Shore thing: Bacteria kit makes sand rock solid

For the Design Exquis project at the London Design Festival, William Boujon and Julien Benayoun were tasked with responding to an object created by another designer.

The Bold Design duo was presented with a detector that analyses the bacteria in beach sand. The Memorabilia Factory breaks from the impulse to encase ourselves in a pristine, sterilised environment. Instead, it recognises that microscopic life is everywhere and can make surprising positive contributions to our lives. In this case, bacteria swollen by water expand until the sand becomes fixed like concrete.

This kind of kit could be part of the bespoke travel services that we noted in our Curated Travel microtrend. For more, read our Travel & Hospitality Futures report.