New Store Dialogues 1: a framework for a new store
In the research and development phase of the New Store (2022-2025), the Nieuwe Instituut and IABR are organising a joint series of sessions with designers and industry experts. During the first of these New Store Dialogues, which took place on 15 December 2022, participants discussed what it actually means to establish an alternative new store. What experiments are already taking place in this field and how do they differ from the mainstream model of stores? What role can the New Store play? With contributions by Oseno Asikinde, Paloma Bouhana, Maria Christopoulou, Cream on Chrome, Elisa van Joolen and Francesca Tambussi.
28 February 2023
To commence the New Store project, Nieuwe Insituut teamed up with the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) to launch the Dialogue series. This ongoing discussion between designers and industry experts serves as a research thread to the New Store project and it’s various pilots that are set to take place between 2022 to 2025.
Through the lens of Developing Frameworks, this first evening of talks focused on what it means to create a new type of store. The aim of this evening was to commence a collective discussion around what the New Store could be, what kind of existing projects are already working within this sphere, and how these initiatives could be tapped into.
“ What does it mean to create a new store? What is already undertaken in this area? How can we join or collaborate with current initiatives? ”
Designers were invited to present projects and aspects of their respective practices, which served as valuable input for a collective discussion. Each guest speaker offered a different approach to regenerative design, but similarly they all focused on the testing of new economic models and reimagining of new systems of exchange. Throughout the evening, ‘shelving’ became a metaphor through which to ground the complexity of the concepts and topics being discussed. This tool allowed for the gathering, placing, and sorting through a multiplicity of economic systems that surfaced through presented projects.
Importantly, the evening became less about re-inventing the wheel when it comes to imagining a new store, and instead became more about giving space for the array of design and theory-based ideas to come together. What emerged from the rich dialogue between participants was not only a need for design research and experimentation of different systems for the future, but the growing urgency to rethink the current system, from retail models, forms of currency, ideas of value and the relationships between consumers and products.
About the New Store
Imagine a shop where being a consumer helps, rather than harms, the environment. Nieuwe Instituut presents New Store to rethink the concept of the ‘product’ and explore alternative forms of exchange. Within this multi-year project, Nieuwe Instituut is collaborating with the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) and research consultancy The Seeking State. Together, we will explore how retail can make a positive contribution to environmental and social processes in the long term.
