Dose of Design & Tech #09 😄

Hi friends 👋, Welcome to another dose of design and tech! In our next newsletters, we will start sharing less content with our free subscribers. However, subscribers who have donated a subscription will get the full dose of design and tech :)

☼ 1/9 - People sat an average of 10 hours per day. The list of health issues associated with a lack of movement is never-ending. There are plenty of knock-on effects and diseases from obesity and heart disease, to diabetes and mental health that are flying under the radar too. Sitting is the new smoking, and sitting down as much as we do these days affects us as much as smoking does. Walkingroom is changing the way we work forever by focussing on the cardinal element of life.

☼ 2/9 Did hospitality tech actually revolutionise the direct booking game? For many years now, hospitality tech brands have been promoting to hoteliers that they can help accommodation providers increase DIRECT BOOKING. Maybe through a more powerful booking engine, a better understanding of their data, add-ons like chat widgets or upsell tools, maybe some website optimisation, VR/AR or better social and marketing tricks…I am sure a tech brand will soon find a way to say that their new ChatGPT integration can somehow increase direct booking too…:) However, if you look at the latest key figures from Booking.com (Artiref) 2022, the sworn enemy of accommodation providers that the hospitality tech industry has promised to fight back against, Booking.com has just kept growing without ANY problem (except in 2020 of course). So I am wondering: Did hospitality tech actually revolutionise the hospitality booking monopoly or not? Does the USP “Increase direct booking” from tech should not be changed to something more believable?

☼ 3/9 The Drop Store shows what products may look like in a water-scarce future. To mark the UN Water Conference 2023, design agency Publicis Groupe Benelux has created a range of conceptual "supermarket" products that show what consumption could look like in a world with less water. Visit Get the Drop

☼ 4/9 - Minimalist Tea House Pavilion from local spruce wood. Slovakian studio Grau Architects has used spruce, plywood and white fabric to build the lantern-like Tea House Pavilion, which offers a place to rest for visitors of Hrabinka Lake in the Czech Republic. View Project

☼ 5/9 - I love smart locks! Your guests’ flight has been delayed, but you are no longer on-site by the time they arrive. So what are you going to do? Nuki provides the flexibility you need as a host, giving you the freedom to decide whether to greet guests personally or let them unlock the door to the apartment themselves via Nuki.

☼ 6/9 - Dog hospitality reimagined...Yardstick is here to deliver the comfort and care of a boutique hotel for your family. Five-star accommodations for four-legged friends. Discover Yardtick. View Yardstick (Design Studio: Saint Urbain)

☼ 7/9 Panzón is a Mexico City-inspired mezcal bar & restaurant located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The team behind Panzón, having a deep appreciation for the “if you know, you know” culture of CDMX, known for its blend of beauty and grittiness, reached out to us to create a brand that would embody this spirit, while also keeping a level of professionalism and authenticity with a strong graphic system.

☼ 8/9 - Since the transition from home offices to actual corporate offices has begun, it’s important to ensure that employees feel comfortable, safe, and motivated when staying in a hotel, co-living or vacation rental. And adding the right furniture designs can greatly contribute to creating a working environment that is conducive to motivation and productivity. When it comes to picking the right lobby furniture, we’re usually focused on a minimalist desk and a designer’s chair. However, have you ever really paid attention to an excellent meeting or conference table? Well, Narbutas did and designed the Nova Wood Multipurpose table.

☼ 9/9 - The Uncomfortable. A collection of deliberately inconvenient everyday objects by Athens-based architect Katerina Kamprani. It is really important that you keep paying attention to your hospitality environment and make sure things are not inconvenient, especially when assuming “some” things as always be like this and therefore should not change. But maybe it should. View the collection, it’s really funny.

☼ In our next newsletters, we will start sharing less content with our free subscribers. However, subscribers who have donated a subscription will get the full dose of design and tech :)

☼ Thanks! That’s all for this week. Romain Baron - Contact me