3X BRANDS PLAYING WITH OUR EMOTIONS

We all have our go-tos for getting through winter – more walks, more wellness, potentially more soup. However you do it, winter is a time where people are digging deep to stay upbeat.

Whether it’s playing with our emotions or bringing colour back into our lives, here are three brands trying their best to make us feel something:

BMW’S THE LUXURY OF LESS

For Dubai Design Week, BMW teamed up with AB+AC Architects to create a ‘wellness pavilion’, built to exemplify the ‘Luxury of Less’.

Inspired by their circular ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink’ philosophy, the experience saw BMW collaborate with various architects, designers, and sound artists – who all share a belief that design can have a profound effect on emotion.

In a bid to redefine luxury as both intentional and sustainable, the pavilion translated BMW’s design language into a physical space, with a wooden cubed structure that integrated modular components in a style that parallels automotive design. Every aspect, from the framework to the translucent curtains and interior panelling, was designed to be disassembled, replaced, and reused.

By transforming their ethos into a real-life space for visitors to personally experience, the move shows how thoughtful design can help brands connect on a deeper level with conscious consumers.

LOUIS VUITTON X MURAKAMI

Celebrating their 20-year-long collaboration, Louis Vuitton teamed up with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami to launch a dream-like pop-up at their Soho location, turning the space into a sensorial playroom packed with vibrant micro interactions.

The result was a journey of joy and surprise, placing gallery displays inside the mouths of giant flowers, supersized flower cushions and digitally smiling flowers alongside exclusive archive LVT pieces.

Colour was also used to inspire different feelings throughout. Dominated by a bright, clean white, the main area created a sense of scale and calm. The adjoining rooms were then colour-blocking in vibrant contrast – pink for its calming effect on the nervous system, green for its forward-looking and stress-relieving qualities, and purple to boost energy and excitement. This intentional use of colour balanced serenity with dynamic energy, pairing the two to create a relaxed and inspiring space.

NIKE’S HOUSE OF INNOVATION

With the help of Random Studio, Nike House of Innovation recently staged a sensorial store takeover to embody their new focus on holistic wellness. The move saw their Paris-store transformed into a ‘living organism shaped by the power of breath’ designed to ‘invite customers to discover their own approach to wellness’.

Using research generated from over 8000 noses, the project combined an AI model with a thermal camera to examine inhales and exhales using nasal temperature data. The ‘BreathLab’, then reflected each visitor’s breath back to them via a ‘Breath Portrait’, changing from blueish hues to warm pinks to depict each visitors ‘glowing aura’.

Created to reflect the ‘soft materiality’ of Nike’s new products alongside the vitality of breath, the space pushes Nike beyond just fitness, using mindfulness to shift them towards wellness and connect with consumers as individuals.

If there’s one thing we know, it’s that winter is a time where people are listening to their feelings. And if a brand is really attuned to their customers they’ll be listening in too.

Words by Caitlin Coyle, Junior Copywriter.

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