HBL Retail: Homeplus virtual subway stores

Tesco's Homeplus virtual subway stores mixes QR technology and retail with public spaces. Time-poor commuters in South Korea can ‘shop’ the billboard-style advertisements that simulate traditional store shelves. Every item in the virtual store has a QR code beneath it and items can be added to the shopping basket, by scanning the code with a phone. When finished, the shopper sends the list to Tesco’s on-line delivery service, for home delivery.

WGSN-HBL subscribers can read more about retail apps below.
Digital DIY & decor: interiors retail analysis

HBL Book of the Week: Design*Sponge at Home

Design Sponge at Home (Official Book Trailer) from The Panic Room Videos on Vimeo.

This week's choice is much-awaited, and has just become available to pre-order. Written by Design*Sponge editor Grace Bonney with a foreword by Jonathan Adler, Design*Sponge at Home will be published in September 2011, bringing together a vast array of home tours, DIY projects, before-and-after stories, and resource guides.

HBL loves: the blog, which is a team favourite - and so we're sure to enjoy the book just as much. More information on Amazon here.

Peter Zumthor's 2011 Serpentine Pavilion

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011 © Peter Zumthor; photograph: Walter Herfst

Renowned Swiss architect Peter Zumthor unveiled his new Serpentine Pavilion this week, in an annual tradition that sees the London gallery select a different architect to design the structure each summer.

Curious Ways of the Olden Days by Saadiqah Rahman

Root Brush & Tooth Powder by Saadiqah Rahman

One of the stand-out designers at Camberwell College of Arts' 2011 degree show was Saadiqah Rahman, a graduate of the 3D Design programme whose collection, Curious Ways of the Olden Days, pays homage to traditional Bengali social customs through a range of intricate and unusual jewellery.

HBL Retail: Barbecues

Astor Wohnideen GmbH

As the weather warms up in the northern hemisphere, consumers look forward to al fresco dining and traditional outdoor barbecues: the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association (HPBA) reports that 70% of American adults prefer cooking outdoors, as it is "more fun and relaxing than dining out".

This has led to retailers offering different products to fit an array of spaces for outdoors as well as indoors, and sees a range of barbecue types providing a variety of grilling and cooking options. Here, WGSN-homebuildlife profiles a key trand within the product offer.

HBL Blog of the Week: Supertacular

Edited by Pascal Panagiotidis, Supertacular is a stylish blog which reports on the worlds of architecture, art, fashion, graphics, interiors and photography. Stories are carefully selected; it's worth reading today for this project alone - a Homebuildlife favourite.

HBL loves: the top banner, used to highlight particularly beautiful or interesting projects, and effectively elevating them to the status of magazine features.

HBL Retail: Lombok & Earthborn paints

Lombok's Tottenham Court Road store

Lombok’s stores and website now offer Earthborn paint’s full range of eco-friendly Claypaints and Eggshell wood finishes. Lombok customers can view all 36 colours and take home paint colour charts or a mini Earthborn sample pot.

HBL Analysis: Playful lighting

With awareness of sustainability now common and LEDs no longer a novelty, consumers want something else from their lighting products. Playful themes are highly appealing to our emotions; with this in mind, designers are finding interesting and sometimes quirky ways to interpret this concept.

CrystalDock

Slovenian accessory brand Calypso Crystal have launched a luxury iPhone dock crafted entirely from crystal. Called CrystalDock, the product is available in four designs and is compatible with all models of iPhone and most types of iPod.

HBL Retail: Habitat stores outside London set to shut as Home Retail closes in on deal

All UK Habitat stores except three in central London are set to enter administration as part of a deal to sell the indebted designer furnishings and homewares chain, putting 900 jobs at risk.

UK home furnishing retailer Habitat has been bought by Home Retail Group, the owner of Homebase and Argos, for £24.5m. The sale includes three London stores, its brand designs, UK website, and intellectual property which means the future of 30 other Habitat UK stores remains uncertain as the remainder of the firm enters administration. The Home Retail Group will now stock Habitat goods in concessions in Homebase stores.

Subscribers can read the full news story here.

HBL Retail: Wallace Sewell A/W 2011

London-based textile studio Wallace Sewell have sent us photos of their new A/W 2011 collection. The range comprises colourful scarves and tactile woven cushions, and continues the studio's interest in vibrant colour and tapered geometric pattern.

HBL Book of the Week: The Art of Not Making by Michael Petry

Unique Mono-Block Resin Chairs xxx by Sam Durant

The Art of Not Making: The new artist/artisan relationship by Michael Petry (Thames & Hudson, 2011) is a weighty new coffee-table book which explores the relationship between successful artists and the artisans and craftspeople who realise their work for them. Featuring interviews with over a hundred contemporary artists, none of whom fabricate their own pieces, the book considers issues of authorship and creative originality.