Fun packaging for kids
1-10-2014
After drinking milk or juice, kids can play with this packaging. Designed by Bora Yildirim, the main function of the packaging is that it can be reused after the drink is consumed. The Pinar Sut bottles have two designs which can be transformed into fun toys. The lids and empty bottles can be attached to each other and transformed into shapes such as flowers and robots. This way children are encouraged to finish their drinks so they can play. Great way to serve drinks to children! The patent for this packaging is still pending but we think it’s ideal for healthy drinks for kids.
Of course we did spot a lot of inspiration focused on children before: in 2013 we saw a Happy Meal diorama. ‘Horeca Vlaanderen’ (Hospitality Flanders) and ‘Vlaanderen Lekker Land’ (Flanders Tasty Land) published a guide for a child-friendly hospitality industry full of hospitable ideas and menu tips for kids. You can also search yourself for inspiration focused on kids: Note ‘children‘ or ‘kids’ in the search field of our website and find pages full of inspiration.
A combination of a beertray and frisbee
29-9-2014
The frisbeer, a combination of a beer tray and a frisbee, was designed by the Slovakian designer Simon Kern. The frisbeer is made of cardboard and is designed to give the traditional beer tray a second function. With use of the frisbeer you can carry three beers in one hand and the portability is increased by the finger holes in the tray. The frisbeer is ideal for festivals: use it as a tray to carry beers to your friends and then use it as a toy for a game of frisbee.
The glamper: a super-deluxe way of camping
29-9-2014
We’ve spotted ‘Glamping‘ at Landal Greenparks as a more luxurious way of camping in 2011. At Tinywood Homes they took this a step further and introduced this super-deluxe ‘glamper’. The wooden cottage is standard two levels high and have a kitchen, bathroom, central heating, porch and hot tub. The Tinywood cottage are available in three versions and all are small enough to be transported by a truck. The houses are for sale from £ 35,000 and for now only available in the UK.
An extra cold cocktail with IceLiners
25-9-2014
Keep your cocktail at the desired temperature with the silicone molds of IceLiners. The mold creates a layer of ice in a cocktail or whiskey glass that will keep your drink cool. It is simple to use: pour a small amount of water in the glass, with the mold in it, and keep it in the freezer. Instead of water you can poor in a (alcoholic) beverage as well. Try it with mint leaves or fruit which will give a festive effect to your drink. Watch the video tutorial for the instructions of IceLiners.
Spectacular cocktails
25-9-2014
Serve your drinks in a spectacular way with the first dry ice machine JetChill. The patented technology of the JetChill machine converts liquid CO2 into dry ice which gives a smoking and bubbling effect to your drink. The machine has a charging time of only 10 seconds before the special glasses can be used. Pour your favorite drink into one of the glasses and immediately there will be a reaction. We’ve spotted spectacular cocktails made with dry ice before: in 2013 we saw the Mistystix that creates the smoking effect with a stick of dry ice.
Johnnie Walker presents: Symphony in Blue
24-9-2014
Whisky brand Johnnie Walker organized a two-day event ‘Symphony in Blue’ in London to promote the launch of their latest exclusive Blue Label Reserve premium whiskey blend. Johnnie Walker used experiential, content marketing to promote their new blend and to transform it into a luxury product. The ‘Symphony in Blue’ took place on 16 and 17 September and was an impressive journey of theatrical, musical and artistic events where the six different tastes from Johnnie Walker’s Blue Label were brought to live; fresh, fruity, malty, woody , spicy and smoky. There were several performances, glacier ice, burning barrels, a mist of whiskey and of course a tasting of the Blue Label blend. The behind-the-scenes video from the ‘Symphony in Blue’ gives a good impression of how a brand can present itself in a special way and what is involved in organizing such an event. How would you sell your restaurant or hotel if you had the opportunity to do it this way? Check out the website of ‘Symphony in Blue‘ for photographs of the event.
Gastronomy captured at Chefs®Evolution
22-9-2014
At this year’s Chefs®Evolution of Jonnie and Thérèse Boer all dishes of the chefs were photographed, captured and spread through the social media channel of apicbase.com. APIC is a solution for chefs who always want to photograph the development of their dishes without losing precious time in the kitchen. All images are quickly taken with the special device of APIC and are immediately send ‘to the cloud’ where the pictures are ready to use. Chefs can choose to keep the pictures for themselves or choose to give their guests the opportunity to post quality pictures on their social media channels as well. APIC is giving the control back to the chefs about what pictures are published online: no more blurry or incorrect photos online that doesn’t temp potential guests to visit the restaurant for dinner. Apicbase gives you an insight into which photos appear online. Check out the pictures, made by the APIC camera, for an impression of the dishes prepared at Chefs®Evolution.
In April 2014, we already wrote about a #dinnercam that was used at El Burro restaurant in South Africa.
Packaging design for beer
19-9-2014
A creative beer packaging design that shows the colour of the beer inside: Spanish creative agency Txaber developed a packaging design that combines the type of beer with the matching Pantone colour code. In this way you only have to look at the package to know what kind of beer is inside. For example, the package of a ‘lager’ beer has a golden colour with Pantone code 123C and a ‘stout’ beer has a dark brown colour and code 4975C.
Behind the packaging design
Txaber was born in 1969 in Bilbao and studied Graphic design at CVNP (Bilbao). He is not only developing packaging design but is specialized in text and color design as well, as seen on his website. He quotes “They say everything is invented and I struggle every day to go against.”
Packaging-free supermarket
19-9-2014
Many initiatives are designed to make supermarkets more sustainable: we have spotted the first dump supermarket in Amsterdam, there is a supermarket chain in Denmark selling local products and we have seen how supermarkets work together with restaurants to reduce their waste.
Bay & Buy
Wim van Dijk hopes to open a new concept through crowdfunding: the first packaging-free supermarket in the Netherlands ‘Bag & Buy’. In this store customers can pick their own products from containers, barrels and jars and can thereby determine the amount they need.
International developments
A comparable initiative can be found in several countries. In Germany packaging-free supermarket ‘Original Unverpackt‘ was funded by crowdfunding as well. The starting capital for this supermarket was collected in one day. Earlier this year ‘Robuust, the zero waste shop’ opened its doors in Antwerp and in France, Spain and Austria are a packaging-free grocery stores as well.
The crowdfunding for the supermarket ‘Bag & Buy’ in the Netherlands starts on 1 October. The crowdfunders also determine the location of this store: “Bag & Buy will open where there is the must enthusiasm” as said by Wim van Dijk. The initiator thinks he will need € 100.000,- to open the grocery store.
Bilder & De Clercq introduces interactive wall
17-9-2014
From 9 September the Bilder & De Clercq grocery store from Amsterdam introduced an interactive wall at the Google Office in Amsterdam. The grocery store weekly offers fourteen tasty, healthy and easy to prepare dishes with all the necessary ingredients in the right amount. YES.TAP makes it even more easy for consumers to order a meal: they only need their smartphone to touch a dish on a screen. The interactive wall was introduced as a response to the trend of online groceries ordering. Customers can order the fourteen dishes and other products via the Bilder & De Clercq Wall and via the app at home. If the order is send before 4 o’clock pm the cooled groceries can be picked up from 5 o’clock pm
More interactive walls? In 2011 we’ve already spotted a virtual wall from supermarket chain Tesco in a subway station in South Korea.