Caught in Clerkenwell - Part 2

0:00So I'm out in Clerkenwell and I'm going to grab some designers, things like that and ask them what they think about their place, what's cool products are trending, what they want to see or even what they think is going to date in the next. five years let's go three years after we've started this podcast we thought it was time to make sure that those lessons and the takeaways from our amazing guests were actually actionable something you can really put into place so we have launched show notes a bi-weekly email get into your inbox and that will give you the key headlines that is indexable findable actionable and we can really start to make a difference in creating healthy, happy workspaces.

0:46So the link's below or you can head to stansons.co.uk forward slash space. Look forward to seeing you sign up. What do you want to find when you walk around today? What are you looking for? Innative, new ideas, something that we haven't seen before. I'm so inspired by. Yes. Yeah. What does like a really cool new product look like? what would you love to see? Something that goes against the grain that's a bit more out there. There's a lot of things that I think are playing it safe at the moment. Something very bold. Add a bit of edge. Colourful? Yes. Colourful. Vibrant. Bring back the colour. We're done with the beige.

1:24We're done with the beige. Bold, yeah. Right. We actually love the beige but we are trying to be more colourful. We do love the beige. Okay. We're trying to embrace a little bit more colour. Wicked. One more question. What colour do you think we should be seeing? Pink. Green. controversial yellow but it's my favorite color light green light green wicked thanks so much girls i want to know from you what you are hoping to find in clarkham out oh uh well we've recently gone freelance so um we're having to do a lot of specification ourselves now for furniture and things like that so anything new um that's been around in the last sort of will come up in the last few months really like unique pieces what does unique look like from the crowd what's standing out look like i don't know like statement pieces i think looking for something a bit unusual something that people haven't seen before there's a lot of like things that people have seen before so we're going to places where we're like oh that's new and exciting i could see myself specifying that product that's that's the plan and have you found any of those things yeah i mean um helena's interviews need quite a few new places today which is good and um yeah i think we we've still got a few to tick off our list so we're trying to actually find lunch first so you know get yeah who's got the best lunch let us in and which place should i go to to find this cool piece that you've already seen that where should i be going oh well we've just been to nor 11 they've got really nice furniture really nice statement pieces so yeah I'd recommend going in there.

2:59And obviously, I'd go into Stamson's as well.

3:07Cool. So what's one thing you're hoping to see in Clark & Well that you haven't been seeing around much? I understand Clark & Well always showcase a lot of good materials and also nice design. But I think this time while we'll join Clark & Well Design Week, we hope to bring in an idea of how a public space can do design for everyone. So that's why I like when apart from a good material that we're using this time, we also want to challenge how people see colors. Because these colors, we tailor-made the colors so that with different color visions, and so people, they can see it differently. Yeah, and so together with this physical piece, we also designed a web app so that when you scan our QR code, in the web apps, we'll get the camera filter so that you can understand how other people see the same things.

3:52So I think that's, I would say, another layer of social meaning or social discussion that we think the Clackenwell design we can bring on. And how did you pick the colours that you have chosen? Oh, the colours. So we try to study the three main types of colour deficient visions. And so we want to look at what are the colours that they will mix up. So that when we design this, we work with the manufacturer and see how we can tailor make the colours so that everyone see it, they can see it differently. What are the three colour deficients? Oh, so now here we have the pink, the yellow, and also the purple one.

4:28So actually the pink and the yellow one under one of the color division, and then you will see it as the same thing. So that when we ask you a question like, oh, how many this type of beads that you can identify in the installation? So some people will tell us five, but some people they will tell us three because the way that they see it differently. Amazing. That must be great for neurodiversity. Oh, yes. That's something that, because our company is from Hong Kong, so neurodiversity is something we have been working on a lot in Hong Kong. So that's why we think it will be quite a meaningful conversation that we can bring to Quackenwell.

5:01Thank you so much for your time. So what's something you want to see when you're walking around later today? I walk around today more to be inspired, to find little detail or really nice piece, I mean, a lot of piece of furniture, but also like nice installation of like how to sell a project or so. So a bit mix of like nice project and nice marketing, I would say. Yeah, so what would make a really nice like little detail for you? What sort of things do you enjoy? That's a tricky question. I think it's like can be like detailing the material, for example, like how furniture is going to be assembled together.

5:37It's like a piece of joint or I saw a lot of like nice graphic or so around. So like some things that's just going to catch the eye and be like, oh, interesting. Love it. Thank you so much. You're welcome.

5:54Everyone's talking about colour, and a few people have pointed to me to come here, so talk to me about your paint. Tell me, how did you come up with your colour palette? It just occurred to me that when you're making paint and you're making ice cream, it's essentially the same thing. It's calcarous, it's calcium. So when you're putting... When I put the colours together, it always looks like ice cream because it's a milky sort of, you know, backdrop. And then we put a little texture into it and then discovered that if you called it, we'd call it all sort of ice cream flavours and serve it as ice cream.

6:25And then that was the only thing, you know, the only way that we could present it. It felt like the right thing to do. I love it. Which has confused everyone. No, no, I love the idea. So all your colours, they've got the best names. So we've got like International Butterscotch, International Kiwi, International Banana Skin. Why has it always got International on the front? Well, the international was a way of joining up the rarefied world of art and the lowly world of interior decorating, or at least decorating. And I've always thought there was sort of snobbery and a divide between those two things.

6:56And yet, when you're, as a small boy or a small girl, you might go and paint your bedroom. That is an act of art. And so I wanted a way to sort of present it to people where paint is more than paint. It is art. You know, you can create something really clever on your wall. And the polar opposites of that were always the Yves Klein Blue, which is the rarefied world of art, which was called International Klein Blue. And then there's a colour called International Orange, which is the colour of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. And that's like industrial paint. And so they're the polar opposites.

7:29And I wanted to sort of unify that and make it sound exotic. And I think for me, when you call it International Raspberry or International Milk Chocolate, it suddenly becomes more exotic. and it feels like something sort of magical. And that was my way of doing it. And I feel like it's quite a good brand. You could easily imagine someone with international chocolate on a t-shirt and you'd be like, I like that. That's pretty cool. I don't know why. And that's it really, yeah. I literally love your brand. Thank you very much. What's the thing that you've seen that you think is going to date the most, the fastest?

8:02Oh, this is a tricky one. I do think I'm worried about the conversation around neurodiversity becoming dated only because it feels like it's becoming a trend rather than a real life you know something that we should be considering you know further on in design and continuing as a legacy of design some of the conversations have felt a little bit like we're approaching it like it's a trend and i worry then in that way all trends die eventually and we don't want that to happen okay yeah totally fair enough and what have you seen that's really cool that you want to put on a project i mean this space is pretty cool though in right now it's quite nice to see this kind of environment filled with plants i'm the kind of person that normally like a traditional pub freaks me out a little bit if i'm honest uh so she went you know it's dark and it's like you don't know who's in there but filling it with plants it's just made it really welcome and inviting so i think it's just pushing the boundaries of how we kind of take by fillet design i think that'll be really cool love it thank you so much what are you wanting to see like from the industry to change the workplace going forward in the next five years?

9:09Well I mean speaking on a kind of bias level I definitely like what we do plants biophilia and nature to become a more intrinsic part of design. I know it's definitely it's definitely on the rise it's definitely changing but I want to I don't want to see it getting VE'd at every opportunity for a start. How do you make sure it doesn't date though? Well just staying ahead of the curve and introducing more innovative and more interesting ways of uh bringing plants into spaces but also engaging people on like a on like a higher level as well so we're doing we do a lot at the moment around staff engagement and how we can actually get people involved with the the plants and the design in office space as well as much as just putting them in the office and beautifying the space and if you could do anything with plants like literally the world is your oyster what would you do i'd love to like feel something really important like like the houses of parliament i'd love to like turn it into like a really amazing like arboretum for everyone to go and enjoy something like that something crazy that a really important space or building full of plants that people can go and enjoy as a public space wicked love it I find it simply fascinating how physical space can totally change how we think, feel and behave.

10:33Meaning it can pause distractions, it can connect us, it can mean we do our very best work. And that's where Stansons steps in. This show is created by Stansons who design, make and install curtains and acoustics to create the perfect environment for people to flourish and do their very best work. You've got a project on? We know how it feels. Reach out and we'll start to talk.