All posts filed under: Trends

Blom-ista, silk flowers are back

Published by Kate Stockman

Living in the country side has it’s advantages nowadays. But it is not exactly the best spot to discover new places to be. So it was quite a surprise to come home one day and see opposite the street a kind of barn that was transformed into an atelier with just a wooden sliding door and a small name tag on the wall. Just Blom-ista, by appointment. Nothing more. Very discreet, minimal without any window, and no clue what it actually was. My curious nature won, and the next day I pulled over my car as the wooden door was open and checked it out. The barn, concrete floor, white walls, was stuffed with large pots filled with all sorts of colorful flowers. But this is not an ordinary flower shop. This is a flower ‘bibliotheque’ or library. Blomista I met Kirsten Blom, the owner & ‘blomista’ in her atelier and she introduced me to her art & her profession. She’s a flower stylist for retailers, hospitality and events but she does not work with …

The Fast Company European Innovation Festival_Milan

Published by Kate Stockman

Last year, Fast Company, a New York based world’s leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, and design, send us an invitation to be part of an important conversation named The Dawn Of Super Intelligence. The Fast Company European Innovation Festival, a two day seminar slash festival took place in Gucci‘s 35,000 square meter Milan head office in the historic Caproni aeronautical factory built in 1915. (The Gucci HQ are located at via Mecenate 77, Milan.) A place were you normally can not enter visiting Milan, not even during Il Salone Di Mobile…The venue looked top, the program intriguing and the list of speakers impressive, that’s the least you could say. Yuval Noah Harari! Jared Leto! Darren Aronofsky! Massimo Bottura! Natalie Massenet! Samuel “Blitz” Bazawule, Jessica Brillhart, Dustin Yellin, David de Rothschild, Africa Flores-Anderson and many, many more. (see list). Obviously, I booked me a flight and off I went. I decided to write this article nearly one year after the festival took place. Why? Well, I all ready talked you about the most needed reflection time I …

Covid19 quarantine #1

Published by Kate Stockman

Covid19 quarantine #1 There are different ways to cope with what happened to us in the last 6 weeks. I see people desperately trying to keep on going, despite the lock-down, the social distancing and the nasty virus outside. I hear them dreaming about gin tonics on a sunny terrace, summer festivals they miss and sports events that are cancelled. It reminds me sometimes of contestants of ‘Expedition Robinson’ who, on the 26 th day, are fantasizing about burgers and fried chicken. People who are amusing us with smart, crazy and sometimes very fun challenges, celebrities who keep on broadcasting their real (& fake) self and others who want to understand as quickly as possible how we are going to live after the pandemic. Webinars about the post-Corona future, articles and podcasts with dramatic & utopian (and everything in between) future scenarios are launched at the speed of light, and I think this makes sense. But there are on the other side of the spectrum people who embrace effortless, without any difficulty, this slow life …

So hip it hurts: Human connections in a tech-obsessed world

Published by Kate Stockman

“For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict and debate.”   Dat technologie niet heiligmakend is weten we ondertussen al. ‘Tech’ moet ten dienste staan van ons als mens en niet andersom. Dat lijkt evident, maar je hoeft vandaag maar gewoon op restaurant te gaan en je ziet het meteen, minstens de helft van de tafels ‘zit’ op zijn smartphone en heeft nauwelijks oog voor zijn of haar gezelschap. We zijn verslaafd aan ‘sociale’ media conversaties en digitale vriendengroepen, maar we zijn nog nooit zo alleen geweest. Volgens een recent onderzoek van de BBC voelen meer dan 1/3 van de Britten zich erg eenzaam en dit is geen alleenstaand feit. Overal steekt eenzaamheid de kop op en we zien vandaag al de eerste tekenen van een intense zoektocht naar menselijke ervaringen, warmte, een gevoel van ergens toe te behoren en de wetenschap dat er voor ons, heel persoonlijk, gezorgd wordt. Members-only-clubs We zien dan ook dat veel nieuwe hospitality services zich extra gaan inspannen om mensen onderling aan elkaar te koppelen. Niet …