There are so many clever, creative types around! We scoured the halls of Ambiente for original Giving ideas and came back buzzing with inspiration and energy for new things. Fashion accessories, hand-crafted items, jewellery, gadgets and gifts all achieve something very important: they make our existence a bit brighter and more fun. In today’s virtual world, we really need these moments of happiness: let’s focus on them and the joy they bring.
Welcome to the rainbow: colour blocking
Some halls at Ambiente looked like walk-through colour therapy workshops, with confident brights shining out from a playful colour block aesthetic. Strong colours came across very effectively here, while the interiors and dining areas focused mainly on gentler, toned-down hues. It’s all good! Fashion items such as bags, leather goods, homeware and interior accessories are all eye-catching ways to boost your mood. From terry goods to fashion jewellery to pleated-look shopping bags, the whole colour wheel is here, plus plenty of experiments with complementary shades.
Fly me to the moon: Reach for the stars
It’s the 50th anniversary of the moon landing this year – on 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon. Retailers are already looking forward to it, offering adventurous astronomical objects for us to take home. Spanish gadget experts Doiy Design offer a bottle opener, Hamburg-based Donkey Products have made Neil Armstrong into a snow globe and London label J-Me have him holding your toothbrush, with a space rocket timer to measure your teeth-cleaning time. Italian label Palomar invites us to place him onto a fold-your-own 3D model of the moon, where each crater is shown and named. We’re already looking forward to seeing how people present these items on Instagram!
Genuinely calming: A look into the crystal ball
We can see rainbows, mini landscapes and entire biotopes. But most of all, we can see that bringing a few ostensibly useless objects into your home as decoration also does us good: these items act as a distraction. CoolSnowGlobes displayed arty designs which were an Ambiente highlight. Not only are their contents modern and creative, but the glitter snowflakes also fall particularly slowly taking ages to reach the ground. Other snow globes on show amused us – like the rainbow by Donkey Products. The aquariums and terrariums by biOrb are very special globes which contain carefully arranged natural worlds, with a special ventilation system so they don’t mist up. They provide perfect green opportunities for meditation and, with the appropriate equipment, can also be turned into aquariums.
Greetings from Marie Kondo: Everything in its place
The spirit of Japanese tidying guru Marie Kondo floated through the halls like a friendly spirit. Since the bestselling author launched her series on Netflix, her unique brand of organisation has become part of many consumers’ and designers’ everyday lives. Socks are folded, clothes are brought to life and cupboards are emptied of anything that doesn’t bring us joy. Tidying is big, and it’s getting bigger – especially in urban areas where having storage space is a luxury that many people simply don’t have.
Marie Kondo has taught us that we shouldn’t hide items away, but store them sensibly in transparent bags and boxes. The love she has for individual items is also a big influence: things we use every day, like our smartphones, need a very special place. Fragrance is also important to Marie Kondo; we’re sure she’d like these traditional fragrance sachets from Castelbel that you can hang in your wardrobe or place in your suitcase or drawers.
New materials inspire designers
Sustainable resource use and research into new materials are important issues in the Giving area – and throughout Ambiente. Uashmama’s bags are ultra-light and made from paper treated with natural wax. Ekobo makes a bag from recycled PET bottles with room for a bamboo bento lunch box. These bags from Japanese firm Zero are almost poetic in appearance: they’re made from ultra-thin, very tough plastic which was originally used to make work gloves. They’re extremely light: perfect for travel, and especially for the great outdoors.
