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The Wonder is a play space for imaginative families

The Wonder, New York City

New York – The high-spec play space aims to provide families with a space for quality time oriented around creative and educational activities.

Founded by Sarah Robinson and Noria Morales, two mothers who recognised a gap for innovation in kids’ play and classes, The Wonder is described as a space for recreation, experiences, and human connection for all ages. With an annual membership subscription of £3,780 ($4,800, €4,290) per family, its classes focus on discovery and creativity and include art classes exploring the work of Yayoi Kusama and visits from entomologists, complete with bug zoos to study.

Tapping into modern parenting mindsets, The Wonder provides a stroller cleaning service, has bathrooms stocked with organic nappies and natural baby care, and beers and board games for parents. ‘This is not a daycare. This is a space where families can create a sense of community with other people,’ Morales tells Fast Company.

As explored in our recent micro trend Co-economy Childcare, services for families and children are evolving, with the emergence of crèche-first co-working and child-friendly urban residences.

Nike’s latest sneaker is entirely digital

Nike Jordans on Fortnite

US – Nike’s Jordan brand has partnered with Fortnite, the popular online video game, to release two new downloadable characters wearing Nike shoes.

The #FortniteXJumpman collaboration includes two limited-edition skins that players pay for – both wearing Air Force 1s in a variety of colours. The in-game product drop is intended to promote a new Fortnite racing game mode called Downtown Drop and allows Nike to reach Fortnite’s 250 million registered users.

The Jordan partnership follows other recent in-game collaborations, such as virtual jerseys launched with the National Football League and crossovers with the Avengers franchise. Such deals are intended to appeal to players, while offering brands and partners new advertising streams within the game, made by Epic Games.

In a similar vein, we explore how brands are beginning to blur the line between material and digitised products through gamification in our Immaterial Fashion microtrend.

A luxury Bitcoin watch for the crypto-affluent

Los Angeles – Watchmaker Franck Muller has created the Encrypto, the world’s first functional Bitcoin timepiece that allows wearers to check their balance and securely deposit their coins into a personal safe or storage vault.

Each watch comes as a two piece deep cold storage set, with its own unique public address etched on the dial and a sealed USB containing a private key. Users can add their Bitcoin to their wallet or check their balance directly through a QR code on the dial.

The watch’s system was designed in partnership with Regal Assets, a crypto investment company, with the brand targeting crypto-rich consumers by launching the Encypto at Franck Muller’s Dubai Mall boutique, which will itself accept payment for the watch in Bitcoin.

As explored in the Foresight section of our macro trend Uneasy Affluence, the cryptocurrency boom has created a fresh asset class, bringing forward newly wealthy individuals and new opportunities for luxury brands.

Franck Muller

A one-stop wellness destination for women

All Bright, London

London – The AllBright Mayfair has partnered with 58 Wellbeing & Lifestyle to offer women a new space dedicated to wellness.

Located on the second floor of the private members club, The AllBright Mayfair, 58 Wellbeing & Lifestyle will offer women a 360-degree approach to wellbeing, including an in-house general practitioner, plus holistic, medical, physiological and aesthetic treatments. The space will host three holistic wellness rooms offering a variety of physical and spiritual treatments, as well as a hair and beauty salon.

Alongside the wellness space, AllBright members and the public will be able to use a boutique fitness space by the media company Stylist, branded Stylist Strong. In addition to offering class-based workouts for women, the studio schedules some of their classes in line with hormonal cycles, demonstrating how brands can create fitness concepts aligned with natural human cycles and chronobiology. For more, read our Cyclical Beauty microtrend.

Stat: The number of smart homes in Britain is growing

According to Smart Home Week, Britain is now home to 15 million smart homes, defined as home with a form of smart device able to control appliances such as the lights, doors, the kettle or vacuum cleaner.

Analysing insights from 2,000 consumers, the study found that 57% of British homes now contain a smart device, with one in four adults using such devices to control their television, and one in three using them to play music.

In terms of future investments, in the next 12 months a third of Brits plan to purchase smart light bulbs, while more than a fifth of adults surveyed said they will be looking to update their homes with smart lights, thermostats, and security cameras.

Amid the growing appetite for smart devices, appliance brands and interior outfitters are increasingly integrating these technologies into their products. For more on what’s happening in the heart of the home, explore our microtrend Connected Kitchens.

Thought-starter: How thoughtful design can impact wellbeing

Ivy Ross, Google’s vice president of Design for Hardware Products discusses the influence of design and its power to subconsciously affect our wellbeing.

A Space for Being, which Google showcased at Milan Salone 2019, explores the potential of neuroaesthetics to show how physiological changes in the body respond to design. Visitors were fitted with a wristband to capture biological data, measuring their heart rate, temperature and breathing when exposed to certain design stimuli. The purpose of the exhibition was to make the 'invisible' visible and bring it to life.

'We need a new language to understand neuroaesthetics – how to make the intangible tangible', says Ivy Ross. 'All of the things related to the arts, music and design once made us feel alive, and have been very present in our lives, but then the rational and the scientific mind took over and we started putting all that aside. At present, I think we're operating in our rational mind and we have lost these particular senses and that feeling that makes us feel good. Right now, we're optimising as opposed to enjoying or loving.'

Look out for the full interview here.