Need to Know
17 : 07 : 20

Spain – Mas Creations is a digital-first furniture brand whose designs are translated from renders to real products by local artisans.

One of the first pieces launched by the brand is the Too Much rocking chair, which combines contrasting colours with experimental materials and forms. Designed with velvet, marble and stainless steel, the result is a playful design that takes aesthetic cues from its digital twin.

Mas Creations has also launched a campaign that taps into its digital origins – a response to the cancellation of Milan Design Week – showcasing 3D renderings of each piece set against backdrops inspired by interiors and artists from the 1970s. Ana Hernández, creative director of Masquespacio, the digital agency behind Mas Creations, explains: ‘Due to [Milan's cancellation] and the lockdown in Spain, we decided to focus all our energy into turning upside-down this official launch and creating a universe that mixes digital with photography.’

As reality becomes increasingly digitised, Mirrored Realms are emerging that allow the artificiality of virtual worlds to be reflected in physical spaces and products.

US – OffLimits is a cereal brand for adults putting a new spin on breakfast time.

Spotting an opportunity to create cereal that suits modern adults’ worldly palates and routines, Off Limits is built around the functionality of its ingredients and the nostalgia that comes with eating cereal as an adult.

Its two flavours are represented by packaging featuring grown-up cartoon characters. The energy-boosting coffee and cocoa flavour features a rabbit called DASH, while its more relaxing vanilla and pandan edition is represented by its chilled ZOMBIE mascot. The branding is intentionally fun and youthful, with the characters designed by Obey founder Shepard Fairey’s studio.

Tapping into a sense of nostalgia, the boxes also include stress-relieving activity sheets and tickets that can be exchanged for merchandise from the brand’s online toy shop. ‘We took the prize inside and let you decide, arcade-style... How about limited-edition spray paints, killer keychains and artist collaborated toys and mini-boxes? The possibilities are endless,’ reads a brand statement.

While OffLimits uses characters to appeal to adults, elsewhere supermarkets have been challenged to rethink colourful cereal branding to mitigate pester power from children. For more, explore Healthy Kids Campaigns.

According to a forecast by Équité, China could account for 50% of the global luxury market by 2030.

In a Jing Daily report sharing Equité's forecast, the 2020s are described as the 'Chinese Decade' for luxury, with the platform citing that 40% of all global luxury purchases are already made by Chinese consumers.

Indeed, the region’s economy was the first to rebound after the Covid-19 lockdown period, with both revenge spending and new attitudes to sustainability emerging as a result of the pandemic.

In late 2019, Credit Suisse reported that wealth in China had overtaken that in the US. With 100m Chinese people among the world’s top 10% of richest people, compared with 99m people in the US, growth in spending and wealth creation is anticipated in the years ahead.