Trait 4: Imperfect
ENVIRONMENTS FOR TRANSFORMATION
In our best efforts to navigate a world governed by efficiency and expectations, we find ourselves naturally drawn to flaws and cracks, reminding us of the vulnerability of it all.
We are intrinsically imperfect and full of malfunctions. As famously sung by Leonard Cohen ‘there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in’.
It’s from these places of imperfection that genuineness is revealed. By boldly embracing a less ‘together’ state, we open up to explore the unplanned, discover the unexpected and experience the amazing.
Brands are no different. By letting go of previously polished personas, they can gain trust and will certainly attract more empathy. New directions in branded environments are holding a mirror to our precarious condition, with materials and details chosen to counterbalance psychological pressures, political instability and environmental shifts. Brands and organisations are actually benefitting from shaping imperfect concepts and spaces - becoming more relatable to individuals, aligning to consumer demands for authenticity.
Flawed and Beautiful
As introduced in our piece on From Stress to Slime, a movement countering ‘the automation of everything’ is resulting in us being enticed by all that feels tactile and real.
The Spaces Around Us
Increasingly we are craving less polished finishes: unique materials showing traces of age and corrosion are being favoured to revive a sense of realness and individuality.
Designers and manufacturers are finding new means to layer diversity and defects back into the production process, recreating imperfect effects in ways that are deceptively credible (and ironically crafted to perfection!). Surfaces, especially in the flooring and tiling industry, are mimicking that which has been lived in and worn-out. An example being flooring tiles by ceramics company Tagina that appear weathered and time-worn.
Mass-produced objects are also reacting against uniformity, such as Ikea’s recent INDUSTRIELL series, embracing the beauty in the unrefined and the hand-made. All to appeal to the masses by evoking notions of closeness and familiarity.
We wanted to make that handmade feel available to more people. So, together with Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek, we developed new methods to work with raw materials like ceramics, wood and textiles and created products with a rough-hewn feel — but that you’d never know they came out of a machine. (IKEA.com, about ‘INDUSTRIELL’)
Interestingly, in this pursuit of imperfection, some brands are turning east for inspiration; adopting Asian traditions and world views (particularly from Japan) to help convey a brand approach that is ‘softer’ and less polished. For its Wabi Sabi wall tile series, Grespania has scanned natural imperfections such as scratches and grooves, born from an ambition of going back to our roots and reconciling ourselves with the natural world. Wabi Sabi is a Japanese concept of living that finds beauty in all that is imperfect, transient and incomplete. Also paying homage to Japanese aesthetics is ceramic tiles series ‘Kasai’ by Ceramiche Refin, with a surface that looks rough and burnt. Kasai means fire in Japanese, and the series is inspired by the ancient art of Yakisugi, where timber is charred in order to be preserved. Both Japanese concepts have been revisited by several brands.
The World of Beauty
Across social media, strong reactions manifesting the apex of ‘perfection fatigue’ are being heard. As a whole, the industry is having to re-position itself completely in order to stay relevant. Beauty brands are urgently needing to distance themselves from the antiquated notion of ‘perfection in a pot’: a restrictive and fake dream that has been wheeled and dealed for far too long.
Brands are shifting focus to encourage body positivity and promote diversity. Consumers are emotively connecting deeper to brands that represent all that they are, causing an incremental rise of ‘diverse models’. Hyper-realness is now de rigueur, as seen in top ranking fashion and beauty campaigns such as Dove’s My Beauty My Say, H&M’s She’s a Lady, and Asos’ Go Play. All setting out to challenge stereotypes and redefine beauty.
I’m a freak, I’m a fighter. In more ways than one… Not just something to stare at, look close and you’ll see. I am flawed. I am fabulous. I am me. (Asos Face + Body: Go Play, Sep 2017)
In 2017, Diesel lanced the campaign, Go with the Flaw, and based on the success of the first ad, they’ve created an extended version of it for 2018, with the message Nobody’s perfect, let’s keep it that way. Artfully executed and managing to address the issues of diversification without being overly-preachy; a smart move within a often serious world of overly pouty faces.
(S)Crappy and Loveable
Just like us, nature is fragile and in need of attention. We dispose of all that is no longer perfect with alarming excess, and now we’re seeing the ripple effects of our shameful treatment to the planet. In response, researchers and designers are nurturing and cultivating microscopic elements in nature, transforming these into wildly innovative solutions to environmental issues.
New Old Materials
Mushroom roots are tested as building blocks of the future, as seen with Hy-Fi - a 13m tower installation out of 10,000 mushroom infused bricks, created for MoMA.
Algae is cultivated and processed as an alternative for everything from super foods to 3D printing. The Algae Dome is yet another example of an exploratory installation - a 4m high algae-producing pavilion created by Ikea’s Space10. Spider web is knitted and weaved into fabrics and garments, and tested by established brands such as Stella McCartney exploring new ways of creating silk.
Across the board, designers and corporations are testing avant-garde and ingenious methods of production and consumption - not discarding but rather making super-smart use of that which is scrappy and imperfect. Industrial waste is recreated as eclectic pieces of furniture, such as Formafantasma’s objects for the office made from repurposed e-devices. Rubbish is recycled into functional material, such as G.F. Smiths’ Extract paper series, taking a portion of the 7 million disposable cups used daily in the UK and transforming them into high quality paper. Under the tagline ‘From Nothing to Anything’.
Communities and Culture
It’s not only the design and build industry on a revolution to nurture that which was originally considered useless. Communities are shaped through activities that offer random and seemingly irrelevant alternatives to the ultra-efficient modern life. Celebrating human shortcomings - such as failing - is Hebocon, a sumo-wrestling competition for robots made by hand out of simple and crappy materials. The name stems from yet another Japanese term ‘Heboi’, used loosely to describe something technically poor, clumsy or shoddy.
With the first Hebocon championship held in 2014 to celebrate the 30th birthday of the Japanese internet provider Nifty, this battle between crappy robots is gaining global traction. Participants are gathered in organised settings, from heated battles at festivals and bars to more cultural settings such as at the The Museum of Science+Industry in Chicago inviting visitors to Build Your Loveable Failure. Technical skills or polished objects are banned in these odd and hilarious battles, spreading the motto that all failures are beautiful.
No matter what happens, you absolutely must not attempt to reach perfection through an endless cycle of the trial-and-error approach… The ultimate goal of Hebocon is for you all to achieve a life in which you can enjoy Heboiness. If you step outside the Hebocon competition venue and take a look around you, there should be a lot of Heboi things around you. You ought to find appeal of such things, and love them. (DaijuIshikawa, Hebocon Master and Founder)
Aside from failures being beautiful, they are also intrinsically tied to the process of learning and innovation.
A great tribute to this is the increasingly popular Museum of Failure. With origins in Sweden and making it’s way to 8 destinations around the globe, this bold conversation starter is getting some serious traction along its path. The museum also offers 3 mini pop-up exhibitions that can be booked for events, showcasing failures in Innovation, Healthcare and Finance.
The idea for the museum was born out of frustration. ‘I was so tired of reading and hearing the same boring success stories, they are all alike’ says the museum’s curator, Samuel West. It is in the failures we find the interesting stories that we can learn from.’ (museumoffailure.se)
Innovation and progress require an acceptance of failure. The museum aims to stimulate discussion about failure and inspire us to have the courage to take meaningful risks. Ultimately a failure is the mark of an attempt, of a risk taken to try something new. What could be more inspiring - or ‘perfect’- than that?
Hand-made and High-tech
As with our renewed love-story for timber as a material, we’re revisiting the literally hands-on nature of certain trades. In a time where craft is being given a new lease-of-life, makers are put on a pedestal again. And with the emergence of open workshops, user-friendly design software and digital fabrication tools, the act of ‘making’ has stepped up a notch, enabling almost anyone to craft almost anything.
Digital and Physical Maker Spaces
From brands’ perspectives this arena is liquid gold. Tapping into simple, humbling values of craftsmanship, while handing over control and opening up to mass customisation. Brands are experimenting with bringing production into transparent and open retail spaces, creating in-store mini factories, where products can be personalised and made on-demand (explored further in Responsive).
It seems that with Smart Manufacturing we’re on the verge of the next industrial revolution, where individuals are no longer perceived as consumers but as modern-day makers. A variety of digital and physical spaces have grown from this movement - whether referring to themselves as Fab Labs, makerspaces or hacklabs, the founding principle is that we all have access to knowledge and tools to design our own objects, and to prototype, market and share our creations with others.
The seeds to start Instructables.com grew from the MIT Media Lab, and the platform is now a rapidly growing online community for makers. With the statement Everyone has something to share - including you, members are encouraged to explore, share and follow step-by-step instructions on how to make anything. Offering products that are made to measure and hand-finished in a physical workshop, at mass production prices, Unto This Last is an open workshop in East London. Furniture is made at the back of their shop on digitally controlled tools, in a small, friendly and neat space with the rare opportunity to experience the full manufacturing process in action. Their process allows them to produce with no packaging, overstocking, warehouse or transportation costs. “Efficiency at a human scale” is what our business is about.
Unfinished and Ready to Go
Reactions against the pressures of our refined world are also being felt in the celebration of the Work In Progress; an increasingly popular state not only of doing, but of being. This attraction we have to the unfinished, the transient, is very evident in our ongoing romance with pop-ups. So much so that permanent spaces are now taking on some of the qualities of their shorter-lived counterparts.
Branded Environments
The American brand Carhartt have embodied this very literally with their European arm taking on the explicit label Carhartt WIP. Their new London store in King’s Cross designed as a highly utilitarian space resonating with the brand’s essence, embodies the spirit of the WIP. The concept store’s interior displays purposefully obvious fixtures and fittings, combined with brutally honest materials.
The mobile retail landscape enables it to be reconfigured as an exhibition and live event space. Interestingly the brand is collaborating with Poets and Rappers tackling, amongst other things, questions around our needs as consumers, and the relevance of goods over time. All of the above are being collated into a publication, in turn brought to life in the space. And so the cycle of content and curation rolls on…
Recent shifts also see office environments embracing the ‘under construction’ look. A great example of this is the recently designed UOOYAA office in Shanghai, where they see their unfinished aesthetic within the warehouse space as a way to stay liberal, authentic, and fun. Primarily though the aspiration was to combat the pressure that can be brought-on by outmoded stability.
Brandfree and Essential
Growing in tandem with our ‘Imperfect’ tendencies is a move towards an extreme simplicity in branding across retail settings, fashion ranges and packaging. As we’re embracing cracks and flaws in an effort to connect back to our roots, it also seems that people are drawn to spaces and products stripped back to its most essential parts. For this reason, some brands are going through a process of de-branding - one that hones in on the essential and eliminates all else.
De-branded Packaging
Food, beauty and household are obvious sectors to be toying with de-branding. A process that involves streamlining packaging to communicate the value of the ingredients inside. Online grocery store Brandless offers a wide selection of products with ultra simple, clean packaging focusing on just what matters (such as allergies and preferences) and recognising that this is different for everyone. Soylent has taken a similar approach for its selection of nutritional drinks. Also peeling away unnecessary information, The Ordinary has created a selection of skin products aiming to celebrate integrity in its most humble and true form.
De-branded Pop-Ups
De-branding is making waves across retail design in efforts to communicate a no-nonsense approach. Especially fashion brands are favouring this minimal aesthetic, putting full emphasis on the feel of their collections. Winner of Frame Award’s Pop-Up Store of the Year is Noman Studio’s project for Esprit, offering an alternative take on flat-packed furniture. Made from one main and minimal material, the airy space is shaped from translucent sheets of folded acrylic.
Fashion label COS fully embodies the aesthetics of essential and simple design, aiming to reinvent classics and wardrobe essentials to form timeless, understated collections. The past spring collection finds inspiration in a quote by artist Joan Miro that counterbalances modern pressures:
I feel the need of attaining the maximum of intensity with the minimum of means.
COS looks to art and design for new input, resulting in an long list of partnerships and an impressive portfolio of experiential retail. For a pop-up store in Hong Kong earlier this year, COS worked with studio Julie & Jesse, creating a space both imperfect and ultra simple. The pop-up art installation was shaped using discarded ceramics moulds, with the intention to highlight and elevate imperfections.
Summary
As consumers are capable of scanning vast amounts of information and spotting marketing jargon from miles away, brands need to work harder than ever to sustain trust. Consumers are shunning superfluous design - they want the real deal. For this reason, brands and organisations are benefitting from shaping environments and concepts that bring us back to basics. The pursuit of imperfection wears many hats, from full on flawed to extremely minimal. The outputs are evident in the choice of unrefined materials and unfinished layouts of new retail settings, installations that embrace the beauty in the random and the hand-made, and in makers layering diversity and defects back into the manufacturing process.
This surprisingly goes against the grain of all that built space traditionally stood for: where permanence and structure previously symbolised success and gravitas, transience and modularity now reflect adaptability and resilience. Qualities much sought-after in the shaping of tomorrow.
