The following is a Google translation of the statement on the most exclusive FARMED fish in Norway

SALMA is a guaranteed fresh, skinless and boneless of salmon produced in one of the world’s most modern farms, Hordaland. SALMA is of the highest sashimikvalitet and is among the internationally most acclaimed chefs, regarded as the best salmon in the world. From the salmon swimming in the sea (please note that SALMA is a farmed fish) until it is finished vacuum-packed, it takes a maximum of 4 hours. SALMA has scientifically documented benefits in quality color, flesh quality, firmness and taste.

So, I had send request for information to Salma (not Hayek), and here is the response:

“We appreciate enquiries from our consumers. SALMA is farmed and harvested under strict hygienic regulations. Med vennlig hilsen TINE AS – Bendik Seth Fiskå Forbrukerkonsulent.”

Having a strong ficus on retail design, I’ve recently run into a on-line exhibit, which was very refreshing in a sense that it wasn’t about the product it self, but more about consumer behavior modification. The brilliant collection was put together by Cory Bernat.

“What kind of messages about food was the government sending to the American public through these posters?

Bernat: Actually, as a professor pointed out to me, most of them are not really about food—they’re about behavior modification. Both times, with both wars, the government needed the public to modify their behavior for the national good. (And today, that’s exactly what Michelle Obama is trying to get people to do: change their behavior to curb childhood obesity.) As the Food Administration’s publications director put it to state officials back in 1917: “All you gentlemen have to do is induce the American people to change their ways of living!” He’s saying it with irony, of course, because that’s a very hard task.”

Somehow my quest for retail inspiration brings me back to the Big Apple (I wander way…?)

Guests may request their room based on their personal interests, subject to availability.

Third Floor- Social Sciences
Room 300.004  -World Culture

Fifth Floor – Math and Science
Room 500.006   -Astronomy

Seventh Floor – The Arts
Room 700.001  -Architecture

Erotic Literature, Eastern Religion, Logic, and Fairy Tales are also among the 60 eclectic literary themes. This is one hotel that can truly claim to be “all booked up” at all times. Your stay at the LH in New York City will undoubtedly include the perfect book to curl up with at bedtime.

Every time I encounter simply executed, and yet very conceptual approach to retail design it adrenalized my inner design strength! Well done!

Courtesy of Design Crave

Holi was one of the agency Det Norske Samlaget publishing house came to (inspired by our previous work on cook books) and ask us to develop conceptual ideas for the up-coming Godt å gi bort book. Enjoy our choice for that food as a gift delicious reading. Curious to see what will be their final choice.

Photography – studio Dreyer & Hensley

Content & Style – Guro Usterud & Ann-Kristine Wang

Illustration – Esra Caroline Røise

Editor – Jon Risdal

58 billion paper cups are thrown away – and are not recycled – every year. In a contest hosted by Jovoto , and partly sponsored by Starbucks and Core77 , the Betacup project has the goal to find the best ideas to eliminate paper cup consumption. What could be a more sustainable alternative? This entry, by Miller Creative , solves this problem, in a realistic, manufacturable, and eco-friendly way. Check it out below.

The Brief:

“Rethink the way we consume coffee and present solutions that strive to reduce paper cup waste. We are not looking for just another reusable cup design. Think beyond just the vessel for carrying coffee, and develop a way to cause behavior change at a massive scale.”

Miller Creative’s Solution:

“The Radial Fin Cup is an attempt to improve the typical coated, rolled and glued coffee cup with a plastic lid, and satisfy coffee shop owners, consumers and the the environment alike. This is a tough call.

Retailers want low cost and happy customers. Customers want ease-of-use, convenience and cleanliness. The environment needs us to come up with sustainable ways to drink our daily coffee.

We felt avoiding reusables was important since consumers at large are not likely to reuse their cups. (Convenience factor.)

A disposable cup that doesn’t cost a lot more than the current model would be ideal. Eliminating extra materials was also key. We came up with a sleeveless cup that is sustainable and 100% biodegradable. Some carefully considered improvements make this idea very attainable in the real world.

The design incorporates fins to allow for insulation from the cup surface without adding an extra sleeve.  A PLA (polylactic acid) lid is improved by making it more recognizable as non-recyclable. (It is 100% biodegradable, and often gets confused with plastic.)”

Courtesy of …

Very excited about a project I just completed . The assignment was to create  a joint venture coffee brand for the hippest urban retailer, the oldest coffee magnate and the leading gourmet coffee roaster in Norway. I wouldn’t done it with out the marvelous interior architect – Jennifer Valone, industrial design powerhouse – Halvor Thorsen and last, but not least the raconteur – Lars Bæk. Thank you guys. More images to come soon on the main part of our w-site.

After surviving volcanic eruption in Iceland, looking for that new retail I finally stumbled over Princi at 135 Wardour Street, London, W1F 0UT. Well what we are dealing  here is a very totalitarian monumental interiors, something a great dictator like Mussolini would build in order to portray his immeasurable and unconditional power over Monday to Friday starving office plebs. Well suitable enough the mausoleum only dinning opportunities was in the form of long communal tables. Streamline design,rigorous geometry and pure, natural materials (using solid masculine stone expression) was balanced with one of the most succulent food presentation. In fist impression non of it fits together, but than ‘moment of surprise’ is a statement in modern retail design. One thing for sure Princi is a place you are going to remember, and repeatedly come back for more of that mouthwatering pizza.

Another unorthodox retail approach was the lack of any in store graphics, signage, promotional campaigns etc. I know, hard to believe that one can drive a retail with complete absence of the magic “SALE” word. Starbucks use to have only new product posters and never a “on sale” posters.

Well the list I know the creative minds behind the retail design are Claudio Silvestrin Architects.

More on the creators…

The first time I took notice of Mucca’s work was 2 years ago, while aimlessly wandering around Park Avenue and 31st street, running into parked Butterfield Market van and it just began to drizzle. What arouse my creative eye was how they were able to offset  the retro feel of the engraving motives with the contemporary color combination of the purple and soft green. Well since discovering Mucca Design that day, their work has been an ongoing inspiration to me. As for all of you who know me well by now, you would know that I have a weak spot for good creative writing.

“The entire retail experience speaks to consumers in a language that makes the daily grocery run a little more palatable. Judging from the number of Brooklyn Fare reusable bags spotted around town, the neighbors agree.” – as stated by Mucca’s team.

It all started with cave men and/or women drawing on the walls of their cave. Followed by 1996 Starbucks new (at the time) store concept, lead by the fearless Wright Massey, who was given the apparently contradictory tasks of lowering costs while creating a better design. Wright’s team not only accomplished that but also a third: devising novel formats that would allow sales in locations we never could have considered before. I vividly remember how we based everything on the coffee process and landed with 4 retail concepts – Grow, Roast, Brew and Aroma. Simultaneously with shifting color palette, different set of icons were used trough out the store to reinforce each concept. While the approach is not new, it is still viable to se different ways of arranging that same old song. In this case tanks to the creativity applied to MoC MoC (which means “hello” in Japanese) designed by Nicole Robertson and Richard Garber of the Manhattan firm GRO Architects.

It’s made almost entirely out of CNC-milled mahogany slats, some painted high-gloss white. They curve around the ceiling like a racetrack then slink down the walls and into neighboring rooms. Practically speaking, they’re there to hide the building’s nether regions: the assorted sprinklers and lights and speakers. Aesthetically, the idea’s that no two spaces are alike.

Those etchings in the slats are “sushicons”–that is, sushi icons. During construction, construction works used these to decode what panel needed to be put where. (Designing this sort of thing on a computer is easy enough; building it is something else entirely, since almost every piece is unique.) But now the restaurant is finished, they help tell people what’s what on the dinner menu.

Courtesy of Fast Company