Blender - A creative digest

BLENDER november 2014

BLENDER

Creatives Have to Work Together Don’t be selfish NIK PARKS

If you want to be successful, you have to be generous.

I know our media loves to portray successful people as greedy, evil white collar criminals…but the media also claims that any woman who wear anything above a size “0" is fat. Mainstream media has a skewed perspective of life, to say in the least.

I have a podcast in which I interview successful creative professionals and entrepreneurs. I’ve had the privilege of interviewing people who make 5 to 6 figures per month! I’ve interviewed millionaires and I can tell you that every guest I’ve had is an incredibly generous person.

“I can’t wait to become wealthy so I can start giving generously”. That’s a backward way of thinking.

—Dave Ramsey When I was in college, there was a fellow graphic design student who had teamed up with a mobile

Content

developer. As a student, I wanted to have some apps in my portfolio but I didn’t know how to develop an app. I knew I needed a developer but I didn’t have the money to hire one. I tried to partner with developer but no one was interested. They didn’t want to partner with a student, they wanted paying gigs.

When I learned that this other student had actually found a developer who was willing to collaborate, I was ecstatic. When I mentioned I’d like to meet his developer, and perhaps collaborate and create some new apps, his immediate response was no.

The other design student mistook greed for ambition—a mistake that is fairly common among creatives. Selfishness is not the path to success. In fact, it ultimately robs you of opportunity.

When I started my 1st company, I was paranoid that someone was going to steal my idea. Please don’t make that same mistake. I now understand that ideas are a dime a dozen (it’s the execution of the idea that

matters). My highly secretive company never made very much money—surprise, surprise.

When you collaborate with other creative professionals, you will create something entirely new…something you would not have been able to create as an individual. Creativity isn’t like apple pie— if I give you a slice of my apple pie, I have less pie to enjoy—it’s boundless, infinite, intangible, and it needs to be shared.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.

—Albert Einstein Nik Parks is co-founder of Launching Creative

Editor’s Letter

News 4 Blender started from a conversation about content curation, and how much information we produce every minute – if you don’t know it, we’ll tell you now: Google alone is responsible for 2.66 million searches while we send out 433 thousand tweets. That seemed quite a lot to us and we thought no one would be able to keep in Structure 9 touch with that.

So we made a creative digest for creative professionals. That’s right, we are doing half the job for you.

Every week we search for pieces that are relevant for the industry and condense them so if you don’t have a lot Function 13 of time you can still be on the loop. Maybe all the free time you’ll have this weekend will your commute home but it shouldn’t be a problem. That’s what we are here for. And what’s more: with Blender there’s no hyperlinks so you don’t run the risk of getting distracted by all those clickable things on your screen (we know really well Tear and Wear 19 how attractive they can be). However, if you do want to find out more about something you read on our paper we tell you where we first read so you can go and check it out yourself when that extra time comes along.

Every issue is divided in sections relating to different areas in the industry and in this issue you will be able Trending now 24 to read about a brick that can help people save water and the plans for a new bike lane in London. And on our Trending section, where we talk what is hot right now, we take a look at Brazil, the South American giant that everyone seems to know a bit about but not a lot. Here we go beyond Rio de Janeiro and the Amazon to show Enterpreneurship 36 you a different side of the country.

We have a penchant for innovation and for this issue we went to the place where they are usually born – the university – so you’ll find in here pieces written by students that relate to their practical or research work.

Editorial Flávia Souza There’s also something to the entrepreneurs out there with a whole section dedicated to this art, with advice from fellow entrepreneurs and new ideas that may just be the right inspiration to get your business off Design & Art Direction Gonzalo Salcedo the ground.

Like Nik Parks, who wrote the piece that opens Blender, we believe that creative need to work together, so Published by Blender UK if you like to collaborate with us, do get in touch at collaborate@blender.co.uk Blender is free and delivered to your office building every Friday morning, so ask for it at the reception.

Printed by The Newspaper Club Because if you only have time to read one thing, it should be Blender.

Contributors Berta Ferrer, Christa J. Smith, Carol Aquino, Mirela Lacerda Cover image: Inhotim Museum, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Back cover image: Escadaria Selarón, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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FLÁVIA SOUZA.

Email your comments to editor@blender.co.uk Or write to: The Editor, Blender, 20 John Prince’s St, London W1G 0BJ

BLENDER

Mapping the creative industries Generating 71.4 billion pounds to the UK economy, the creative industries were responsible in 2013 for 2.4 million jobs in the UK – a growth of 8.8% over 2011. Despite London being considered the hotspot for professionals in the area, positions are opening across the country as the map shows GRAPHIC BY MARCELO STOPPA. DATA FROM THE DEPARTMENT FOR CULTURE MEDIA & SPORT UK.

Between 2011 and 2013, within the Creative Industries, there were increases in jobs of greater than 20 per cent in...

Jobs in Creative Economy outperforms total jobs in the UK by 2.4%

+20.1%

Yorkshire and The Humber

In 2013, across the whole of the UK, around 1 in 12 jobs (8.5%) were in the Creative Economy

+25.0%

+20.6%

East Midlands

West Midlands

+27.1%

East of England

Almost a third (30.3%) of Creative Industries jobs were based in London.

The Creative Industries accounted for 1 in 18 jobs (5.6%) of all jobs in the UK in 2013.

Jobs in the Creative Economy on the rise Totals in 2013 in comparison to 2011

2.6 million (2013)

Total Creative Economy employment across the UK, an 8.8% increase

1.7 million (2013)

1.8 million (2013)

Jobs in the Creative industries in 2013, or a 10.1% increase

Jobs for people in Creative Occupations, or a 7.3% increase

Notes: 1. Creative Economy includes the contribution of those who are in creative occupations outside the creative industries as well as all those employed in the Creative Industries.

2 Creative Industries are a subset of the Creative Economy and include only those working in the Creative Industries themselves (whether in creative occupations or in other roles e.g. finance).

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4 | News

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news 25 Years since the fall of the Berlin Wall

On a Sunday marked by memories and celebration, thousands of Germans enthusiastically welcomed the fall of the Berlin Wall, which occurred 25 years ago, on November 9, 1989.

The celebrations lasted for three days and took place at the Brandenburg Gate, one of the most reconisable symbols of Germany. Besides a stage that received musicians and political figures such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, an installation recreating part of the course where the wall was erected.

For Merkel, the fall of the Berlin Wall brought confidence. “We have the power to create, we can change things for the good, that is the message of the fall of the wall,” she said.

At the end of the night, the eight thousand balloons used on “Lichtgrenze 2014” (something like “Border of Light”) were released to symbolise the end of the wall and the division of Germany, choreographed to the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, known as Ode to Joy. IMAGE VIA INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIME

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The unguarded dangers of hotspot usage

Dangerous selfies with bears may close Lake Tahoe, USA, to visitors

An experiment organised by the Cyber Security Research Institute saw a handful of Londoners agree to give up their eldest child in exchange for free Wi-Fi. Users were asked to agree to the terms and conditions as they joined a free network in a cafe in some of the busiest areas of the city. A “Herod clause” was included in the terms, under which connection would only be provided if “the recipient agreed to assign their first born child to us for the duration of eternity”, the Guardian reported. The experiment, sponsored by Finnish security firm F-Secure, aimed to draw attention to “the total disregard for computer security by people when they are mobile”, according to the company’s report.

In a period of about 30 minutes, 250 devices logged on the hotspot network – some of them immediately due to their configurations – while Six users agreed to the terms and conditions and connected to the free service (F-Secure has since stated that they will not be enforcing the clause – which would be illegal in any case). In addition, German company SySS, which built the device used in the experiment, was able to obtain content of emails sent as well as addresses of both parties and the password of the sender, highlighting the population’s lack of knowledge regarding security risks related to using public Wi-Fi. F-Secure’s security adviser Sean Sullivan told the Guardian that people should not use their Wi-Fi in public or unknown spots, as a way of keeping their data safe. “People are thinking of Wi-Fi as a place as opposed to an activity”, he added. “You don’t do unprotected Wi-Fi at home, why are you doing it in public?

Wild bears are dangerous, but visitors of Taylor Creek Visitor Center in South Lake Tahoe do not seem to fear for their lives and approach the animals to take selfies. The fearful practice has become so common that the US Forest Service issued a warning urging people to keep safe distance from the beasts. According to Lisa Herron, spokesperson for the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, visitors are running up to the bears to make selfies and videos, putting not only themselves at risk but also the animals, since bears may be captured and killed if they attack – which may happen as they feel threatened in their own habitat.

The issue has prompted the Forest Service to consider closing the area to visitors. The situation became more critical in October with the annual run of kokanee salmon: as fishes make their way up the creek they attract hungry bears and lately smartphone owners eager for that unique photograph. It sure makes ‘Don’t feed the bears’ seem outdated now.

VIA THE HUFFINGTON POST

London’s famous red phone booths go green

A number of the iconic boxes in the capital are being transformed into free solar-powered mobile chargers in a bid to provide a carbon-neutral source of energy to citizens.

Created by two graduates from the London School of Economics, the solarbox promises to boost batteries in twenty per cent in just twelve minutes, solving users’ problems with gadgets that simply won’t last an all-day use.

The newly painted booths are equipped with 150-watt solar panels and offer a variety of USB and phone charging outlets, making it even simpler for the unprepared. Customers pay nothing to use this service, which is supported by in-kiosk advertising (an iPad with paid content to distract users while they charge their devices).

The first boxes opened on October 1st outside Dominion Theatre, in Tottenham Court Road area, and a second solarbox is expected in January with more to follow. They are available all year around from 5:30am to 11:30pm.

Developers have not disclosed how many of the red booths – rarely used these days – will be transformed.

Kirsty Kenney and Harold Craston, the developers behind the idea, won 5,000 pounds funding from the Mayor of London's Low Carbon Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2014. "In our modern world, where hardly any Londoner is complete without a raft of personal gizmos in hand, it's about time our iconic boxes were update for the 21st Century, to be useful, more sustainable," Boris Johnson said at the time.

VIA REUTERS

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An Invisibility Device of Your Own

It seems that superpowers are no longer required in order to make objects disappear. According to researchers at the University of Rochester, USA, they have created a device that can make anything disappear – or rather, to be hidden – using simple materials.

With only four lenses, an optics bench for holding the lenses in place and light, the university’s Physics Professor John Howell and graduate student Joseph Choi created a system said to be the first “that can do threedimensional, continuously multidirectional cloaking, which works for transmitting rays in the visible spectrum,” according to Choi, which means the lenses are able to bend light directed at them, causing them to pass through an object as if it were not there.

This seems to be the first device to function when looked at from multiple angles. As Howell mentioned on the University’, previous cloaking designs ran into the issue of making objects visible when there was a shift in viewpoint. Choi went on to add that some of those devices could cause dramatic changes in the background, making their presence obvious. With this is mind, the physicists made calculations to determine the distance between the lenses, finding a formula that would take care of both issues – although ‘The Rochester Cloak’ currently only works at 15 degrees in either direction from where you look, which is already more than previous devices.

Although there are no specific applications for the cloak, a patent has already been filed. But if you are interested in building your own, which should cost around 30 pounds, the University of Rochester displays a step by step on its website.

IMAGES VIA UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

We could all be flying in windowless planes in a decade

Have you ever imagined traveling on a plane with no windows? You read it right; researchers from the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), an organisation with sites across the North of England, are developing the technology to create such aircraft with aims to reduce weight and cut fuel consumption. However, it won’t just be a closed box with no contact with the outside world; the idea is to replicate what is on the outside by means of a super panoramic window. Technically, this won’t be a big window but a projection displayed on super thin, high definition and flexible OLED screens integrated into the fuselage. Outside images will be captured by cameras installed on the plane’s exterior.

Besides being a window, screens will work as panels where passengers can play and receive flight information, such as an entertainment system on board. They will also show in real time places and points of interest, other aircrafts and the International Space Station. Moreover, flyers will be to control the lighting intensity, so if they want to ‘close the window’, all they need to do is dim the screen and everything is resolved.

CPI’s John Helliwell compares these new planes to those already used in cargo aviation, highlighting that it is only passengers who usually take window seats that will feel the difference. For now the technology is being studied and the CPI expects it to be available for commercial use in ten years.

VIA THE GUARDIAN

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First person sentenced to prison for making 3D-printed gun

In the last week of October a Japanese man received a sentenced of 24 months in prison for manufacturing 3D-printed guns. Yoshitomo Imura, a 28-year-old former employee of the Shonan Institute of Technology from Kawasaki, was first arrested in May after posting a video of himself assembling his firearm to YouTube. The possession of firearms is illegal in Japan, so his rather short sentence comes as a surpise, especially as the ruling Judge Koji Inaba said that Imura had “flaunted his skills and knowledge and attempted to make gun controls toothless.”

The technician reportedly printed five plastic guns, and two of those could fire real bullets – the 3D printer was apparently bought for 636 dollars online. Imura has also made sure he uploaded design data for his guns in his videos.

He appears to be the first person in the world to receive a prison sentence for manufacturing 3D- printed guns.

The right to possess DYI guns is still a difficult matter in most of the world, but in fact it shouldn’t that hard – if you live in a country where bearing weapons of any type is illegal, so it will be for home-made ones. According to UK law, buying, owning, or manufacturaing a 3D-printed gun could guarantee up to ten years in prison, which surely makes this an issue to be taken seriously.

VIA THE TELEGRAPH

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structure

13 years after the attack that brought down the Twin Towers of lower Manhattan, this November saw the opening of One World Trade Center in the 16-acre place.

2.500 people were involved in the construction of the New York’s new landmark.

At 1,776 feet tall, One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

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The architecture of inclusion FLAVIA SOUZA

A lot has changed in public spaces in the past few years when it comes to accessibility. The Disability Discrimination Act, first passed in 1995 and then revised in 2005, meant that real physical access would finally receive its deserved attention, translating into more opportunities to those with disabilities as premises and companies had to adapt to a more equalitarian society.

Theatre company Graeae has also benefitted from these changes as more venues have adapted not only their auditoriums but also their backstage.

Established in 1980 by Nabil Shaban and Richard Tomlinson to promote the inclusion of disabled people in performance, it is currently Britain’s leading professional theatre group holding among its members people with physical and sensory impairments. Its name comes from the Greek legend of the three Graeae sisters that shared an eye and a single tooth.

Jenny Sealey, the company’s artistic director and a veteran disability arts practitioner, has a long history of successful collaborations betvween disabled and nondisabled performers. “The biggest artistic challenge for me as a director has been the exploration of how to make each production accessible. Accessibility is a big word as we need to make it accessible for the actors and for the audience”. She adds that when we think about deaf people’s needs we need to take into consideration that “not all deaf people use British Sign Language or Sign Supported English and that not all deaf people can lip-read”, highlighting the company’s aim to be as inclusive as possible – as part of the multisensory productions the company creates, their shows often fuse British Sign Language and audio description as an integral part of the action. It is definitely a unique company in that it is artistically led by people with disabilities – including Sealey, who is deaf.

Although it is possible to see changes in venues from when Graeae first started – “small and ill equipped”, in Sealey’s words – it is also possible to see that some theatres are still making adjustments only because the law says so and not interested in engaging with disabled audiences, let alone programming companies like this. The director believes that physical barriers are still a big issue in the small representation of people with disabilities on stage.

On the other hand, it is possible to name a few theatres that work with Graeae to make the space and environment as well as the social aspect of going to the theatre a whole experience. Sealey highlights the New Wolsey in Ipswich, where they started their spring tour, Jenny Sealey in rehearsals

10 | Structure

Graeae’s performance of Belonging

a revival of Mike Kenny’s Whiter Than Snow, in March.

In a previous season, the theatre had made new ramps and created short access solutions to guarantee they would be able to accommodate the cast and audience.

This year they went beyond by providing steps and a makeshift platform to enable actors of short stature to access the facilities in the green room (the lounge in which performers stay when they are not in scene).

They have worked with all their staff and volunteers so that access belongs to everyone, showing that they are happy to have disabled people in their audience and disabled actors on their stage. This is the kind of action that makes the directors’ jobs a little easier as they can focus on the actors and the performance itself.

Graeae’s stage is often extremely busy, and each performer manages to shine alone and as part of the whole – and, refreshingly, disability never comes into it.

Their cast offers an interesting mix of actors and nonactors, from different walks of life. Jez Scarratt, a keen mountain biker, suffered a lower leg amputation at the age of 22 after a motorcycle accident about 30 years ago.

Then a young Royal Marine, it meant that he was kept from going out to the Falklands War. He wasn’t happy about that but, as he admits, it could’ve been worse.

“The chap who took my place got blown up – smashed to pieces”, he says dryly. Scarratt had never performed before the 2012 Paralympics Opening Ceremony, codirected by Sealey, in which he was among the 68 volunteers with disabilities. In this year’s Belonging, an aerial production shown at the Roundhouse in Camden, the majority of the cast had never been under the spotlight before becoming disabled.

Access underpins the whole company artistically, practically and functionally. It took Graeae over 30 years to finally have their own space, a stable conversion on Kingsland Road. Designed with and for artists, the venue boasts a high profile office, rehearsal space and meeting areas, “a visible model of inclusive theatre practice strategically placed in the heart of one of London’s five Olympic boroughs”, says Sealey.

Theatres that collaborate with the company invariably learn from their approaches, and artistic

directors are starting to realise that it is necessary to work with designers to think about the best place for the caption box to be hung to ensure people can read the captions and still be able to see the action for example. This attention to detail means that audiences have a total experience that is informed by the director with the whole organisation on board.

Noticeably, there is still plenty of room for improvement in accessibility, but a lot has already been achieved given mainstream views on the topic and budget constraints. However, it is by participating in what is already available that we can provide constructive feedback to help improve future experiences for everyone. If a real impact in this field is to be made then attitudes must change so that advances are not made only with spectators in mind but also performers.

Graeae is putting on special performances of its show ‘The Rollettes’ on the Southbank Centre on December 17 and on The Lyric Hammersmith on December 19.

IMAGES VIA GRAEAE

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An office that disappears after 6pm so people don’t work too much

Many companies go out of their way in the quest for the ultimate office environment, a place so nice and comfortable that employees will forget the day is finished and voluntarily stay for some overtime. Unlike those, Amsterdambased design studio Heldergroen insists that desks, tables and other work surfaces as well as computers disappear when the clock strikes 6pm and that no one works beyond this hour. Using steel cables in a structure similar to that commonly applied in theatre productions, the tables are lifted and stored in a space in the ceiling, carrying along anything that may have been left atop. In the office space, everything is easy to be moved so the room can be transformed into another environment that hosts from parties and workshops to yoga classes – the firm also offers the space to others for free. Once the workday begins, the tables are brought back down and supported by the stands that were wheeled off the night before. Sander Veenendaal, creative director for Heldergroen, believes that the space works as a form of marketing for the company, as it demonstrates an office culture instead of just a business.

Developed by Bright Green and built by Zecc Architects, the office was designed to be as sustainable as possible. Not only it lies in the area of an abandoned factory but all the material used in the furniture was locally sourced and includes the use of car doors to make cabinets and old telephone poles turned into desks.

VIA FASTCOMPANY

A two-legged chair could promote better posture

Could you imagine seating on a chair with only two legs? Seems like a lot of effort, right?

It was exactly that idea that inspired French designer Benoit Malta when producing “Inativicté”. As Malta thought about how inactive our bodies have become through our lifestyles change, he realised the chair might be the perfect way to introduce some physical activity into our daily life.

The piece was created with the help of ergonomists and therapists as a way of promoting the strengthening of certain muscles that we do not use when sitting down comfortably in traditional chairs and aims to avoid stationary postures (when not in use, the chair must be propped against a wall so it doesn’t collapse onto the floor).

The designer says on his website that “the aim of the project, beyond the idea of promoting mobility, is to raise awareness of people about their bodies.” Its two legs cause “a bearable discomfort” according to Malta, while it works to improve our sense of balance and stance.

VIA DESIGN MILK

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Floating bike lane could improve traffic in London

Following Mayor Boris Johnson’s recent announcement of plans to build a ‘Crossrail for Bikes’, a 21-mile long bike lane connecting Barking to Acton, and Elephant & Castle to King’s Cross, a group of architects, engineers and entrepreneurs has come forward with plans to build a floating cycle path along the river Thames. The Thames Deckway would link the East and the West via the rivers’ southern bank, in a seven-mile stretch between Battersea and canary Wharf.

The River Cycleway Consortium claims the riverside has been underused and the proposed bike highway could help solve London’s major transport problems. The lane will float according to river motion and sensors will monitor weather conditions. The path will generate its own energy from solar panels, tide and wind power. Cyclists could save an estimated half an hour on their journeys by taking this route instead of cycling on public roads, at a cost of £1.50 per journey. If approved it could be in place in just two years.

Created by Architect David Nixon and artist Anna Hill, and with engineering firm Arup and Hugh Broughton Architects on board, RCC is currently raising money to conduct a research on the project’s feasibility in order to find a way around moorings and to identify how many ramps would be required to allow users on and off the path.

The consortium expects private investors to cover up the high costs of £600 million, likely the biggest barrier to the project.

VIA THE CITY AM

Furniture that with your child

grows

It has been proved that having children is costly. According to a survey by insurers LV=, parents will spend in excess of 200 thousand pounds on their children by the time they turn 21 and it is safe to say that buying things that become useless fairly quickly as kids grow helps bring those numbers up.

Italian furniture brand Dot and Cross hopes to reduce some of these costs with a new line of products that aims to serve children from birth to those difficult teenage years. Every and each item was created with the idea of transformation in mind so when kids outgrow a piece it can be reconfigured to serve a different purpose – so for example a cot has a front gate that can be lifted turns into a sofa for the kids, and a white drawing board can be rotated to become a desk where older children will do their homework. Other items like bookcases and wardrobes are more modular, and can be added to or reconfigured as children need more space. The easy colour palette based on pale wood, white, and blue-green tones makes sure that pieces transition well from baby bedrooms to teenage havens.

Dot and Cross displayed their pieces at the London Design Festival but there is no launch date – or prices – for these products in the UK yet.

VIA FASTCODESIGN

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function Design should be the combination of Form and Function, right? Not for artist Katerina Kamprani, who created The Uncomfortable, a collection of deliberately inconvenient everyday objects.

IMAGES VIA THE-UNCOMFORTABLE.TUMBLR.COM

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What is a book?

BERTA FERRER

We are in the year 2040. ‘Book’ is an out-dated word.

An obsolete object. What need is there for a book if you can access to all the information in the world instantly through a single sheet of paper (even if it is a plastic one)?

But imagine going still a bit further.

We are in the year 2076. ‘Book’ is a nonexistent word. An object from the past, a forgotten memory.

It is obsolete, something only a very elitist and reactionary group of people knows about. What need is there for books or even for reading when verbal conceptualization does not exist anymore and the thinking process has evolved into a gathering of mental pictures of concepts or ideas?

And yet, the more the digital era progresses the more necessity there is for books; for reading understood in a traditional way. Technology can offer us all the things but one: silence. A space to be with oneself, away from distractions. A place unique for each individual, created by the imagination the moment one turns the page of a book and decides to dive into a new story.

However, we are neither in the frame of 2040 nor in 2076, although approaching it. We are beginning to feel incapable of focusing our attention on the physical page as we are surrounded by too many intrusions.

As it is widely known and investigated, the human brain adapts to every situation, changing its shape depending on how it is exercised. Reading is not an instinctive skill for humans and so it has to be learnt.

Each time we approach a text and focus our attention on it, many parts of our brain turn on and come into action, involving in the process the interplay of many muscles. But as reading is not an intuitive thing for us, the brain must be kept in form, trained.

Besides, the act of reading also implicates a mirroring operation in the thinking process. Our brains feel as if we were really doing what we are actually reading; or in other words, our brains imagine that the action is in effect happening to us. Imagination comes along with empathy, due to the fact that a book opens a door into other worlds and minds, making it possible for the reader to understand other people’s points of view.

Nevertheless, we are now entering a digital world that is changing our ways of reading, concentrating and seeing things. This is inevitably changing our way of thinking. This “digitality” can cause the disappearance of empathy (and thus, of imagination), considering that the involvement is not the same when we read and when we simply see. Furthermore, linear thought – defined as verbal conceptualization (or so to speak, the interior monologue of our minds) – is evolving into a non-verbal way of thinking. As a consequence of our extensive use of digital media, we are beginning to think in images, bringing our brains closer to a sort of dyslexic trail of thought. Technology is changing the way we see things, and therefore it is necessary to rethink the way we understand books – the way we understand stories and how we deliver them.

Words are important but so it is the impact produced by their arrangement. It is time for the reader to end its passive role and come forward to the construction of the story. In 2009, Beatrice Warde conveyed that well used type is invisible (in our case, it is possible to apply this assertion for the whole structure of a book). As she puts it, the book works as a window

14 | Function

between the reader and the landscape created by the author. That window, as may be imagined, can be visible or invisible, depending on the text being arranged badly or in a proper way, respectively. Nevertheless, is this invisibility so very significant? Would it be such a horrible sin if the author – or the book designer – forced the reader to stand up from the chair and come to open the window? It would not be only the means to catch the public’s attention and show them the very real landscape lying behind the windowpane, but also an action towards the reactivation of the practice of reading, which Herbert Bayer stated was dulled.

Ulises Carrión proclaimed that a book is a sequence of spaces. Each page is a single room to be discovered by the reader, a single place to be created by the author to regain the spectator’s attention. It is time to dismantle and deconstruct the architecture of the paper page and rebuild it, conceiving new ways of reactivating the process of reading. A book is a sequence of spaces, yes, but above all it is a sequence of stories.

Can you read these?

“IF WE WANT THINGS TO STAY AS THEY ARE, EVERYTHING WILL HAVE TO CHANGE” THE LEOPARD - TOMASI DI LAMPEDUSA

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New Materials in medication FLAVIA SOUZA

The future of manufacturing is deeply intertwined with a number of technological breakthroughs in diverse fields but nothing seems to have a greater impact on how things will be made, and what they will be capable of, than what manufacturers use in the process, as new materials change both manufacturing procedures and end results.

An exciting and growing area of research is actively involved in developing new materials for use in the broadest imaginable range of industrial applications, as well as everyday adoptions – from building materials to biomedicine – with the goal to anticipate future needs, desires and challenges. This lengthy process means that developers are often testing new solutions, which may take years to be put into use Qian Wang is a designer who explores how the effects of traditional Oriental Medicine can be enhanced by using images and new shapes to transform herbal teas into products of design with amazing healing texture. Driven by research statistics that show that the volume of people in sub-health conditions is steadily growing every year, Wang created an edible material infusion in her work ‘Selfmedication’ focusing on a merge of British “love for tea with the preventive concept of traditional Chinese

Medicine”, she said. Experiencing “this daily health ritual experience enables the quick and convenient administration of traditional Chinese medicine”.

By combining textile craft and cooking techniques, the designer developed multi-shaped medicine that are fine-tuned with studies of how geometry can affect our emotions as vastly documented research (from the study of Semiotics to Gestalt to neuroscience) shows that we react differently to shapes – triangles are usually seen as stable when sitting on their bases while squares and rectangles tend to be familiar and trusted shapes that suggest honesty.

Although it may still take some time before we are able to get these from our local pharmacies, Jessica Lertvilai, Materials and Products Co-ordinator at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design – where Wang did an MA in Material Futures –, explains that this is actually how it all starts. “It may seem a bit abstract now but that’s how the process goes. The search for new materials is about innovation – not working with what is already mainstream.”

Wang’s creation was designed to meet the demands of a busy lifestyle and she hopes it will ultimately encourage a preventive approach – rather than a remedial one – to health and wellbeing as a whole.

IMAGES VIA PINTEREST

The Future of Design Blender spoke to Grazielle Bruscato Portella, a Brazilian Interactive Producer and Graphic Designer, about consumers’ role in the future of creation: Will consumers play a key role in shaping design’s future? Yes, they are already playing it. Consumers nowadays are looking for customization, not only related to sizes that are more comfortable to them, but also products that show their personality. Online shopping is a key enabler for this. Take for example adidas, which allows consumers to customise their shoes with their favourite instagram pictures.

Will consumers be able to manufacture their own designs in the future? 3D printing will play a significant role in manufacturing in the near future.

We’re already seeing 3D printers such as Maker Bot which consumers can buy and download samples that will help them make their own products in minutes and at home. Sellers will also be able to get advantage of these consumer needs by placing 3D printers, laser cut machines and stamp printers at their shops, letting consumers play and create their own products.

How significant will DIY design be in the future?

I believe it already plays a significant role, but in the future brands will take more advantage of this.

IKEA is a brand that already stimulates DIY in their products, and there are researches that prove that consumers feel more satisfied when they help building something, they feel they’re part of it. It’s a win-win for everyone, consumers and brands.

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Nurture: a living food package

Most of our fruit and vegetable travel a long distance until they reach our plates. Between being harvested – usually before becoming fully ripe to allow time for transporting, sorting, checking, packaging and storing – and being eaten, our food lose nutrients with each passing day. The idea that we aren’t getting enough from our greens is what drove design graduate Hyunhee Hwang to create Nurture, an innovative way to have fruits delivered to your home. The young company ships living roots of fruit bundled in a basket made of the tree’s own branches so they can continue to ripen until they’re ready to eat.

The packaging also includes kitchenware tools that are specially designed (such as a holder for the basket, a spritzer for watering the fruits, and forceps and scissors), and instructions on preventing nutrition loss from the process of picking, washing, and drying the fruits. A little maintenance from users is required, as the bowl must be kept moist until it’s time to harvest. Although it is a commercial project, its polished design has guaranteed Hwang’s appearance in a few of London’s art shows, the latest being at Candid Art London on earlier this week.

According to the designer, Nurture’s aim is to provide real fresh produce to fulfil nutritional needs in the most natural way. Its current weekly deliveries of cherries, berries and figs is limited to a test market, but we believe that it should be soon spreading into more areas as consumers engage further more in the search for more authentic and natural goods.

VIA PSFK

3D printed maps to help visually impaired in Japan

Set to transform every aspect of our lives and already being considered the new industrial revolution, we can start to see the b eneficial use of 3D printing in the lives of the visually impaired. As inventors from around the world come up with technologies to help them lead a better life – such as 3D printed Braille books with raise imagery so children can learn to read – Japan is making navigation easier with tactile maps.

The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan is currently developing technology that enables users to download data from the internet and produce their own maps of different parts of the country using a 3D printer.

The software recognises motorways, railway lines and pedestrian ways and then generates a 3D model that uses different textures for each of them so they can be detected by fingers on the final product.

The GSI hopes that these maps will lead to better response in the event of an earthquake or tsunami, common in an area prone to natural disasters like Japan, and expects to soon include topographic features like uneven surfaces and hills. urban areas A scale of 1:2,500 (1 centimetre equals 25 meters) has been used for urban areas; while rural areas have been designed using a scale of 1:25,000 (1 centimetre equals 250 meters). Maps will be printed on resin sheets measuring 15 x 15 cm, and according to the authority should cost 150 Yen (around 85 pence) for every page printed.

VIA SPRINGWISE

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Healthy products packaged like junk food to ger kids’ attention

The food, beverage, and chain restaurant industries say they’re on the side of health, but their actions show otherwise. According to the Prevention Institute, an American association dedicated to well-being, for every piece of advertising directed at children promoting healthy food, such as fruits and vegetables, there are other 50 trying to sell junk food to little ones. Nearly two billion dollars are spent every year and they work: the more kids see the ads the more they eat.

With that in mind, Bolthouse Farms, a leading producer of baby carrots and juice in the US, decided to use the tacticts of persuasion of this style of advertising (including characters, playful universe, vibrant colours, etc) and try to sell healthy food for children. Some selected grocery stores across the country will receive a special display for products like their veggie snacks, pureed fruits and unsweetened fruit smoothies among other items.

“We believe that stealing a play out of the junk food playbook is a way for us to make these kinds of foods more emotive, more reachable, more accessible, more affordable, and that will increase consumption overall,” says Todd Putman, chief commercial officer at Bolthouse Farms.

The company has shown consistency in their attempt to turn the persuasive power of advertising into a tool for a healthier lifestyle, and in the past few years has created a number of campaigns to inspire kids to make healthier choices.

VIA FASTCOEXIST

Drop a Bricket in your Toilet to help save water

The past few years have been California’s driest on record. And despite forecasts that tough droughts like the current one could soon become the norm, the government is still finding it hard to get people to save water. While talking about how much water can be saved by simply adding a brick into toilet tanks, a group of entrepreneurs from San Francisco came up with the idea for a device that could save millions of litres of toilet water.

In older toilets, a brick can make a huge difference, saving about 2 litres of water for every flush – by dislodging water , it ‘tricks’ the toilet tank into thinking it’s already complete and it stops filling up. That is, according to the creators, about 200 litres of water per week in every single household; across the whole state that would make up for enough drinking water for a million people during an entire year. The initial idea was to ask fellow citizens to use actual bricks, but this might incur in additional costs caused by deterioration and blockages. The group also considered water bottles were but there was the risk of toxins reaching the water system, which led to the device’s creation.

Drop-A-Brick is made from an eco-friendly rubber, and is shipped flat in a small envelope. Once water is added, it grows into its full form – a unique hydrogel makes it expand to 200 times its initial size making it heavy enough to sink when placed in a toilet tank. Its flexible form allows for an easy fitting, unlike actual bricks. On top of that, it also has a dye tablet inside, which may help homeowners discover leaks, one of the main sources of water wastage.

The device is up for crowdfunding on Indiegogo until the end of November and by the time this issue went to print it had already received 28 thousand dollars – 36% of its initial pledge.

VIA FAST COMPANY

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Pizza Hut unveils new logo in the midst of a brand overhaul

One of the biggest chains of restaurants in the world, Pizza Hut has carved its place as a pretty iconic brand. By applying specific colours in their logo throughout the brand’s history, their designs have become recognisable to anyone who has ever eaten there or even walked past one of its branches.

Now the company has announced an extensive change in its visual identity, from menus to the overall look of its restaurants through to its branding and logo designs. The new simpler logo portrays a pizza-like circle with a swirl of tomato sauce on the top whilst maintaining the emblematical “hut” artwork. These changes come as the pizza chain’s participation in the market has fallen in the past few years while rivals post better performances.

The redesign was elaborated by advertising agency Deutsch LA, which had previously worked with Taco Bell, another brand owned by Pizza Hut’s parent company, in their rebranding a few years ago.

VIA DESIGN TAXI

An app that rewards drivers for not using their phones behind the wheel

Since mobiles came into our lives so came the warnings that using your phone while driving is dangerous – even more after the arrival of smartphones and their endless features. Yet, a surprising number of motorists still do it.

Rodedog, a previous attempt to educate via negative reinforcement didn’t go very far. Now comes in SafeDrive, a smartphone application that rewards users for leaving their phones alone when driving through a points system that offers discounts on products and services. The app is the result of a collaboration between XL Team, from Netherlands, and Romania-based studio KNS. SafeDrive enables users to start ‘scoring’ even before their journeys start. The amount of points is calculated depending on the length and distance of travel, and if drivers can’t resist checking their device at a red light, the app warns them that they will lose any points gained for the journey if they choose to continue.

The idea is that users on their best behaviour will be able to accrue enough points to trade in for products and services from SafeDrive’s partners (some of the items displayed on the company’s website include photo frames and camera lenses).The app has been developed for Android and Windows Phone – an iOS version is coming soon – and is expected to launch later this year.

VIA TRENDHUNTER

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tear and wear This season is all about Huggy Bear Coats. Go full-on in a yeti-inspired fur or opt for a jacket with a cosy shearling collar if you’re more of an understated fashion fan.

IMAGE VIA GLAMOUR.COM. COAT: MARNI

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The Power Button: an investigation of self-reliance and technological dependence "the designers have a fantasy that people are going to use them, but what [actually] happens [is] they become increasingly almost like a debating point. What you're really dealing with is not security; you're dealing with fear and anxiety. I think that a lot of products try to sell us anxiety". As these products continue to develop, consumers begin to voice their opinions. With feedback and cross-collaboration with users, we can continue investigating the way in which such products are designed. For instance, what if there didn't even have to be a final product? What if instead we could create a kit that the consumer could put together themselves based on what safety means to them? When we actually realise the power of making, together we can all be inventors.

In several major cities across the world, we now have access to makerspaces and hackerspaces, providing hands-on activities leading to dialogue and reflection on the ways in which we consume and depend on technology. By learning through making we can expose underlying issues relating to consumerism and generalised perceptions as we acknowledge that we have the power to make new realities with technology instead of simply consuming it.

Cuff Accessories - In the case of an attack, the user must press a button to activate the device, which will immediately send an alert to contacts chosen by the user through an accompanying app.

CHRISTA J. SMITH

From 3D printing to hackathons, the world has witnessed the rise of the Maker Movement. The barrier of entry which once stood between technology and the user has now been put aside. In 2005, Dale Dougherty founded Make Magazine and coined the term "Maker Movement". The following year, the first Maker Faire was held in San Francisco where people from all walks of life united in motivation to become more than just consumers, ready to discover the power of their own abilities and become makers. For Dougherty, technology – even the simplest cell phone – is increasingly giving the user control and a sense of agency over their lives.

Digital platforms provide an open space for the user to do just that. For ages, the media has been criticized for projecting specific ideals of beauty and as a result, there have been numerous attempts to establish more diversity and inclusivity, as Frances Corner cleverly points out in her recent book Why Fashion Matters. A term that has been widely noted for its negative connotations, the "selfie", has been used to counter beauty perceptions projected by the media by allowing space for individuals of various ages, body types, abilities, and ethnicities to present images of themselves without having to consult the standards of the media.

Looking back into history at artists such as Frida Kahlo, who is celebrated for her self-portraits, we can observe that similar attempts have been made to claim control over individual existence while connecting with audiences. Other artists, such as Albrecht Dürer, who placed himself in the background of many of his pieces, Rembrandt, who documented his personal aging process, and Van Gogh, who painted 36

portraits of himself in three years, have also utilized their mediums to take control of how their portraits would be shared with the world. The "selfie" could thus be considered a sort of natural progression of this concept, but now the tools are available and utilized globally by a wide variety of people ranging from underrepresented groups to celebrities. Whether the controversy surrounding it can be resolved or not, it is nonetheless a current representation of what various users of technology have adopted as a method of controlling and establishing personal existence.

Another application of the maker movement can be seen in the recent rise of crowd-funded projects that aim to develop clothing and accessories which will protect anyone who may encounter a dangerous situation. Safety products have been in existence for many years, but the newest versions allow the consumer to connect with and alert a chosen network of family, friends, and safety officials in efforts to gain immediate help. The new safety wearables, mostly created using open source platforms which allow for cross-collaborations and co-design, assist in tackling issues arising from violent attacks, such a rape, where the evidence can be scrutinized and manipulated making it difficult for victims to seek help and proper attention. The new products allow for a better opportunity to document exactly what has happened through apps that digitally connect to the wearables to record the attack and send immediate help to the exact location.

As optimistic as these wearables may seem, there are many who still remain skeptical. Lorraine Gamman, Head of Design Against Crime – a Research Hub at the University of the Arts London – admits that she would actually never wear clothing or accessories embedded with security technology. She explains that

Explanation on how First Sign, a hair clip that can be accompanied by a security service, functions upon activation.

20 | Tear and Wear

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The art of making women look their best FLAVIA SOUZA

The dress designed to make women look taller

Our perception of beauty is continually shifting as trends come and go; as new faces are brought to stardom there are more beauty and body ideals to consider than ever before. However, it seems that the average woman is always in disagreement with her own shapes, in an incessant quest to be thinner, taller, with bigger breasts and smaller waist. At least that is what Morgan Bajardi believes.

The American textile designer has created a small collection of bespoke garments called ‘Engineered Illusions’ in which she works with women’s common complaints. Using her knowledge in visual optics, she redesigned the female shape through a combination of analogue, digital, and 3D design technologies. The dresses, digitally printed in neoprene, generate the illusions of curve, slimness and height, flattering all body types.

The process of creating the pieces involved a lot of research in neuroscience to find out how patterns may manipulate and mislead the brain; furthermore, there was the need to understand with psychologists and the everyday woman how she sees herself, as this is where the focus lay. The collection was well received, as Bajardi explains: “It seems as though I have really hit my target audience. [The collection] deals with sensitive issues that a lot of women deal with, myself included, and transforms the experience to one that is more light hearted and fun.”

Born in Boston, Bajardi has lived in London and Florence in order to explore her skills in textiles – she has an extensive background in Jacquard weaving and screen printing – and hopes to push the field further with her work with patterns. Some of her creations (like t-shirts, mugs and iPhone cases) can be found on the website Society 6. Engineered Illusions is available on Brits Home Chic for 395 pounds.

Women who want to accentuate their This visually tailored dress aims to give the idea of a slimmer silhouette

curves should go for this model

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Conscious Shopping in India

Indelust is a new luxury fashion, accessories, home and art curated online e-commerce store. The website showcases ethically sourced products from the Indian Subcontinent for the US and international market.

Sana Rezwan started building the e-commerce site in the wake of the 2013 Rana Plaza factory disaster in Bangladesh, with the goal of bringing ethically sourced fashion and home goods from emerging designers on the Indian Subcontinent to a global audience.

As part of their social impact platform, Indelust partners with Nest, an international NGO working with local artisans to fight poverty with sustainable business. Every supplier the site is presented an ethical code created by Nest and Indelust that includes a review of each production facilities’ operations.

Indelust gives space to “craft revival” approach, like the menswear label Kardo, whose intricate fabrics are made on both traditional looms and modern mills. Or Ruchika Sachdeva of Bodice, who uses natural dyes to create androgynous separates.

Currently, Indelust sources from All Indian Artisan and Craftworkers Association (AIACA), which works to improve the standard of living for craft workers.

VIA STYLE BISTRO

Iris Van Herpen and her continual quest for new materials

Dutch designer Iris Van Herpen won this year’s Andam prize, an annual award that combines cash and mentorship and which includes in its list of previous winners Martin Margiela, Giles Deacon and Anthony Vacarello. Andam aims to identify fresh talent in the world of contemporary fashion, often pointing to the future.

In her Spring 2015 ready-to-wear collection, presented in Paris last October, Van Herpen used 3D printing, injection moulding, and laser cutting techniques to create the complex pieces. The designer’s inspiration for Magnetic Motion came from an unexpected visit to the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, a device capable of producing a magnetic field 20,000 times larger than the Earth’s.

In the collection the dynamics of the forces of attraction and repulsion are made present through the use of unique materials, such as magnets, on various details of the pieces. The work is a collaboration with Dutch artist Jolan van der Wiel, with whom Van Herpen had grown clothing with the use of magnetics last year, and Canadian architect Philip Beesley, a pioneer in dealing with responsive life forms, often expressed through works that combined computing, synthetic biology and mechatronics.

However uncomfortable and futuristic they may seem, the pieces are completely fit for wear even if they fall outside the category of what one might wear on a daily basis. Iris Van Herpen’s scientific approach to design may not represent the future but is certainly one worth watching.

VIA DEZEEN

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DNA testing makes its way into skincare products

Everyone that makes use of any kind of skincare treatments knows that results may be very different from person to person as our bodies respond to chemicals in distinct ways. The perception of the need to personalise products in order to attain better results has reached the UK as Geneu has brought U+ to its recently open concept store on New Bond Street.

Founded by Chris Toumazou – a chief scientist at the Imperial College London who has, among other things, developed implants for born-deaf children, an artificial pancreas and a wireless heart monitor – Geneu has created a high-tech test that aims to predict in just 30 minutes how your skin is likely to age, taking into consideration your DNA composition instead of possible external aggressions. The process is very simple and pain-free; with just a swab taken from inside customers’ mouths (the genetic material on the swab is placed on a chip which measures at what speed we degrade collagen and how our skin is able to protect itself from free radicals) and a brief questionnaire into their habits a bespoken skincare treatment is prescribed.

The company promises to help customers halt the effects of the ageing process such as sagging skin and wrinkles by providing them with the genetic tools required. The initial appointment to take the test plus two personalise serums costs £600. Monthly maintenance of the treatment, which was appointed winner of the European Invention Award 2014, will set you back another £300, which some may consider a fair price to pay for youthful skin.

VIA MARIE CLAIRE

Patagonia explores new production methods with capsule collection

California-based outdoor clothiers Patagonia have launched a new collection entitled “Truth to Materials”, in which the brand explores new production methods through seven different pieces. The idea behind the line involves little processing, exploring the origin of materials, and maintaining the manufacturing process as close to that as possible, with garments composed of reclaimed or alternatively sourced fabrics. Patagonia designer John Rapp explains on the company website that “Truth to Materials is about discovering the origin of a material and staying as true to that as possible during every step of design and manufacturing”.

Patagonia joined forces with companies alike to make the collection come true. The reclaimed wool was supplied by Italian company Figli di Michelangelo Calamai, which it produces from discarded wool sweaters that are shredded into fibre, combined with nylon and polyester for strengthening. Calamai, established in 1878, is a precursor in this field, with its long history of fabric fibre restoration.

From China and Malaysia comes the cotton used in the collection, which TAL Group sweeps off the floors of their factories in the countries. The previously ‘useless’ scarps are reassembled into fabrics that do not require bleaching nor dyes. As Rapp puts it, “basically, the leftovers from 16 virgin cotton shirts can be turned into one reclaimed cotton shirt.”

The cashmere is hand-picked in Mongolia, in their original colours white, brown and tan. Patagonia claims that the herders are careful to keep the right proportion between goats and sheep, alternating grounds with the aim of keeping the pastures healthy. The jackets returned through the company’s ‘Common Threads’ recycling program are turned into limited-edition scarves by artisan quilters Alabama Chanin, based in Alabama, USA. Patagonia is very much involved with sustainability and reducing the impacts of its business on the environment and their workers. They sustain that eco-friendly actions are part of the costs of maintaining the company and the interference manufacturing causes on the environment.

VIA PFSK

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The South American giant and the world’s seventh largest economy has long been considered the country of the future. In the following pages, we explore what Brazil has to offer beyond its forest and famous beaches

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I

t has been a crescendo: first there were confirmations of hosting the World Cup and the Olympics, then the overtaking of the UK as sixth largest economy in the world. But it felt like all of a sudden all eyes were looking at Brazil. People appeared to be keener on finding out more about the customs of this somewhat faraway land, while companies quickly wanted to take advantage of the buoyancy of the world’s seemingly “forgotten” BRIC member.

With a tropical climate blessing most of its territory and an abundance of natural resources, Brazil was until 1822 Portugal’s most important colony.

It also was the only colony to be the capital of an Empire, when the King and part of the nobility fled the country as Napoleon advanced through the Iberian Peninsula. The native language, Tupi Guarani, is now extinct, as Portugal demanded the use of Portuguese amongst citizens. Fast forward some 350 years the ‘Brazilian version’ of Portuguese is now largely spoken not only by its almost 200 million inhabitants but also influencing change (in language and in customs) in all Portuguese-speaking countries through one of Brazil’s major exports: the telenovelas.

Apart from telenovelas, Brazil’s major exports are commodities such as iron ore (13% of all exports), crude oil (8.4%), soybeans (7.0%), raw sugar (5.3%), and poultry meat (2.8%). As with most countries in the world, China is its major trading partner, followed by the USA and Argentina. It is this dependency on China that worried (and keeps worrying) most financial analysts. As the Chinese economy slows down, the value of commodities exports will also decrease, directly affecting Brazil’s economy.

Despite all this, Brazil was mildly affected up to now by 2008 financial crisis. Steady increases in purchasing power and lowering of social inequality have contributed to the rise of the “middle-class phenomenon”. Brazilians tend to call it a phenomenon as they have never experienced so many people with disposable income before. Economic growth and targeted social programmes have enhanced people’s lives and, in turn, they are now experiencing similar

APART FROM TELENOVELAS, BRAZIL’S MAYOR EXPORTS ARE COMMODWWITIES SUCH AS IRON ORE.

patterns already seen in countries like China and Russia, especially regarding shopping habits.

It was easy to assume that these improvements were based on solid foundations, and that Brazil was finally making the reforms needed for stable growth and development. However, yet again, it seems unlikely. South America as a whole will grow a mere 1.2 per cent this year, according to the World Bank’s latest forecasts. Worse, “it is not clear whether the slowdown is bottoming out,” the bank suggests. That is bad enough, and South America has been through such cycles before. This has already become a key issue in Brazil and will be a challenge for recently re-elected president Dilma Rousseff. One solution is to curb inflation by cutting government spending – something that Dilma’s party, the same as former president Lula, won’t take easily. The Brazilian Workers’ Party leans to socialism and believes in investment through government spending.

The crisis has finally caught with Brazil. The economy has now shrunk in three of the last four quarters of 2014. Most analysts think it will not grow at all this year; a year ago they were expecting growth of 3%. Evidently, the country has lost its position ahead of the UK in GDP terms, going back to being the seventh largest economy – and there are rumours that this slowdown might not end soon. In 2015 the economy is likely to expand by only 1%. At least some of the problems are home-grown. Talk to most Brazilian businessmen and they’ll enlist a familiar litany of unaddressed problems: shoddy infrastructure, tangles of red tape, rigid labour rules, a byzantine tax system.

Add to this a country divided because of a tightly contested presidential election in October (results were 52% to the incumbent Rousseff and 48% to Aecio Neves, from the Social Democrats’ Party) and no wonder that business confidence has plunged to levels not seen since the depths of the financial crisis. Dr. Pedro Saffi, lecturer in Finance at the Judge Business School – University of Cambridge, states that “the next two years will be very difficult for the country, to say the least. Besides taking tough measures to rebalance the economy, the government will likely face an

swot analysis: brazil strengths

weaknesses

26 | Trending now

institutional crisis with politicians all the way to the top being implicated into a corruption scandal in the state oil company Petrobras. We might need to wait until the next presidential elections for things to improve”.

Consumers, whose credit-fuelled spending kept growth going in recent years, are becoming more cautious. Neither they nor the banks that lend to them want to take on extra risk. Retail sales have flagged.

The labour-intensive service sector, which makes up two-thirds of the economy, has begun to shrink. All this bodes ill for Brazil in the medium term. Although businesses are cutting production they have so far proved reluctant to begin the costly process of laying off workers. As a result, unemployment stands at just 4.9%—a historic low—although the International Labour Organization has warned it is likely to rise as the country struggles to create new work posts.

Median household incomes have managed to keep pace with stubbornly high inflation. And while consumer confidence remains low, it received a boost when foodprice inflation stalled and prices of services declined after the World Cup. Rather counter-intuitively, government approval ratings, which had been sliding since the start of the year, actually edged up in August.

Brazil will never have the same aggregate purchasing power of China or South East Asia – it isn’t just a matter of money, but rather the huge difference in population that these areas have, with China alone being home to 1.35 billion people while Brazil only having close to 200 million inhabitants. Yet, China’s citizens seem to be a perfect example of how people who were once closed off to Western culture can go through particular stages of consumption.

In less than 10 years Chinese shoppers have gone from conspicuous consumption to logo fatigue. The same was previously seen in Japan in the 80s, yet it took them almost double the time to go from pure consumerism to a more refined shopping experience.

Even in a somewhat restrictive country like China, the internet has helped buyers to know more about fashion, arts, architecture, cinema, theatre and – well – pretty much everything else. In turn, consumers who were once shopping to just showcase their affluence

Very large market size. Ranked 9th globally in “Market Size” category of Global Competitiveness Index 2013 Strong banking sector with low rates of non-performing loans at 2.9% of total loans in 2013

Export and import costs are extremely high Time-consuming tax payments owing to fast changing tax laws and numerous tax codes

opportunities

Infrastructure is set to benefit from large scale investments R&D is a priority for the goverment, shich provides federal tax reduction and state level incentives

threats

Economic growth slowed down considerably in 2012 and 2013 Persitency high inflaction has increased operating costs

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Aerial view of the Itaipu Damn, the largest operating hydroelectric facility in the world in terms of annual enrgy generation

and distinguish themselves as ‘richer’ than their counterparts, slowly start to understand that fashion can also be an output of personal expression. More and more Chinese customers now avoid logo-tastic garments in favour of quality, cut and craftsmanship.

In fact, a study from market research firm Mintel discovered that almost two-thirds of urban wealthy Chinese put the term ‘craftsmanship’ ahead of ‘expensive’ and ‘status’, reiterating these changing tastes among big spenders.

Brazil hasn’t reached this point, yet it is impressive how quickly the effect of additional disposable income is changing shopping habits. Forever 21, the giant US high-street retailer, started to operate in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in mid-March amid queues of six hours just to enter the stores. It was reported that they sold more than twice the expected in the first 24 hours.

After a week in business, queues were still going strong.

The same reaction happened when Topshop opened its doors in São Paulo – which, ironically, are now being closed due to ‘company strategies’. It has been said that the company hasn’t fared as well as expected, and will focus solely on online retail.

International high-street brands used to have a strategy that would consist in sending products that didn’t sell in Europe combined with only a handful of few new styles to their below the Equator stores. Now they are developing specific collections for these countries, adapting to the different seasons and local tastes. The same has been happening in the luxury market, with

different colours/materials for specific countries/ regions, targeting these new affluent customers.

This challenges local professionals who must compete with international giants and face the higher costs of producing locally, paying exorbitant amount of taxes and higher salaries. Most importantly, they also have to fight the prejudice of “local is worse”. Since Brazil was (and still is) a somewhat closed economy due to extremely high import taxes, local goods were often poorly made simply because companies had very few competitors. Now times have changed, and some Brazilian designers – like Mariana – produce very high quality craftsmanship items. However, for many Brazilian consumers, it is still not worth paying the same amount they could spend getting something from Louis Vuitton or Chanel.

Nonetheless, the outlook for the future – like in China – seems to be a positive one, despite many pitfalls. Data from 2011 showcase that around 243,000 companies made the creative industry in Brazil, generating around R$110 billion, the equivalent of 2.7% of the country’s GDP at that time. That has put Brazil into the fifth place in countries with largest participation of the creative industries input on the GDP. The fashion segment alone employs over 1.2 million people, when taking into account workers within segments such as retail or logistics. There were 810,000 workers formally employed within the industry, the equivalent of 1.7% of the working population in the country. While these numbers can give an indicator of the impact of the creative industry

in Brazil, it is widely known that the number of people working in informal status is large.

The industry shows signs of stability and growth, despite the country’s many problems – and even lack of governmental support. So much so, some of Brazil’s most established names in the fashion industry such as Alexandre Herchcovitch and Reinaldo Lourenço started to publicly question this lack of support, instigating actual change. What the future seems to hold is still on debate. There are many obstacles to face, and with adverse economic conditions, this might not be the best time to bet on Brazil, especially its creative industry. Yet, hope seems to spring eternal for the many involved in the local industry.

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Exploring Brazil’s creative power through design

Sérgio Rodrigues’s famous ‘Mole’ armchair, which is currently part of the MoMA’s collection. 1957.

FLAVIA SOUZA

Brazilian design as an empirical practice was born alongside the country’s national culture. Signs of activities related to design already clearly appear in the nineteenth century, although without a structure of education or recognition of it as a distinct field from architecture, art and the industry of day-to-day objects.

It was early in the last century, when manufacturing in the country gained larger proportions, that professionals started to suffer the influence of European movements such as Bauhaus, art deco, functionalism and modernism, which came to take over the colonial style, the only one used until then.

Nonetheless, design would only begin to be treated as a distinct specialty after the creation of the first design office in the country, Forminform, by Alexandre Wollner, Geraldo de Barros, Ruben Martins and Walter Macedo, after Wollner returned from Europe in 1958.

With the momentum of the construction of Brasília in 1956, a golden age for home furniture in the country followed. This contributes to the widespread idea that what is known as “Brazilian design” was born in the 60s, in the period between the creation of the Institute of Contemporary Art in the São Paulo Museum of Art (1951) and the opening of the School of Industrial Design (ESDI) in Rio de Janeiro in 1963 – the beginning

of the development of an awareness of design as a concept, profession and ideology. However, to Rafael Cardoso, editor of the book ‘Brazilian Design before Design’, the most problematic aspect of stating this as the beginning of a Brazilian design “lies in the refusal to recognize as design everything that came before [those events].”

As history shows, the industry had its ups and downs before its consolidation. It wasn’t until the 80s that the practice was detached from the field of industrial design, a milestone that enabled professionals to gain different perspectives of design, developing their work with more freedom and creativity. It was in the following decades that the first companies dedicated exclusively to design began to be formed and established international ones set branches in the country. It was then that local designers gained international visibility, perhaps for not displaying a unique set of characteristics but instead a clear representation of the country’s regionalisms. “Because of the size of the country, we have many different languages, and cultures, not to mention the diversity in materials”, says Zanini de Zanine, a designer from Rio de Janeiro. “It is a regionalism that has become globalised”, he adds.

Despite the sector’s growth and refinement in the past few years it still has a lot to achieve in order

to maintain its current progress. It was only recently that Brazilian designers started assimilating the rich contribution of folk handcrafts into their creations, and there is a deep lack of studies on its history and economic impact on local and national levels. In cultural terms, Brazil today has only one museum dedicated to preserving the memory of the country’s design, the Brazilian House Museum in São Paulo, which also holds the most prestigious award in the industry nationwide.

However, with the local recognition of its ability to offer better quality of life, the proliferation of specialised schools and competent professionals, and the incorporation of features and assignments historically under the care of the fine arts, it should not be long before the segment receives its deserved attention – inside and outside of Brazil.

IMAGES VIA FLICKR

Alexandre Wollner’s creation for Sardinhas Coqueiro. 1958.

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Brazilian Architecture: a contextual view FLAVIA SOUZA

In 1943, when the photographic exhibition Brazil builds opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA), the Church of Pampulha in Belo Horizonte got the world’s attention with its bold lines and curves.

It was the preface to the pinnacle of modern Brazilian architecture, embodied in the late 1950s when then President Juscelino Kubitschek invited architect and urbanist Lucio Costa and architect Oscar Niemeyer to erect the new capital Brasilia, with the assistance of landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx, among other renowned professionals of the time.

While the modern period preceding the 1960s is filled with works of international repercussions, the dictatorship installed by the military coup in 1964 brought hard times for Brazilian architects – as debate was restricted at all levels, country’s architectural production was weakened for a long period.

Political repression, justified by the military on the grounds that there was a communist threat in the country, drove to exile names such as Niemeyer, Vilanova Artigas and Sérgio Ferro. Architectural projects stopped evolving at the pace seen in the previous years as the system in place saw more value in engineers, supposedly less connected to the Niemeyer’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Niteroi

political left. The execution and technique began to be emphasized at the expense of creati vity, and engineers, who had more privileges, were in charge of most works. For architect Ricardo Rossi, “it was only after the dictatorship that [Brazilian] architecture really flourished and grew significantly.”

If upon return to democracy in the 1980s there was a brief nod to postmodernism, a reaction occurred towards the resumption of the basic principles of modern Brazilian architecture. Several generations of architects contributed to building this framework; not only those established in the previous decades but also a large group of young disciples, formed after this period and partly set off the axis Rio-São Paulo. They, however, did not necessarily constitute a homogeneous thought and each stream made its own reinterpretation of the architecture of the past, either through the resignification of the role elements had before or of architectural styles.

There is in the current productive scenario a group of professionals with abundant talent and creativity, although it is hard to identify “the” representative of the present and futile to seek for a new Niemeyer among them. In the same sense, looking for a Brazilian architectural model is not an easy task, as the country’s characteristics vary immensely depending

São Paulo’s Estate Pinacoteca, by Paulo Mendes da Rocha.

on region, city or historical context. Moreover, there is now such a wealth of global trends that the local architecture seems to be embracing a move towards diversity instead of insisting in a national standard.

The buildings created by João Filgueiras Lima for the Sarah Network of hospitals may be one of the main signs of this. In fine-tune with the international debate on sustainability, the projects can also be seen as a natural evolution from previous concerns the architect has shown in his works, like thermo environmental comfort, industrialisation of construction and the social role of architecture.

There is still nonetheless little variety in creations in Brazil due to great fidelity to traditional lineages.

There is room for more though. The current situation is similar to the now old hypothesis that Brazilian music could only be bossa nova when there was a plethora of rhythms to explore; from samba to axé, from chorinho to rock.

With the largest concentration of companies within the creative industries in the country – out of the 800 thousand companies involved in the sector, 30 thousand of them focus solely in design –, it seems the change process has already started. Its new significance can be gauged from the recognition from international critics after decades of absolute marginalisation. This is confirmed by its presence in editions of magazines and books (especially Europeans), projects entrusted to some of the country’s leading architects and especially the Pritzker Architecture Prize attributed to Paulo Mendes da Rocha in 2006 – this had only been achieved by Oscar Niemeyer, in 1988 – for his 50 years of work in and around São Paulo. The award goes beyond the recognition of the value of his work; it is in a certain way the recognition of the value of Brazilian architecture itself.

PHOTOGRAPHS VIA FLICKR

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A Brief History of Brazilian Fashion and Its Future MIRELA LACERDA

Beautiful beaches, exuberant nature, happy people… all the clichés about Brazil are true and when we think about the country’s participation in international fashion it immediately springs to mind its colourful prints, unique swimwear and, of course, famous models. However, beyond this cheerful scenario, perfect for creating some global lifestyle brands, one question surfaces: why is the Brazilian fashion industry not relevant in the global market?

To understand this issue, it is important to travel back in time and trace a historical path in the country’s textile industry. As a colony of Portugal, Brazil never had the opportunity to develop its own industries and even after the independence, little was done in order to encourage local manufactures to grow. The country always looked up to the European lifestyle, most notoriously from France. Fabrics, clothes and accessories were all imported, even though the tropical weather would make wearing a fur coat in Rio de Janeiro an utter nonsense.

Nevertheless, when the World War I exploded, the production in France was paralysed and for the first time in almost a century, Brazil had the chance to nurture the local textile industry – unfortunately, after the conflict, the government didn’t keep up with incentive programs. The seed was then planted; for the next decades a few companies, mainly in São Paulo and in southern states, made significant contributions to the sector but the first fashion brands were still focused on copying or selling licensed pieces from French couture houses. During the 1960’s, designers like Clodovil, Denner and Guilherme Guimarães became household names, dressing the high society, while Zuzu Angel, the first one to invest in a genuine Brazilian fashion, made political protests with her creations after the murder of her son Stuart by the dictatorial regime.

It wasn’t until the late 1970’s and early 1980’s that the first fashion brands began to spread nationally, with the help of a booming mall culture. Rio de Janeiro was (and still is) the reference in lifestyle and produced fashion emulated by all other regions, while São Paulo, the financial capital, launched some strong jeanswear labels, like Forum, Ellus and Zoomp. When the sector was finally achieving some level of maturity the new decade came with a new government and lower taxes for imported products, resulting in extreme disadvantageous prices for local manufactures and a deep crisis for the sector.

The recovery happened in the second half of the 1990’s with a joint effort between the industry and the media to promote new talents and the first fashion weeks. At the same time, models like Gisele Bundchen, Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio became international stars, gathering unprecedented attention to the “Brazilian lifestyle”. The 2000’s was graced with a blessed economic climate, as the country emerged as part of the BRICS, and extensive media cover – nationally and internationally – as fashion became part of the entertainment business.

It was the best time for brands to strategically plan their growth, invest in professional management and position themselves in the market, but unfortunately only a few of them prepared themselves to trade in an increasingly competitive global economy.

Today, the sector is struggling to survive. Although it employs 1.7 million workers and the country is the 5th largest textile producer in the world, its share in the international commerce is still very small (less than 0.5%), which places Brazil in the 23rd position. In the textile industry, the biggest menace comes from the imported products from China, with its lower and more competitive prices in relation to national produce. In the retail sector the invasion of luxury brands and the advancement of fast fashion (from both domestic and foreign chains) leave little room for

One of the items of the capsule collection Rio’s brand Farm created with adidas Originals

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much of Brazilian brands. Contemporary and premium labels usually charge high prices for products of little relevance, many of them copied from international ones. Besides, the niche for real creators is small and their points of sale limited. To make matters worse, the cost of taxes and labour weigh heavily on companies’ budgets, reducing profit. “There’s no development plan for the fashion industry, and the high cost of production is holding growth,” says Paulo Borges, creator of São Paulo Fashion Week.

Moreover, a significant portion of the population is constantly traveling abroad to shop, as even after currency conversion the values ​​are still advantageous.

Brazilian tourists are amongst the biggest spenders in cities like New York, Miami and Paris.

News about the textile industry facing financial ruin and househols brands closing doors are now routinely in the press. The companies that anticipated this bleak scenario invested in joining conglomerates like InBrands (Ellus, Alexandre Herchcovitch, Salinas, Richards, VR, Mandi and Bobstore) and AMC (Colcci, Forum, Tufi Duek, Triton and Coca-Cola Clothing) or made associations (Farm, Animale) to exchange experiences and save in management and logistics, for example.

The cancelation of this season’s edition of Fashion Rio in November due to lack of sponsorship was another defeat for the sector. The path to recovery will be hard since it involves drastic changes in tax burdens and infrastructure, which requires government support, something that doesn’t seem to be happening in the near future. Furthermore, Brazilian companies have to understand that they are competing in a global level, for a consumer with almost endless choices and allured by powerful brands. In order to survive, the fashion industry must go into an extreme and urgent makeover.

PHOTOGRAPH VIA FARM

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Brazil’s booming beauty industry MIRELA LACERDA

Whilst the fashion industry has been struggling in Brazil for the last couple of years, the beauty segment doesn’t seem to feel the retraction in the country’s economy. Brazilians are in the third position as consumers of cosmetics and hygiene products (behind USA and Japan) and following data released

by Euromonitor, between 2008 and2013 the beauty market had an average growth of ten percent annually, generating almost six million jobs in the country – last year, sales reached 34 billion reais (approximately 8.5 billion pounds). Brazil ranks first place in the purchase of deodorants, second in children’s, men’s oral hygiene, sun protection, shower and fragrance products, third in cosmetics and hair items, and sixth in skincare in a global scale.

The numbers justify L’Oréal’s recent plans of expansion. The beauty giant makes about four percent of its total revenue from the Latin American country and with an eye in the emerging middle class (known as class C) it has just acquired Niely Cosmeticos, the largest independent hair-colour and hair-care company in Brazil. The deal follows another significant acquisition: in October 2013 the company purchased a 51% stake in Emporio Body Store, a multibrand retailer inspired by The Body Shop. Retail units will be adapted

to host the English brand, now in the hands of L’Oréal, once they arrive there, in the end of 2015. The growth plan also includes more investments in two areas where the French giant is already number one: haircare and dermo-cosmetics, besides an increase in distribution channels, such as kiosks in malls. The aim is to be closer to consumers in order to rival competitors like Natura and Avon, which operate through direct sales (the main way of beauty purchase in the country), and O Boticario, with its massive presence in all regions thanks for its franchising model. The group owns Quem Disse Berenice (a more affordable label), Beauty Box (a multibrand store created to compete with Sephora) and Eudora (sold by direct sales) as well, holding 28.8% of the market against 27.7% of its main competitor Natura (both are Brazilian brands and manufacture in the country with sustainable materials).

It’s not difficult to understand the diversity and the reach of the beauty industry in Brazil. The first factor is the climate: the humidity and warm temperatures across the country makes Brazilians take up to 3 showers daily and constantly seek for a myriad of products that control or alleviate the effects of hot weather. Skincare for oily/combination skin, sunscreen with light feel and haircare to avoid frizz or excessive volume are top sellers. Speaking of hair, the category represents great opportunities since Brazilian

women use 4.8 products in their routine, colour their strands more than in any other country and have the longest length in average. For them, hair is a seduction tool and it should be preferably straighten, which leads to a significant amount of their income being spent in routine visits to the hair salon.

Makeup is also a main concern. For decades product offers were very limited and to get a high quality foundation, powder or eye shadow, consumers had to travel abroad. With the arrival of global brands the local industry was forced to invest in the development of new and improved formulas. The internet also had a pivotal role, not only with the practicality of e-commerce but with bloggers and vloggers that contributed to spread the word about products, and taught thousands of customers how to use them correctly. Blogs like Dia de Beauté, Too Beauty, Super Vaidosa and Petiscos have millions of visitors every month and the authors are web celebrities. Their influence is so powerful that MAC just announced a partnership with Julia Petit, from Petiscos, in a collection scheduled to launch in 2015. Julia’s channel on YouTube has more than 250.000 followers and her weekly tutorials with over half a million views have generated collaborations with brands from Vichy to Clinique, proving that investing in beauty in Brazil is a pretty good deal!

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Brazilian creativity to watch around the globe

From emerging to established professionals, these are some of the country’s exponents when it comes to that well known Brazilian imaginativeness. If you hadn’t heard of them until now it’s time you update yourself.

FLAVIA SOUZA

paula cademartori

campana brothers

ALL IMAGES VIA PAULACADEMARTORI.COM

IMAGE VIA AGILITA FASHION

Based in Milan, Brazilianborn Paula Cademartori is the most incensed handbag designer of the moment, worshiped by the fashion world and adored by style icons around the globe.

From her classes in Industrial Design at Rio Grande do Sul’s Luterane Univeristy straight to the Istituto Marangoni in Milan, where she studied for a Masters in Accessories Design, Cademartori forged a meteoric career for herself in the Italian fashion capital.

Her path began at Versace, where she worked as junior accessories designer, conducting research and designing leather goods for Couture and Prêt-àPorter collections. In September 2009, Cademartori was selected to participate in the Vogue Talents competition and included in the list of 140 emerging talents in Vogue Italy. From then it didn’t take long for the deisgner to go her own way and in 2010 she created her own brand of luxury handbags in the Milan – Paula Cademartori bags. In just four years, she became the go-to detination for celebrities around the globe looking for a statement tote (a trend that began in the arms of Anna Dello Russo, editor and creative director of Vogue Japan) and is often celebrated in international magazines such as Vogue, Elle and Harper's Bazaar.

The buckle finishing on the bags have become not only the trademark of the brand but also a sign of its precious and refined elegance.

AW15 collection

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Fernando e Humberto with the Favela chair

Architect Fernando and lawyer Humberto Campana were born in Brotas, in the countryside of the state of São Paulo, and conquered the world with bold pieces aligned to an innovative and nonconformist spirit. The brothers used to make their own toys from an early age, and childhood in the countryside was crucial in their work. "We wanted to make a fusion between the rustic and the urban”, says Humberto.

What began as a process of making small objects from natural fibres in the 1980s has evolved into a method that involves artistic creation and industrial design. The Brothers’ work resorts to reusing materials such as bubble wrap, string and plush dolls filled with meanings that relate to Brazilian culture (such as colour and folkloric references), resulting in a resignification of utilities, through which a chair becomes a unique piece worthy of artistic display.

Throughout they trajectory the Campana aimed to revolutionise the creation of designer pieces. "We live in a naïf, chaotic, colourful country, and we soon realised that we would have to work with imperfection”, Humberto once declared. This is the main feature to permeate all creations of the duo like the Favela chair, from 1990, inspired in the Rocinha slum in Rio de Janeiro, which was built by randomly gluing together OSB wood, in an attempt to reflect the chaos that is the formation of such an area. This is also the case of the Red chair, a now classic design consisting of 300 meters of rope braided by hand – this piece enchanted Massimo Morozzi, designer and owner of the Italian brand Edra, who went on to manufacture it.

Other projects have derived from their designs, like the collaboration with fashionista Brazilian brand Melissa in a shoe line. Recently, they have taken on the task of creating the scenography for São Paulo fashion Week. First Brazilian designers to exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1994, the siblings are now known all over the world for their unique qualities in a highly technical and sophisticated art: the art of design.

The Red chair. Image via Casa Brasil.

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karen hofstetter

ruy ohtake

mariana jungmann

IMAGE VIA COSTANZA WHO

IMAGES VIA RUYOHTAKE.COM

IMAGES VIA MARIANA JUNGAMNN

Designer, illustrator, art director and photographer.

Not necessarily in that order. This is how Karen Hofstetter gives an insight into what she does, although it could also be used as an introduction to her personality. Hofstetter was born in São Paulo but since 2010, when she quit her job in a creative agency in the search for a better life, she lives in Berlin.

Her move to the city may have been an impulsive decision – she chose her new home influenced by two friends who had just returned from holidays – but she soon found her ground and wrote a city guide with insider tips, hot spots and highlights from all her favourite places in Berlin.

With a degree in advertising, Hofstetter does everything from illustrations for Vogue Brazil to graphic design and branding projects for a few Brazilian brands. The designer began carving a space in the market by creating pieces for friends and before she realised word of mouth had made her days completely booked. In 2010, she opened the company that now bears her name and sells among other items wallpaper, pillows and iPhone cases.

The inspiration for some of her creations comes from Garance Doré, Frensh photographer and illustrator, whose calligraphy pushed Hofstetter towards bringing the technique into her designs. Her beautiful work has amassed her a big following on Instagram, where she shares her projects in a daily basis; at the beginning of every month she posts a musical calendar made in partnership with Brazilian musicians.

With a keen eye for new creative opportunities, earlier this year she developed a capsule shoe collection with a Brazilian brand, based on one of her most famous works, ‘Polka Rain’. At the moment she is working on OH K, her new line of t-shirts, posters and other goodies, to be launched soon. It seems her move to Berlin may just have been the right idea.

It is easy to recognise the designs of architect Ruy Ohtake in the landscape of São Paulo. Curves and bold colours are trademarks of the buildings designed by him; from his drawing board come sumptuous ideas like the Unique and the Renaissance hotels in the city, and cheerful ones like the Colour project in Heliopolis which includes painting the facades of 270 houses of the slums as well as a program for arts education to children and teenagers in the community – not to mention the much acclaimed Thomie Ohtake Cultural Institute designed for his artist mother.

Ohtake began his vast production in 1960 and made his name in Brazilian and international architecture with an intense, challenging and much awarded work.

His designs incorporate the values forged by the masters of the Modern Movement through expressive ways found in different regions of the country. In his drawings are present the ancient traditions of Japanese culture, the dynamics of European and American avant-garde and the creative exuberance of the Brazilian landscape and its diverse society, all with seamless integration and creative vision.

It’s evident in his creations a certain influence from Oscar Niemeyer, of whom he was a friend and admirer since his time as a student. Moreover, Ohtake has many a times declared that not only Brazil’s most known architect inspired him, but also fellow professional Vilanova Artigas and 18th century artist Aleijadinho.

His creativity usually generate boldly-shaped volumes (which attract much controversy), designed according to techniques he wisely incorporates and adapts to his needs; a true representative of Brazilian architecture.

Born in Goiania, in the heart of Brazil, Jungmann came to London in 2011 with one thing in mind: a successful career in fashion. She chose the prestigious London College of Fashion to perfect her skills and develop her creativity, studying for a Master’s degree in Womenswear. An applied student, her graduate collection was selected to be featured in the AW 14 graduate show during London Fashion Week and she hasn’t stopped since. A keen entrepreneur, it didn’t take long for Mariana Jungmann to start her eponymous brand, recently selected to join the Centre For Fashion Enterprise's Pioneer Programme, designed to nurture emerging London-based designer labels.

She takes inspiration for her creations from her childhood, when the designer spent time admiring the traditional handmade lace tablecloths that were laid over the family’s glass dining table. Since her debut show, it is possible to see that imaginary world translated into work with Brazilian Renaissance lace characterised by geometric and floral shapes – made using a technique that Jungmann herself taught the makers in the northeastern part of Brazil.

Her Spring Summer 15 collection, Yemanjá, was received with much acclaim by the British media, and she’s been named by different outlets as “one to watch” – with important achievements in such a short career span, the title comes as no surprise.

The Thomie Ohtake Cultural Institute

Her SS15 catwalk show

IMAGE VIA KARENHOFSTET TER.COM

One of her main designs in support of Brazil during this years’ World Cup

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Rio de Janeiro’s famous wavy sidewalk in Copacabana beach, designed in 1970 by landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx

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AW 16 Inspiration from Brazil

It is through colour, texture, taste and smell that we discover and experience new environments. The palette we show below reveals what amazing hues can be found in nature. The seashore, evident in Rio’s internationally known cityscape, comes accompanied by the city’s hidden winter gems, in a plethora of shades and patterns. As the rules regarding colours get more fragmented and dissolved through seasons, engage consumers with the world around them using the power of this strong language that permeates everything from packaging to interiors and fashion and cosmetics.

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Enterpreneurship How I got here: Carolina Herszenhut, Brazilian entrepreneur and enthusiast Carolina Herszenhut is not afraid of changes. After leaving a secure job as senior fashion designer to work on her own brand, she was faced midway through that process with a difficult discovery: fashion was not what she wanted for her life anymore. Never lowering her head, she went on to develop a business model that brings together creative professionals and entrepreneurs. Her bimonthly event O Cluster is a hit among Rio de Janeiro’s residents and has been listed by Time Out as the city’s hottest indie event combining fashion, food and arts. Here she tells Blender her unconventional trajectory into becoming a respected professional curator.

MY STORY AS AN ENTREPRENEUR STARTED FROM THE DAY I ACKNOWLEDGED I DIDN’T WANT TO WORK FOR SOMEONE ELSE ANYMORE FLAVIA SOUZA

My path has been a big mix. I was working in fashion for about ten years – at this time I was 28 – and realised I had already reached the last step I could get to in a fashion company and thought, ‘Well, who’s above me? Above me is only the owner of the company’.

That got me wondering how many years I’d still be in that position, because whether I went to a smaller or a bigger company, I’d still be in that same level. So I came to the conclusion that owning my business would be the only way for me to grow and try new things.

I also began to realise that the security that everyone sees in a steady job lies actually in having your company because no one can take that away from you. When you are someone’s employee one day they can just not see any more value in you and you’re out, while when you own something you’re building it for yourself; you’re responsible for your miss and hits.

My story as an entrepreneur started from the day I acknowledged I didn’t want to work for someone else anymore and would develop my own brand, Branchee.

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My education has been invaluable. When I decided to go my own way I started looking for courses that might help me and came across a workshop in Business Planning, which was a watershed in my life.

I had a mindset completely focused in fashion, where production is basically what you do on your day to day but I didn’t understand much about planning – I’m still no expert to be honest.

The course turned out to be much more focused on entrepreneurship and that was great for me, as I also learned a lot about marketing, management, and SWOT analysis. This made me look at my company in a different way and understand its needs. Moreover, I was the only student in the class that already had her own business to use as an example so everything that I learned in class I would apply straight into my brand.

This was the best first step I could ever have taken and I still seek to learn new things and take new courses – something that people sometimes take for granted as they think the classroom is not very interesting but I see it in a very different way and believe people can really learn from that experience.

Getting started is definitely not easy, so I was very lucky to have my mother as an investor in Branchee.

It was a very complicated relationship, especially as neither of us understood much about management – but at the same time it was great as she was very supportive throughout the whole process. She has a friend that has virtually taught me everything about developing a business and not just ‘make clothes’.

Actually that is how I see entrepreneurship; taking what you know how to do and turning it into a business.

Everyone is specialised in something and I think you become an entrepreneur when you take it to the next level – being creative is just not enough.

Some things in my trajectory have been pure chance. At a certain point I had a client in my studio who invited me to participate in a project she was starting in a university in partnership with SEBRAE (the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service).This involved training and support for new brands for 18 months, and we learned about marketing, communication, image, financial and legal consulting among other things. This taught me a lot about how to transform my ideas into business.

It also woke me up to the fact that a key issue in entrepreneurship is surrounding yourself with people that may help you because, naturally, you won’t know how to do everything. And it’s very relevant to figure out who these people are. During this time the 15 brands participating in this project really developed as a group, and as we had support from SEBRAE a lot of doors opened to us. We managed to establish partnerships within the group and outside the group and became a more cohesive body of brands from Rio. Because I’ve always been so keen on helping others and gathering people I ended up as this group’s coordinator.

I am not an expert in entrepreneurship but I’m quite entrepreneurial. I undertake anything and anyone as a project; I see a possibility in everything.

Since I left my job, I’ve had many difficult moments, especially when I decided I wasn’t going to continue with my brand. Fashion was what I had always

BLENDER done and what I knew how to do, so I spent a lot of time not knowing what to do next. I think the financial issues – which are always there – played a huge part in the process, as I had very little investment and, as much as I tried, didn’t really understand the business.

I didn’t even realise I didn’t want to be in that position until my runway show at Fashion Rio was near and I said to a friend that I wasn’t really up for it. That’s when it came to me that as a designer if I didn’t want to show my creations I was in the wrong business. It was hard acknowledging things weren’t working out and it was time to stop.

Reinventing myself wasn’t easy; I was very lost for a while. It was through the group that I had connected with during my time at SEBRAE that new things happened. One day we were talking about our need for more outlets – when you are new it can be really hard to find distribution channels and in Brazil the processes are very complicated and expensive – and how we should organise and event to showcase our work. That led me to coming up the concept behind O Cluster, which is main job since 2012. It comes from this willingness to create a platform - that’s how we see ourselves – to disclosure and channel Rio’s creative economy, which is negligible if you compare it to the British.

So, the first thing was to gather all the professionals I knew in different fields – in music, art, gastronomy; I ‘talk to the doors’ so I actually know quite a lot of people – and undertake this whole thing. I believed we had to join forces so Rio could be seen again as a spot for new talents, as we had lost so much space to São Paulo, and there just wasn’t anything similar to that in the city. This turned up to be a business model that in fact promotes entrepreneurship.

I don’t believe in the old employment model so despite having a team of professionals that work in every edition of the event, we each work from our own

homes. We connect and communicate online as I really do not want people to reach the level [of stress]that I did, that they will no longer want to be around me. I really follow this as I don’t want anyone clocking in and out and spending their day on Facebook. They can be on Facebook at their own place, in a more relaxed atmosphere. The important thing is that in the end things have to work. I don’t feel comfortable asking someone to devote all their time to me when I don’t believe in that myself.

Everyone has their way of working and I’ve learned over time that the person may not answer me at that time because that is not her time, but she will get back to me when she is able to. Of course there are people who don’t adapt to this freedom and would rather be in a ‘proper’ office. So a big part of my job – like that of every manager in any field – is precisely to understand who these people are and if they conform to the way you want to work and vice versa. That’s just it: you choose a person to work and she also chooses you.

I am not ashamed of wanting to make money and indeed making it. Of course everyone who starts their own business wnats to thrive – they want to pay the rent, go on holidays, do a course – but my motivations at the heart of the matter have been since the beginning to be able to have mnore time to myself, to travel without asking for permission, to be able to organise my schedule as I want to. Most of the professionals involved in O Cluster have their side projects – and I help as much as I can in making them feasible – which does not keep them from particpating in other projects, including mine. I encoyrage everyone to figure out and develop work which belongs to them.

The whole journey between quitting my job and starting O Cluster took four years, and I used all the business expertise I acquired during that time in what I do now. I think that’s a big part of being

entrepreneurial, combining your previous experiences to make something good out of them. I am constantly working on it, because as we are finishing one event it’s already time to start thinking about the next one, which is just two months away.

I think creativity is important but not the determining factor in an enterprise. I’m constantly looking for things to do, ways to grow. This to me relates a lot to entrepreneurship as you never rest your eyes; everywhere you go you see ideas that make you think what you could apply – and couldn’t – to your own business. You can learn a lot from others, both what is good as what is bad.

I received a lot of advice in my journey and although some of it might have seen impertinent at the time I believe that everything can be applied somewhere. When you do something, especially when it’s your first enterprise, you get a little blind within your expectations, dreams and frustrations. I think just to have someone else see it as a real business is something extraordinary.

I’ve always been someone who thinks ‘I can do this’ and go do it in opposition to those who really make a business plan, analyse its viability, find an investor and then put into action. I would probably have made much less mistakes if I had gone down the second path but I don’t see myself stopping, writing things down, analysing options. It would have been great to know back then all that I know now but that is just impossible.

But I believe in a certain way that after you start down this path you can turn anything into a business – if I stop producing O Cluster tomorrow I’m sure I’ll use my experience into something else, even if it is a hot dog tent. But maybe that’s just me.

PHOTOGRAPHS VIA O CLUSTER

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Three Insights Entrepreneurs Must Know About Millennials’ Mobile Behaviour LUKE AHN

Now more than ever, entrepreneurs need to be cognizant of the importance of mobile marketing to millennials. The millennial generation is driving the biggest changes in how companies develop and market products and services in industries across the board.

While it may seem basic at the core, many companies are still missing out on opportunities to better understand the reasons why millennials buy certain products, identify strongly with certain brands or shop in certain ways.

One reason why millennials tend to be an elusive audience is that C-level executives are not putting enough emphasis on learning more about their behaviors. There are currently many generalisations about millennials, and while some of the broad trends are accurate, one of the most challenging aspects of marketing to millennials is understanding the ways that they are truly different from previous generations.

One of the largest documented changes in millennials today is their use of mobile devices and response to mobile marketing.

This is why some of the most promising mobile startup ideas can receive major funding from highcalibre investors, only to fail miserably two to four quarters in. Why? Because of the disconnect between the expectations of entrepreneurs (and investors), and the reality of what millennial consumers want from mobile devices, apps and services.

If your company needs a fresh perspective on a mobile-marketing strategy to reach millennials, below are a few key concepts that you need to know: Forget about web users.

Many entrepreneurs are unaware of the full scope of the impact and urgency of millennials’ usage

of mobile devices. For example, many millennials are relying on mobile devices as their sole method of accessing the web and communicating. A recent study from comScore found that 18 percent of millennials, those ages 18 to 34, are mobile-only web users, compared to only 5 percent of people ages 35 to 54.

There are a few implications of this shift toward “mobile only.” At the forefront, your company website needs to be mobile first. Forget about the old idea of “web users” and design your site as if it’s only going to be accessed from mobile devices.

Once you have a good mobile-enabled site in place, you can think about a web version. But mobile users should be your primary focus.

Another idea is that if you are targeting millennials as a major audience, you should put a larger share of your marketing dollars toward mobile, since millennials are most likely to be reachable via mobile devices. Four out of five millennials own smartphones, compared to only 40 percent of people age 55 and over.

Millennials are a unique breed.

One advantage of mobile marketing is that mobile customer data (while harder to capture) is much more valuable than the data we used to get from web-only users. Mobile customer data gives better insights into customers’ buying habits -- including location, time of day, web browser or mobile app, etc. You need to capture customer data to understand your specific millennial customers, since every company and its users are unique.

For example, one of the insights we’ve seen on Fronto is that teenagers tend to use their smartphones at different times of day than people in their 30s. Peak smartphone usage for teenage users of our company’s app is much later at night.

Getting the right insights from your data is crucial to truly knowing your customer. You can have the best analytics agency around but if you as the CEO or CMO don’t take the time to learn what the data means, it’s only numbers. Data should be a call to action for millennial customer engagement.

Young millennials keep fleeing to new apps.

Many entrepreneurs and startups make the mistake of presenting a service, app or product that they think a millennial user wants, but these users, especially teenagers, are unpredictable.

Teenagers are fleeing Facebook because they don’t want to hang out online with their parents. They have popularized many new messaging and photo apps because they’re trying to create exclusivity and also to build their own little world away from adults, just like every previous generation has done.

This makes it important for entrepreneurs to test their assumptions -- invest in analytics to engage with millennial audiences based on what the data shows they want from your product and what they respond to the most.

Fortunately, millennials are willing to share their information. According to a study from Mintel, 60 percent of millennials said that they were willing to share details about their personal preferences and habits with advertisers.

Millennial customers are willing to engage with your company and give you the data you need to make better business decisions. But you need to make sure you’re reaching them in the right channels and make sure you’re drawing good insights from the data.

Luke Ahn is the CEO of Fronto, developer of an Android mobile app for the lock screen that delivers curated news, apps and special offers to users while rewarding them for unlocking their devices

Entrepreneurship – From being to becoming YASH SHAH

Entrepreneurs are generally perceived as insane risk-takers; a surreal combination of Wolverine and Batman – aggressive yet calm, intuitive yet rational and reckless yet brave. Entrepreneurs are usually seen as fast-paced and courageous. But the question is, if only 5% of entrepreneurs end up working on their original idea, only 2% end up providing value and only 0.5% have monetary success, how should this dream be pursued?

Jump without a rope!

In The Dark Knight Rises, Batman learns that you can go into full throttle only when there is no back up. Entrepreneurship teaches you to put all your eggs, fruits, hair-dryer, mobile phone and everything else in one basket. If you have a backup, it’s you who have failed and not your startup. In any case, unless you took unreasonable risks while pursuing your startup, dealing with its failure will be an unpleasant and a

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ridiculously boring affair. It’s more like a step along the journey.

It’s about the journey and not the destination As a startup, people will ask you “Where do you see yourself after 5 years from now?” while you are still figuring out which client will be paying for your next lunch. In a startup, you learn. You learn to react to insulting situations, uncomforting questions and demeaning feedbacks. In a startup, you build, modify, test, rinse and repeat. It’s an incremental and an agile perspective towards life. You will never want it to end.

It’s certainly addictive.

The outcome is not binary Chances are that you might not become a billionaire but also, chances are that you might not end up on the street begging. There are millions of shades of grey between black and white, there are infinite rational numbers between 0 and 1 and there are millions of outcomes possible when you have a startup.

It’s scary, yes! But it’s even more exciting. That fear of

uncertainty, that feeling of not knowing the outcome, that thought-process when you are not in control of everything; there are very few things that can trigger such emotions.

Businesses die, entrepreneurs don’t A misleading element in the perception of success rate is that you only have one shot at it, so you had better make it. Startups never sink or swim. They give you a swing of directions. You give up your corporate job, you put in all the savings, your company fails and you can’t get back to your original career. There, you have another direction all together. And mind well, if a startup fails, a negligible amount of people can go back to their jobs. You are addicted, ruined. You will flock with the most like-minded, risk taking, lean, suave and convincing SOBs around. And you will start another one! Entrepreneurship is a career. So long as you don’t hit yourself in the face with the bat, you can keep taking swing after swing after swing.

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Task Management Software: get the most from its results RODRIGO MORET TI

Earlier this year we lost Warren Bennis. He was a psychologist, adviser to presidents and a great American scholar of contemporary leadership concepts that we encourage here at Runrun.it. Bennis used to say, “The manager asks how and when. The leader asks what and why.” But what does that mean? That the unfolding of their work (and their problems) only happens in a productive and healthy way if they ask the right questions beforehand. This is when a task management software is welcome: to know the right answers. Check out five reasons to use it and get the best from your employees without sacrificing their well-being: Save e-mails and endless meetings just to try to understand when jobs are actually supposed to be delivered.

Why? According to a research conducted by McKinsey, reading and answering emails takes up more than 2 hours in a working day of 8 hours. If part of the remaining time is spent in meetings, how much will be left to produce?

How? With a software, briefings can be clarified with comments on the tasks. Similarly, delivery dates are visible and are automatically recalculated when there are delays or changes in priorities.

When? Before delays in deliveries start to multiply and the stress hits the team, that are not delivering good results although they are working hard on jobs.

Formalise the disordered demands of tasks.

Why? With “urgent” requests coming from different directions employees may find it difficult to prioritise what is important. Thus, the delivery of their real tasks is at risk of delays or errors.

How? Determine who can delegate tasks to whom and inform all those involved. The software will make these relations very clear.

When? Before you realise that your team is working for several bosses besides you.

Classify all tasks that make up the company’s projects and label the most time-consuming ones.

Why? Be organised and view your list of tasks divided by status as “working”, “pending approval”, “waiting on material”, “negotiating”, “testing”, “delivered”, among others.

How? A good software provides automatic status of tasks and even lets you create your own, so you can keep projects’ phases organised.

When? Whenever a project becomes complex and it is necessary to have a quick overview of each task.

Confirm how much your employees care for their customers.

Why? Tracking the progress of a project makes investors and clients more secure and willing to recommend your company to peers.

How? Team performance appears in various types of managerial reports of productivity. Among them, indications on how much time each team devoted to a project, or how much it actually cost your company, or even the old Gantt.

When? You, the manager, may surprise your clients by showing and interpreting reports even sooner than they expect.

Recognise the hard work of your most dedicated employees.

Why? Motivation can fade away quite quickly.

Reward your best employees so they will invest in their talent, encouraging others to seek recognition too.

How? Create a system of rewards according to some criteria such as the number of tasks delivered, if delivered on time or within the average effort required, if it is an improvement on another work etc.

When? Daily, as you follow your employees’ performance or as you finish interpreting their reports.

Starting a business TAMIRES MOTÁLIBE

Fulfilling the dream of having your own business is far from an easy task. Bureaucratic and, mainly, economic barriers are still the “heart of the matter” when trying to turn this dream into reality.

The decision to start a business using only one’s own resources is quite common. Many entrepreneurs choose not to borrow and / or seek investors for their businesses. For these ones, the following tip is valuable: you really have to know what to do with their money – where exactly you will invest it – since any wrong investment could threaten not only the company’s cash flow but also your plans for growth in the short and medium/long term. The entrepreneurs who wish to follow that route must be aware of some important points that will certainly give a good leveraged in their enterprise. I will go through some of them below.

Is your business idea valid?

The way to tell if your business idea is good is NOT to ask the opinion of a relative or dear friend. The best way to validate your idea is to ask the opinion of those who really matter to your business, namely your future clients. Look for potential clients or experienced entrepreneurs and question them. Above all, be open to their answers, opinions and tips, which will always be valid.

Do you have a mentor?

There is no use in asking for advice and tips to people who support you in everything and reaffirm all your ideas. You need to find experienced people who make you question yourself and leave your comfort zone, who challenge your intelligence and make you use your best arguments, making them also think so they can help you find the best path based on successful cases. You probably will not like what you will hear, but take these considerations seriously and be open to feedback. Nowadays, it is possible to rely on the mentoring of highly trained professionals with expertise in the area in which you want to act. Inquire!

Invest ALL in your business When my partner and I opened our business, we chose not to keep any profit off it. It is not easy, it is true, but with the future of the company always in mind we came to the conclusion, based on various studies, that companies which focus in generating profits for shareholders from the very beginning end up not offering a product and service good enough to surpass customer expectations. Thus, they end up not developing a good rapport with their clients, therefore, having difficulties in generating new business.

Marketing is survival, start early!

Generally, entrepreneurs who are starting spend a lot of time and – especially – invest a lot of money in the design and launch of their product or service.

Not that this is not important, but when time comes to announce the news, where are the resources?

Therefore, it is extremely important that from early on you start researching ways with the best cost/benefit ratio to reach your consumer. Invest a percentage of your profits in marketing, because the more, the better. With planning, it pays to start doing actions even before themaking and launch of the product. Test and check the results!

Tamires Motálibe is Managing Partner at Agência Aplique and a collaborator at the site Empreendedorismo Rosa.

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You could be fired CRISTIAN TRENTINI

Every day we get up, go into our businesses and spend hours solving problems and adjusting things so that everything works perfectly. Each in their own department, of course – the person in finance pays the bills and employees, the one in sales tries to gather new customers and so on. At the end of the day, we realise that sales were not as good, the girl in the commercial department is discouraged and asks to leave, and your assistant spent hours standing and ended up forgetting to wish a “good evening”, with a big smile to the last client of the day.

Did you know your employees have problems outside work? And perhaps now you are thinking: “Ah! But that’s not my problem. I pay their salary correctly every month and therefore expect them to work for what they receive.” Well, I have been developing

a theory on client and employee management for approximately a year now and would like to share it with you.

You can set goals and ask an employee to perform a task but it will probably not be how you imagined – even if this is completed by the deadline –, much less surpass your expectations. I bet you are saying to yourself that employees are like that: most are lazy and do everything half-heartedly. I am sorry to tell you, but it is your fault and you could soon be fired from your own company.

It took me a while to realise that employees do not do what you want, but what they believe is right and in the way they consider something should be done. There is no simple and easy formula to have committed and motivated staff but you will be taking a big step towards achieving it by starting to see your team as individuals who have personal lives, just as you

have yours. It does not matter whether you want the report to be in green or in red; what matters is what you will do with it and the importance of colours to you. Your employees will only deliver their best work if they understand the real purpose of it.

Now, mix it all up to run a better business: treat your employees as people, explain the real importance of the activities they are undertaking and give them the autonomy to manage and charm customers. And do not forget to put in the entrepreneurial scales that that which is good for your company and your customer comes from committed and motivated employees.

Cristian Trentini founded EcoBike Courier, a sustainable delivery company.

In 2014, he was elected by Forbes as one of the 30 people below 30 to watch for in Brazil.

How can small businesses acquire high end creativity?

PAUL DAVIS

Not all companies, especially startups, will have the funds to employ top creative agencies, so they will often seek out an inexperienced freelance designer who is prepared to create a one off significant element of their visual communication such as a logo or website, often in isolation with no established visual identity system to work with. The problem with this is that the creation of meaningful design requires a lot of talent and a great deal of work.

From the designer’s perspective, being asked to design a website within an unreasonable timeframe and without any form of established visual identity or information architecture can only result in a poor

design. The designer will have no time to conduct research, experiment, or test ideas, and will likely end up replicating visual elements from an existing related design. This isn’t good for all concerned. From the client’s perspective, a mediocre website with little thought and consideration will likely damage the perception of that business and hinder its growth.

Furthermore, from the designer’s perspective they will have gained little valuable experience and will likely have completed far more work than was agreed.

I believe there is a solution to this problem and one that would benefit all concerned: a collaborative approach. For new businesses that appreciate the value of good design but can’t afford to pay for it, seek out talented and established creatives and offer

them a partnership. From the client’s point of view, they will acquire the skills and knowledge of a fully committed and successful designer indefinitely.

From the designer’s point of view, they will have the opportunity to invest significant time and effort in developing meaningful visual communications for a business which they believe in and are more likely to be financially rewarded for their work as the clients business grows.

Successful multidisciplinary designers are a significant asset to any business. The way of working discussed in this article shows small businesses a way to form a partnership with a high end creative who has a vested interest in the success of that business.

Five differences between an incubator and an accelerator MARIA AUGUSTA SEBASTIANI RIBAS

For those opening a startup with questions about the main differences between incubator and accelerator and the advantages that each can offer, here are some tips and clarifications.

Difference 1: Private X Public Entity The incubator concept was born in the academic and government level. The accelerator is usually a private entity.

Difference 2: Type of business in which each operates The incubator turns science into business and the accelerator seeks more established businesses in a slightly more advanced stage.

Difference 3: Goals of the accelerator and the incubator

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The match of an accelerator with a startup aims to generate profits leading to a much greater demand results. The incubator is less fast-paced as it is usually a non-for-profit organisation.

Difference 4: Association and participation in the startup The accelerator connected to a startup generally have a stake between 5 and 20 per cent of the company. In the case of incubators, such participation can happen but this is not common and the share is usually smaller.

Difference 5: Investment In contrast, the accelerator provides financial support and help attract investors. The incubator only aids in the preparation to receive investments from other entities.

From which program do you believe your startup would benefit more? Both are very valid, it is just a matter of understanding the opportunities and advantages each offers for your business. The incubator has often a better use when the idea is still on paper and the accelerator when the company is already developed and in search of expansion.

Remember that both have the same ultimate goal, which is to make your business happen, expand and become a huge success. The main difference between the two is how it will be done and at what pace.

Founder of the We Art startup and currently ‘incubated’ in StartUp Universidade Positivo.

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An app that rewards drivers for not using their phone behind the wheel

Since mobiles came into our lives so came the warnings that using your phone while driving is dangerous – even more after the arrival of smartphones and their endless features. Yet, a surprising number of motorists still do it.

Rodedog, a previous attempt to educate via negative reinforcement didn’t go very far. Now comes in SafeDrive, a smartphone application that rewards users for leaving their phones alone when driving through a points system that offers discounts on products and services. The app is the result of a collaboration between XL Team, from Netherlands, and Romania-based studio KNS. SafeDrive enables users to start ‘scoring’ even before their journeys start. The amount of points is calculated depending on the length and distance of travel, and if drivers can’t resist checking their device at a red light, the app warns them that they will lose any points gained for the journey if they choose to continue.

The idea is that users on their best behaviour will be able to accrue enough points to trade in for products and services from SafeDrive’s partners (some of the items displayed on the company’s website include photo frames and camera lenses).The app has been developed for Android and Windows Phone – an iOS version is coming soon – and is expected to launch later this year.

VIA TRENDHUNTER

Human operated cash machines

Electronic transactions, direct debit, contactless payment – plastic money has never been so used. But what happens in those times when you actually need cash and can’t find an ATM near you? That is where Nimbl comes in.

The banking service currently available in San Francisco and New York aims to bring a human to your rescue with a simple iOS app that carries an interface familiar to anyone who has ever used an actual ATM machine. Customers select the amount they wish to withdraw and use GPS to log their locations. Nimbl then provides an estimate delivery time, which users can choose to accept, and runners (who have their backgrounds checked before starting with the company) deliver the cash at the agreed meeting place. Payment is made via Venmo – a platform similar to PayPal. The first few transactions are for free and then a five dollar charge applies to subsequent withdrawals.

As much as this may seem as a very lazy way to get cash, the company hopes to connect with cash-only businesses that could recommend the app to their customers instead of sending them out to find a machine and potentially run into a competitor that accepts cards.

Nimbl is still operating in a small scale, mostly between 11am and 8pm on week days with a small extension on weekends (people in San Francisco have until 1am to use the service on those days), and an Android version on the app is coming soon. The website does not state limits for withdrawal or average waiting time.

VIA SPRINGWISE

Service wants to bring celebrities and their fans closer together

Technology is filling in the gap that social media has created. If first it was a great way to reach out to your fans and – on the other hand – keep up with celebrity moves, it is now clear that the impersonality of mass media has caught up as no one feels appreciated for following their favourite musician or actor on Facebook or Twitter. Phonio is now allowing for a more intimate and closer connection between fans and celebrities – or as the website calls them, influencers, “musicians, athletes, artists, thought-leaders, consumer brands and more”.

The service, launched in October, is designed to allow influencers to connect to a large group of followers through a single phone call. Celebrities can share their Phonio number in whichever way they find suitable – via Twitter, Facebook, or even on a screen in a concert. Fans then phone that number to sign up and register to receive calls (at this point, users are given the option to hear their chosen celebrity’s latest message). And that is it; no app or website involved, just the old habit of placing a call.

When the influencers wish to connect with their fans they dial that same number on a pre-authorised phone and get immediately connected to anyone who picks up. Calls are mostly one-way – during which users can leave a message telling their news, sing new songs or offer advices – but the service also offers fans the possibility to receive a direct call from their idols and engage in a one-to-one conversation.

Lil Wayne and other artists from his record label Young Money Entertainment, non-profit organisation NextGen Climate, and the Sacramento Kings basketball team are some of the names that have already signed up to start connecting with fans. The company hopes to eventually bring in activists, financial gurus and all sorts of public figures to the service.

Phonio was created by Dan Soha, who thought it would be great to receive a call from Barack Obama after seeing a tweet by the American President. After connecting with experienced entrepreneur Matt Caspari and CTO Conrad Decker 18 months ago, they raised the funds to get the idea off the ground. For those thinking less of this idea, it is relevant to remember that SayNow – which allows people to listen to messages previously recorded by celebrities – had harnessed 15 million users before being sold to Google in 2011.

VIA TECHCRUNCH

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Japanese startup aiming to be the Airbnb of events

Airbnb has turned the idea of renting out your extra room into a mainstream concept, and it currently links approximately 800 thousand private spaces to members of the public. SpaceMarket, a Japanese startup that follows the footsteps of its travel accommodation predecessor, is a platform that connects permanently – or temporarily – unused venues or facilities owned by established companies with people who are interested in using these locations for private events.

With a focus on luxury and unusual settings, it currently provides more than 775 spaces for businesses according to their needs – whether it is meetings, training courses or creative getaways. Its list includes a variety of unique venues such as a sailing vessel, a heliport, an old Japanese-style houses in the historic village, and, an uninhabited island in Tokyo Bay. SpaceMarket is currently only available in Japanese, although it has a few international locations listed, like the Coca Cola Park – a baseball field in Pennsylvania, USA. The company has just secured 100 million yens (approximately 550 thousand pounds) in its first funding round, which it plans to use to develop apps and connect to more unique venues (its main competition in Southeast Asia, Boatbay, offers a similar service by renting out boats and yachts), in addition to providing a concierge service.

VIA SPRINGWISE

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