Modular living
In 2015, NYC had 33% single-person households, while Chicago had 37% and Washington DC had 45%. The living spaces were made more flexible in order to meet the needs of urban singles. This prompted the development of modular units, which continued through 2016. Designers applied the modular concept to furniture, creating moveable units that could be rearranged within.
Carlos Ratti Associati presented “Rooms” at Miami Design Week. The concept featured a sofa that could be transformed and other features. MINI also displayed a modular unit for the kitchen.
-Yves Behar’s” project and MIT Media Lab partnered in July on a connected furniture system that is designed for micro apartments.
Wired reports that Brooklyn’s 461 Dean, which opened in June, is the tallest modular tower in the world. The units cost 20% less than those of a traditional building.
Target’s decision to remove gender-based signage from its toy aisles in 2015 made headlines. In 2016, gender-neutral marketing became popular, thanks to a younger generation who don’t believe in rigid binary categories. (For more information, please see the Innovation Group survey).
In 2016, the gender-neutral marketing of toys continued and expanded to clothing, furniture, and other products.
In April, Mattel released its first line for female superheroes, “DC Super Hero Girls”.” Meanwhile, retailers such as Wonder Crew Buddies produced dolls for boys.
Celebrities, including Ellen Degeneres and Jaime King, have launched clothing lines for gender-neutral children.
Target’s new kids’ line, Cat & Jack, includes unisex options. Pillowfort is the brand’s bedroom furniture line. It offers “greater diversity, more universal choices that can fit into either a boy’s or girl’s space,” according to a Mashable spokesperson.
Toca Boca is a Scandinavian firm that creates gender-neutral applications for children. It is now the second-largest developer of apps for kids after Disney.
Algae
In our trend report from last year, we predicted algae would become the next sustainable superfood – if consumers could get past the “ick” factor. Thrive’s new algae oil was a low-fat oil that didn’t have the “flavor baggage” you might expect.
Algae was added to the list of superfoods in 2016 as health-conscious people sought new ways to improve their bodies with food.
-Thrive’s” algae oil has been featured today and vice versa. They reported that “the world is probably a better place when it makes the crossover based on the simple fact that you can obtain 425 gallons in only one acre of ground.”
Blue Majik introduced spirulina to the health food market. The powder contains six times as many antioxidants as blueberries and is used in juices such as Holy Water.
In Australia, Matcha Mylkbar produces a blue-green latté containing spirulina.
In Bangkok, the startup EnerGai harvests spirulina from the roof of Hotel Novotel Bangkok to be used in the hotel cafe.
The Boston-based Energybits was featured on Shark Tank, selling a high-protein algae tablet for athletes.
Sound healing
In December 2015, we forecast the rise of sound healing. This is a new relaxation technique and mindfulness practice that helps people relax by listening to the vibrations from tuning forks or singing bowls. People were looking for new relaxation methods a year earlier, but now they are even more motivated after an eventful year that saw dislocations and unrest in many countries.
Sound healing is now more popular worldwide.
In Chester, United Kingdom, the local cathedral offers a Sound Bath Workshop to “provide the ideal antidote for the stress of Christmas this year.”
The Conscious Movement was launched in Stockton Ca, California, in 2016. The Conscious Dance Movement is a group of people who dance to the sounds created by singing bowls, didgeridoos, and unusual instruments. The organizers say that “it is about connecting with the prime source by rhythmic sound and vibrating vibrations.”
In 2016, the Daybreaker Morning rave, which incorporates sound healing with gongs into its programming, expanded to Hong Kong and other cities.
Continuum Studio in Santa Monica, California, combines sound healing with virtual realities and projective visuals to create a multisensory meditative environment.
As wellness resorts and spas started to integrate more ancient spiritual practices, sound healing became a part of shamanic “new age” rituals in places like Arizona and Miami Beach.
Download our Unreality Report to learn more about new spiritual and health practices.
In the Future 100 of last year, we noted, “new devices help consumers directly monitor chemical compound, revealing hidden data about products and the environment.” In 2016, this market matured and was more integrated with the larger tech industry.
Uber Mexico will be using CleanSpace Tag sensors, manufactured by a UK-based company, to provide “hyperlocal air pollution information for Mexico City.
A December 2016 Report by Research and Markets estimated that the market for environmental gas sensors will grow from 361 million dollars in 2017 to more than $3 billion by 2027.
BreezoMeter, a San Francisco-based startup, uses Internet of Things (IoT) technology to monitor and forecast pollution levels in entire cities.
-Molecular sensor DietSensor will be displayed at CES 2017.
