Need to Know
19 : 05 : 22

Detroit – Architecture studio OMA has unveiled plans to transform a disused commercial bakery in Detroit’s East Village into a mixed-use art and education centre. The Lantern facility will include gallery spaces, affordable artist studios and retail spaces. It will also serve as the headquarters for two local arts non-profit organisations, Signal Return and PASC (Progressive Art Studio Collective).

The redevelopment makes use of the building’s existing structure, for example by transforming an area missing both its roof and an end wall into an accessible public courtyard. Through its design, Lantern is bolstering local skill- and community-building in a city that is experiencing a creative renaissance. Anthony Curis, co-founder of OMA, says: ‘The core of our mission in East Village is focused on creating an inclusive community centred around the arts.’

This project demonstrates an evolution of Detroit’s continuing re-invention, and the initiatives that are rebuilding the city’s commercial potential while benefitting the wider community.

Georgia – Design studio Bedow is breathing new life into Georgian drinks company Swee, taking an unconventional approach by designing its ingredient list into its packaging. As a producer of naturally-made kombucha, the visual refresh allows Swee’s ingredients to be placed at the fore.

In the new design, each ingredient is represented by a specific colour and pattern, appearing all together as a form of design-led bar graph, with each shown in a different size to represent its percentage in the drink. While drinks ingredients are typically displayed in discreet, functional blocks of text, allowing brand names to take the lead, Swee is flipping the script. ‘We saw the possibility to turn what is typically functional information into a visually playful infographic system,’ says Perniclas Bedow, creative director at Bedow.

As we explore in Frivolous Foods, there has been an ongoing move towards less sterile approaches to nutritional food and drinks – with identities that instead combine nostalgia, escapism and pleasure.

As people re-embrace in-person dating, there is fresh interest in speed dating as a way of meeting potential partners. While the sector has been defined by swipes, DMs and ghosting in recent years, Eventbrite reveals that it has seen a 63% surge in speed dating events hosted on the platform compared to the previous year.

Interestingly, there has also been a diversification of the types of speed dating events being organised on the platform, with options including Tantra speed dating, a kink-friendly Queer Comedy Night, and an event for nature-lovers in New York’s Central Park. Such targeted events provide a welcome alternative in a sector that has been defined by negative tropes such as swipe fatigue.

As Marc Baghadjian, co-founder of dating app Lolly, explains, Generation Z are leading the way in a reboot of dating, and are recognising the importance of having more meaningful ways of meeting new people.