• July 20th, 2007 • 5 comments
Reinventing commerce and retail as we know it
I just read Artecnica, an initiative by a couple from California; I haven’t finished reading yet the article from PingMag, but it got me excited so I decided to write something about it right away.
Enrico Bressan and Tahmineh Javanbakht
The couple have a design and architecture background, and are now “designing with conscience”. They don’t use any toxic material, and so have many constraints as most beautiful objects as we know them are made with expensive and toxic materials. Products are made in developing countries by local artisans.
Beads and pieces from Peru
The system as they think of it exclude production of mass, industrial products as we are used to. But that’s ok with me because I am not a consumer of those anyway.
Now, this must all make some sort of economic sense, because you surely end with more expensive products. They are hand-made, they are unique, and they use sustainable materials. And to make it succeed, people would need more arguments than the “Save the earth!” motto. So i though of another “business” model I have seen, wich is Dole Organic.
Label on a dole organic product
Each Dole product has a unique number, you then “use on their website”:http://www.doleorganic.com to view where it comes from, what processes were used to produce it, and who were involved in the production. It tells a unique story, and each fruit you eat becomes unique, in its own way.
How cool would that be to have a unique label for each product you buy? you could see who is the artisan who made it, view pictures of the work processs, what is the product’s story. It would provide a link between the buyer and the worker and you can also let them start a conversation, in a way that has never been done before. And it would also provide more meaning and more value to what you have just bought.
I am saving this for future reference for the microcredit project.
July 21st, 2007 at 9:39 am
What may be even more fun than reinventing commerce and/or retail is that this might actually be part of a larger social movement. With implications in many dimensions of our lives.
One way to look at this is through the connections between geek culture, DIY, local empowerment, and the move from communities as bounded entities to social networks as constantly changing configurations.
July 21st, 2007 at 10:48 am
hi alexandre
thanks for the comment.
the project i will setup is most of all social and not about retail or commerce. the retail part is just a small and optional part of the project.
and i don’t agree with you. i think the retail part will be the most fun. as in what will excite most people to participate. afterwards they will find deeper meaning as they find that there is a larger social movement behind.
can you explain the part about “move from communities as bounded entities to social networks”. have you written anything about it?
July 21st, 2007 at 8:12 pm
“How cool would that be to have a unique label for each product you buy? you could see who is the artisan who made it, view pictures of the work processs, what is the product’s story.”
Look into Spimes and Bruce Sterling’s Shaping Things for more on that aspect.
July 22nd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Spimes should very interesting indeed although it shouldn’t be as high-tech as sterling is describing. 3d printers and gps would be overkill. tags (rfid) and scanners would be interesting though — although the final consumer and acquirer should be able to view the product’s life without having hi-tech devices.
i would need also to ask a few people at madagascar and the other countries whats the technoloogy avalaibility there.
January 4th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Hi! SkeNUnjB