Pinspiration

Pinterest has been adding a healthy dose of pretty to our office lives for a while now. We love its clean, simple interface and great use of portmanteau.

So far we’ve been quiet observers, but today we’d like to introduce Conran on Pinterest. We have experts in branding, products, interactive and digital, architecture, interior and retail, and our boards are curated by all of them.

Conran Studio are hunting out their favourite brands, and Conran & Company their favourite products. Conran Singh and Conran & Partners are picking the best from the worlds of digital design and architecture.

At the moment, Vicki Conran is at Chelsea Flower Show (read more about her Artisan Retreat here), and she is kindly sending through her Chelsea highlights.

More to come soon – including a board of Terence’s personal picks…

Adrenaline junkies: Emma Booty on coffee and cars

Emma Booty is the Creative Director of Conran Studio, our product and brand design team, and resident brand-building expert.

Last month, she spoke at the Interior Motives China conference in Beijing – a major gathering for the Chinese domestic car design industry.

Cutting through the petrol fumes with typical panache, Emma regaled a 350-strong audience with a story about coffee.

Bear with her…

“…un piccolo momento di piacere” – in drab English, a small moment of pleasure.

As designers, we’re interested in transforming items of necessity into such moments.

But how?

Britons, on average, spend £3 a day on takeaway coffee.

£3 a day makes a £5 billion business, and a greater household expense than the gas bill.

Until 1994, the coffee shop market was relatively immature – the baristas wore baseball caps, and served lacklustre pints of weak, sweet, American-style coffee. Did you know that the French call American coffee jus des chausetttes – literally, ‘sock juice’?

Then something changed. There was an infusion of Antipodean personality into the British (and especially the London) coffee scene. An infusion of social ease. The emphasis was no longer on the utility of a caffeine fix, but the luxury of a moment of pleasure.

Coffee shops started to say something about us: bright, confident, sexy, energetic. The market diversified – not just Italian-American, but Australian, British and Scandinavian. There was a new confidence in national personality.

With it came a natural increase in quality.

The American stalwarts took note of this shift – and tried to inject a little personality of their own.

What does this mean for the Chinese car market?

“…un piccolo momento di piacere” – a move away from necessity.

Cars are more than appliances, more than status symbols. They represent a way of living.

As the Chinese car market matures, cars will evolve from necessity to lifestyle choice.

How will China influence the rest of the world?

By infusing design with Chinese personality – with themes of economy, family values and respect.

Just as Australian social ease was an authentic fit for coffee shop culture, so these Chinese values fit plumb into the new, leaner automotive industry.

Where do you find design inspiration?

In the first post of a new column here on the Conran blog looking at where we find design inspiration, Will Unwin, a product designer from Studio Conran, tells us more about the mysterious and beautiful place he finds his…

In the creative industry it is only a matter of time before we experience what I like to call ‘a dry spell’. Of course I am talking about those little ideas that eventually end up allowing good design to be exactly that: good design!

This begs the question, where can we get design inspiration? Some people may get it by looking at that object in their home from a different angle, some people might get it from talking to their friends, or maybe it just hits you while you’re on the tube. Whatever your method, can I suggest a new one?

Before returning to work at Conran in August this year, I spent the previous 5 months exploring South America. Since then I have come to the conclusion that my inspiration cannot be found on the underground, but instead lies in a far away land. The land I am talking about in particular is Antarctica.

After making the biggest impulse reaction of my life, I blew the majority of my hard earned savings on a boat trip across the Drake Passage to the unknown continent at the bottom of our planet. I was not prepared for what I saw.

I don’t think I’ve ever been to a place that provides you with such a diverse range of ideas and inspiration. It’s a place that puts you in the perfect mindset for work. Hopefully some of the below images will help you understand what I mean.

I saw icebergs in shapes I did not know were physically possible; I saw colours I was not aware even existed; I saw combinations of forms that I didn’t think would complement one another- all of which can be used to influence design directly. If any of you budding architects out there are looking for a new form to compete with the soon-to-be-complete London Shard, Antarctica is your place

The landscape is simply stunning. It does things to you like nothing else can. It can relax you or it can energise you. It can calm you as easily as it can excite you. The effects too are long lasting; it’s easy for me to slip away into my memories and when I return I feel somewhat enlightened, ready to attack another design problem.

Speaking of design problems, I think I’ve worked out a design for next winter’s coat collection…

Where do you find your design inspiration?