The fashion/concept label BLESS (by Ines Kaag and Desiree Heiss) recently opened a new shop in a private apartment in Berlin.

The shop is located on the third floor in a typical residential street in Prenzlauer Berg.

BLESS collections are mixed with the apartment's interior and decor and some items are for sale, while others are personal belongings. The shop is looked after by various 'shop sitters' who get to live there in exchange for looking after the place. Currently it's occupied by French artist Cyril Duval.

BLESS Shop on German TV channel Cafe Trend

The shop is open to the public on Thursdays between 8-14 or by appointment.

BLESS SHOP BERLIN
Oderberger Strasse 60
backhouse 3rd floor 10435 Berlin
shop@blessberlin.com
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• www.blessberlin.com

There's something called "Service Design" and there's something called "Design Thinking". Now there is also a hybrid of the two - "Service Design Thinking".

The term is the theme in a new textbook "This is Service Design Thinking" edited by Marc Stickdorn and Jakob Schneider.
23 international authors as well as online users have contributed to the book, which is divided into 3 main parts: 1) Basics. 2) Tools. 3) Cases.

The book is a toolbox of methods, context and inspiration and you don't need to be a "service designer" to read or use it. Service Design is an interdiciplinary field and most of the 25 tools and methods described in part two (e.g. "personas", "idea generation", "shadowing") are pretty universal, and can be used by anyone working in the service sector and/or with creative idea development.

Q: What is "Service Design Thinking"?
Marc Stickdorn: I don't want to define the term, but rather briefly outline what it means for me. In my opinion, sdt is a language/process/toolbox, which people from different disciplines can agree on in order to work efficiently as a true interdisciplinary team. The approach is based on five basic principles: it is user-centered, co-creative, sequencing, evidencing and holistic. I would describe it as one way to put in practice the concept of service-dominant logic.

Q: Where do you see the biggest need and opportunity for Service Design Thinking?
Marc Stickdorn: I see the need everyday. Take a look at the impact of social media on society: the way the "social media megaphone" changes the focus from one-way communication to establishing meaningful relationships; from advertising to improving service quality. Sdt helps organisations to understand not only how customers interact with their offered services and/or products, but also their environment, including the interactions with other stakeholders and artefacts.

Q: When is the last time you had a really good service experience - and what made it a good one?
Marc Stickdorn: Just now. I had a really good coffee in a relaxed atmosphere and the smile of the waitress just made my day! Often, less is more.. :)

• www.thisisservicedesignthinking.com

Pop-up stores are usually associated with retail brands and physical products, but the small software start-up Podio has challenged the tradition and opened a pop-up store in San Francisco to promote its launch.

Podio is an online work environment (labeled a "Facebook for companies") and the temporary facilities in the physical world are used to host workshops and seminars.

• The launch on Podio.com

What would you like to be tweeting come 2020, assuming that Twitter still exists?

Orange UK is asking users to Tweet their predictions about the future.

Predictions are posted on the THE FEED, which is a user-generated microsite created by Orange as a way of interacting with users in a playful way.

Every 1-2 weeks a new question or competition is posted, and users respond via Twitter.

You can submit your prediction for 2020 by adding the hashtag #2020tweets.

• 2020 Tweets on THE FEED

Magisk Malebog (Magic Paint Book) is a coloring book that contains unique illustrations by 66 Danish artists from various disciplines such as music, film, fine arts and street art.

It was published just before Christmas as a gift-idea, and all proceeds go to Danish Red Cross relief work.

The book can still be purchased online - but be warned: if you buy it, it will present you with a couple of dilemmas. Do you really want to give it to a child - or do you want to keep it for yourself? And do you want to color in the illustrations - or do you want to keep it intact as a collectors' item. Hmm…you probably just have to buy at least two copies.

Magisk Malebog is produced by Lærke Hein (one of the creators of the once so brilliant Karriere Bar) and it is a result of the annual Red Cross project Klub 10 in which 10 entrepreneurial and creative Danes care challenged to create something unique for charity.

• Magisk Malebog / Red Cross (in Danish)

Lots of people in China smoke, and lots of people in China travel by airplane.

Consequently, lots of lighters get confiscated in Chinese airport security controls.

But instead of trashing the lighters, the airport authorities in Shanghai are reusing them, simply by offering them to arriving passengers free of charge. Confiscated lighters are placed in repositories on the other side of Customs for anyone to take when leaving the airport.

It is a simple initiative that works on several levels: It is good for the environment (albeit on a small scale), it is a free service, and it generates a sense of connectivity between random travelers.

Picture taken at Pudong Airport

Hotel recommendations rarely take up much space on this site, but if a hotel manages to create a unique and positive experience, exceptions are happily made - and JIA Hotel in Shanghai is one of those happy exceptions.

For a relatively pricey hotel, JIA Shanghai is pretty understated. In fact, there is a good chance that you will have trouble finding it, especially if you arrive by taxi. Small letters next to a front door of tinted glass simply says JIA. In a city where size tends to overshadow everything else, a subtle hotel entrance is a good sign of what to come.

JIA means "home" in Mandarin and that's what they want you to feel - at home. The atmosphere is casual and guests seem to be returning, which is another good sign. JIA is a design-led hotel, in the sense that design is not just cosmetically applied, but integrated in the hotel's DNA. Attention is paid to detail - from the architecture and interior design to the friendly service and the delicious complimentary cookies in the lounge. Luckily, in all its chicness JIA is not a place without humor. In the rooms you'll find classic board games, including Chinese checkers (!) and the lobby is decorated with quirky works by contemporary Chinese artists Liang Binbin and Caroline Cheng of the fantastic Pottery Workshop (more of this please).

Like most contemporary things, JIA is a mix of different impulses. The founder is a business woman from Singapore. Rooms are designed by the Melbourne based firm BURO and the lobby and restaurant are designed by Hong Kong architects André Fu and Darryl Goveas, respectively.

• www.jiashanghai.com

And a few Shanghai tips:

Casual places to eat
Noodle Bull - A large communal table creates the atmosphere in a room stripped of any decor. And the noodles are good!
Pho Rea - A cozy place with an eye-catching interior. Woven bamboo baskets are used as lamp shades.
Kin - Small street wear shop with a café/restaurant at the back.

Misc contemporary design
The Pottery Workshop - Ceramics and pottery from various young Chinese designers. Good stuff.
Spin Ceramics - A renowned ceramics brand. The shop will move to 360 Kangding Road in March 2011.
EMOI - A Chinese take on Muji (?)
Neocha - A creative agency and network of Chinese designers. It may give an idea of what the creative youth is up to.

The creative folks over at POKE in London just held their second annual Hack Day, dedicated to R&D.

For a day, the company split up in competing teams working on the brief: "Make our neighbourhood better: Find something you would like to improve in the area and create a solution that can live online".

Teams had 24 hours + £100 to devise and build the most inventive and enterprising idea.

And the winner is.......The 100 Project.

The 100 Project is an idea for a fund, which supports artistic talent in east London. Local artists are commissioned to create a piece, which is then auctioned on eBay. The aim is to generate enough profit to put 100 local kids through a term at The Prince's Drawing School.

A website is already in place, and the first great piece of art is on auction.

Yes, it's amazing what can be done in a day.

• www.the100project.co.uk • www.pokelondon.com

Whenever we use digital information technologies - browsing the web, switching on the phone, using an ATM - small pieces of personal data are created and collected.

Data is currency - but what happens to it? What is it used for? Who can you trust?

The design firm frog Design is asking users to help them imagine what the future of personal data-informed experiences could be. Via their online research platform frogMob they are collecting user-submitted stories and photos of devices, brands and environments that users trust or don't trust with their personal data. So far, more than 200 photos have been submitted.

The frogMob platform is used by frog Design to crowdsource ideas and inspiration from users on various topics - or 'mobs' - formulated by a research team. The material from this and previous mobs is available at the website.

Related: OpenIDEO

• frogmob.frogdesign.com

Funny 1:1 campaign by the bikeshop Cykelbanditten (The Bike Bandit) in Copenhagen.

Cykelbanditten went to the streets and tagged selected bikes with a handwritten label saying: (roughly)
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Holy crap, your bike is UGLY.
We got low prices and lots of style

Ps: I've oiled your chain" - Cykelbanditten
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Related: Bicycle Butlers

• www.cykelbanditten.dk