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31 : 08 : 21

Sweden and UK – With lockdowns fuelling global interest in home improvements and interior furnishings, Ikea and fashion designer Zandra Rhodes have joined forces to examine how design can bring an optimistic outlook into the home.

Using colour, patterns and textiles, the partnership is exploring how objects and furnishings can celebrate people’s personalities and local cultures, as well as the psychological effects of interiors on people and spaces. The result is the aptly titled Karismatisk collection for Ikea, which will launch in September 2021 with 26 pieces including rugs, vases and cushions. Crucially, the collection also meets Ikea’s Five Dimensions of Democratic Design: form, function, quality, sustainability at an affordable price.

While a raft of high-low homeware collections have emerged this past year, including H&M and Diane von Furstenberg, Karismatisk displays an awareness not only of how interiors affect our moods, but the rise of unsustainable 'fast' homeware. In turn, Zandra Rhodes and Ikea are ensuring recycled materials are used in the collection where possible, while also seeking to keep prices accessible.

Africa – Dance, music and art are central to the heritage and culture of myriad global nations – and in West Africa, a new floating performance hub designed by architects NLÉ will help to promote creative arts in Cape Verde for locals and the African diaspora.

Situated on the island of São Vicente, the Floating Music Hub builds on NLÉ’s existing floating building solution to offer a destination where artists from various creative industries can gather to collaborate, or audiences can immerse themselves in performances. Comprising three floating vessels, the Hub features a multipurpose live performance space, a state-of-the-art recording studio, a bar and café, and a central triangular floating plaza for gatherings.

With the ability to host about 300 people, the Floating Music Hub ties to the rise of Media-tels – hospitality or leisure spaces that unite people around music or shared interests. It is notably conscious of the local environment too – taking an Elastic Architecture approach, its lightweight, prefabricated, modular timber elements can be assembled and disassembled easily.

Known by many names – from 'Sunday feeling' to the 'Sunday scaries' – a sense of anxiety or worry that hits at the end of the weekend is evident among one in seven (14%) American citizens who have work or school obligations, according to fresh research by YouGov.

At a time of rising anxiety as a result of Covid-19 and many people beginning to return to physical work and learning spaces, the July 2021 study of more than 30,400 US adults found generational variations, too. Those most likely to be in education or work on a Monday feel the Sunday scaries more all or most weeks – 39% of Generation Z and 38% of Millennials – compared to Generation X (28%) and Baby Boomers (15%).

According to YouGov, respondents who are unhappy or dissatisfied with their job are more likely to repost such feelings than those who love their jobs, 13% of whom still get Sunday anxiety each week.