2012 going to be a great year for online shopping. With exploding buying from the past few years, retailers of all types (especially the traditional business) eager to get a piece of online sales that estimated to hit more than £50bn in 2012. It’s getting harder to tell pure play Internet retailers from the bricks and mortar shops with online portals, and all of them are reinventing how we’ll shop online in the future. Over the last five years internet retailing has improved substantially thanks to the use of affordable 'always-on' internet connections, simple and secure payment systems and the increasing popularity of mobile devices, combined with the growth of mobile-based retail sites.

Here are the top 5 trends to watch:

1.In-store pick up. More shoppers choose to pick up themselves in-store, the reason: to save on the shipping cost and easy product inspecting.

2.Pick up depots. With increasing sales, many retailers may open pick up kiosks for goods ordered online. Such as French retailer chronodrive.com

3.Mobile Apps. The vastly use of smartphone and tablet with WiFi & 3G made it easy for shoppers to place goods online.

4.Social networking. Facebook and Twitter are the two most common platform for retailers to launch their sales & promotion strategy. It's easy to get million of Facebook users to know their deals.

5.Daily deals and flash sales. Mushrooming site such as Groupon Inc provide daily great discounts to shoppers. The discount not only limited to F&B anymore, but all kind of deals.

It is widely acknowledged that the recession has boosted the appeal of online retailing and UK consumers are more determined than ever to make every penny count.



Via: Trend Micro


Natural wood is a precious resource in design. A good design should minimize the waste, a great design will use the waste to create something aesthetic & useful. That what Japanese designer Mikiya Kobayashi done for the wood Clock.

This clock was made out of small pieces of woods that are reminded in the production process of other wooden products. Enjoy the unique expression of this clock with wood rings and colors, shadows appear in the inter-space.

+ more trees other projects: Perpetual Calendar | Tree Ring Clock



Designer Anna Rabinowicz of New York Rablabs has created many lovely jewelery inspired by nature, fusing ancient, precious materials in a luxurious palette with modern design, layering semi-precious gems, including crystal and agate, with the finishing touches of pure gold and sterling silver . . .Such as the PRATO necklace features pure silver-edged, semi-precious Brazilian agate paired with sterling silver detailing; the CINTA belts represent the ultimate convergence of nature and luxury for the waist. These belts are created from hand-polished agate, suede, and Italian leather while the JOIA ornaments are hand-polished agate stone in an assortment of six vibrant colors, adorned with a shimmering organza ribbon.





+ Rablabs


Drip Tease Mug are a classic tea set with a contemporary twist: unwanted marks and stains become desirable decorative details. Here, tea spills are playfully turned into generous drippings of precious gold. They also have the Lip Tease Tea Set where lipstick marks are turned into a cheeky decorative feature.





+ Reiko Kaneko



Oscar is an umbrella stand with the function of a console table. Created by Emanuele Magini, Oscar is materialization of the designer's desire of being greeted, every time back home, from someone constantly friendly and smiling; someone that takes care of whatever is in his hands and pockets. That pretty much explained the welcoming shape and opening, just like a kitten.

+ Emanuele Magini


One might not noticed any visible dome when visiting the St Michiel Church in Leuven, Belgium. The architects from Gijs Van Vaerenbergh decided to build an art installation that takes this seemingly trivial fact as a starting point and generate the missing dome in a remarkable way.

The installation casts light on the architecture of one of the most prestigious baroque churches of the Low Countries from a contemporary perspective. Using the design technique of the catenary, a new structure emerges in the church. The Upside Dome is a real size scale model, comprised of hundreds of meters of chain, which is literally and figuratively the counterpart of the unfinished dome. 






+ More Gijs Van Vaerenbergh's works


Have you facing this before? When cutting a cake, one of your friend said she on diet, a small piece will do; another friend said he was really hungry, bigger is better...If your answer is yes, then the S-XL Cake Mould designed by DING3000 is what you really need.

S-XL CAKE is a baking dish with a new approach: The shape of the cake is inspired by the permanent issue "how to divide a cake?". S-XL CAKE plays with our individual need for different sizes of cake-pieces in a decorative, provocative and ironic way by taking advantage of the new possibilities that flexible silicone baking dishes offer.




+ DING3000


Buenos Aires based collective, oh! has been commissioned to design a series of new label for Ayelet Naturals- an organic, aromatherapy and skincare business predominantly retailing products via online stores from New York. For their facial scrubs lines, oh! develop a label system that looks fresh, natural and beautiful to costumers' eyes. oh! used clear hues and hand drawn illustrations showing the main ingredients of each product plus little geometric shapes with powerful colors used as accent in the general color scheme. The label bright color palette successfully stand out against the deep & rich tones of the products. The result is an attractive label system easy and cheap to print and stick on standard glass jars. 





+ oh!


Another design books series published by Design Museum, the 'How to Design...' isn't means for the DIY people but offer a solid foundation for appreciating the accomplishments of established designers.



"How to Design a Chair" tells you everything you need to know and looks at the principles and processes of designing a chair, from its symbolic and functional properties to materials and mass-production techniques. In a working case study Konstantin Grcic, one of the world's best-known furniture designers, traces the design and development of one of his most successful chairs - the Myto - from start to finish and reveals what it takes to create a successful design.

"How to Design a Light" tells you everything you need to know and looks at the principles and processes of designing a light. In a working case study Arnold Chan, one of the world's best-known lighting designers, traces the design and development of one of his installation at the London restaurant Hakkasan, and reveals exactly what is involved in creating a successful design.



"How to Design a Typeface" tells you everything you need to know and looks at the principles and processes of designing type, from its historical roots and interaction with materials and techniques to developing digitized type for modern use. In a working case study Jonathan Barnbrook, one of the world's foremost typographers, traces the design and development of his typeface Priori from start to finish and reveals what it takes to create a successful design.

"How to Design a House" tells you everything you need to know and looks at the principles and processes of designing a house, giving an insight into the design and building process. In a working case study John Pawson, one of the world's best-known architects, traces the design and development of his own house and reveals what it takes to create a successful blueprint.

Buy it here| Other Design Museum Books

+ Design Museum Shop
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