LSN : Daily Signals : Need to Know 14 : 05 : 18

1. Hershesons subverts the salon space

Hershesons, London

London – The salon group has unveiled its latest flagship location, which takes an unorthodox approach to the interior design, embracing an anti-salon aesthetic.

Designed in conjunction with GP Studio and architect Racheline Michaels., the 5,000 sq-ft space experiments with different lighting, haphazard mirror placements and a more relaxed format of seating that encourages more interaction between clients. At every station guests are provided with power ports for their phones and notepads to take notes from their stylist, and the selection of magazines expands beyond just fashion to include other titles such as The New Yorker and The Economist.

Much like the Christopher Hanna salon, Hershesons also provides non-surgical treatments from Dr Barbara Sturm and a designated area for refreshments and socialising. In the Sans Pere lifestyle café customers can enjoy food and drink while waiting for their colour to set.

‘This is not a traditional salon – it’s a beauty space, a work space and a social space wrapped into one,’ explains Luke Hersheson, Co-founder and Creative Director for Hershesons. ‘Customers can pick and mix the services they want according to their needs and their timeframe. Or they can hang out in the café and have a coffee. It’s a space that is built around our customer'.

2. Rihanna launches a new lingerie line

Savage x Fenty

Global – After the launch of her inclusive beauty range, Rihanna has expanded into lingerie with a new collection that comprises 90 pieces of lingerie, sleepwear and accessories.

Savage x Fenty embraces similar diversity values as the singer’s beauty brand. The new collection includes bras and briefs available in every shade of nude, as well as a vast range of bra sizes from 32A to 44DD. As well as inclusive sizing, the brand's collection also spans across a spectrum of intimacy; 'On the reg' features essential basics, 'U Cute' consists of subtle lace pieces, 'Damn' explores casual intimacy with sheer corsets and satin pyjama sets and 'Black Widow''s cupless bras and garter belts are for those who wish to take risks.

‘It was important to me to push the boundaries, but also create a line that women can see themselves in,’ Rihanna said in a statement.

As we witness more progress in the plus-size market, brands need to also embrace a post-body mindset where customers can feel their personality, not their size, comes first.

3. Waitrose encourages healthy eating with in-store nutritionists

UK – The British supermarket is introducing nutrition specialists to its stores to offer customers advice on how to make healthier choices.

As the clean eating movement towards continues to grow, Waitrose is introducing 100 healthy eating specialists to its stores across the country. The trained members of staff will provide optional health information and guide customers towards healthier food options in-store. The grocer will also launch several initiatives including more wellness tips and inspiration in its publications and online as well as classes from experts, such as Professor Greg Whyte.

With consumers finding it difficult to filter through the extensive amount of health information online, they’re increasingly turning to reputable professionals for the resources they need to make healthy lifestyle changes.

Rude Health food at the Rude Health cafe

4. Urban exploration race launches in Hong Kong

District Race HK by AIA Vitality, Hong Kong

Hong Kong – Asian event consultancy, Exceed and experiential agency Lightweave have collaborated to launch District, a gamified race experience that combines augmented reality (AR) and location-based technologies.

Using an app, participants must navigate through 80 virtual checkpoints and challenges scattered across Hong Kong. Points are rewarded for successfully reaching the checkpoint and conquering a challenge, such as a quiz that tests their knowledge of the neighbourhood. Runners’ points and progress are also tracked on a live leader board to motivate them further.

Over the next year, the race will roll out in various different cities across the globe including London, Sydney and New York.

With urban environments often restricting consumers to a confined routine, companies are discovering how they can enhance exploration using entertainment aspects. For another example, read our story on Adidas’ Green Light Run.

5. Unilever cashes in on sustainability

The brand’s investment in sustainable brands has seen positive growth since the launch of Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) in 2010. The company revealed that over the past four years its sustainable living brands including Wall’s, Vaseline, Dove and Persil have outperformed the rest of the business.

'Transparency is what gives our business its most important asset – trust. At a time when there is a crisis of trust in many institutions across the world, there has never been a more important time for business to play a leading role in restoring it', Paul Polman, Unilever chief executive, says in a press statement.

Unilever has demonstrated itself as a leader in sustainability in the last couple of years. It is also increasingly taking an ethical stance – such as a recent announcement that it would consider removing all ads from Facebook and YouTube in a bid to pressurise the platforms into being a more morally accountable for their actions.

6. Thought-starter: How will self-driving cars impact urban design?

The global market for autonomous vehicles (AVs) is predicted to reach £907 billion ($1.2tn, €1tn) by 2035, according to Transport Systems Catapult. Governments and brands must start to think about how the popularisation of this technology will transform the way we use and design our cities.

Much of the pattern of development in today’s cities is dictated by the location of major public transport stations. A compelling demonstration of this fact is the rise in real estate prices near future Crossrail stations in London. With increased adoption of AVs, reliance on hubs such as railway and bus stations would naturally decrease, and in turn so would the need for owning property near to these hubs.

Autonomous mobile retail concepts also have the potential to destabilise the notion of traditionally zoned shopping districts and disrupt the concept of the store as a destination. Car-maker Toyota previewed the next evolution of this concept at CES 2018 with the e-Palette, an autonomous moving container that can be fitted out with retail, workplace and hospitality facilities.

This most visible impact of this dynamic ideal of how vehicles interact with the city space will be the reduction in need for parking infrastructure. With this extra space, architecture firm FXFOWLE see an opportunity to fulfil visions for greening the city.

Read the full article here.