Droog Lab

Image from the article A.B.C.D.E.‚ An Open Discussion on Design Process by Francesco Galli for Domus

Droog Lab is a design platform run by Droog in collaboration with local partners and designers worldwide. With a goal of defining the next generation of global design, the Droog Lab seeks inspiration from diverse societies in a series of eight projects from 2009-2012. Lessons learned locally are translated into globally-relevant design outcomes and publications.

Droog Lab seems focused on the potential of locally-driven projects and uses a process which engages with established or professional design groups to facilitate discovery and co-creation. Some of the issues that have been identified include a future state of collaborative consumption, and the impact of informal economies, transparency, and service-based platforms versus object-based solutions.

In my opinion, Droog may be discovering what others of us have been uncovering around the future of design and quite frankly, how the world is evolving. Specifically, contextual design that is highly resilient involves working cooperatively i.e. horizontally with local communities to uncover processes and solutions that are able to address local needs and celebrate their specific talents and experiences; That there is a need for real flexibility in design offerings. People have become active producers not just passive consumers and subsequently want and need to bend, tweak and mash offerings to their unique situations; And recognition that intangible service systems are products in themselves and are fundamental to how people interact with one another to share and exchange resources and experiences.

I very much appreciate the Lab's working principles. Please read their report for a more detailed explanation of each:
1. Celebrate differences.
2. Visit to learn, not to change.
3. Observation is your greatest tool.
4. Take an optimistic perspective.
5. Listen to anyone.
6. Experience the ordinary.
7. Get used to mixing.
8. Be open to the outcome.

RelayRides meets GM meets Google

General Motors and RelayRides are teaming up to streamline the peer-to-peer car sharing process. The companies' exclusive relationship will allow millions of GM vehicle owners to rent out their idle cars through the OnStar mobile communication system.

RelayRides, a P2P car sharing service, already allows vehicle owners to choose rates and legally rent out their idle vehicles by providing an online marketplace and a $1 million insurance policy to make the transaction safe and convenient.

GM and RelayRides work together to develop a mobile app that will allow users to check for available vehicles, make a online reservation online, locate their reserved vehicle via GPS and lock and unlock the vehicle, all through their smart phone. RelayRides will leverage OnStar to allow borrowers to unlock GM cars with their mobile phones. The integration makes all eligible OnStar vehicles immediately "RelayRides ready" without having to install additional hardware.

In addition, Google Ventures has invested an undisclosed sum into RelayRides. August Capital also took part in the company’s first round of fundraising. This funding points to how fast automobile transportation as a product service system is evolving. There are now three generations of car sharing developing simultaneously - fleet based, peer-to-peer, and Google's automatic driving. And other big companies including Hertz, Daimler, and Enterprise have gotten into the game fairly recently creating hybrid services like car rental with ride sharing (take a passenger with you to lower your car rental cost).

"In addition to the significance of the Google investment to stimulating new investment in the space, the rapid growth of car sharing could accelerate the growth of the sharing economy in another way. Our New Sharing Economy study showed that car sharers share across significantly more asset categories than non-car sharers. This suggests that car sharing is a gateway drug to sharing. It echoes a consistent theme I see as publisher of Shareable, that sharing begets more sharing. In fact, sharing is viral. Once someone sees that it works in one area of life, they want to try it in another. And since you can't share alone, you take other people with you down the path to a more shareable way of life." --Neal Gorenflo Editor of Shareable

Battered by economic crisis, Greeks turn to barter networks

The Economic Times just wrote a short profile on Volos, Greece who is responding to the country's precarious economic relationship with the EU, by developing alternative economies based on a blend of credit and barter. "Part alternative currency, part barter system, part open-air market...People sign up online and get access to a database that is kind of like a members-only Craigslist. One unit of TEM is equal in value to one euro, and it can be used to exchange good and services. Members start their accounts with zero, and they accrue credit by offering goods and services. They can borrow up to 300 TEMs, but they are expected to repay the loan within a fixed period of time." The NY Times also covered this and added, "Members also receive books of vouchers of the alternative currency itself, which look like gift certificates and are printed with a special seal that makes it difficult to counterfeit. Those vouchers can be used like checks."

The Greek government is taking notice as citizens are designing economic safety nets that remove hard currency from the equation. This isn't an economic secession, but a pragmatic parallel economy based on collaborative behavior to share and exchange necessary services and goods to maintain their lives. Solidarity in the face of adversity seems to be the motivating force for the design of this service system.

Worth noting also is the sense of contribution that has been cited as a reason for participation. One member was quoted, "You have much more than your bank account says. You have your mind and your hands.”

Absolutely fantastic!

A Few Thoughts on the Maker Movement

A short article popped up at Shareable this weekend rephrasing some of the over-arching issues that explain how and why collaborative consumption, the maker movement, informal economies, etc. should be understood as something more than a trend, and instead, a quiet and steady r/evolution in how the world is and could be produced and shared. Thanks to a rise in a networked society, which is providing free or low-cost, instant access to open platform technical, fiscal and intellectual resources, we're now able to engage in personal- and community-based production in ways never experienced before. Specifically, the self-producers of the world, which were historically isolated from one another, are now producing at higher levels and collaborating in ways that are making real inroads on what society consumes. And whether intentionally or not, are prodding us to think about how we make our consumer decisions.

On one hand these collaborations are enabling self-sustaining mini economies to take hold or at a minimum, to be rigorously explored. (Think Smorgasbord). What's particularly interesting to me is that with these burgeoning, bottoms up options that are becoming available, issues like ethics, impact, and quality of life are giving price point a run for its money as decision-making criteria. On a more practical note, collaborative economies are reducing the need for middlemen, which helps keep prices and material use lower. And for consumers we're finding we don't have to be passive recipients of whatever the market dictates but have more value-aligning options and negotiating power around the stuff we want surrounding our lives.

The article offers the possibility that from this self-organizing and -producing approach, there could come more sustainable models of production and consumption. While applicable everywhere, there could be important implication for societies that lack the wherewithal to work with more traditional or institutionalized modes of production. I see this in my own neighborhoods throughout Pittsburgh where folks like DIY'ers and small-scale farmers are able to pay their bills through collaborative enterprises while exposing the community to some alternative consumer options--ones that say, whether deliberately or not, here is a way to do less damage or this is a more delightful way to go about living a life. I'm hopeful reading this article, knowing that competent visionaries and public facing figures are taking a step back to consider and communicate the implications of this shifting state towards collaboration.

Why wouldn't you share?

I just stumbled upon Shareable, an online hub for showcasing ideas, conversations, projects and concerns around the blossoming culture of sharing. I'm going to spend some time pouring over this and will return with some thoughts. Please check them out if you get a second.

Openwear: A Collaborative Clothing Platform

After looking at Fashion Reloaded out of Berlin, I came across Openwear who is tearing it up around open source clothing production. This is real inspiration here with the following values:
1. Openwear is a collaborative platform for fashion creation.
2. Openwear is an online community where you can share values, access to knowledge and practice of collaborative and distributed work.
3. Openwear is where makers, fashion producers, small local enterprises, educational institutions can network to participating in the production of a new vision of fashion based on micro-communities and sustainability.

What's grabbing me is the two-fold contribution that Openwear is making to our culture. They are enableing open access to functional and creative ideas while practicing a new economy. In a recent blog entry of theirs, they discuss Adam Arvidsson's new book, "Ethical Economy" (Columbia University Press), in collaboration with Nicolai Peitersen. Their book introduces us to ethical economics and interprets the beginning of a new, radically different economic system in which production is mainly collaborative and social, and in which the value is based on the quality of social interactions and relationships rather than on the quantity of productive time.

Give-and-Take's Kick-off Event

This past Sunday we kicked off Give-and-Take at the Polish Hill Arts Festival in Pittsburgh. The scene was made up of a small-scale clothing exchange from community donations; a hands-on upcycling demo; and some one-on-one storytelling inside the airstream. In total we had about 300 visitors; circulated several hundred pieces through our system; and gathered about 30 stories from festival-goers.

As we process the experience, questions are filtering through different perspectives. From a functional angle, can we sustain this amount of effort time and time again? Was the size right and manageable? Did most people find something they wanted or could use? Were we able to communicate quickly and clearly who we are and what we do? From a social perspective, did we stay true to our values of getting one-on-one time with everyone we transacted with? Did people have fun? Did people meet new people through the process of exchange? Did we encourage conversations? From a consumer perspective, did we plant any seeds about alternative modes of consumption and exchange? Did we open ourselves up to future collaborations? Did our service give clothing donators the sense that they're really making a contribution to the community or participating in something meaningful? As for the overall experience, was this a relaxed atmosphere? Was it casual, informal and approachable? Did we encourage people to play and share?

Give-and-Take is proving to have a number of audiences as well as functions. In the coming weeks and months, our challenge will be to continue refining and providing for each aspect listed above, so we can not only increase the circulation of everyday objects but expand the conversation about what it means to consume, exchange and keep our stuff alive.


R-L: A hand-out briefly explaining Give-and-Take; free item cards for those who donate or make a creative contribution; story-telling handouts; and ways to participate in the project