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A virtual gallery space for phygital healing

AORA in partnership with Sook, London

London – With Covid-19 reducing access to the arts, AORA is using digital exhibitions to create a sense of calm and wellbeing.

AORA provides a virtual opportunity to view a series of global exhibitions from emerging artists. The platform is accessible online and seeks to encourage introspective serenity, using art, architecture and music. Building on its virtual offering, AORA is also giving people a physical experience with a recent three-day physical installation.

The platform focuses on four main tenets. Providing an avenue to access art, architecture and music is the first, as well as encouraging sales via its e-shop. The platform also aims to utilise the therapeutic properties of art to encourage reflective healing for those affected by Covid-19, bringing visitors together to establish a digital community.

Discover more about how cultural spaces can improve wellbeing, with the rise of Meditative Museums encouraging calmer mindsets.

Ghetto Gastro’s socially conscious kitchenware

Ghetto Gastro in collaboration with CRUX, New York

New York – US culinary collective Ghetto Gastro is expanding its socially conscious food initiatives with kitchenware brand CRUX.

The appliance line, which includes a blender, coffee maker and toaster, uses bold design cues to reflect Ghetto Gastro’s ethos of empowering communities and advancing social justice, with matte black and red tones a nod to the pan-African flag. Designed by black chefs and creatives, the products aim to further ignite conversation about race, class and inclusion.

‘Food, for us, is always a vehicle for storytelling, whether it’s the consuming of food, the preparation, the politics around access or lack of access. But it’s really about nourishment at the end of the day,' explains Jon Gray, co-founder of Ghetto Gastro. 'Breaking bread and breaking barriers through community,'

As we identify in Kindred Diners, communities are emerging to make eating a convivial and thoughtful experience, centred around shared values.

KingCurls cuts into men’s afro hair market

US – A 17-year-old male beauty influencer aims to close the gender gap between male and female haircare.

KingCurls was launched by TikTok star Khalil to tackle the market for textured hair for young men. The brand’s first product, a Curl Styling Cream, promises to ‘define, hydrate and style unruly curls’.

Khalil hopes the brand will normalise self-care for black male members of Generation Z, which he considers an often-overlooked demographic in the haircare market. KingCurls aims to represent the entrepreneurial spirit of Generation Z, and their desire for greater representation.

As beauty and self-care for men becomes less taboo, men of colour are set to disrupt the space with personal care brands that reframe masculinity. For more, read our conversation with founders of skincare brand Ceylon.

KingCurls, US

Stat: British shoppers use subscriptions for discovery

Bscly, US

Subscription boxes have been gaining in popularity in the past year, with many British consumers appreciating their convenience and potential for discovery.

According to a recent study by YouGov, about one in seven (14%) of British people have bought from a subscription box in the past year, with snacks and drinks, meal-in-a-box ingredient services and make-up and beauty products the most popular types. Expanding on this, while a third (33%) sign up to subscription services to treat themselves, about three in 10 (31%) do it to try new products.

Many consumers have changed their shopping habits as a result of the pandemic, moving towards online alternatives and sign-up services. During Covid-19, we’ve identified innovative discovery boxes such as the Wanda Box for experiential dining and Ikea’s imagination travel kits.