Virgil Abloh’s interdisciplinary practice has seen several collaborations till date, including collaborations with brands such as Levi’s, Nike and Jimmy Choo. He currently holds the position of Artistic Director for Men’s wear at Louis Vuitton. ‘Markerad’, which means ‘marked’ in English, signifies Abloh’s design debut with the Swedish furniture giant IKEA—the collection comprises 15 home furnishing products. This limited edition collection was launched on November 19 at IKEA’s Hyderabad store. What makes this collection unique is that it comprises items you need to build your first home, items that we often don’t think too much about.

Publication : Architectural Digest 

Date : December 11, 2019

Design thinking focuses on the end-user. While many apps are inspired by the need to sell products, designers can’t think from a business perspective. Instead, it’s the customer’s needs that should guide the design and user experience. Design thinking also embraces out-of-the-box thinking. It’s less about copying what competitors do and more about trying to find more innovative solutions that better meet your customers’ needs.The concept of design thinking isn’t necessarily new. In fact, Nobel Prize laureate Herbert A. Simon was the first to look at design as a science back in 1969 when he explored synthesizing human thought for artificial intelligence (AI) purposes.

Publication : Forbes 

Date : December 12, 2019

Ahead of the expected launch of the highly anticipated e-commerce policy in the current financial year that takes into account the issue of fraudulent practices in online shopping, the number of fraud cases in the e-commerce sector has increased by a whopping 475 per cent between August 2016 and November 2019, according to the government data. E-commerce in India is dominated by Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon, and Snapdeal primarily. From 977 cases reported during the seven-month period of FY17 to 2,441 during FY18 and 4,955 in FY19, the number has risen to 5,620 cases till November in the current financial year.

Publication : Financial Express

Date : December 11, 2019

IKEA India chief executive Peter Betzel was in New Delhi to attend a Business Sweden event last week. He spoke of the impressive consumer response to the furniture giant’s Hyderabad store, future expansion plans and the need to remain affordable in India. IKEA in India has done business worth ₹400 crore in FY19. Is that standard for the company? You cannot say it is standard. I think it is fantastic for India because it is right on the way of our expectation in a brand new market. We have worked for a long time to get here. There are many people who know IKEA because they have been living abroad or are generally interested.

Publication: Mint

Date: December 12, 2019