Located in the heart of Madrid, Spain, Johnnie Walker–an iconic scotch whiskey brand–has opened a flagship destination perfect for whiskey experts, whiskey beginners or those who are just looking to enjoy a beverage or learn something new. The immersive shop offers visitors the chance to deep-dive into the flavors and stories of the brand.

Features inside the store include a hosting area where guests can explore the craft of cocktail making or take a seat at a tasting table where they can deep dive into the flavors of Johnnie Walker.

A unique personalization station, where visitors can discover, choose, and personalize an individual bottle of whiskey, is located along one wall accompanied by unique gifts and one-of-a-kind bottle labels. This not only allows guests to get closer to the product but allows them to make a memorable experience they will forever associate with the brand.

In addition to the interactive elements within the space, the Johnnie Walker flagship also acts as a stage for the brand. Displaying the brand’s extensive portfolio of whiskeys, the store is home to exclusive products, curated collaborations, and limited edition collections. Store associates are well educated in the brand’s rich heritage offering an educational element to the store’s experience, providing in-depth knowledge of whiskey flavor profiles.

Adding a digital element to space, an interactive screen allows customers to tap into a virtual map that explains the history of each whiskey and which region it came from.

Curious to see what else we explored while at EuroShop 2020? Click here for key takeaways and more coverage!

Kristin Cerutti of NELSON Worldwide explores how law office design is moving away from hierarchical spaces and adopting the free-thinking plan. Read more with Work Design here.

In a recent iOffice Workplace Innovator Podcast titled “A Conversation about the Forces Changing How We Use Office Space”, teammate David Wagner and other industry leaders discussed their perspectives on the future of the workplace for both traditional and coworking spaces. Check out this audio edit of the broadcast and then download the video of the full conversation including a fascinating Q&A time with these experts!

I love a face-to-face meeting. I process information more holistically in these settings – body language, verbal cues, visible reactions in the room. While NELSON works from home during the COVID crisis, Zoom and Skype have been indispensable in filling the face-to-face void between colleagues.

Our digital era has given rise to the concept of being “alone together” – solitary but connected. Right now, millions of us are “home together” and looking for ways to maintain the genuine human connections that keep a workplace humming.

In lieu of water cooler chats, we share images of our homes, our pets, our families, and our unique or quirky work settings. We schedule virtual happy hours. We check in more often.

Being “home together” has reinforced the need for authentic, human-to-human connection at work. Trust, empathy, and communication between people form the foundation of the most successful teams.

As we rely on WiFi and video chat to keep our social ties alive, I think workers may return to office environments in a post-crisis era with a different attitude – an even greater desire for meaningful connections, and a new appreciation for the physical space that enables them.

How will our Zoom-connected virtual offices influence the “IRL” workspaces we return to?

Bringing the Home-self to Work

Working from our kitchen tables in slippers, we’re entering a new era of “business casual.” It’s allowed us to mix the workplace and the home space and relate to our colleagues on a more relaxed level. We can bring this sense of authenticity to the physical workplace too. Elements like employee walls located in central gathering areas allow people to share photos and items from their personal lives, capturing the same new closeness and informality we are experiencing in Zoom life.

Flexible Workspace

Working from home can offer more flexibility in setting – we are fully free to change rooms or positions throughout the day. Offices should have the same flexibility. Following the principles of the activity-based workplace, creating a variety of settings at work to support mobility and choice can foster the same sense of freedom as home.

Meeting Spaces and Video Rooms

Change your Zoom background yet? The ability to use a branded background is a useful tool for representing your company to clients or other partners. We can translate this to the physical space by branding smaller video-enabled rooms in the office.

Loosen up densification

With more space to spread out at home, expanding the typical desk surface in the office may be in order. Is having a bigger desk counterintuitive to connection? Not at all. Aside from the hygienic benefits of increasing social distance for everyday tasks, it allows more individual space for changing use throughout the day, from heads-down work to spontaneous meetings with colleagues.

It’s heartening to see human connections flourish despite physical distance. If we embrace the tools and techniques we’re adapting now for the digital realm, we can use them to enrich our offices once we return.

Building and designing sustainable spaces has always been important, but as we become a self-aware society, driving sustainability by way of green building practices far exceeds the boundaries of the building envelope. For the design industry, sustainability considers the project space, surrounding communities from which we source materials, and the eco-system that operates within an environment. In recent years, sustainability has become more than just a “good practice” but a way for organizations to differentiate themselves and make a positive impact on the world.

At NELSON Worldwide, we understand that architecture and design have a unique ability, and responsibility to promote environmental stewardship. Keep reading to better understand key themes we see in the sustainable solutions of today – and the future:

1. WELLbeing

Due to the ever-growing need for sustainable solutions, architects and designers are pursuing certifications in LEED and WELL. While both have been around for quite some time, no sustainability list is complete without mentioning these table stakes. For the workplace, WELL design is one of the fastest-growing certifications and is built and optimized to advance human health and well-being. Taking every interaction an individual can have within a space into consideration, this certification covers 10 core concepts of design considerations related to health and hundreds of standards that revolutionize the design approach. At NELSON Worldwide offices in Philadelphia, the guiding principles of WELL dictated low emitting finishes and furniture and diverse spaces the promote collaboration or support employee rest, yoga, meditation or simply a space to unwind.

2. Natural Moments

Born from the years of bringing ‘the outdoors in’, the design industry is largely promoting biophilic design. While this does include the infamous living wall, the strategy goes much deeper to include any relationship a space can have with nature. Further, bringing living natural elements within promotes wellness through cleaning the air we breathe of particulates, reducing asthmatic responses, and increasing oxygen levels. The aesthetics of biophilic design also promotes mental wellness. From an outdoor patio to a table made from a tree trunk, there are many ways that biophilic design can be adopted. In many of today’s environments, you may notice patterns, finishes, textures, materials, and even lighting that are derived from or mimic nature. Combined, these elements promote eco-friendly, health-conscious elements that foster a more sustainable lifestyle. At Burwood Brickworks, a mixed-use development that will open by the end of 2019 in Australia, the core design philosophy focuses on a database of natural materials that are used in concepts like a rooftop farm and greenhouse cafes.

3. Biomimicracy

Similar but different to biophilic design, biomimicry is a concept that is inspired by the processes of nature that are around us every day and have been around since the beginning of time. In official terms, biomimicry refers to the design of products and materials that draw solutions from nature to enhance structural efficiency, energy supply, and more. Think about the natural insulation found inside cacti or a building inspired by the work of termites. As nature acts as a natural form of architecture, man-made buildings should be able to mimic these successful strategies.

4. Becoming A Circular Economy

According to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, a circular economy is one that is focused on growth and positive society-wide benefits. This concept most popularly includes decreasing the consumption of finite resources and eliminating waste. In three simple points, this includes:

• • Designing out waste and pollution
  • Keeping products and materials in use
  • Regenerating natural systems

Researchers, architects, and designers from around the globe are teaming up to create basic building materials out of waste materials. In the UK, material consults at Local Works Studio have created a line of wall tiles made out of discarded oysters while coffee mogul, Starbucks, has started to use building bricks made of construction/demolition waste made by Dutch supplier Stonecylcing.

5. Smart Office

Although technology isn’t new to the workplace, embracing advanced technology like artificial intelligence and facility management systems can make a space more sustainable. Offices with smart technology can optimize and control the usage of electricity and water, and monitor air quality. Smart technology can also cut confusion that may come with scheduling and communication tasks, to create a smooth and stress-free workflow. iOFFICE, one of the largest facility management and IWMS softwares on the market, has partnered with various organizations to provide office tech that capture metrics on a space’s energy use all the way down to an individual device.

6. Pre-fabricated Design

Environmentally conscious designers and architects are pioneering a variety of solutions in prefabricated or modular building elements to cut carbon footprint and construction times; traditional builds yield a variety of waste and air quality concerns associated with drywall and finishes and often take a lot of time to complete. These solutions have also proven to be more flexible making it easier to adjust to changes in light, ventilation, foot traffic, and even location. For example, Flying Nest a revolutionary hotel concept by French designer Ora-ito, is a modular structure that can move anywhere in the world. The hotel is currently being used by event organizers, festivals, and exhibits so that new builds are not needed for mobile groups/organizations.

7. Resilient Design

According to the Resilient Design Institue, resilient design is the intentional design of buildings, landscapes, communities, and regions in response to its vulnerabilities. Relative to climate change, resilience involves adaptation to the wide range of regional and localized impacts that are expected with a warming planet. Using these strategies helps us to create buildings that last longer, and in turn, keep us from using valuable resources needed for new builds. In 2017, the Fishermens Community Hospital located in the Florida Keys was wiped out by Hurricane Irma. Today, NELSON Worldwide is using resilient design to rebuild the facility so that is can withstand even stronger tropical storms in the future.

We attended Trend Hunters’s 2020 Future Festival one of the world’s most innovative conferences, to better understand the trends that will define the future as we navigate the most critical period of change in modern history. A common theme at this year’s event focused on chaos and how it is driving innovation across all sectors. 

Gathering virtually alongside nearly 12,000 other professionals, we listened and joined conversations that opened our eyes and ears to big ideas and opportunities on the horizon. Here’s what we took away from this year’s events:

A New Hierarchy of Needs

Now more than ever, brands have an opportunity to get creative with their strategies and offerings as consumers, in one way or another, become more open-minded to new opportunities. With so much uncertainty and change, the traditional hierarchy of needs has shifted and many people have been left to question what exactly they do “need” to be fulfilled. For most, the focus has shifted to things like food, safety, and shelter, all things that didn’t previously occupy the forefront of our minds. For retailers, employers, and beyond this presents a rare opportunity. The opportunity to offer something new and pave the way for consumers of today and the future.

The 2021 Rush

While this year felt like a free fall, 2021 will feel like a gold rush. With a vaccine and a new year on the horizon, there will be endless opportunities to gain new footholds with customers while embracing new verticals. With this in mind, brands, businesses, and organizations of all shapes and sizes should be ready to innovate, grow, and meet consumers’ needs by filling in gaps that have appeared this year. For example, urban real estate prices are lower than ever before, so brands looking for city spaces should take advantage. 

Brand Opportunity

In addition to learning about the latest consumer and real estate trends, more key takeaways and megatrends from this year’s Future Festival were a detailed reminder to take advantage of new opportunities:

1. Acceleration: While focusing on how to navigate pandemic impacts, many brands have accelerated previous initiatives. AI is one area where brands have seen years of progress unfold in a matter of months to adapt.
2. Cyclicality: With health and wellness in mind, cyclical/sustainable solutions have become a top priority for most brands as they think about the future and how to be prepared for it.
3. Convergence: More than ever, hybridization and cross-market innovations are helping brands in new ways while seemingly disparate businesses are coming together to create new opportunities for consumers. Check out our (Re)dustrial Revolution webinar to learn about how retail and industrial sectors have merged. 
4. Divergence: With a new sense of community, consumers have divided their attention to also smaller entrepreneurs and local businesses to support and invest in microcosm.
5. Redirection: Experience was already a powerful driver of change, and as it evolves, pent-up demand for experiences (revenge against COVID) will make it an even bigger investment as consumer seek out things that make them FEEL something.
6. Reduction: Today, simplicity has become popular as consumers look for products, services, and environments that offer a sense of calm. Moving into 2021, people will redefine essentialism as they carry the things they discoverd in 2020 into the new year.  

Overall, as consumers adapt to new lifestyles and anticipate post-pandemic freedoms, preferences are changing by the minute and if brands are brave and bold enough to embrace the chaos, it is possible to thrive. We’re both curious and excited to see what trends will emerge and be explored at next year’s festival. To learn more about Trend Hunter, visit here. 

The FRCH NELSON Creative Culture Committee took some lucky FRCH-ers on a field trip last week to the Cincinnati Art Museum to experience the art of Pakistani-American artist Anila Quayyum Agha. The exhibit entitled, All the Flowers Are for Me (Red), was created using laser-cut steel and light. Light emanates from the red lacquered cube, enveloping the gallery in intricate shadows that ripple and change as visitors move through the space. A few FRCH-ers share their reactions to the stunning display:

“I was surrounded by only light and shadow…It was one of most magnificent installation that can calm the agitations of our soul.” ~ Heesun Kim

“For something so out of its element, amazed how the exhibition seemed to fit the space so perfectly; simply poetic. Wonder if this is how the others viewed the artist considering her description of the two different worlds she felt she was living in.” ~ Elizabeth Birkenhauer

“A stunning display of light and shadow. It created a completely immersive yet out of this world experience.” ~ Allison Schmid

“Light lands on all surfaces, reflecting what it’s gone through.” ~ Lawrence Song

“The object floated weightlessly in the air, casting a mesmerizing effect onto every surface.The guests became entwined with the art. Light and shadow danced across each passerby, the intricacies manipulated differently onto each form.” ~ Liz Baverman

If you have not already, we highly recommend checking out this uniquely beautiful exhibit. The exhibition is free to the public and runs until October 15th.