Inspiration Magazine

Chicago – Inspiration by Restaurants

by Michelle Hespe Celebrity chefs, world-renowned restaurants, ethnic dining from around the globe. Chicago's dining scene is unparalleled and interesting even from a design and architecture point of view. Appetite for Design is a fantastic initiative created by the Chicago Architecture Foundation, marrying great design and architecture with innovative dishes…

A Picture Worth a Few Hundred Words

by Martin M. Pegler Seeing is believing and seeing what a great display a shadowbox can be is almost un-believable. Grange Interiors in the Aberdeen section of Hong Kong uses simple, four-sided boxes designed by Stefano Tordiglione Design Studio. These boxes are backless and the wall can be seen through them. The backless boxes, which allow the wall to be seen through their…

Design Stars – Winners of the 2014 gia Design Awards

Discover Design, the premier design destination at the International Home + Housewares Show, offers a collection of more than 100 companies showcasing the latest designs found in housewares. Exhibitors are based on recommendations from and approval by the retail and design community. Since 2011, exhibitors in Discover Design have been in contention for gia Global Innovation…

Introducing the 2014 gia Global Honorees

This year’s IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) awards had such a wonderful group of winners and the panel of editor judges and expert jurors found it so difficult to choose just five top retail stores from the 23 regional 2014 gia global honorees that they had to choose six instead. The six top stores declared 2014 gia Global Honorees were: TheSuperCool from Australia, K…

The Art and Heart of Branding – Adrienne Weiss

Adrienne Weiss and her team are legendary in branding in the U.S. and around the world. If you have eaten a burger or a donut, bought jeans or pumped your own gas, you have probably been up close and personal with brands they have helped create or energize. Weiss’s branding prowess started when she worked for Applause and helped build the “Smurfs” into a monster global brand in…

Inspiring the Industry – Adrienne Weiss

Adrienne Weiss is an inspiration to everyone she meets and especially those with whom she works. Her portfolio reads like a who’s who of the world’s top companies, and she’s worked with a huge diversity of industries such as food and beverage, retail, consumer products, convenience stores, real estate developments, sports stadiums and entertainment concepts. Her goal in…

Staying on Trend – Scott Kohno

Scott Kohno, CEO of The Retail Element, has made a living out of analyzing the latest retail trends, deciding which ones can or should be applied to business and how. Michelle Hespe catches up with him to get some insight into the latest trends and how social media and technology are playing an increasingly larger part in staying “on-trend.” THE RETAIL PYRAMID The Retail…

Top Trends for the New Normal

Housewares manufacturers need to adapt, inspire and motivate in order to have success with today’s ever changing consumer, Tom Mirabile said at the 2014 International Home + Housewares Show focusing on top trends. “Whether you’re a retailer, manufacturer or wholesaler, a single word encapsulates today’s most crucial business imperative: Adapt,” he said. “Today’s consumer…

New Harmonies: Changing Themes in Color/Design Trends

2015 Pantone Color Palettes Introducing the 2015 Pantone color palettes at the International Home + Housewares Show, Leatrice Eiseman, Pantone Color Institute’s Executive Director, demonstrated the strongest trends in color and styling families – where they are coming from, why they are happening and where they are headed in future. For most consumers today, color and style…