An aesthetic for sustainable interactions in product-service systems?

Copyright @ 2012 Greenleaf PublishingEco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the application of this concept is still very limited because its implementation and diffusion is hindered by several barriers (cultural, corporate and regulative ones). The paper investigates the barriers that affect the attractiveness and acceptation of eco-efficient PSS alternatives, and opens the debate on the aesthetic of eco-efficient PSS, and the way in which aesthetic could enhance some specific inner qualities of this kinds of innovations. Integrating insights from semiotics, the paper outlines some first research hypothesis on how the aesthetic elements of an eco-efficient PSS could facilitate user attraction, acceptation and satisfaction

Design of Digital Museum System Based on Optimized Virtual Reality Technology

Although China's cultural characteristics were diverse, its museum supply is limited. Traditional institutions would be unable to meet the people's needs for culture dissemination, historic preservation, cultural exchange, and science and research in history's era of the internet. By utilizing VR Technology in the field of furniture decorating, a new viewpoint and method for the development of a virtual museum are unveiled. Using optimum VR Technology in museum exhibition design based on the ideas of architecture, atmospheric art, light settings, coloring style, and ecological design, humans may be presented with natural and cultural heritages. The advancement of completely separate HTML text languages, QuickTime Virtual Reality innovation, Interactive Virtual Model-based Linguistic, three-dimensional (3D) applications, and data interaction systems for the exhibition has done result from an inquiry into virtual reality's history, definition, application, and present state. Ultimately, the planned work's effectiveness is analyzed and compared to other related projects to maximize its efficacy. Using the Origins software, the results of this study are shown

Approach to C2F2C (customer to factory to customer) strategy: a case study of the Fanqing Furniture Company

Hotel furniture manufacturers, as key components of modern service industry, have become leading service companies concerning China's economic development. Consumer-driven business model and mass customization are becoming important direction of hotel furniture manufacturers’ transformation and upgrade. In a context of fragmented competition and individualized customers’ demand, it is difficult to take advantage of the low cost and high efficiency of mass production, while meeting the customers’ individualized needs. Internet led business increases the difficulty of balancing the offer of large production and customization, because companies face a high cost (Customer to Factory), while the customers’ satisfaction is low (Factory to Customer). Finding a solution to this trade-off is not only a major challenge in the process of company model transformation, but also an important topic that has not yet been studied in depth. Based on Fanqing Hotel Furniture Company’s empirical case of solving the contradiction between individualized demand and mass production, this thesis studies the evolution of hotel furniture manufacturers’ (HFM) innovation ecosystem and the value co-creation mode. The C2F2C (Customer to Factory to Customer) strategy of Fanqing was constructed based on both company innovation ecosystem theory and customer value co-creation theory. By implementing the C2F2C strategy, Fanqing has realized standardization, informatization and lean production, and also fulfilled customers’ needs and improved their satisfaction. The C2F2C strategy also helps to reduce costs and achieve value co-creation between the company and customers. This thesis explores an effective way to improve technological innovation ability and international competitiveness of HFM in China.As empresas de móveis para hotéis constituem um sector importante no desenvolvimento da indústria de serviços modernos, liderando já a indústria no desenvolvimento económico da China. Seguir um modelo de negócio de personalização em larga escala e orientação para o consumidor aponta ser uma direção significativa a tomar para a transformação e inovação das empresas de serviços. Face à concorrência individualizada e fragmentada na procura de clientes da indústria hoteleira, é difícil oferecer ao cliente uma personalização em larga escala, que permita atingir as vantagens de baixo custo e alta eficiência de produção em volume, atendendo simultaneamente à personalização das necessidades de cada cliente. Na comercialização pela internet é mais difícil equilibrar a oferta de uma produção em larga escala e personalizada, porque é elevado o custo em C2F, mas em contrapartida baixo o nível de satisfação do cliente em F2C. Como suporte empírico, esta tese analisou o caso da empresa de Móveis para Hotéis Fanqing, que resolveu a contradição entre procura individualizada e produção de massa em grande escala, permitindo estudar a evolução para um ecossistema inovador e de criação conjunta de valor entre empresas de móveis e clientes nesta industria de mobiliário para hóteis (HFM). A estratégia da relação cliente para fabricante e deste para cliente (C2F2C) da Fanqing foi desenvolvida com base nas teorias da inovação do ecossistema e da criação de valor conjunta. Ao implementar a estratégia de C2F2C, a Fanqing operou tanto a standardização, a informatização e a produção lean, como a satisfação do cliente preenchendo as suas necessidades. A estratégia C2F2C permite reduzir custos e potencia a criação conjunta de valor entre fabricantes e clientes, explorando uma maneira eficaz de melhorar a capacidade de inovação tecnológica e a competitividade internacional das empresas de móveis para hotéis da China

Getting closer : exploring re-contextualization in exhibition

Due to the rise of globalization, the circulation of exhibits born in different cultural backgrounds to alien places all over the world has dramatically increased. Cultural contents are re-contextualized and shaped in a way to adapt to new environments where they lose their essence of place and risk stereotypes of distant cultures. The looming question over every exhibition is how, and to what extent, the original context of the objects on display will be acknowledged or reproduced. Should an effort be made to place pieces in a convincing approximation of their culture of origin? Or should objects be returned to their original setting altogether, rather than displayed in a completely foreign place? In exhibition design, the decision whether to reconstruct the context in the new environment or to return the exhibits to the original context has become central. However, an even greater challenge: if an exhibit inherently contains a complete context, how do you guide the audience to walk into it, understand it and remember it by taking advantage of the original context? The process of curating and displaying culture cannot be disconnected from its site of creation, especially if the object of display is Architecture which by definition embodies the site. The Baiwanzhuang, a 1950s historical community housing in Beijing which remains within its own context and spatial environment, will be considered as a case study for dealing with the issue of de-contextualization of culture in architectural terms. The goal is to design a diffuse museum in situ to exhibit the urban fabric, the historical architecture, the social framework over time, the contemporary cultural environment, the genius loci of place. Visitors will be guided through a new navigation system in the residential area to explore the highlights of the exhibits in the whole community from the outside, in dialogue with the larger urban fabric, to the inside, revealing private apartments. The contents of the exhibition will also discuss the design and history of the residential area and the residents\u27 lives and livelihood changes over time. In this thesis, the audience is not only given certain guidance in the process of visiting, but also has the freedom to move through the complex at will. In the process of exploring the site, the audience will slowly encounter this fragmented exhibition. They will interact with the residents in an unpredictable way, and even live in the participatory exhibits. Utilizing the residential area as an urban scale “exhibit,” creates a situation where all visitors, residents and stories that happen here become part of one context. Among the whole exhibition, the relationship between visitors and locals will also be a concern. Communication will happen in between through multi aspects for sure, and the intention of creating opportunities of communicating is also a key point in this thesis

Exploring Qualia in Service Experience – A Case Study of the Cultural Creative Hotels in Taiwan

The objective of this research is to construct a qualia service experience design model for new-style cultural creative hotels and to explore how new-style cultural creative hotels can establish the qualia service experience. It further analyzes the key factors of creating qualia experience for new-style cultural creative hotels, offering it as a reference for enterprises which expect to enhance their competitiveness using the qualia experience. This research has chosen the HOTELDAY+ Group – the biggest cultural creative design hotel chain store brand in Taiwan to conduct the qualitative case study. The outcomes of the research show that cultural creative hotels with the fusion of the qualia-element service experience design can establish the qualia service experience via six aspects, including conveying living concepts and styles, thematic service experience design and form of the style, design quality and display of the products. There is also the participation aspect in experiencing events and art creation events, design and beauty between the building and the space, as well as the characteristics and interaction of the service personnel. Since HOTELDAY+ features spatial style design, cultural experiences such as local and historical cultural sentiments, brand meaning and strategic positioning of the services, it has excelled brilliantly in the hotel’s style conveyance, cultural experience, service experience design, combination of service experience providers and carriers. Thus, it is able to reach out and touch the travelers easily, making HOTELDAY+ to be favored and welcomed by travelers

Retailing Retold: Unfolding the Process of Image Construction in Everyday Practice

Retailing Retold offers an alternative approach to the analysis of how international retail images are translated across national boundaries. The approach extends the view on image in previous research as an instrument for monitoring the effects of marketing strategies on consumers’ perceptions of the retailer. Instead, it suggests that the usefulness of image resides in its ability to capture the relationship between international retailing and the lived culture. Informed by communication and cultural studies, the book argues that the formation of retail image needs to be understood as a construction process whereby consumers give retailing meaning in everyday practice. To this end, image construction is posited as a spatial storytelling in which consumers make sense of their experiences of retailing. In the tension between the strategically planned retail place and the lived spaces of those who use it, image is produced. In the book the image construction process is empirically explored through consumers’ storytelling of a major international furnishing retailer situated in Sweden and China. The exploration demonstrates how image is built via the manner by which the retailer is retold. By being retold, the retailer is silently provided with a unique and embodied existence in an everyday culture. The findings reveal a set of spatial tensions involved in the construction of an international retail image, which give fresh insights into how images of planned environments evolve with time and place

A Lifetime of Stress: Analysis and Treatment of an Inlaid Chinese Box

Inlaid wooden objects are complex and intricate mixed media assemblages that can provide significant challenges to the conservator, as the properties of the individual materials can conflict and complicate treatment options. For example, traditional inlay materials such as ivory and mother-of-pearl are particularly susceptible to shifts in moisture and acidity, and the hygroscopic nature of historic proteinaceous adhesives can exacerbate dimensional changes in the surrounding wood. This paper describes the research and subsequent treatment to stabilize and restore a Qing dynasty wooden tabletop chest inlaid with ivory, mother-of-pearl, and various siliceous minerals. A combination of adhesive failure along multiple joints and significant physical damage to the structure and surfaces had resulted in areas of splitting, checking, separation, and instability. Treatment aimed to restore functionality, as the object will be displayed and used in a private home. Numerous ethical concerns were considered during the course of treatment, such as the invasiveness of certain steps and the need for restoring function versus strictly maintaining form, but the priority for treatment remained the piece’s ultimate usability. The object was re-assembled with durability in mind, and a variety of approaches were utilized for securing new joins and filling losses in the wood. Once treatment was complete, the box was stabilized for regular handling and use in a private environment

teamLab Research

teamLab undoubtedly opened a new era of art. It allows professionals in multi-industries to use the latest science and technology to create art, they are all popular for local audiences from Japan to the United States, from Italy to China, wherever they go. As a significant representative form of the trendy show and immersive exhibition, teamLab\u27s works are completely different from the past in terms of creative logic, exhibition experience, and collection methods. By going through the development history of teamLab, this article studies the characteristics of its exhibitions, audience, and the connection with traditional art, in order to explore the development of today\u27s art and look forward to the future of new art