The Benetton Icon Stores events at Design Museum in London
28 Mar '12
4 min read
Benetton Icon Stores, United Colors of Benetton's network of trendsetting shops, revamped to become international focal points of fashion, web culture, publicly- participated multimedia experimentation and lifestyle, present a series of events in European design capitals, attesting the value that United Colors of Benetton ascribes to art, architecture and design: fundamental inspirations for the brand, and experiences to be actively shared, be it in museums, while shopping or just in everyday things.
In London, from 3 to 13 April, the exhibition Happiness and other survival techniques, inspired by COLORS magazine's trilogy (Happiness, Shit and Transport), will be presented at the prestigious Design Museum and concurrently at Benetton Icon Stores in London, Milan, Barcelona and Paris. COLORS, the magazine that talks about the rest of the world, is published by Fabrica, Benetton Group's communication research centre.
The Icon Stores will host the projection of videos and artistic animations about the COLORS London exhibition on the Benetton Live Windows: a network of large high-definition videowalls, which transform traditional store windows into high-tech multimedia screens, giving rise to a new customer experience where the individual's approach becomes a participatory experience. This Benetton Group project, developed by Fabrica for selected Benetton flagship stores, recently won the Gold Apex Award for the Retail category in Las Vegas during Digital Signage Expo, the world's number one event for the interactive technology and digital signage sector.
Visitors to Benetton Icon Stores will be led through the stories of COLORS, in an unpredictable journey through our habits and contradictions: an unusual and authentic world, as only reality can ever be. They will also be offered copies of the magazine alongside other in-store initiatives inspired by different cultures, young people's creativity and the future of new media.
Benetton is not new to the Design Museum, London: in 2007 the complete collection of COLORS magazines was exhibited, together with 24 other objects that have made the history of design, during “25/25”, an event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Boilerhouse, the original nucleus of the museum.
THE COLORS TRILOGY: THE SURVIVAL GUIDES N° 83 - Happiness (Spring 2012) Happiness, the spring issue presented as a worldwide preview at the London Design Museum, explores the different approaches to joy, from neuroscience and plastic surgery to Prozac and positive psychology. From Korea to Mexico and China to Finland, this is a handy guide to how to cheer yourself up, and why the World Health Organisation predicts that within 20 years, depression will be the most widespread illness on the planet.
N° 82 – Shit (Autumn 2011) Faeces, Excrement. Dung, Poo. Crap. Call it what you like, but the topic is still off limits to this day. Around two thirds ofthe world's population do not have a toilet or latrine, and as a result, simple intestinal viruses kill more people each year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis put together. Poo can be a weapon of mass destruction and biological pollution, but it is also a fuel or a fertilizer: it can warm us, feed us and heal us. It is the most underrated resource in the world, and it can save our lives.