#future laboratory

Check out this great video of the great guys at the Future Laboratory in London. It’s about The Immortal Brand: The Age of the Long Near. The Google-funded Long Now Foundation looks at possible futures over the next 10,000 years, Evernote calls itself ‘the 100-year start-up’, and Toyota recently announced its vision for a hydrogen…

Fresh, organic, free from antibiotics and additives: ‘clean’ produce is tipping into the mainstream.     

As we are becoming so much more health conscious, spooked by tales of health scares and proficient at reading labels, the market has also had to adapt.

After recently attending the Future of Food and Drink Forum at the Future Laboratory, I discovered that the global market for organic products reached a staggering £47bn in 2013, (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture). In the UK, sales of fresh produce, meat and dairy in supermarkets have risen 5% since 2014, compared to a 1% increase for processed and packaged items (Morningstar).

London’s health food scene is clearly waking up to this clean living trend and a burgeoning network of restaurants, market stalls, delivery services, workshops and lifestyle events are popping up regularly, usually run by people who believe that ‘clean’ is the way forward. Every dish tends to look and taste delicious! My latest favourite has to be buckwheat gnocchi from Tanya’s Café in Chelsea. But if you can’t make it to specialist eateries, I’ve even seen “classic clean favourites” such as coconut water, quinoa and edamame beans on supermarket shelves and chain restaurant menus. The ‘clean eating’ trend shows no signs of slowing, in fact it has become its own industry, you only have to Google the term for millions of results to turn up, running the gamut from magazines to blogs, books, and recipe sites etc.

I’m a sucker for ‘clean eating’ myself and feel hugely inspired by glam food bloggers AKA the business women behind the ‘clean’ revolution; ‘Deliciously’ Ella Woodward and the Hemsley sisters. When I switched to this way of living at the beginning of the year not only did I benefit from weight loss but it also had a massive impact on my wellbeing – I can completely understand how this has become a major movement, spurred by people from all walks of life who want to feel good about what they're putting in their bodies.

As this trend moves to the mainstream consumer, companies in the food industry will need to adapt. Some of the biggest-name food brands in the US are already jumping on the ‘clean’ bandwagon with Nestlé USA announcing that it will stop using artificial colours in its chocolates by the end of 2015 and McDonald’s sourcing chicken raised without antibiotics…I have no doubt that British brands will contract ‘clean eating’ fever soon enough.

The food and drink forum gave us an amazing insight into other developing trends under the ‘clean eating’ umbrella including  Protein Power, Flexitarian Lifestyles, Wellness Rising and Alco-health.

Fancy living the clean dream?

Jodie Gee

A Perfume That Smells Like Your Very Essence, Courtesy of Selfridges' Fragrance Lab

If your personality could be turned into a scent, what would it smell like? Lilacs and cheerfulness, mixed with a dash of fresh-from-the shower? Rain on hot cement in July, with just a hint of rose? Or perhaps the clean laundry, mixed with freshly mown grass and vanilla frosting? Fragrance speaks to us and the people around us every day, so it’s fun to imagine what the ultimate “you” scent might be like.

Now there just might be a way to find out. The renowned London department store Selfridges recently ran a temporary pop-up called The Fragrance Lab—a first-of-its-kind way to skip the intimidating, confusing perfume counters and find exactly what you want and like in a perfume. Go custom or go home, y’all! In this era of bespoke suits and custom-built everything, scent is the natural next-big-thing on the personalized shopping horizon.

The Fragrance Lab was a collaboration between Selfridges, the London design studio Campaign, and the UK trend consultancy The Future Laboratory. Chris Sanderson, co-founder of The Future Laboratory said: “Fragrance Lab was designed to do two things; to help you explore the outer reaches of scent, and to offer a product tailored to your personality, behavior and mindset—your essence distilled into a scent. The future of retailing will be less about choice, and more about selection. In Fragrance Lab, we’re inviting each visitor to be part of an experiment, putting this to the test.”

And oh my lord, it sounds like it was seriously cool. Visitors started off by taking a simple-seeming personality test on Selfridges’ main perfume floor, and chose images that appealed to them from a set. Then, they went on a private, audio-guided trip through a strange warren of four rooms, some light, some darkened, and all filled with random-seeming objects to touch, smell, and think about. (Does the room with the scented books remind you of anything? Is there a scent in the mirrored room that triggers a memory you love?)

After the 15-minute journey, an assistant asked shoppers about their experiences, taking the time to talk and actually listen (omg what next, weird shopping experience?!) and then worked out an individual personality profile. With the profile, scent likes and dislikes, and memories noted, a perfumer from Givaudan (the people behind Angel, Lola, Armani Code, and Obsession) then went to work crafting a “prescription” of the custom fragrance, before handing over a fancy 1.7 ounce bottle of it. The whole experience—including the lab visit, tour, assessment, and the resulting scent, went for $110.

The Fragrance Lab officially closed its doors on June 30, but I’m absolutely dying to know what my personality smells like. What fragrance notes do “bossy” yet “lazy on a house-cat level” translate to? Is it actually possible that “usually pretty happy” and “shockingly bad at basic math” could turn into the perfume that speaks volumes about me without saying a word? We’re hoping the folks at Selfridges and their cohorts bring back the lab permanently, because we’re all buying plane tickets to London. For now, enjoy these awe-inspiring photos of the project!

All photos by ©Hufton+Crow

Source: Beauty Feeds – Beautylish.com

Bluebrain - Listen to the light

New York – Music duo Bluebrain have released an experiential album through iPhone and iPad apps that use GPS to alter the music depending on the listener’s location.

The Listen to the Light album, is activated in New York’s Central Park. Depending on which route listeners take through the park, the music changes into different soundtracks.

This is a compelling way of personalising the process of listening to music, and making the experience more meaningful.