revolution which transformed our cities for good. It’s of course the motor car with its infrastructure, in this case, the Los Angeles highway intersection and it dispersed human activities in urban territories beyond what we have ever seen and witnessed before and some would argue that this is the moment when no longer is the city which we are seeing here, but some form of urban agglomeration that has actually gotten rid of a lot of urbanity and the kind of associations we have with city life. So keep that in mind that - it’s a combination of our transport systems with urban life that is so much connected that we mustn’t commit the mistake in the future of disrespecting that connection again. Why. Because we have created endless cities - this is the periphery of Mexico City, a very dispersed urban territory and landscape where in this particular neighborhood human on an average commute to their jobs and offices and schools between 2 and 3 hours in one director per day. It’s the result of the proposition of the dispersed urban population and agglomeration. And at the same time the economy has remained fairly compressed in specific locations of cities. What you are seeing here is the workplace density of London, New York and Hong Kong. These cities have fairly comparable economies - the service sectors and of course the financial sectors and increasingly the tech industry - and they have one thing in common: they want people to be compressed as much as possible into finite spaces. That’s where we get the creativity going and that’s where we get the information flowing in cities. A 150,000 to 200,000 people per square kilometer that you see here on those peaks is not the density of floor space in an office, but the density of a neighborhood where the streets, the pub and cafe is as much a part of the economic equation as is the internal workplace density. If you access these densities that our economy needs and our global pro-activity has celebrated with privately owened vehicles, of course you get congestion and there is no city in the world that has solved the crisis of congestion. Here is Beijing which possibly radically tried to embrace the feeling of building highway infrastructures to get around that conundrum and it failed miserably and it’s now paying the cost of losing up to 15% of its GDP as a result of cars use in this city.

That’s just not congestion but of course it’s related to a few more major failings of the current urban transport systems in the world. You know all of them, because they are all headline issues and concerns in the news and still those statistics are shocking. This traffic congestion is producing

24 about 50% of the air pollution in the world which in total results in more than 4 million deaths. Traffic crashes in urban areas about half this figure is related to what’s happening in cities. It’s 1.3 million deaths per year and it’s the leading cause of death amongst young people between the age of 5 and 29 globally. And there are whole cities and communities which are often destroyed by the current way of moving about. And of course this morning we’ve heard about the ultimate crisis, the ultimate challenge; you will be aware of this beautiful illustration of our global climate crisis, showing in bands per year, that the average temperature increases from 1850 to 2018. This is very real and we can’t deny it any longer both in terms of its human inducedness and its reality. The sad story is that urban transport plays a central role in this equation. It’s only about 23% of our carbon global emissions that are trasport related, but the dynamic trends in transport are the most worrying in all sectors. If we keep transportation systems going as they did, we will be doubling emissions by 2050 and at the moment we will have 10 billion trips in cities per day worldwide, and they are increasingly motorized. And not only that. Even in countries where we have thought we would have solved the carbon emission equation in transport, we’ve seen very worrying trends. What you see here is over time from 1990 to 2017 are the carbon emissions for all major US cities in transportation, and you can see the effect of design here, the difference between a place like New York and Dallas: New York being of course for more carbon efficient because of its urban form allowing people to walk inside or take public transport. But there’s the second design story, design induced result in these emissions. And this is the most recent increase we have seen entirely unpredicted by anyone and only two weeks ago explored by the International Energy Agency. They were stunned to see this kind of increase and guess what they found. Sport utility vehicles (SUV), the second most important contributor to the increase in carbon emissions globally, is the reason why we’re seeing those trends reversing. Our shift from lighter older vehicles to heavy two or three ton vehicles is a global concern.

Let me end by speculating about the future. As we look forward at a conference which talks about what is next, I want to raise, in a polemic way, two major alternatives when we come to the eco-system of the city and its moving parts.

- The first question we need to ask is whether we are again prioritizing fixed ideas of vehicles and car design where the starting point of our mobility design is indeed the vehicle itself. To then have privately owned vehicles that in the end have been used less than 3% of the time and we know the landscapes in urban areas this kind of logic is producing.

Do we want to again design for high speed but move mostly in congested traffic over short distances? Is this really a machine for the city and the urban age? Do we want to design again for 5 seats but essentially only move one passenger for most of the time? And whether that’s electric or hybrid, if it takes this amount of space it does not matter, it does destroy the urban accessibility equation. So again we, after almost one hundred years where we introduced the private vehicle to our cities, are redesigning simply the 20th century car and just have it electric and autonomous. An idea which by the way has been around for some time and is now being embraced increasingly. Urban transport planners know that this equation is not helping cities.

Whether conventional, electric or autonomous car, the traffic jam will look the same. And are we really just trying again to adjust our urban space and infrastructure to that one machine, it seems some people think so. This is a car design by The Boring Company, by Tesla, a huge tunnelling operation proposed underneath Los Angeles - and London designers and architectural firms are taking that even further to provent and rethink the vehicles and structure everything around it. Instead, and this is the other polemic, can vehicles design make cities better and more accessible?

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Mobile phone also for making our cities accessible.

Can we really take seriously the opportunity we now have at hand literally with our mobile phones and mobile Internet in terms of making our cities successful? We think the traditional separation of what is public transport and private transport for example as the Berlin Public Transport Authority is doing with this flexible digital bus which by the way would allow us to revolutionize the many, very very innovative mini-taxi operators you will find in may cities around the world which are less crowded than our European cities. We have seen the seeds of the opportunity planted in bike-sharing and we are now seeing the opportunity of electrifying share bikes and e-scooters. These seem to be real opportunities and game changers and next year we will witness the Olympic Games in Tokyo where some of the athletes will be moved by the first autonomous vehicles, taxis in this case, in Tokyo and hope we learn the first lessons. And maybe most importantly, can we please re- understand that cars move on a conventional motorway about 2000 people per hour, but the buses in the bus lane move 40,000 people per hour in one direction. And if we do not understand and appreciate this as designers we are failing the city. So what’s happening in contained spaces or the manufacturing of the moving parts of our citues it’is urban design and I really urge all people involved in designing vehicles to think about their primary operational space that will ultimately be urban and urban territories and that will be absolutely central. And from my perspective as an urban person I would argue that the test of whether you got your design right or wrong is whether it helps to create an urban street we appreciate, that we would like to visit and enjoy.

9. Carlo Ratti Director Seanseable City Lab MIT, Boston

DATA WILL SAVE THE WORLD: MANHATTAN’S CASE STUDY

I want to show you how people thought about next a long time ago. There is actually a bunch of French designers that imagined think about 100 years ago how life could be in 2000. They got some things right. They saw mechanization in agriculture coming. They also saw Roomba (autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner- slide shows a big scrub brush attached to an automatic lever) to clear our homes, but they also got lots of things wrong about transportation. They thought that the aviation police (slide shows police flying with wings) would be moving like this in our cities, we would cross the oceans like this (slide shows a sort of blimp attached to a whale) and after firemen would act like this (slide shows dragons putting out fires).

So the bottom line is that when you’re thinking about next, it’s impossible to predict the future.

“The future is open. It is not predetermined. No one can predict it, expect by chance. We all contribute to determing it by what we do. We are all equally responsabile for it success” – Karl Popper

It is based on ideas that maybe some of you will have today at the conference and those things might trickle down and change tomorrow’s world. So we cannot predict it. All we can do is actually plan it today and try to change it and that is what design is about. To me, the best definition of design is is how design can help us to change today’s situation into perhaps a slightly better future.

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And that’s what we are doing in our design offices in New York, Turin and Singapore. We’re not going to talk much about the work with do there with Carlo Ratti & Associati. We’re very proud to be designing the Italian Pavilion for the World Expo in Dubai with our research operations at MIT in Boston and in Singapore, and some start-ups actually came out from them. It’s the the number three player in the United States in micro mobility. Some of the start-ups, the scooters and e-bikes that Philipp talked about is actually a company we started and which is becoming one of the big players in these places.

Today I want to tell you about data. Today we can see cities like that - we couldn’t have seen a city represented like this a few years ago. (shows map of Lisbon and then shows map of NYC). This is Lisbon and the map is using a billion of data collection points collected from the Taxi networks. This is visualization is from MoMA. But if you take this data you can do interesting things. The same data in New York shows taxis, pick-ups and drop-offs and you see JFK and you see Manhattan and all of the boroughs and here it’s mathemathics: you ask yourself how many trips could be shared in New York? If you look at those two points in Manhattan, there are hundreds of thousand of trips connecting them in the course of the year. So you ask yourself, how many of them could be shared? If you want to analyze a city like this you need to use design and also mathematics. It’s still a design question. How could we change the transportation system? We teamed up with the mathematics team at Cornell University to analyze this and what we discovered is interesting: you take Manhattan: we could take everybody to their destination exactley when they need to be there, give or take one, two or three minutes. The first results came out a few years ago. We started a collaboration between our team and Uber and as you might know, Uber Pool today does exactly that: allowing people going more or less in the same direction to share a ride means there’s one less car on the road and less congestion, less fuel consumption and pollution in our cities. The same thing we are actually applying now to transportation. I think this is quite absurd what is happening in our cities. Five years ago in the States I would go to shop at Whole Foods (large super market) twice a week and maybe buy a few other things. Today I’ve got 4 deliveries a day of this stuff coming to my home, (slide shows Prime Amazon truck), so its not sustainable. Again we can use mathematics to analyze the city and see how we can think about a better system. And a system that doesn’t destroy the richness of our cities. The mayor of Paris was telling me a few weeks ago, should we let Amazon or whatever other e-commerces take over when they want, what will happen to Paris? The beauty of Paris is the richness of commerce in the street, we can’t lose that, as we showed before. All of this requires a bit of understanding of the city. In a scientific paper in”Nature” magazine just a few months ago, a different question was asked. What is the minimum number of vehicles we need to keep on the move? 275,000 cars and 13,000 taxis drive through Manhattan daily. The video shows the traffic situation today in New York and how most taxis travel half vacant. Our mobility model finds the most efficient connections to serve all trips using big data to understand the city, hopefully optimizing the dynamic system. With autunomous vehicles, we could theoretically move Manhattan with 137,500 cars… 50% of today.

The city is a dynamic system that can be optimized.

We have a new spin-off company, the Minimum Fleet network to see how we can actually understand the system, in this case, Manhattan. Mobility - how we can make it better?

I want to show you one more thing about data as well. And it’s about design as well. It’s a design problem - how we can use the car to better understand infrastructure?

27 And I want to put this in Italy. You might remember the collapse of the famous bridge in Italy (Morandi) a little over a year ago that can be compared to a Bridge that collapsed in the US a fee decades ago. What we have been doing is to monitor what’s going on the data information from the bridge to understand better how we could avoid what happened in Genova last year, and not happening again. We fixed sensors and we monitor for example the Golden Gate in San Francisco. How about using the data we collected like this in our pockets (phones)? Data is the key thing, we collect them in our phones and in our cars. So we went to the Golden Gate bcit’s a very well known bridge and we started collecting all this information goingback and forth hundred times and we discovered that with it we can actually monitor the city in a much better way. Just one message. Data today allows us to better understand the city, we absolutely need mathematics, big data knowledge in order to make sense of the environment and see, going back to the initial point, the car/population quota - how we can use this to turn today’s condition into a future hopefully better?

(Hubcab: is an interactive visualisation that invites you to explore the ways in which over 150 million taxi trips connect the city of New York into a given year.

10. Hong Zhou President Huawei European and Russian Research Institutes

Interview by Johanna Agerman Ross

How does HUAWEI’s work in research and development respond to ideas about the future? Huawei is the leading global provider of ICT infrastructures and smart devices, focusing on Communication Networks, Consumer business, Car ICT, Cloud & AI solutions. We are committed to bringing the latest technological advances to every person for a fully connected, intelligent world, serving more than one third of the world’s population (3 billion people), in more than 170 countries. During the past 20 years, we have seen a rapid development of the ICT industry and according to the estimations given by GSMA, the mobile information will increase more than 100 times within the next 10 years. There are similar trends in the cloud and AI businesses. In order to provide high quality services and create better solutions for the future, Huawei invests about 15% of its revenues for research and development, of which about 70% for certain delivery and 30% on uncertain research. In Europe, I am responsible for establishing R&D centres and joint Labs so as to work closer with telecom operators, academic and industrial partners, standard organizations and ecosystems for open and joint win-win innovation to solve today’s practical problems and to create new future solutions, new ecosystems, new theories and new technologies, such as 5G, 6G and the next generation of optical communication, advanced cloud and AI computing, sensors, camera, IoT and AR/VR, etc. In the meantime, we are supporting professors’ fundamental researches. We are giving courses and lectures to students, providing scholarships, industrial PhDs and intern positions to educate and cultivate young generations. According to you, what is the relationship between communications technology, and mobility? Already in the last 10 years mobile phone technology has revolutionized the way that we move around cities, and navigate them. It has made food deliveries possible, these have had radical impacts on the way that we live and work, In the same way, Amazon has transformed the way that we shop, creating a massive new delivery infrastructure but undermining the traditional retailing sector. Where are the current developments taking us?

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Mr. Rode and Mr. Ratti have expressed their concerns on the urge for bringing solutions to mobility in the cities. The era of digital has of course already brought fantastic solutions, as ride sharing apps. Etc. Communication technology is the footstone of the information industry. It does not only enable voice & video call, internet browsing, e-commerce and e-bank today, but will also enable connected vehicles, digital factories and mobile Health in the future. Several years ago, we started to collaborate with Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and did many joint trials on the potential requirements for the next generation of connected, high performing and safe mobility services. We have created new communication technology with only 1ms latency that can help taking immediate actions 1000 times faster than ourselves and reduce the safety interval from 45m to 0.8m at 100Km/hour speed on the highway. This technology can also help to save 20% energy by platooning driving. Based on these joint trials, we initiated the 5GAA association and some technologies were accepted by European industry, Chinese industry and the 3GPP standard Instead of independent transportation tools, the future vehicles will be part of fully connected networks. Future vehicles will be as big movable devices and the third living spaces (after home and office) and therefore take an important role in people’s lives. Besides road mobility, we are also doing joint trials on future air mobility that will maybe fly 10 times faster and use 10 times less energy in the city environment compared with road mobility. For example, if you want to go to JFK airport by taxi from Times Square, it takes you about 60 minutes and 60$ for 15 miles distance. In the future, we hope that with air mobility you will need only 5 minutes and 5$. Can you imagine the impact on time, the economy of resources, sustainability and wellbeing? In the meantime, we are also collaborating with Bosch and KUKA to create future on-demand agile customization manufacturing. Based on these collaborations, we initiated the 5GACIA association. We are also collaborating with hospitals to improve service quality and reduce waste thanks to ICT technologies. How does you see the relationship between technology and design? There are those who see design as the only way to make technology useful and useable, do you agree? Yes, definitely. In Huawei, we have system design, chipset design, software design, product design as well as user experience design. I think design is the most important bridge between technology and user experience. This is why we have established design research centres in Milan, Paris, London and Munich. This is also the reason a company like Huawei decided to take part in this conference about Next design perspectives. We collaborate with academic partners like Politecnico di Milano, ENSCI in Paris and the Royal College of Art in London; famous brands such as Moschino, Gentle monster, Leica and Porsche design; as well as top design (and trend) agencies such as Fjord, Frog, Phoenix Design, Future Concept Lab, and Peclers to name a few. Based on these design centres, we can have deep understanding of customer requirements, and develop high quality and better user experience solutions from aesthetics, psychological, and engineering point of views. For example, we just delivered our Mate30pro 5G smartphone: This is not only the highest performing 5G phone, but also the best camera phone. There is one 40MP movie camera, one supersensitive camera, one optical zoom camera and one 3D depth camera. Caroline Issa questions about data Vs desire. Of course, machine will never take away the beauty of human creativity, ultimate desire you feel inside you, irrational creative intuitions Patricia Urquiola mentions. What we do is bring ‘superpowers’ to creativity, like super eyes for example. We build technologies at the service of creativity. But creativity is also empowered by our technology.

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It is fascinating to see the impact of technological evolution in shaping our times and creativity, unleashing new forms of talents & skills. Millennials were the writing generation with text messaging; GenZers are the image makers, and GenAlphas are moving images makers. When you think about it, influencers are born thanks to the digital era. New forms of creativity are born. Now with our devices, everyone can express its desire for image making & sharing. Huawei will continue to develop video shooting capabilities, which will allow you to record Ultra- Low light, Ultra-slow motion, Ultra-Wide angle and AI Time-lapse (7680 frames per second) videos, enabling everyone to make films about their own stories with Huawei mobile phones. I’d also like to comment the words of Marcus Engman when he says: “We are not in the business of making things, we are in the business of making things better (….) A vision with empathy at core” Our engineers also design with empathy to bring solutions to problems. This way of doing, also became one of our fundamental company values. We talk about customer centricity because we strive to bring solutions to our customers’ problems or needs. The StorySign project is a great example of this. Bringing solutions drive our creative intuitions & visions every day. Could you speculate about the hardware that Huawei will be making: is there a direction you can see that would represent as big a step change as the first-generation smart phone from 12 years ago? I think a fully connected and intelligent world will come based on the significant breakthrough of information perception, communication and computing. We are developing much better perception than human being. For example, today’s smartphone camera is an auxiliary solution for human eye. Also, some scientists are trying to connect the camera with nervous systems. If we make this possible, I believe we will be able to develop alternative and even augmented solutions that are much better than human eye.ccBrain interface development is another important project. We hope to create relative solutions of better education for young people, and a better life for old or disabled people in the future. We are also developing the next generation of very high performance wireless communication that will enable us to contact people on the other side of earth just like within 1 meter distance, and enable more and more robots in the homes and offices, in the factories and farms, in the cities and hospitals. Finally, we are developing the next generation of intelligent computing model and hope it can not only do guarding, sweeping and cooking in the home, but also improve the safety performance of autonomous driving and flying, do lot of works in difficult circumstances, create more and more wealth and value in factories, farms and hospitals. From smart personal devices to smart homes, from smart mobility to smart cities, science, technology, art and design will help us create a better life, better work, better environment and a better society in the future. This is what we do. Bring better solutions for Humanity.

// FASHION IN A DIGITAL ERA // Presented by Tony Chambers, Creative Director, Design Consultant and Editor

11. Adrian Cheng Founder K11 Group (video)

Does the traditional shopping mall have a future? I don’t think the traditional mall will have a future because it's only a box and shops, I think the necessity of going to a mall just to shop and buy things, there’a a lot of outlets and channels that can fulfill that purpose. What we should think of it’s thinking of curating a space. K11 is a symbol. We already have a K11 office, and then K11 Artus which is the new hospitality brand from Art + Domus which means home. We also have a K11 design store, K11 beauty store so it becomes more like a lifestyle symbol and a way to live. How does fashion look from Asia?

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Few years ago people looked at Asia as a marketplace. In the last 2 years Asia becomes a creativity hub - if you think creativity from Thailand, from China from different areas, Asia has been growing in creativity, in design… You see a lot of innovative novel fashion trends and design in Asia. So moving from just a marketplace or a big market to become a creativity hub and I can see that in the next 5 to 10 years as the new designers come out and brands are spending the money to come out and really talk to the Millennials. How does Europe look from Asia? Europe of course has embedded veryy deeply creativity and artists and fashion history. Crucial part for Europe is the craftmanship. Craftsmanship is something I don’t think anyone can find just anywhere in the world. You go to Italy, you go to Paris. Those artisans, those craftsmen have spent many decades and generations to create that level of maturity in their skills and I think that’s something that’s very high value. Asia does look at craftsmanship but it looks more at the design level and very fast moving. The marketplace and e-commerce are so extremely mature in Asia. You are able to buy anything online, so that means you can also replace things easily online. You get access to new look book so quickly through e-commerce platforms. So from China you can have Alibaba, social media and e- commerce, channel Xiu. We have Tokipidia, Lazada……different types of e-commerce platforms that you are be able to access to. Describe to us who are the people that come to K11 At our K11 Musea which is the Silicon Valley of culture, you can come and experience about our biodiversity or take a 2 hour tour and learn about sustainability and also butterflies. You can also come to learn about floral art, classes of floral art where we mix flowers with art to crate one of a kind art installation. You can come for high tea. You can stay there for three hours and enjoy all the beautiful architecture, communicate and talk to your friends. You can always learn about our artisanal objects in the shops - each shop has its own limited editions, one of a kind store design and special products that celebrate creativity and also craftsmanship. How do you see the balance of power between the retail brand and the landlords’ brand? The shops and brands will work closely together within a physical space so they can co-curate the entire space together. So from the shop design to the objects and the product that they offer. The more we talk together to align our vision the better, because the energy, the ambience and the experience of the entire emotion offered to the customer, when they go to the space, will be much more impactful. In that sense there will make more money but at the same time they can also exhibit and demonstrate their brand value much more stronger and with more brand value. What are your next steps in China? I’m not really worried about the future thats why I’m building up to 36 K11 by 2024 in 9 cities in China. The 36 varies from K11 office, K11 artists’ department, K11 which is the retail space. All will be creating a journey of imagination and curating something beyond experience. But the most important thing that we have set up here is the K11 Craft and Guild Foundation. I set it up two years ago to preserve and also to conserve the fast-disappearing Chinese craftsmanship, for example Guangcai hand-painted porcelain, which is a tecnique in porcelain and ceramics. We try to conserve that. There are only 100 artisans in China doing Guangcai; we do documentations, exhibitions, videos and also apprenticeship programs for them so they can pass on their techniques to the next generation. Also mostly importantly it is to expose these beautiful artisanal objects to the world. It is about preserving and conserving a history and also conserving and preserving some human touch that I think it is also very important. What worries you most about the future? I’m a little bit worried about one thing and that thing is that people are starting to forget. You know you have social media, you have technology… everything is fleeting and fast. People are loosing the affinity to the idea of authenticity. And the integrity of truth of things. And I think that we really need to go back to simplification, simply, and detox and start to look back on who you are, or what

31 the world is doing and what is the integrity and authenticity of every single thing. The hopeful side is that I think the new Millennials and new generations love creativity and love culture and they love to know more. if you have curiosity you grow. 12. Nadja Swarovski CEO Swarovski

HISTORY AND CONTEMPORARY TIMES

I can tell you the story of Swarovski in the last 120 years. My great great grand father Daniel Swarovski who was really living the industrial age, and what he experienced back was the tremendous fear that humans had of the machine and the fact that that machine might actually dehumanize the world. But in the case of Daniel Swarovski and other companies the opposite happened. He was a glass cutter in Bohemia that was the home to glass cutting and he went to the first electricity fair in Vienna in 1862 when he saw a machines by Edison and Siemens, embraced this machine that sped up the entire crystal making process.

“I want to create a diamond that every woman can afford” – Daniel Swarovski He was able to create crystals faster, with greater quality and in greater quantity but mostly importantly it was able to make women know what it feels like to wear a diamond. Suddenly people could afford to wear something beautiful, to adorn and express themselves and to empower themselves. That's the motto we are trying to carry forward in the 21st century. But with the creation of crystal jewelry stones he then very quickly supplied handcrafts to couturiers in Paris and his first customer was Worth who was a British couturier based in Paris carefully embroidering the crystals into for example the first customer that was Queen Victoria - the crystals on her gown - it was beautiful to see her wearing the crystals on her gown while she was wearing her beautiful diamonds. The flapper era happened. It ws all about self-expression: women cut their hair which meant there was more room for sparkles on the décolleté and women started to smoke, to do sports and to dance.

Eventually the great couturier Christian worked hand in hand with my grandfather Alfred to create a special stone called Aurora Borealis, which today is still our best selling stone and it shows how important it was to get the vision of a fashion designer with our industrial process.

Fast-forward, in the movie industry, suddently the silver screen went to color: we worked with such stars as Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn – her beautiful tiara and jewels in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” were meant to be diamonds but they were nothing but Swarovski crystals! Our expression of creativity on the screen. We are very proud to be part of Marilyn Monroe’s serenade to JFK…. to Rhianna, which was then translated to the extraordinary outfit when she won an award.

PUSHING THE FASHION BOUNDARIES Moving to the later part of the century, we met Isabella Blow, an incredible fashion and art historian, that recognized the power of creativity of crystals. She introduced us to such amazing people like Alexander McQueen, who truly used crystals on the catwalks as an ingredient among other ingredients like leather, metal, wood, plastic… he brought the essence of the material to the highest power of creativity and expression.

We have an amazing example of crystals in the digital era with Hussein Chalayan: this is a video on the LD screen. And then working with fashion designers like Victor & Rolf who put the crystals in black paint: this image shows the power of the other geometric shapes.

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This is a beautiful installation at the V&A in London: again fashion art history and I really hope it will influence new designers and take them back to designing, really the heart of .

SUPPORTING THE NEXT GENERATION OF DESIGN ICONS We have supported a lot of fashion designers who really embrace the future: for example Alexandre Vauthier. It has been such a pleasure to watch them growing, and to go from prêt-a-porter to haute-couture We are working with Mary Katrantzou and with the French designer Kevin Germanier: we are giving him our used crystals to upcycle them into his fashion, and this is something we are encouranging more and more with the emerging talents. To use crystals that are damaged. And then we work with Iris Van Herpen, really embracing modern and new materials.

CAPTURING THE DESIGN PROCESS DIGITALLY Designers and brands connecting directly with end consumer digitally to communicate design process, craftsmanship, sustainable manufacturing and responsible supply chain

The young designers: they have fashion shows but also digital contents to reach more people that the ones that come to the fashion show.

Consumers wants to know that their fashion is green and fair

STUDENTS OF TODAY, DESIGNERS OF TOMORROW We support design schools and designers who emphasize sustainability We support some programs. We believe in our role to educate and collaborate with students and academia to inspire positive action through the promotion of sustainability In the last two years we have run Conscious Design projects across 11 global design schools, integrating sustainability into their curricula Partner schools include Central Saint Martin’s in London, Parsons School of Design in NY and La Salle College of Arts in Singapore

We are very fortunate with design schools today, looking at the future and at sustainability, usability of materials…more considerate ways towards the planet.

SOME LIGHT INSTALLATIONS Here’s another example of how we use the old. Gabriel installation by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec , Versailles Palace: it’s the first permanent contemporary installation, it’s an extraordinary chandelier because it lights up as it gets dark outside.., totally respectful towards the enviroment, this traditional building, the past and the historical element. The Ronan & Erwan Bouroulec brothers are so educated in terms of design and art and they are very contemporary. Some of you might remember our Lolita chandelier by Ron Arad, that was connected to a Sim card, so you so you can send cards and messages. After a while it exploded because too many people tried to connect to the chandelier: a very good example of humanization or human interaction. Then we have another installation by the Bouroullec brothers that explores glass, water and light, technology in one. We installed it the same week where the very aggressive Gilets jaunes demonstration took place on Champs-Elysées, where a lot of stores were destroyed, also the Swarovski one, but this chandelier was absolutely untouched. And the message to us is that this is

33 great example of bringing art to the public, making art democratic and enhancing the beauty of the light. This is another installation by designer Anjali Srinivasan which contains light into the cystals and if you touch it the crystals light up. Again, this is another example of modernitation of the chandelier, which led us to reinterpret the chandelier and we got this amazing designers which truly express their own spirit and their own creativity.

In terms of stores, we are so proud, we worked with Patricia Urquiola on the digitalization of our stores and we’ve seen a greater interaction with the Millennials. We are now training our sales people to be stylists and to educate the customer on how to use the crystals and then we have photo booth and so on… so the digitalization is a great showcase. We just opened the store and in the first week we saw an increase of 70% in terms of sales, which shows you the impact of digitalization to the customer.

In terms of Business to Business, we created new digital platforms where customers can now order their crystals online, reducing time to market and making manufacturing and shipping faster Digitizing is supporting sustainability efforts as partners and end consumers are connected closer to our sustainability information and products.

CONSCIOUS DESIGN AND POSITIVE SOURCING In terms of sustainability, we need a lot of water to cut our stones, so 20 years ago we created Waterschools in South America, North America… We support the teaching for students about water, its scarcity, pollution and sanitation and for children this is an incredible increase of self- confidence and great awareness of environment and that individuals can have a very positive impact on their environment. We are very proud to have our Waterschool films on Netflix.

I want to show you other examples where the impact of celebrities is certainly encouraging everyone, whose voice is bigger and stronger and being heard around the world for Nature conservation. We had Penelope Cruz as a voice for Swarovski’s sustainability and diamonds. Of course we appreciate diamonds especially if they are sourced sustainably and lab-grown as an answer to sustainability in fair trade of diamonds. The pieces are created with fair trade gold, and this is something that looks at circular economy. The Fairtrade Gold used in the 18K Atelier Swarovski collection comes from Minera Limata Limitada co-operative in Peru. The open pit mine has been certified since the beginning of the year and provide members with an additional source of income to help them improve their livelihoods.

POSITIVE PRODUCTION Our manufacturing plant in Austria is green, we run a Positive Production program across its strategic priority areas: water stewardship, women’s empowerment and fair partnerships. 76% of our total water demand is met with recycled water 77% of Swarovski employees are women, with 40% in senior managers positions 35% of our energy comes from renewable sources We always talk about the triple bottom line: the three “p’s”, people, planet and profit and we believe that all three can be targeted at the same time.

MARKETING In terms of marketing, we want to take advantage of our retail stores to educate our consumer about our values, which are about conserving nature. We’re using celebrities and sports people for values.

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Here we have a photo of Penelope Cruz creating the Fall collection and the proceeds from this will go to the Nature Conservation in Brazil for the reforestation program. We are also working with the designer Susan Rockefeller who created a bamboo collection.

Again proceeds from that will go to the Nature Conservancy in China for reforestation. And we have the beautiful Catherine Prevost collection, Sea Life to raise awareness of endangered or at risk species in the Caribbean; proceeds will go in support of the St. Vincent & The Grenadines Environment Fund.

So we are educating our consumer and we support Institutions that are doing something very pro- actively about conserve the environment. We also created the Swarovski Award for Positive Change. The Award, given in partnership with the British Fashion Council and the CFDA, recognises and celebrates individuals who have made a positive impact on society and the environment, and forms part of Swarovski’s efforts to promote a more sustainable future for us all. Recipients of the awards since 2016 include: Franca Sozzani, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dame Vivienne Westwood, Kenneth Cole and Diane Von Furstenberg.

Just a few weeks ago at the UN in New York City we launched the One x One program, which pairs scientists with designers and support them in new ways of creation that is good for the Earth for People. One x One aims to address: Circularity, Humanity, Renewable technology through the lens of design.

Evolution keeps on going and I can always appreciate the past and my great great grandfather: five generations up to the digital era, that we really embrace but we make it work for us today and not to become sleaves to the digital era.

13. Vittorio Radice Vice-Chairman LaRinascente

OVER 100 YEARS OF HISTORY TO GET PEOPLE TOGETHER

Before Deyan showed us the picture of a store closing down. Thank you very much!

Let’s meet, let’s talk, let’s laugh, let’s have lunch, let’s have a coffee, let’s love. Let’s discuss something. I am sure we will be able to measure everything we do in our life, but this is something that we actually miss most of the time, and that’s what we are dedicating ourselves to: getting people to meet, getting people to talk and meetand share things.

There is a guy there that has 20 Instagram followers, 20 only, but he knows everyone by name, he knows their kids, he knows their parents, the football team they are supporting. He doesn’t have million of followers, only 20 and most of the time, when he sells something, he doesn’t want to be paid, he says take it for free. At the end, that’s what our business is all about: making people to meet again.

Most of the time we think we go to a market to shop. It's not true. Most of the time we go to meet people, to show what we bought the week before: do I look good? Do I look bad?

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We buy things today to share it with others. And that place provides the platform to meet people and to share. Half the people here wear make-up today, they don’t wear it for them, they wear it for someone else, and that’s where they go to show their make-up. This store is in Piazza del Duomo, has been opened for over 100 years like most of our stores in Italy, in Germany, in Denmark… this year for the first time we will probably reach 12million visitors. It’s the first time ever for us to reach 12million, we have always been about 9-10, we have been growing over the years. And again our job in the last 10 years has been to transform a store from selling products to a meeting place: a place where people really enjoy to come, where there is still smile to look at, where there is still a conversation. I give you an example how intensive these places are: a visitor at Selfridge's that came to the shop everyday, his name was Peter, he was a computer wizard, he sold his company making a lot of money and he was coming to the store everyday. Once Chris, who was used to work in the stationery department, had to go the bathroom and he asked Peter to mind the department. So this is one customer selling products on behalf of Selfridge’s without been paid: when you reach that you have a beautiful store.

This store is in Hamburg; in terms of sustainability we have been investing in city centers for the last hundred years. And putting each time millions and millions in those buildings and keeping the city center alive and being the engine of the city center is a big responsibility. And it’s a big challenge. We have been working with the Municipality all around to make all the stores and the streets pedestrian, to take the cars away and most of the time we pay entirely to repavethat the street and planting of the trees… We are almost the biggest employer in the city center. We have a store in Berlin, called KaDeWe, which is more than 5000 people working in one store alone. We have been training and educating people, we have a new platform to show new products for the last 100 years - and of course by doing that we entertain millions of people. Two more slides: one is regarding a new development in Düsseldorf where we have been taking an old store of over 100 years, we put in 150millions euros and David Chipperfield is design the place and then last week we just announced a new store in Vienna designed by OMA opening in 2023 (it will cost 200millions)

When we open this kind of stores you can not make mistakes.

14. Sara Ferrero Ceo Valextra

VALEXTRA: HERITAGE WITH AN ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN TWIST

Valextra was founded in 1937, so 82 years ago. At the time a lot of people really loved it but it never managed to become a big company like Chanel or Gucci.

So the real point was why a company that has done beautiful things and not only in women bags and has really big amount of patents and put beauty and innovation at the center for more than 82 years was not growing. That was my big question when I came here. So I really looked in a very basic and simple way and we were always thinking about luxury and heritage and craftsmanship and that was what we were talking and thinking about our product. But there was something missing and somehow we went back and started thinking what makes Valextra something quite unique - and it was really about the Vitruvian architecture points that you have to put together: beauty, functionality and durability. But now something was missing and it was an emotional touch and this is what we did through a community, which is what I want to share you today.

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So these are some of the people that I brought participating in the last three years, to reboot Valextra. We have worked in more than 80 projects in 3 years with more than 38 creative people. So Valextra doesn’t have a creative director, we have a huge amount of creativity helping us.. And these people actually come mostly from the design and architecture world. I just want to show you some slides to show what we actually did. Partially we were inspired by other people. Tadao Ando was the first inspiration when I started in 2015. But also Ettore Sottsass as an inspiration: our bags are really pure and clean and geometric and we wanted to create 50 bags all different in really crazy colors. We wanted to do an object like the Superbox of Ettore Sottsass. We really wanted to show people functionality and make something different, personal and emotional.

And this is Franzoni, an incredible person who worked for Valextra and invented one of the first travel bags that still represent us today. He threw it off the 10th floor of a building to check if it would break or not, it didn’t break - he created this in 1962 and it is still one of most modern products that you can find around.

Now going to a much closer period; here’s a collaboration with did with Snarkitecture: a very experimental team led by Daniel Arsham and Alex Mustonen. Or the collaboration with Laura Bethan Wood, where basically she designed the handle. She did like seven different handles all made from the same piece and just put together in different ways. This was a beautiful bag we sold it out in two weeks and a half and it’s not a cheap bag at all.

This is Achille Castiglioni, one of my favorite architects ever and again how we could put together a product and a story in Milano and we really start working on a lot of his designs and a lot of his ideas and try to put together a product that could have heritage, beauty and also a sense of today.

Kengo Kuma: last year we worked on an installation and he wanted to take the forest in the city, so we worked on an installation that lasted one year. He wanted to translated this in a product then.

This is our last collaboration and product: with Michael Anastassiades, Fall Winter 19. The beauty of working with all these people is not just about products, but it’s really the process of thinking more like a luxury product, like a house that lasts forever. With fashion often the problem is the sense of seasonality.

We don’t do sales. We don’t do discounts. So these products last like a church or like a house. How do we do this? Actually with the help of these amazing people that really have this way of thinking.

So these are our sneakers done with Ross Lovegrove and we have still to launch them. It’s not only about designers or architects, it can be also an incredible company like a long time collaboration we have done with Chiso, probably the oldest company that does kimonos. I went to see them and I was nearly in tears for the beauty and so we tried to some bags.

Let’s talk now about space and how products need also a home. The idea of Valextra as a home is about stores that are all different. Many people have asked me: how do you do every store different? This is because if you have a home or two/three homes I don’t believe you are going to have all the same. I imagine all your homes all different but they still talk about who you are, but they respect the place where you are…

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This store was done by Martino Gamper and the idea was Magnetism. This was another installation we did with Nilufar the same year. All different but very Valextra at the same time.

The idea of our store in London on Mount Street is about being a moment of encounter, an intimate place with a sense of home.

The store we did with Snarkitecture in Milano had the idea of a kind of cloud, of a place of stillness. All these stores allowed the Milano store to increase the traffic by 9 times in three years. It’s not just interesting and beautiful, but it attracts and makes people more engaged.

Another example is the store in Chengdu done by Neri & Hu in 2017. And here we also a did a performance with street artist Ozmo. You see this in Gucci but we did a couple of year before to try to use the urbanistic approach and coming with something new and engaging.

Finally this is last year installation with Kengo Kuma: how you can create a forest in the city. All these plants were then transformed in desks and so the 122 plants are being reused for offices and the offices of people that work with us. with Martino Gamper, Miami with Aranda Lash, Hong Kong by Max Lamb… and this is our latest store in Milano. After we have done so many stores and installations, we kind have arrived a full circle and we feel like today we need to put a center to the product: we asked John Pawson to design for us the Milanese store more like a gallery where we could change and interact and put anything we love so we are now starting also to commission specific projects and after we sell them. For example we did an installation with Michael Anastassiades and the lamp has become a collectable lamp so we have produced ten of them and sold 5 to collectors.

To create spaces that can last for long time, all different so people don’t get bored when they visit different cities but they really want to go and see our stores and check what’s new.

We want to be luxury, timeless and respect our past but at the same time engage all kind of age and we have to do that with creativity and at the same time with products and spaces and online.

15. Carolina Issa Ceo and Fashion Director Tank Magazine

The future of fashion has been approached by many prospectives and I am sure you have your own too on this topic. I would argue that all of us here are in the business of selling fashion - I make and sell magazines. but even if you make or sell cars or coffee or crystals, there’s something that connects us all. We are in businss of selling “a want” rather than a need. We are selling objects of desire before things of necessity. Of course in these uncertain times to talk about the future of anything feels a little bit like a sign of madness. At the same time fashion has always been about the next big thing, about newness. In fashion the future is really hurtling towards us faster than ever. Our ever more connected world is rightly blamed for the speeding up. Digital communication and information technology has transformed the fashion industry but these themselves are not immune from cycles of change. As an editor or as a CEO you invest in Snapchat or I would like to see TikTok sweep it completely aside. You ignore fashion editors for influencers, only to find that is influencer is micronized to a micro-influencer. Fashion has taken too long to take digital seriously and we’re playing catchup ever since.

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At the same time the very idea of consumer capitalism is facing new challenges, inspired by the growing environmental movement, prosting for example at London Fashion Week. That could be just a taste of things to come. It means fashion is in serious danger of becoming deeply unfashionable. We see that is coming. Relying on data alone can be very dangerous because the very nature od data is always relying on what is slightly in the past. Marshall McLuhan, a fellow Canadian, said that driving towards the future just by looking in the rear view mirror, pot holes can appear from nowhere. Fashion find itself a bit at crossroad at the moment. Some one will rely on data, others on creativity and generating desire. I proposed for the industry to dig itself out of this hole and it needs to rely on both fundamentals: data and desire. These two ideals apparently at odds with each other are two centers of gravity which the fashion industry finds itself today.

Now let me give you some context about my self and what I do at Tank very speedily. I joined Tank 17 years ago back in 2002 at the time when independent publishing was being invented and fashion shows were small intimate affairs and the first dot.com bubble had just burst. I studied economics at Wharton and have been living the life of a young management consultant in Asia before I thrust myself into the world of fashion publishing in London. Tank has always been experimental in form. We launched it in 1998 with a format - the size of the palm of your hand. Subsequently we had other ideas, such as a green bound magazine, a super sized magazine or a print run only using words describing every picture including the ads. We’ve always maintained a sense of mission and social commitment. For our 15th anniversary we commissioned two artists for artwork which we then auctioned at Sotheby’s for the charity, womenforwomen. A mainstream magazine like Vogue for example, their job is to tell you what’s happening, who’s important now, what you should be listening to, the fashion of today. Tank however has very different aim, our job is to speculate and look with a long telescope into the future. We ignore the people of now and even of the next, we’re looking much further forward.

A 2008 talk session shows people like Bryan Boy or Pharrel Williams and a first time film director, Steve McQueen, who went on to win the Oscar.

6 years ago we debuted the “Fashion Scan” - I thought that that technology was going to revolutionize publishing but I was completely wrong - still time yet!

Our job is to constantly speculate about the future. One example is Tina, who made Tank the first audible magazine. Tina is a text to speech synthesizer powered by a machine-run algorithm, which means that every time she reads one of our articles, she gets better and better. We partnered with the Observer, the London newspaper, to create O by Tank, an early pioneer in the quarterly luxury fashion supplements in mass circulation newspapers. And along our magazine, back in 2002 we launched Tank creative agency which brought together content creation, communication and brand strategy using the lessons we have learned in story- telling to apply to like-minded partners. I have demonstrated that the Tank job is to think about the future by constantly and earnestly sampling it. To quote William Gibson, “The future is already here it’s just that it’s unevenly distributed.” What do I see for the future of fashion, let me return to the two ideas I started with: data and desire. Our understanding and use of data have been totally transformed by algorithm powered by artificial intelligence. These study our behaviors and anticipate our decisions and plan our response to it. The uses of big data are limitless and fascinating to any one of us here in the industry. No wonder that big data is so seductive because it will always give us an incomplete picture. More data isn’t necessarily the solution because what algorithm would have anticipated that a designer like Alesssandro Michele if Marco Bizzari was a data driven manager, would he take such risks? Data is always wiser after the fact. The poets, the creators, the artists, they arrive before although they often get it wrong. The human desire has always been impossible to contain, constrain or limit with all

39 the technology before. This is why the desire is so important. The desire for more things that has fueled economic growth for centuries is finally ebbing because of environmental concerns. You don’t have to be a fully paid-up member of extinction rebellion to appreciate that this sentiment is impacting the goods for every category. Some brands have rejected this and continue to push against the current tide of public opinion, believing that even this too shall pass, but it’s clear that those who strive to embrace the change by doing their best or their bit to create things of sustainable values, are the most likely ones to succeed. The example of carbon neutrality as Marco has pointed out this morning is a case in point. A small designer like Gabriela Hearst claims to have the first carbon neutral fashion show during New York Fashion week. Allbirds, a sustainable sneaker start-up that makes their shoes out of wool, sugar, trees also have a carbon neutral off-setting program in their business model from the start. They also embrace open-sourcing of their knowledge allowing mega-brands to learn from them. And of course this year Gucci’s announcement of being carbon neutral had a massive impact on the resto of the industry. The fashion industry has to contend with the sostenibility and the data revolution. All these products connected to consumers from the communication perspective is also undergoing introspection and re-evaluation. The last decade has shown the promises of the digital frontier and new global horizons to be fleeting and illusory. The rush to embrace the digital has burnt fingers too. Social media platforms powered by the big tech companies promised direct access to customers; yet this vision is now being challenged in the mainstream by someone like Elizabeth Ann Warren who attacks the monopolistic and anticompetitive behavior of these tech companies. It’s a behavior we know well. In the fashion industry, a platform like Instagram at first appeared like a new high street thrown in with customers with no rent to pay. Now we are finding out that the digital landlords can be every bit as greedy as their counterparts in the real world. As organic reach is being pushed lower and lower and as the cost of acquisition is getting higher and higher, the value that we’re needing and the best one to communicate, brand communities, is being up-ended yet again. At least in the real world you can move from neighborhood to neighborhood to offset those high rents, but in the digital economy, there are usually just a few landlords who own everything. Over the last few decades, the rise of the Brick economy was a vast boom to the fashion business. After the initial excitement of this discovery, these markets ended yup behaving just like everybody else. Today Chinese brands are accessing their domestic markets, just like Bollywood, K-Pop and Turkish soap operas have to compete with Western products to great success. European brands have all now found themselves with a whole new ballgame of competition.

Now a shift in behavior operates at many levels. Little did we know that even 5 years ago, the changing room would become the most important and critical place for communal shopping and shaping opinion. The phenomenon of the live streaming shopping channels and the power of the unique platform that has secure transactional power connected to the community and social connectivity; it seems to me to be limitless. Here’s an example I actually recorded on my WeChat platform channel yesterday which shows a woman live-streaming her wearing her own clothes. You can click onto the jacket she’s wearing and buy it immediately. Now this is done actually in China in a warehouse full of these little studios but they’re coming over into the retail department stores. These changes mean that fashion brands must be alert to new influencers who share, buy and transact in a little room with their lfollowers and who are making thousands of dollars a day in commissions helping their local followers indulge in shopping in London, Milan and Paris. The changing room is just one example of how influence has been redefined. All of us are wary of numbers now and with the fluctuating nature of algorithms, matching the right audience to the right product is ever more critical. Isn’t it better like Vittorio Radice says, to have 1000 highly super engaged super fans rather than a million out there just passively looking.

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In the participatory culture of today, brands must be culturally open, sensitive and vigilant consistently. The Gen Z, those age 16 to 21 today are ever more suspicious of paid partnerships and the loss of their data by platform capitalism. We see them moving away from consumption of goods and instead they’re making memories, they’re spending time in the real present, buying books, vinyl, travel and food. They’re playing Fortnite in their bedroom and being connected to their friends miles away. Twitch recently live streamed the largest ever virtual concert with 10.7 million people where a DJ played a live set. This is where they’re spending their time. There are tons of presentation out there that emphasizes the importance of data information and I don’t think I can add to it with a certain level of competence. Everything from targeting customers like big data to using AI to write fashion copy, to the latest CRN bots (robots) to AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) experiences… none of these can’t be underestimated.

All I can say is the ability to tell a story with relish, write a clever headline or conceive a fashion editorial are all intangible skills that will always require a human touch and a humane approach. Because there lies the rub. It’s only by creating desirable things that can you leverage better ways of talking to your audience. More than ever before, customers are looking for a human touch. The thing is we never wanted the things we order to be manufactured, packed and sold in a way that relies on polluting or exploited behaviors. All technological advances have meant the discovery of more things to desire. Try showing a telephone engineer from the 1990s your iPhone, not just a phone, it’s a million other things too. And just as the agricultural revolution didn’t mean the end of foraging for truffles or the end of farming for olive oil. The data revolution and predictive technology have not fully satisfied the human thirst for new and familiar feelings, beautiful clothes and substantial experiences. We’ve never had so many tools to help us. Our most important job remains to imagine.

// DESIGN FOCUS: FUTURE WITHIN FU(RNI)TURE //

14. Claudia D’Arpizio Partner Bain & Company

RETHING THE MISSION OF DESIGN FURNITURE IN MODERN TIMES

A future of complexity and uncertainty: the mega trends clearly point to a future of higher complexity and uncertainty. And when people face a challenging and uncertain future, they respond with anxiety and neurosis, affected by the tendency to a Manichean view of the world: “as an aging man, either my family will take care of me or I will left alone in a sad retirement house”, “in an expanding city, either I gave up to personal time to commute to the job I like, or I accept a second-best job in my neighborhood” “wealthy people will enjoy high quality and performing facilities, while the middle class will have to give up to anything more than basic” “Tertium non datur”, is a natural tendency of humans to preserve cognitive effort… when there is scarcity of imagination. In this scenario design is called to rise its mission… from finding creative solutions to enable better ergonomic, functionality and aesthetic in the way people experience space and objects… …to finding creative solutions that help people win their neurosis linked to the prophecy of a Manichean future, enabling lifestyles and lives where “Tertium” is a real possibility.

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Thus, design has to play a substantial role in people lives, despite the relative small size of the market. - High quality design for Core furniture categories and Office is worth €55B (growing 4/5% CAGR in last five years), only 10-15% of total home and office furniture market - In last years, the branded part of the market has outpaced the unbranded, with a trend started within the “mass” market, where players such as IKEA and organized distribution made furniture design more accessible to people, while meeting their service level standards in terms of product availability, time to delivery, products value for money [To be tested] - Unbranded share has thus more relevant in the high-end of the market, where players still have to improve their service level to win the value equation vis-à-vis small independent providers

Thus, design has to play a substantial role in people lives, despite the relative small size of the market. - High quality design for Core furniture categories and Office is worth €55B (growing 4/5% CAGR in last five years), only 10-15% of total home and office furniture market - In last years, the branded part of the market has outpaced the unbranded, with a trend started within the “mass” market, where players such as IKEA and organized distribution made furniture design more accessible to people, while meeting their service level standards in terms of product availability, time to delivery, products value for money [To be tested] - Unbranded share has thus more relevant in the high-end of the market, where players still have to improve their service level to win the value equation vis-à-vis small independent providers

Among all the trends, we will focus today on three main evolution waves affecting the way people and communities relate with main spaces (office, home and travel / leisure) Converging (spaces): spaces are evolving and cross-fertilizing each other, expanding and contracting their borders inside their respective dominions, overcoming the paradox of the “tertium non datur” with the creation of new hybrid spaces Sharing (spaces): the wave of urbanization and social evolution are leading a new wave of collectivism, redefining the meaning of communities and evolving from proximity-based societies to full fledged “passion-hoods” Empowering (spaces): technological innovation is permeating living spaces and products, improving quality of living

- Home, office and travel are among the key areas (travel not a space) in which we live our lives - Excluding sleeping, on average we spend ~50-60% of our time at home, ~20-25% at work (raising to ~40% for full-time employees) and the remaining in leisure activities - The three emerging waves intersect which all of the three, calling design to redesign its role in this evolving context

Converging (spaces): spaces are evolving and cross-fertilizing each other, expanding and contracting their borders inside their respective dominions, overcoming the paradox of the “tertium non datur” with the creation of new hybrid spaces

o High quality design (including home and main contract environment – hotels, restaurants, retail…å) is worth €36B, with high end office furniture accounting for 19B€ o Home and office becoming one, the rise of “resimercial” – the physical place of work loosing of importance and meaning; homes incorporating office elements, offices assuming the features of comfort of a home -

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§ Millennials, representing already ~40% of workforce, are bring their personal habits into the workspace, favouring the rise Activity-Based Working, that provides a combination of open office with task oriented spaces (relax, privacy area, …) § Players in the resimercial segment exhibited strong growth in last 10 years, over- performing 3 times both HQD and technical office furniture players [

o If we look within the home, Living & Bedroom is the leading category, accounting for 48% of the market [followed by Kitchen (18%), Bathroom (16%), Lighting (12%) and bathroom (5%)], and for the majority of the growth in the last 20 years o Initially fueled by the wave of sharing economy, homes are transforming into leisure through the phenomenon of temporary renting, with technology that is opening secondary markets beside hotels. o Online temporary renting (across price positioning) has grown impressively in last years, reaching a market value of approximatively €50B (with ~300M users, expected to reach 400M by 2025), outperforming 2-3x hotel market [growing more sensibly in Europe and Asia] o Looking at the size of the market in terms of spaces to be furnished, focusing on main European cities, there is already approximatively one location for short-term rent - either a room or an apartment - available every five hotel rooms o In this scenario, the role of design players changes, as the need of furnishing and re- furnishing periodically such locations increases: spaces role changes as they need to adapt to people needs, who looks for more “homie” and “premium” accommodation when travelling o Marriott launching temporary renting offer (“Home & Villas by Marriott”), which offers premium and luxury homes in top locations WW, targeting its hotels guests who want to spend a vacation with family/friends in a fully-furnished luxury house o AccorHotels (with «OneFineStay») officially steps into short-term home rental business, offering premium homes to rent in selected cities WW. o Lighting growth fueled by the increasing role given to it as functional element, mostly enabled by technological development o In the last years, we evolved from a situation with differentiated growth profiles across categories post crisis (negative Kitchen vs accelerating Lighting) to a situation where ancillary spaces are getting traction (outdoor, bathroom and kitchen itself), with a more uniform growth profile o This path underline a situation where categories are blurring and evolving their role, following a fluidity wave that overcomes traditional aspects exploiting the combination of aesthetic and functionality: o Outdoor becomes an extension of living room inheriting its aesthetic, bathroom is evolving from a pure service ambient to domestic SPAs, Kitchen are moving from pure functional space into mixing into other environments o This is also true if we look this from a gender perspective, where the binary dichotomy of space has collapsed at the pace of women liberation – i.e. kitchen are not only female spaces, incorporating stereotypically “male” features such as high tech

A-specific spaces: spaces which merge and reconfigure themselves according with users’ needs (work, cook, play, rent, …), in a scenario where furniture players move away from selling pieces of furniture, and move towards maintainers of the space. The user buys a subscription, and gets tiered access to furniture, and can have in app purchases to upgrade and unlock more possibilities and features. This system will allow the inhabitant to receive the newest forms of furniture on demand, right in their home

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§ Moving the time horizon to 2050, we can imagine furniture reconfiguring automatically according to users’ needs, as made of components that can change not only shape but also other features (e.g., from a hard table to a soft sofa) Winning players will be selling service and solutions over products § Maintainers of the space end to end (designing, configuring, renting, …) § Players with offer ranging across categories and needs, as consumers will be looking for a 360° offer covering all spaces in the house and beyond. The need for players to expand in new product categories will push for a consolidation in the sector Sharing (spaces): the wave of urbanization and social evolution are leading a new wave of collectivism, redefining the meaning of communities and evolving from proximity-based societies to full fledged “passion-hoods” o A second, much stronger, wave for an old idea that could be led by millennials while house spaces are reducing: co-housing could maximize social interaction, economics and environmental impact creating “shared” spaced inside buildings, where passion hoods can foster the creation of communities o In cities that are becoming denser, spaces for living are shrinking (median size of homes in US has decreases by ~5% between 2015 and 2018, …) o Private environment will need to give some spaces to shared environment (i.e. dining room, leisure, …), but at the same time will reconfigure itself, growing some areas (bedroom, closet, …) o In a world that is growing old, with less children to take care of their seniors, co-living will become co-aging, addressing a social issue through the creation of shared spaces for elderly people were they can be assisted, increasing their quality of life § 1 person out of 4 people in developed countries will have more than 65 years in 10 years time § At the same time, life expectancy is increasing, thus enlarging the share of population to be assisted o E.g., 50% of babies born in the UK in 2007 can expect to live to reach their 104th birthdays § In Japan, where the problem has not been anticipated, elderly people are committing minor crime to be in jail and not alone at home Human aggregating in flat complexes with shared spaces for leisure, not driven by proximity but by shared interests and passions, creating tribes to be citizens of o Co-living will stand not only at the basis of co-aging, but also will drive co-working expansion (as working areas will be part of shared condos)Growing common space calling for continuous rise of contract business to manage residential project at 360° (25% of market today, 30% in 2025) o Design players will have to enlarge their portfolio of offering to be able to manage both in- house design solutions and shared spaces (common spaces for leisure, lobbies, restaurants, etc.) o Users will ask even more than today for refined spaces to spend their time in, both in the office and in shared spaces at home. Co-living operators will differentiate their offering and value proposition on premiumness of common spaces. o Empowering (spaces): technological innovation is permeating living spaces and products, improving quality of living o Technology reshaping the role of furniture, from aesthetic to functional elements § The most recent example is the lighting market, that experienced a wave of innovation with the introduction of LED, with a market acceleration supported by the possibility to optimize/adapt lighting to improve products and applications, stimulating new creativity (e.g. possibility to miniaturize lighting elements allowed to insert in drawers, improving kitchen aesthetic and use experience

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§ New technologies (sensors, internet of things, …) will enable new technological disruptions across all home spaces

A generational (sub)culture taking over, with the idea of becoming sustainable gaining planetary relevance. These problems are gaining ever more centrality in people’s mind, who are changing the way the act, take decisions and buy.

The week between 20th and 27th September witnessed the greatest Climate strike. Only in Italy 1,5 million people around the Country joined the strike on Friday 27th.

Home sustainability can take place in different ways, among which the usage of new materials, new business models (notably furniture renting) and energy balance between production and consumption.

o With big Data, IoT and AI entering into houses, we see the home acquiring intelligence, i.e. understanding users preferences, reading behavioral and biometric data (e.g., intelligent bathroom performing clinical analysis at prompt) and integrating them with data flowing from wearable devices o Deploy technology to enable functional spaces to reconfigure in a new environment, speak with the consumer and interpret emerging needs, increasing life quality o New materials will gain share, calling for a more sustainable role of design o At the same time, new production technologies – notably addictive manufacturing technologies (e.g., binder-jetting), will favor shifts in production processes favoring, on the one side, shortening of lead times and increasing service provided to customers, and on the other side the adoption of more sustainable materials o Houses will have to incorporate sustainability into them, both from an energy-wise consumption and production, as net-zero sum houses, i.e. producing through solar panels the same amount of energy they consume, both in terms of redesigning some spaces – kitchens in particular – to allow for the treatment of organic waste o New business models will emerge, on two sides of the business: § On the one side, design players will have to start taking care of end-of-life products disposal in a circular economy pattern § On the other side, users will shift from ownership to rent of furniture, impacting the business model of design players o On the wave of this two trends, 2nd hand furniture will enter into houses, creating new business opportunities for those able to manage it directly § All this trends are filtered by the lenses of different cultures and (sub)cultures, within an increasingly complex global scenario § Generations § Geographies § Genders

o Holistic – Solutions: consolidation to enlarge product portfolio, being legitimized in more spaces. Consolidation at the basis also of reaching the scale to entry high potential geographies (Asia, …). Service/solutions as key enabler (project curation, product personalization, delivery time, installation, after sales, …) o Better – Contract: double-down on contract business to engage in 360° furnishing projects both for living, working and commercial spaces, enhancing the premiumzation wave o Intelligent – Revolution: understand which technologies and materials can be implemented in your product and services to improve life quality and experience (use cases) and test/experiment new business models

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o Direct to consumer: Evolve the role if direct channels to delight customers across all the touchpoints o deeper knowledge of the customer (both architects and final customers), understanding their needs o Digital/online as a capillary distribution channel and marketing tool across the funnel (awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty) o Epicentric retail, with high level of experience and service

o Branding & Marketing: strategic shift in communication content from product (“I speak about technical details”) to brand. Where brands however cannot simply focus the storytelling on an outdated heritage-centric message but deepen the conversation in order to talk about passions ("What do I really love"); being able to personalize the content to engage customers on their own passions is a winning strategy.

o Stepping stone approach o To approach and embrace change, design players should develop a new flexible approach, focused on the ability of adapting and quickly reacting to change. An approach that we called “stepping stones Stepping stones aren’t about taking it ones step at a time. Its about you not being able to see step 2 until you’ve made step 1. This is uncomfortable for most companies that aren’t digitally native. Let’s take Uber as an example. Uber didn’t start as UBER X – they started with a relatively simple idea – use a mobile app to find a black town car and pay for it. It was only once they had this platform in place that they were able to connect to all of these drivers sitting in their cars…

You need to start moving today, along stepping stones which provide optionality for the future

We are not like the seer Nostradamus - it’s impossible to predict the future. The future is the great uncertainty , and fortunately sometimes we are surprised. I realize that in an industry like the furniture one, things are more complex but it’s necessary to be more courageous and to try out new things, even little things. One thing in the store, one thing in the product, one thing with your five most important customers and see what happens, what works and then continue along that path. I think there is an enormous potential for Italian companies in this sector - they all have solid bases for it: competency of the product, a great cultural aspect and the capacity for pragmatism and esthetics which i feel is the synthesis of design

// LUNCH BREAK //

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// AFTERNOON //

// DESIGN: HOW WE WILL WORK AND LIVE //

16. Introduced by Johanna Aegarman Ross

To put the frame, just consider this: you might speak to all you colleagues at work before getting out of the bed in the morning or you might be on a conference call on your way to work. The offices are becoming increasingly spaces for interaction with colleagues but also spaces for private transactions, just think about colleagues that receive huge amounts of good on a daily basis based on their online orders and transaction. Meanwhile our homes are increasingly commercial spaces and a potential for secondary income with platform such as AirBnB. Doesn’t mean that our homes are less personal and more streamlined to suit a multiple of tastes. Indeed some real estate developers now approach domestic spaces as status of the offices and our personal space is confined to a bed only. With smaller houses, this way of living is both accepted and convenient, and often being cheaper but there also considerable questions about sustainability and the environment. So how architects and designer fit into this picture? How does this new forms of living and working influence what they do and for whom they design? That is what we are looking at today and what is the role of technology in this scenario. We have three speakers (David Chipperfiled had a family issue and he was not able to attend)

16. Marcus Engman Former Head of Design at Ikea and now CEO and Art Director of the venture Skewed.

This small place, Älmhult, is quite far from Milan, it’s not as big as Milan. It’s the birthplace of one of the biggest companies in the world right now, which has 900 million customers every year, just serving home furnishings to the many people. I had the privilege of working for this company for 7 years - I was more or less brought up by them since I started working when I was very young and I’d like to share some of the insights, some of the learnings I had after leaving the company. When I think back, what were the good parts about IKEA and the way they work which could actually change things for so many more for the better.

Four things actually, starting with this: what makes IKEA great? 1. It’s that nobody speak about Business first, it’s always the vision first. What is the thing you want to achieve? And there is the empathy at the core I think that’s part of the big thing of IKEA. The vision of IKEA is to create a better everyday life for the many people. I guess you’ve heard that a lot of times, but people within the company are really embracing this and working through that everyday. And we like to find problems to solve for the many people. So how do we do that? 2. It’s number second, which I think it’s important when you work with design, no matter what you do. That is to have a curiosity driven approach. You really need to be curious about the people are going to use the stuff at the end of the day. How do IKEA go about it? It’s not like a shipload of all the different surveys made by McKinsey or whoever they are, but we go home to people, to ordinary people. We live with them, we stay there. There are thousands of home visits every year all over the different markets. Actually when we started out in India the new market we did more than a thousand home visits. And how did that change the way we design things for the home? 3. About one of the findings we had was very much down to earth. It was about the way people clean their homes. You know how they clean their homes in India a lot of the time? They 47

use so much more water, a bucket full of water that they throw up on the floor, then they clean the floor. What does that mean for most of IKEA furniture? Most of our furniture is made out of wood or sheetboard so it sucks the moisture from out of it. So we needed to encapsulate all of the legs and the edges in a complete different way. We needed to invent new factories to be able to do that. So what we learned from out of India was actually something we could get to the rest of the world and make all of the world a little bit better from those findings. 4. Other things that you can learn and that I think is important is that most of the time my colleagues have a tendency to focus on the functional stuff like I told you in India, but the biggest need when we ask people is emotional, it’s about how to showcase yourself in your home or in your workspace. Workspaces are particularly hard to do that because a lot of the time your employer says you can’t have this or that. But actually what people want is the narrative. They want their narrative to be visible. It makes homely-ness which is something good. How to design for that is something we work on a lot.

The second part, we talk a lot about is air pollution. Most of the time we think about how we could keep the outside out but actually it’s more people dying of air pollution indoors (4.3 million) than outdoors (3 million). So as a designer what can you do? How we can take a designer to do something about that which is not electric and not electronic because most people can’t afford that. We started out with this project before I left and now they’re going to launch it in January or February 2020, and it’s a great thing. It’s a curtain, it’s a textile which is taking care of the air pollution inside of your home passively and then you can just clean it. But this is passively taking care of it. This is an IKEA solution that I like a lot.

The third one? It’s a common language around design. I think this one is so important to have that within a company. The bigger the company the more important it is. Design is not just for the designers and engineers its for the total company. So how can you get everyone engaged in the process without making those big workshops with all those post-its? We talk about the thing that we democratically call design at IKEA. That means that all of the products out there should actually contain or fulfill those five things: form, function, quality, sustainability and low price, so accessibile for the many. Because good ideas should be for the many people, not just for the few. Form, absolutely functional; quality, long-lasting and aging and beautiful; it should be sustainable and it should have a low price so it’s accessible for the many people because good ideas should be for the many people not just for the few. This, if you actually think about it, will engage different parts of the community and the company. There are sustainability people that are suddenly part of the design process and the quality managers are part of the design process and all of the sales personnel are part of it as well. Low prices is a fact. So that’s number three.

Number four, to make things happen it needs to be transparent. It was a very secretive company. But if you want to have trust in how you do stuff, a trust in the low prices, a trust that you are actually trying to change the world for real, then you have to be open. Open about how you do things. The what, the why and the how, we invested in this small thing which I like a lot, to change the department of design to become a department of design and communication. So we start off with the communication at the same time as we start off with the briefing of the design project. It’s a a common thing. You do a common starting point where everybody agrees on what we are going to do. Then we go out and claim the idea. This is the best approach of all. You say you’re going to do it, then nobody else can do it. Then we share the process - we show how we work within the factories and meet some of the factory workers and you can see how complex it is to make something that it is so low price. Then we make prototypes and launch and sell. This is something that could be going on for up to three years actually. I’m talking about the thing and when you’ve

48 done that you don’t need to do ordinary advertising because you have already ramped up interest for the product - the thing you want to change that people are looking for, comes. This video on the screen might look like the opening of a new store, but actually it is an old store in Canada and there are a whole lot of people standing in line for a really bad idea that I created as Creative Director, and that was actually to make art for the home and we have done that for a lot of years. But this time around we were going for carpets, our rugs. We asked people from different parts of the world who make these rugs and this is when we launched that in Canada. Or this one, from a famous guy – “KEEP OFF” by Virgil Abloh.

What I’m trying to say is that turning design into communication is something that is the order of the day. So why don’t we set ourselves up for it from the very beginning? Give more money to the design part and less money to marketing.

So I was there, in this big company, 200,000 employees, 2000 new products every year and 60 collaborations during my time, then I decided to stop and to something new.

A BIG SHIFT

I wanted to do something new. I wanted to downscale I wanted to go to the floor and do stuff again, lead stuff, but actually do stuff, so this is where we started “Skewed” (name of company), which is a creative collective, we have production, conversations, things and friends sitting in a small tiny shop in a small town in Sweden. So what is this production thing anyway. It is actually an agency where we try to bring communication and design together in the business of making things because there are already too many thing out there - We are in the business of making things better. That’s what we want to do.

One of the examples I’m going to show you quite fast because it is a line of thinking: it’s rethinking stigmas. You know that there are one billion people out there on the earth right there who are physically challenged and the way that most of the time they are treated is to solve their functional problem. What about design with empathy at the core and thinking how they would like to have it them, we have interviewed them. And what we have done with an American company is to find a design process for their protheses. And the part I love about this is we created a completely new value change, this is like a total digital value change where the designers, the software and hardware designers, have been part of it and are actually design the tools for others to design, rather than designing products which I see as one of the roles for future designers are well. So you capture biometrical data, you put it into a generative design engine that puts it into the shape you want to have. Then you get different samples out of that and then you 3-D process it or 3- D paint it afterwards. All digital, all the way through. It cuts the time for this kind of thing I would say by 90%, it cuts the cost for it by about 50% so far. It’s also interesting how we could look upon logistics for the future.

This video shows a brace for scoliosis, which actually is affecting young ladies around the world. This is a very emotional thing so how can you do something that doesn’t look like a torture instrument but actually something that could be quite beautiful. And we did it together with a lot of young girls in America. We could look upon these people as experts and use expertise in the design. How could we use these techniques for rethinking something else? You see them on the fashion runway - changing the lives of people with stigmas.

Then we thought about changing gaming gear. It’s a fact, there are 2.2 billion gamers out there. They spend 14.8 billion hours per week sitting down gaming. A catastrophe when it comes to ergonomics, so could we do something about that and change their life? We made some things here

49 with a new technology, IKEA Uppkoppla, 3D prints designs, so it’s an ergonomic tool starting from the body instead of starting from the table and capturing the data with a camera from an ordinary phone and doing that in a completely digitalized value chain.

Another thing I wanted to do when I went on my own was a magazine. We’re starting a magazine about creatives in different parts of the world who are maybe not so heard but should be heard. One opportunity I had when I was working for IKEA was traveling around the world and meeting so many good people and then you see that they are mostly working like this one in Dakar, but not many people know about them, maybe one or two persons. The others are totally known. How could we get them out there in the world and make their stories known to the rest of the world? So Skewed conversations is all about making people heard in other parts of the world in great interviews where they get their voice out, like Senegalese fashion designer Selly Raby Kane, artist Lun La Lame… musican, street art in Senegal… and so on, and so on, 25 diffetent people and portraits we have done.

Skewed Things. So the last thing is Skewed things. When I led, I led by example. I want to do stuff and show it’s possible to do it. One of the things that annoyed me for quite a while is the fashion industry and the way they go about things. So I asked myself is it possible to do something else, is it possible to do something they don’t do? So what about starting off a streetwear brand for girls? Which is like like a no-nonsense area, it’s not fashion, it’s just no-nonsense clothing sustainable from the beginning. Everything is done from energy sources, like the wind and or solar. Everything is organic and it’s super quality also at low prices so people could afford super quality. The drawback is that it’s no-nonsense clothing: hoodies, T shirts, things that you don’t care very much about but you need all the time. It doesn’t look like much but you always need them.

What I’m trying to say to you guys is that I see so many futures of design. I see that we need to work more purposefully, to be closer to people to get the real thing out there and no the things that we thing, and more on doing tools for design rather then doing end design and products, because there are enough for products out there. So could we do the tools for making more precision in the products at the end.

18. Roberto Cingolani Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Leonardo Professor artificial intelligence

FROM AI TO HUMAN INTELLIGENCE

I am a bit far from this community and I hope I can tell you something interesting. I wanna give you a couple of examples of creative design and architecture in a filed that is very different from I’ve seen so far.

I’ll start with digital, which is very fashionable at the moment. 70 years ago, 72, three guys, physicists by the way, were working with a new architecture. They put three pieces of germanium together connecting these pieces in a very special way so that when there was a bias between piece number one and piece number two, the current could flow. But if in the third contact, another bias was applied the current was interrupted. That is a switch that you press with a finger and you switch off the light. You put the second bias and you switch off the current. That machine today was called a resistance transistor, today just transistor. It was about 3

50 centimeters long. 70 years later this device has become about 70 silicon atoms wide… a circuit where you have billions of those transistors. The urbanist of the chip is fantastic - electrons can flow without trafficking very well. Electrons can go up and down perfectly and every operation is a change from 1 to 0 like in a Morse code or a digital code. This is why a digital chip can process a lot of information, can process images, can do calculations at a pace that was not imaginable 70 years before. Over the years there was a road map, an industrial road map so there was a strategy behind it which is the blue line and the size of the transistor was diminishing from millimeters down to nanometers, so billions of metres. And today because of this size reduction we can integrate billions of those transistors into chips and with those chips we can do everything. We can operate this telephone. This telephone is more powerful than the computer we had on the Moon lander in the Apollo 1l in the 60s and it can perform one billion operations per second. The computer of the Moon landing was performing one million operations per second. It’s very interesting, this story of design and architecture and now you can really make a challenge.

Moreover super computers can now perform 10 to the 18th operations per second, that means billions of billions of operations per second. The human brain can perform similarly, about one billion operations per second. So you can say I have an artificial machine that can compute as good as the human brain. That is not entirely true because the human brain is much cheaper so we found aìthe way to be as powerful as a human brain in terms of computational power but the energy assumption is not so convenient. In general an atomic operation takes about 5000 more power than a human operation so obviously the nearer the switch works to zero, it more it takes 5000 times less energy than a single transistor. However with such a computational power you can do a lot of things; for instance you can design a car, you can design a boat, you can design an aircraft, you can design a spaceship.

And at the company where I work one of the challenges is to make hydbrid or electric aircrafts - you know Leonardo produces helycopters - and one of our challenges is to make those machines more sustainable. We need to build more electric engines. How can you redesign an aircraft if you go from a combustion engine into an electric engine? You don’t do this, try and retry. You want to have the Digital Twin and you want to redesign your aircraft without even touching a piece of matter, just having things digital. And this is possible because of this new architecture. And, of course, this kind of architecture was made possible by artificial intelligence because we reached a level of intelligence which is similar, comparable to the human intelligence given though at a higher cost. Artificial intelligence is very powerful and very efficient but we should be very responsible when using it. We should use AI only when it makes sense. If you use AI to save lives, to save the environment, or if you want to do serious things, it makes sense. If you use AI for silly things, like the social or just for exchanging pictures, that’s a very ridiculous use of AI. For your information when you transmit one megabyte on the net, one megabyte is just about one picture, you produce the same energy as you produce with a 60 watt line switched on for 50 minutes. Be aware, don’t distribute useless information on the Net because this has an impact: every action has an impact in life and especially now.

Going back to AI: thanks to this powerful tecnique, if we use it responsibly we can do very interesting things. We don’t dare to put all the intelligence into a machine because this would need a lot of energy. A super computer brain needs about 50 megawatt of power so there’s no point to put all the intelligence into a single machine, robot. We better use millions of robots connected to a single super computer. This is the cloud, this is a new species, not biological in which there is one brain, very fast and very expensive, and millions of bodies that are coordinated by the brain. This is the new architecture: it’s

51 beyond nature - there is no biological counterpart of this system. But this is our present, even not our future. We have four billion of telephones around - they’re all connected more or less. They’re all indivudual stupid organisms connected to a central brain. You might argue: who controls he brain? This is another problem. It’s a social responsbability problem, it’s an ethic problem, it’s not my job. But we should be aware that there are three or four guys in the world controlling the cloud but that’s another story, keep it in mind.

Now. If you can design things beyond nature, this is a powerful thing. This is the Centaurus. I’m sure you never imagined to a real Centaurus in real life. It can move very well at high speed because it has been designed to operate on Mars or on the Moon in a very harsh environment. It can reach every place and it can operate with very advanced dexterity so it can rescue people in a fire but it can also make Karate. The question is simple: who’s going to build the infrastructure when in 10 years we will be on the Moon or Mars. You send humans there? No way, so ou need intelligence authonomous systems. And of course they’re not designed like we are, you need a special shape for a special function. There is no gravity, you don’t now how is the land. You need to walk, you need a lot of motion in a very difficult environment, and once you are there you need vision not necessarily in the visible range. It could be infra-redm, it could be radar, it could be many different vision technologies and once you see the object you manipulate it. The commander or the operator is safetly sitting in the space station around the Earth and by remote he is controlling the drone that is operating on behalf of the humans. That is a good use.

Another use I want to show you is how we can control things by the mind. This is a guy wearing a helmet connected to the brain…and you see the robot is controlled, by brain, contactless. In this case the guy is training with prosthetics, the mind is giving the prosthetics device, the hand which costs $3.000, it’s really nothing, that controls through the brain helemt. Or you can make the machine so intelligent that the ergonomics have been changed. This is a robot that supports human during operations in a factory. In green you can see the level of fatigue of the muscles of the operator. At a given point, the gun is very heavy, so the fatigue comes into the play, so the robot say: Ok, I should help the human and it changed the position, so that the ergonomics is recovered. You know we spend 250 billion euros in Europe on this connected to work. This is sustainable solution and helps humans, helps production and increases the GDP and it’s fair. So I think this is a good example of creativity design can be used in AI.

Another example. This is a very nicely designed container robot, the target price is about that of a scooter, around 10,000 euros. It’s fully plastic yet very efficient. It’s designed to be aside of elder people or people having no mobility: in a hospital room, the task was very easy: you can say go in the kitchen and get me the juice. No other information. “Go there and get the juice”. It’s fully autonomous. This could be a solution for those situations when you need assistance and it’s impossible for humans near-by people having limitations.

Now I’m going to show you one example of plastic robots. Have you ever thought that plastic was invented in the 50s, and so far no human has survived the plastic used during his or her life. This plastic is biodegradable in 1000 years and humans have a life span of 70-80 years. We produce 300 million tons of plastic every year and this is our business system, this is how we work in Italy and this plastic as you know is everywhere. I want to show you another example of architecture. What you see here is a polymer. If you take a polymer that has been produced by petrol it will look exactly the same. The only difference will be that some OH groups will be in another position. Just changing the position of one atom in those exagones makes the polymer biodegradable or not. In fact, this is not a petrol-based plastic polymer, this is cellulose. It’s a sugar and it’s the basic polymer of all natural plants in the vegetable world.

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It’s very interesting if you can see that all living systems, all organic systems consist of 6 atoms. In the periodic table of elements, there are about 110 atoms but only 6 of those, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorus, calcium, nitrogen have organic ability. So what’s the difference between me and a plant, or a banana, a monkey or tree? Actually no difference, just a few atoms in a different position in a three dimensional space, it’s just a matter of design. It’s a fantastic example of design. Our super computer are approaching the capability to design life will consist to 10 to 17 molecules. Computers will soon reach this level and you will design life, humans, entirely. This is the top of design if you want.

Back to our example: so this is cellulose. This is what you get in a leaf or a tree and after three or four months in the environment it has disappeared. We can be replicated. We need 9 months to be built and about 9 months to go back to our original 6 atoms. That’s the fantastic story of a living system.

If we go back to the business model and we realize that only in Europe we produce 30 million tons of vegetable waste from the food industry, we can recover the cellulose from that food industry with a green simple technique and we can have plastic. This is plastic, we just switch the polymer and surprisingly you can engineer this chemistry in a way that if you use different plants, cocoa, coffee, rice you can reproduce the mechanical properties of any artificial plastic in the world just by nature.

This means you can go to the fruit market and you can use the waste from the unsold vegetables to create a zero kilometer supply line for packaging. It’s costless. On the contrary you have to pay to get rid of the waste. This is not artificial intelligence this is natural intelligence. Even better, you don’t need the computer for that. If we need the computer to understand the structure, but once the design is understood, then you can do these things in a very natural way. If you are capable of manipulating those polymers you can make liquids, solids, you can do all those things.

The combination of artificial intelligence and natural intelligence is unbeatable and I hope in the future we will see investment in intelligence whether it is artificial or natural”.

19. Patricia Urquiola Designer

INTUITION IS THE KEY

A designer has to anaylize a situtation and use the intuition: I believe strongly in intuition. Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the first connection of the Internet.

We have to remember that Ingo Mauer left this week, and he used the intuion to drive him - he was a friend of mine.

Some time ago I was sitting on a train, I was seated but moving: as always, I was leaving and moving and working as always. I was looking outside the window with my husband Alberto, and I was seeing only stripes: “Those are fantastic clouds!”. And we took a photo, which captured this moment, and I had the desire… The clouds were very fast in my brain, because the human brain is another kind of intelligence compared to technology. Our kind of intelligence, stupidity… ecco (she says in Italian)… in some ways all the artificial intelligence has done is to help the human one.

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The movie by Miranda July, “Me you and Everyione We Know: that’s our condition. We are working in a physical way and in a digital way, everyday in many connections… all those things I am trying to do more human.

I put my home and my studio together: I am trying to be a mother, which is the worst part because I am dealing with Millennials, and Generation Z - they think by things in motion. We are trying to communcate.

We are destroying… we changed the structure of our planet without even knowing it. We are ready to change. I took a short trip from Island to Greenland… the captain: “after one day he said: It depends, when we arrive it depends on the coast.”That moment we were lost in the middle of the sea, waiting to find a coast that was melting.

Another time, we were with friends in Palermo in an incredible museum of plants. They do leaves, they nurture them and recreate a circle. We have to undestand how to save things.

Another time in Germany: a space with a canteem, the three kinds of canteens.

I am working with many companies, I am not so proud of anything,

Technology: I need technology in some moments, but my assistant works in some anyalogic way I like meeting all together, standing or seated. Technology has to go after me.

INTUITION for me it’s very important. We have to deal with it. We have to be very humble and open-minded.

This Power Point – I overlap videos and images like my daughter does. Everything that crosses my mind goes to the Power Point

// FOOD AND HOSPITALITY: YOU ARE WHERE YOU EAT //

Tony Chambers introduced this final session. What is the social role of eating? What is the role of food? What is the role of restautants and hotels in the modern economy?

20. Ilse Crawford Designer and Academic, studioilse

WHY INTERIORS REALLY MATTER IN HOSPITALITY

We are fascinated by what drives us, brings us together and ultimately makes us feel alive.

STUDIOILSE: - Residential - of all shapes and sizes, in cities, fields and mountains Commercial - that put human needs and desires at the centre - Product - making the normal special- Consultancy - questioning why and how brands can support and improve daily life

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I am gonna tell you why, I think, in hospitality interiors really matter. Interiors are not prioritized in many public spaces we use in on daily basis (shows slides of various offices, restaurants etc) “we are fascinated by what drives us, brings us together and ultimates makes us feel better" The shopping things shows how careless we are about the spaces we inhabit on a daily basis

We spent 87% of our lives indoors yet that (spaces shown in slides) is how we treat public spaces. We focus in the studio on the human connection. And the million dollar question is why isn’t it there all the time.

Our process is a messy one: data, images, but there’s also the emotional stuff, there’s talking to people, watching people, and listening to people.

Often when we get a commissioned a project, people tip up with Pinterest, images of other restaurants or hotels or inspirations from other sources and schedule that is almost impossible. We take time to look into the emotional and the social the psychological in depth because thats where you get the opportunity. However, typically in the traditional building process, you basically get what’s left at the end, because the interior’s budget is actually not protected; only in a very high-end project will you find the interior budget protected. In the typical project, the interior budget is literally what is left to the end.

After all, interiors are the place that shapes our behavior and how we connect to each other. It should be out there where values are visible and how you integrate that is to make sure that all happened sat the beginning. How do you bring all that together? It’s contradictory about taking that information and then with your creativity, insight and intuition, you make a leap from the massive, sometimes contradictory, information to the thing, the story, the strategy that takes it forward. The Why and the What are just important as the How.

Our philosophy:

• A sense of a place • Space than can evolve and last • Integrating the unmeasurable values • Making the normal special • Sensory physical connection • Bringing People together • Health; water, air, light, plants, sleep • We are the system and these are the values we try to embed in our projects

Today, designing successful, long lasting hospitality is not about ‘faster, cheaper, newer, more’. Creating spaces that connect and last, builds sustainable brands in all respects. To connect, to be loved, healthy and create the circular system. We always think in terms of “not just us”, but also the maker, where things go and where they come from - but that should just be normal. What does it look like when it happens for real?

• Why does beauty matter? REFETTORIO FELIX, St Cuthbert's Community Centre, London 2017

This is a project instigated by Italian chef Massimo Bottura: it’s a soup kitchen, as part of his “Food For Soul” project.

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Massimo Bottura told me: “We do not need more soup kitchens, we need soup kitchens that do more. We are not only talking about feeding the body; we are talking about nourishing the soul.” It was pretty a miserable place and it was essentially about managing a service. 150 people a day got their lunches there and it was awful, accidentally careless. Massimo and his wife sent up this NGO which is really about giving dignity to the table and the brief was super simple.

How can we design in a way that brings human dignity to the experience of a soup kitchen? How to make it beautiful?

I recently worked on a social project, a family mental health care center, where the project manager said to me about half way through the project: “It’s nice to have , but we don't need to have it, with don’t need to be very hospitable.” With a brief like that you can get donations: Vitra, Alessi they all stepped up so we got some great chairs that Vitra were shifting over, tableware from Alessi… People use it for hours, they hang out together and make friends. It 's an entirely different proposition now. It's a community with a space that hosts them properly. On the other side, the neighbors now volunteer. They also visit for yoga after hours So it’s a win-win, really extraordinary project. And it happened because of an extraordinary brief not because of an extraordinary budget. With more budget, more aspirational ambitions we often struggle with clients who don't have courage. You know, courage comes from the heart. As they say, “They want to go to heaven, but they don't want to die...”

Digging down into the sense of place into your own story, your own identity has longevity, integrity, it’s genuine and it belongs to you. For us it's about how to bring life to a place. That's fundamental. The way to appeal is to have a very clear identity and sense of self.

• How to make a sense of place? ETT HEMLM 2012, Stockhom

Our story where to pick what was left off - domesticity was seen as the height of culture in Swedish culture so we wanted to take that to the 21st century. “Our starting point is human experience, how to upgrade and enhance daily life, and how to create a sensory connection to our environment. This is what creates habitable spaces that have a sense of place, that have atmosphere”.

As guests in this hotel, you eat in the kitchen, where the food is cooked… a feeling of genuinely, it’s always full. The sraff is well trained, and this is a part of this offer. Connection with the staff. The more digital we are the more we crave the physical.

• How to integrate the unmeasurable values? CATHAY PACIFIC AIRLINES WORLDWIDE, 2014-2018

This was the global concept for the Cathay Pacific Airlines lounges, mostly in Asia, but also Heathrow and Vancouver. What we did was to watch. We went around the existing lounges, like the Cathay Pacific Lounges in HK; we studied data and talked to people.

We thought about a list of tiny details like lighting that was human centered, comfortable furniture, how to change your phone without crawling on all fours on the ground, natural materials, places you could store your luggage easily…

We even looked at the food and buffet: a lot was wasted. We made their hot noodle soup speciality into something special. Connection of the staff wth clients. We also addressed the issue of sleep

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You have happy people and happy staff.

The spaces have to last 10 years so We made carefully choices in materials, wood … and other materials that were at a tactile levels.

Our ambition were to make them HUMAN. So much of data not longer applies, people need connection. My bottom line is about the things we need to feel better, the spaces we're in change our lives and change how we connect to each other, what we do in these spaces.

It’s so important to invest in good interior design that lasts, spaces that will be still there in 10 years time or more.

In Helsinki we renovated a restaurant there over 80 years old and it’s still so good and it really worked.

“To make architecture more human means better architecture. Its purpose is […] to bring the material world into harmony with human life.” Alvar Aalto

21. Piero Lissoni Architect and Designer

CHEFS, THE MISTAKES AND THE TRADITION NEEDED TO LEAP INTO THE FUTURE

According two an old saying, “We are what we eat”.

What happens on the other side of the barricade? When I project something as an architect, when I work as a designer with the input of other people, I always try to imagine how it will turn out. To do our work we have to be a bit sadistic, define the roles and precisely chose what we want. On the other side we want someone who is a bit masochist - the cafeteria of masochists - who will really give input in a strong way. The first element to do a project of whatever complexity is not a partner or a masochist customer, but someone who reasons and who makes me reason.

In what way can you cut an egg in the morning. The result is simple and everyone sees that. Complexity and simple interaction between the designer and the customer. Complexity is the principle element to be able to do things. Each time I do a project I need someone who interacts with me on a level of complexity.

Kitchen: I imagine the movement and the interaction between myself and the food, and doing things on horizontal or vertical levels. Perhaps I’m the only one is behind the times in this room. I’m old fashioned. The tech model for me is a service. To create a kitchen I need a lot of technology, sophisticated technology but I don’t let it show.

When I design a project I do it around the rituals associated with food and at the same time, there is never ending research into the best way to utilize the materials and at the same time to be able to

57 produce them with the best quality possible, not necessarily at the lowest cost. Naturally interacting with the model kitchen between myself and food, I have learned many things from chefs. From them, I found out that they move horizontally in kitchens, and I learned from them that dealing with food you must be speedy - or sometimes very slow. It is possible to leave behind the traditional standards in food preparation. I make a table which in reality isn’t a table, and in reality it isn't even a place to cook, it is simply a more interactive system. Either you are or you aren’t.

Design of public spaces- When I am the architect, the first masochist I turn to is usually a chef. I have never designed a restaurant by myself - I have always worked with the chefs. I don’t know how to design a restaurant. Each time I have tried to do one, I invent new mistakes trying to avoid the ones I made in the past. Therefore, technically speaking, I am a man who evolves by making mistakes and I continue to make mistakes by designing restaurants. I do one and promise myself I won’t repeat the mistake, but I do because I continue doing restaurants and so on and so forth.

22. Davide Oldani Chef, D’O

CUISINE AND HOSPITALITY

I am a cook who loves this occupation and I think that cuisine and hospitality go hand in hand. I believe in sustainability, which in a kitchen means daily actions. I don’t want to change the world but I think that with the artisanal combination of cuisine and hospitality, it can be done. The Pop Cuisine (Cucina Pop) project: my daily life it like that of an artist in his workshop. The constancy of everyday life, giving hospitality and nourishing people in the Italian way, utilizing a huge kitchen. The Italian style of hospitality.

I am not a designer. All the things that I have designed to now, I have done with a pen and piece of paper. I need that particular thing to be able to carry out my work as a cook in a precise and complete manner. The initial idea came from well-known countries I tried and started with collaborations, customers, teams, ideas, ingredients and taste. I don't design arbitrarily but day by day with the my actions when I am not satisfied when I offer hospitality. I customize it to give value to my profession.

Some examples:

GUESTS Accomod’o & Table D’Hot, Riva1920 One detail that has always bothered me, where can we put the things we carry around with us everyday like cell phones, glasses or keys? The comfortable table or double T is like a school desk with a shelf underneath to store these things, just like there’s a shelf underneath the chairs for storing handbags and purses. - Efficiency

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My objective is to provide light but tasty dishes. My way to eat better is to eat standing up, to date well-cooked tasty food without feeling too full. From a digestive viewpoint, to nourish the planet also means to treat ourselves kindly: a small step towards well-being at the table. The psychological part says that when we are sitting we talk of love or we do business, but if we eat standing up, there are fewer digestive problems because we aren’t compressing the stomach. I consulted doctors then I did the design carried out by Maurizio Riva, one of Italy’s great artisan craftsmen. We are all taller than in the past! I want my guests to be well in every moment. - Team A team is essential to cook well, and a restaurant is a team that works at all levels. Team doesn’t mean as it once did, to have someone to keep on the pay role for 20 years. My team means to have assistants and so we constructed a state run school one kilometer from the restaurant. This is a system that enables us to live well and be well and be motivated on a daily basis. The team knows that, after a certain number of years, they will be sent to the big restaurants around the world to learn, then they’ll return. This is the new approach to manage the team that serves hospitality in Italy. We are very much looking forward to it. Traces on the floor: I have seen this in Japan. I want all the assistants to have the right posture and spot enabling them to work well in the correct body posture. They need to be quick at cleaning up after themselves. Those who are good cooks, always then clean up. - Ideas Completely vegetable, sustainable and recyclable pans made by Attila Veress of IED and I.D. Ish plates with Kartell. Everything to help the cook in his daily cooking. - Ingredients Aged white truffles that represents Italy. To slice the truffle without breaking it I invented a slicer that guarantees the perfect slice for each type of truffle, XFETTA, made by Sanelli, steel specialists based in Premana, Italy. - Taste Napkins, passe-partout cutlery, long pasta and a special pierced coffee spoons, all produced by Knindustrie. Kitchenware and glassware that give more value to the contents. A glass that gives more value to wine, that with its vertical shape lets you savor the bouquet of both wine and water so you can actually taste the flavor, something not possible before.

23. Tom Dixon Designer

FOOD IN THE DESIGN PANORAMA AND FURNITURE RETAIL

I guess I don’t have to tell you how you love food in Italy but I have got a bit of a dirty secret! You know I am a British desiger, but I am hiding a secret, I am little bit continental, I am a tiny bit Latino. I am a quarter French, and I learned a lot about food in Italy, particularly in my relationship with Cappellini, Carla Sozzani and Rossana Orlandi. First with Cappellini, with the kitchen in the factory: the staff kitchen where the workers and boss sat together, and the grandfather and the grandmother, all working together to produce amazing design. So, I spent a lot of time to think and reflect on the difference between British and Italian food culture. This is my food culture: I grew up in the 70s, it was an amazing time, there was glam rock, skinheads, punks… so the music was amazing but the food was disgusting, right?

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The UK is actually an amazing place for all kind of foods, the natural inclination is to spend 5 minutes at your computer with a bowl of cereal at lunchtime. So we still don’t understand food. I appreciate the Italian attitude. I am little bit Latin, I was brought up in North Africa, I was a very blond baby and people used to feed me. I was born in Tunisia, and I was the only one blond and very fat baby. I enjoyed my food and I became a very fat baby. You can see me arriving in England at age of 5, it was very cold and damp and already I was growing a bit thinner.

I was not really very academic at school. Later on I failed my school. I learned a lot about craft. I was in art school: ceramics is changing the material into something amazing by cooking it. I never wanted to be a designer.

Alchemy: transforming something is what is still stimulating to me, transforming an idea and a raw material into something desirable, which is my job basically.

So I grew up in an exciting time in London, at that time the attitude to creativity was very much there, you could do everything you wanted without a specific training. So, obviously like anybody else, I was in a band, I was in the entertainment business. You see my early works, not conventional and i was using cooking items all the time.

Fastforward 20 years: from being a craftsman to working for a big company such as Habitat, and then after 10 years in the corporate world it’s time for me to jump from the frying pan into the fire and create my own label. TOM DIXON brand: we do all kind of lighting, furniture, tables, chairs, vases, teapots, smells… I am a perfumer.

MILANO & Salone del Mobile It’s nice to do all these things but then you have to show them. And the place to show your furniture of course is Milan, and the Salone is hard to get in if you are not Italian, but if you are British you can wait in a queue. It’s still the best place to be. Luckily there are a lot of events all everywhere around and you can do something in town.So, I started popping up in unusual places, like the Science Museum, putting together a lot of other brands and starting thinking how we feed people. I noticed that the great way to slow people down is to sit them down, that is the Italian way: you can have better conversation when you are eating, do better business and come to better conclusions if you give two hours to the conversation as it happens in Italy.

We have then done a pop-up restaurant at La Rotonda della Besana, but the problem with all these activities, increasingly every year people want to be more exciting, more different. Then other people come in: Google, BMW, Samsung… and what used to be our fair, the furniture fair…

What I noticed with restaurants and hotels particularly in England where we did the Shoreditch House Club was the evolution, particularly through laptops, with people being able to use the place as a kind of office; they arrive for breakfast, they work in the morning, they have lunch time, then a cup of tea, while on the laptop, and then they party at night as well: places that are used all day long for work, play and food… so instead of being a traditional member club they ended up in a place that is totally a social and business place as well. And people from abroad start using this place as offices. So it’s kind interesting evolution really driven by wireless networking.

DELIVEROO

I did a pop-up, in the back of Selfridges in London, MULTIPLEX, a derelict hotel. I put on a department store with every department: technology, textile, flower, fashion… all the department you need but of course in a department store you also need a food court. So for a 6 week pop-up it’s expensive to bring a kitchen in a derelict hotel, so: what’s going on at the moment?

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Everyone has a mobile phone and food is quite hard to digitalize but not anymore, because now everything is Deliveroo. Instead of investing in a kitchen, I have a Deliveroo restaurant as a substitute in my pop-up department store. In reality we created huge amount of waste, everybody wanted to come to the restaurant at the same time, which Deliveroo finds difficult to deliver at the same time. By the time you order it on you phone and you wait half an hour for the delivery to arrive, you probably have to go back to work. I think this shows the limitations of what’s going on: evil empire been created by the Deliveroo system. Dark and ghost kitchen, with no experts, effectively the restaurant used to make money from… they increasingly packaging, mundane...

THE FURNITURE STORE

The furniture store: furniture is a slow moving business; it’s not fashion and mobile phone. So, when is it the last time you bought a couch? A chandelier or a chair? Maybe ten years ago, maybe never, you just got in heritage from your grandmother. So it’s never going to be a vibrant business, where you walk into the shop and it feels really exciting unless you go to Ikea as a weekend day out with the family. So furniture is not what you want, and in particular in central London, because real estate is really expensive and ultimately it’s really difficult to find a place that works - but a restaurant can give you a free showroom.

We started the restaurant in our earlier studio, which had an abandoned kitchen. Then, when we moved last year, we decided to abandon Milano. Salone was too expensive and complicated, and we wanted to invest in London.

The showrooms are struggling but food doesn’t. The restaurant allows us to test ideas, with 3000 guests for a couple of hours. This helps to stay awake in a furniture shop and to take people away from computers. I missed Milano and for this reason I decided to invest in a permanent restaurant in via Manzoni with a shop- and I do think the future of food and design is connected.

Big data, sustainability… we have to be simple like mushrooms. Packaging from mushroom compost and a chair.

// FINAL CONVERSATION //

Tony Chambers. We are in Milano, in the capital of design and one of the gastronomic capitals in the world. How is the hospitality? Ilse Crawford. Food and beverage is perfect at high level. But the hotel sector…. We are working on this issue in and it was a bit disappointing. XIX hotel, from the middle class… in several places in Italy things have not evolved, with opportunism and snobbism and a tendency to praise clients while humiliating the staff in front of you. In Colombia, systems are more advanced: they are genuine, generous and they give importance to their work and the people they work with in a significant way.

Piero Lissoni. The situation in Italy sometimes is dramatic, for legal reasons maintenance. I have designed a few hotels around the world. You need entrepreneurs, able to discuss with you and able to take risks. We need people with good ideas and able to take risks. We have a very high family life. Without vision, it’s not possible to do any project.

Tony Chambers. Where do you see hospitality working best?

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Tom Dixon. The nordics, I had very good experiences there, from interior design… but the new natural is everywhere now. Iwouldn’t point to anyone in particular, its a circle and some part of the world influences the other. Asia- they love the food as well. Asian cuisine can be supreme. It’s a circle. It’s an exciting time for food now, but not in the UK for Brexit; with the danger of cheap and bad quality food coming in without the protection of the UE is a real existential crisis.

DEYAN SUDJIC: We are in a difficult time and creativity in design can do something to help.

// THE END //

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