Signals

London – Hosted at the recently opened dining and co-working destination Eccleston Yards and programmed by experience designers Bompas & Parr, Paradise now will let visitors experience an array of the latest wellness trends. ‘This project is the culmination of a year of research into how an architectural space can give you the blissed out feeling of a full holiday in under an hour,’ explain Sam Bompas and Harry Parr.

The event will span everything from biohacking to Nootropics, urban nature bathing and touchscreen chromo-therapy. Particular highlights include a pink mist waterfall enriched with energising mineral and herbal extracts, ‘haptic dunes’ that infuse meditators with nutrients from vitamin enriched pebbles, and an ‘electrolyte aqua bar’ that will filter London’s rain through columns filled with geological layers derived from seven different continents.

For more on how the placemaking and wellness industries are colliding to create new destinations that place human health as a central priority, read about In-tune Architecture in our Certified Wellness macrotrend.

Tokyo – While most industries have already succumbed to the co-working revolution, the beauty sector has yet to find a workable model. This is a surprise, given how many independent practitioners work in this space and the constant need to find locations that not only have all the requisite facilities, but can also adapt to flexible freelance working schedules.

The Go Today Shaire Salon – designed by Tokyo native Canoma – is one of the first to tackle this friction point head on, offering hair stylists a fully serviced booth without the need to pay the high cost of renting a chair from an established salon. The venue has 12 booths, six shampoo stations, makeup seats and a staff lounge.

‘There is an excessive supply of beauty salons here, which results in an increased risk for starting a business,’ Shinsuke Yokoyama, Canoma’s chief designer, tells Frame. ‘This project was planned with the belief that there is a demand for a good environment that enables communication between similarly active beauticians at a low cost through sharing salons.’

To see more examples of brands currently redefining the hair salon, read our dedicated listicle.

Consumers are now going directly to Amazon to begin their product search, as opposed to Google. This is an exact reversal of the stats from three years ago according to digital intelligence platform Jumpshot. The eCommerce giant has an 80% share in many categories, meaning that it is reaching limits in terms of further growth. Those in which it still has room to extend its dominance include women's clothing (42%) and furniture (47%).

To learn how Amazon is also winning the battle for voice commerce, read our Voice Retail market.