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When we first covered San Francisco-based Crushpad back in 2005, the idea of a winery in an urban centre was surprising. Crushpad has since blossomed, and now a like-minded contender on the opposite end of the nation is picking up on the notion and combining it with a wine bar. Due to open this fall, City Winery will combine a wine bar and event space with a fully operational winery in the heart of Soho, New York City. The private-label winery—apparently the city's first—will let consumers choose their favourite grape, consult with City Winery's master winemaker and then crush, ferment, bottle and label their own bottles of wine. The company will have the capacity to make about 300 barrels of wine in its first year, and 200 of those will be dedicated to a limited set of members, who will have access to City Winery's state-of-the-art equipment and professional team. Grape varietals will be sourced from vineyards in California, Oregon, Washington State, New York, Chile and Argentina under strict temperature control, and customers will be able to work with City Winery's specialists in person or online to customize their barrel, participating as much or as little as they like in the process. Membership is available on three levels, beginning at USD 5,000 annually plus the cost of grapes, barrels and labelling for about 250 bottles of wine. Wine classes are also included, as is the opportunity to trade bottles with other members; wine sales, however, are prohibited. About a third of City Winery's barrels have already been sold, according to its site. City Winery's venue side, meanwhile, features a flexible space that can accommodate up to 200 people seated or 400 standing, with an in-house stage and sound system. A full catering kitchen is onsite to serve the venue's multiple dining and tasting rooms, while the wine bar will have more than 50 wines available by the glass each night. Through City Winery's VinoFile membership program, customers can track their wine consumption and get related suggestions from the on-site sommeliers and winemakers. A special cheese bar from Greenwich Village-based Murray's Cheese, meanwhile, will be manned by a full-time expert to create the appropriate wine pairings from a selection of over 30 cheeses. City Winery also plans to create unique pairings of private concerts with such delicacies as wine and chocolates, mushrooms or truffles, port or scotch. Frequent Springwise readers will undoubtedly notice the way City Winery's efforts tap into the customer-made and still made here trends, while offering consumers some much-sought-after status skills to boot. Will City Winery follow in Crushpad's footsteps and relax its rule prohibiting wine commerce among its customers? We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, one to watch! Website: www.citywinery.com Spotted by: RK
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There's no shortage of online booksellers, but a new UK-based store has come up with a novel way to keep users coming back. Shoppers at BookRabbit can upload photos of their bookshelves for viewing by the community at large, fostering comparison, interaction and—you guessed it—more shopping. BookRabbit, which just went through its public launch in May, aims to be an online bookshop that "dynamically connects readers, authors and publishers through the books they own." It also claims to be cheaper than Amazon on the top 100,000 titles, and offers free delivery within the UK. More interesting, though, are the ways users of the site can share their passion for books, including creating their own personal bookcases and catalogues online and making recommendations to other readers. Each user is invited to upload a photo of his or her bookshelf—along with a user profile—and to tag the individual titles therein. Other users can then view all the bookshelves on the site, compare with their own and make connections with other readers based on the titles they have in common. More than 900 bookshelves have been uploaded so far, and they're viewable by "latest," "most connections" or "most discussed." The winner for most connections so far, for example, is a user named Glynis, who has more than 100 books in common with other readers. Of course, in the process of viewing and comparing bookshelves, BookRabbit no doubt hopes users might get inspired to buy some new titles and expand their own collections. The site includes an affiliate programme that lets users put links on their sites or e-mails to show off their bookcases and earn a fee if anyone buys anything through them. With the likes of Amazon.com to reckon with, there's no doubt BookRabbit has some formidable competition. On the other hand, there's something highly personal and compelling about the ability to view the bookshelves of others, as multiple groups on Flickr can attest. In addition to what they contain, it's interesting in an almost voyeuristic way to see how tidy the shelves are and what style of furniture they represent—not too hard to imagine this used in a localized way to foster dating connections among bookish singles, in fact. Alternatively, how about applying the same notion to other hobbyist product categories, such as a "my rucksack" photo section on a hiking supplier's site, or "my make-up bag" on one for cosmetics?" Build some real community this way—particularly if it's localized—and you may just stand a chance against your industry's Amazon. Website: www.bookrabbit.com
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Much like LocoMatrix, which we wrote about earlier this year, Swinxs is a new gaming system that encourages kids to get active and play outside. Swinxs offers a variety of games for kids ages 4 and up, all downloadable for free from the Netherlands-based company's website. Included are traditional games like hide and seek as well as educational quizzes and games focused on adventure. Players wear colourful RFID wrist bands with microchips that communicate with the Swinxs console to start games and keep track of the player's personal profile and scores. The Swinxs console talks (multiple languages are possible) and can explain games, as well as refereeing, cheering and keeping score. It can be used both indoors and out, and it runs on a long-lasting battery for enduring fun in the park, beach, garden or playroom. On the Swinxs website, meanwhile, new games, music and listening activities are available for download, and personal pages store player details such as scores, participants and games played. A software development kit (SDK) is also available that lets players or third parties create their own games for the system. Launched in April, Swinxs is currently available at The Beehive in Holland; pricing is EUR 149.95 including console, 4 wrist bands, USB cable, adapter and seven pre-installed games. A video on YouTube demonstrates the game in action. As developed nations continue their battle against childhood obesity, active games like Swinxs will increasingly have the support of parents and medical communities around the globe. One to bring to the rest of the world! Website: www.swinxs.com Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen
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As the EU's restaurants, bars and clubs gradually become smoke-free, cigarette butts on the doorsteps of such establishments are an increasingly common sight. Belgium-based Ashvertising hopes to make the best of that bad habit with an outdoor device that combines an ashtray with a medium for advertising. The company's Ashvertiser consists of a wall-mountable ashtray combined with a TV-sized colour screen above it for installation outside smoke-free venues. As smokers finish and extinguish their cigarettes, the screen displays world news, sports results and weather forecasts along with advertising spots. Mars, Nestlé, Proximus/Vodafone and Sara Lee have been among the early adopters of the Ashvertiser, which is now being used by numerous Brussels restaurants, Ashvertising says. Given how many other places around the world also ban smoking—or will soon embrace that trend—the potential market for Ashvertising's devices spans the globe. Website: www.ashvertising.com Spotted by: Bjorn Verbrugghe
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Earlier this year we wrote about a few members' clubs for moms in the London area, and now a similar South African contender has added a networking twist. Based in Johannesburg, Triba aims to give mothers physical and mental well-being by providing them with the time, space and resources they need to take care of themselves, seven days a week. Before that can happen, of course, their children must be well taken care of—something Triba assures through classes, childcare, swimming, hair care and even basic pediatric services like vaccination by the on-site nurse. Thus freed up to attend to their own needs, mother members have access to spa, hair, sleep and exercise offerings, along with a cafe, library and quirky retail store; concierge service is coming soon. Triba's conference space features workshops, courses, seminars and presentations designed to uplift, empower, motivate and inform women, while a dedicated office space--much like the work spaces for freelancers we've featured before--is set aside for women to catch up on their admin, surf the internet or otherwise take advantage of the centre's wifi. Perhaps most interesting of all, though, are Triba's recruitment services, through which the Triba team will tap into its network of members both to help mothers find work and to facilitate networking opportunities for consultants or self-employed women who want to promote their services. Membership fees at Triba begin at ZAR 280 per month for a mother plus one child. Triba says it's planning to expand around South Africa, but as we've noted before, there are few geographical limitations on the market of moms around the world in need of a space to call their own. One to bring to the legions of time-, sleep- and sanity-starved mothers near you! Website: www.tri-ba.com
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We've covered pop-up and recyclable hotels on a few occasions already, and now a new French company has come up with a foldable hotel room designed for use at large, temporary events. Founded in late 2007, Abilmo offers temporary hotel rooms 12 square meters in size with wood flooring, wood furniture and private bathrooms including toilet, shower and hot water. Featuring cloth-hung ceilings and low-voltage lighting, the units also offer thermal and acoustic insulation along with individual heating and air-conditioning. The French-made rooms are instantly available to create a pop-up hotel for use inside or outside at such events as festivals, seminars and sports events lasting anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Just 4.40m x 2.38m x 4.68m in size when folded, they require no crane to erect—Abilmo's staff can set up as many as 25 per day. Both interiors and exteriors can be customized to reflect any corporate image, and extra services such as catering, network video and extra security are also available. Given how often the demand for hotel rooms outstrips supply at events around the world, this one's virtually guaranteed to find an appreciative market among events organizers, stadiums and hotels themselves. One to partner with in your neck of the woods? Website: www.abilmo.fr
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We've already written about programs to adopt a vineyard or an olive tree, and now two Maine brothers have found a way to offer consumers the chance to adopt a Maine lobster trap. For USD 2,995, consumers can own a Maine lobster trap and all the lobsters it catches for an entire year through the Premium Trap program from Catch a Piece of Maine. As "partners," as the company calls them, customers of the program are assigned a dedicated lobsterman who will fish their trap throughout the 32-week season. Everything he catches is tracked with a colour-coded band placed on the lobsters' claws, and all data is recorded online so that the partner can view their trap's activity, manage their catch and schedule shipments from anywhere. As lobsters are caught by the trap, the partner's account grows; as lobsters are requested for shipment, it decreases again. Lobsters can be shipped in batches of four as soon as they are caught, or they can be saved for later (in which case the company will substitute one just caught for the original); either way, details are included on when, where and by whom they were obtained. Catch a Piece of Maine guarantees at least 48 1.5 lb lobsters for each partner—totalling over 70bs.—and also 12 lbs. steamer clams, 12 lbs. mussels, and 48 servings of Maine-made desserts over the course of the year. All shipments are sent via FedEx overnight delivery throughout the continental U.S.; shipping costs are included in the fee. Partners are even invited to come aboard the company's lobster boat in Maine if they can, to meet the lobstermen and experience the harvest first-hand. Corporate gifts and single-meal orders are also available, and Catch a Piece of Maine donates 10 percent of its profits to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, educating 5th and 6th grade students about the Maine lobster industry. At a time when local fishermen are struggling to make a living, Catch a Piece of Maine's partnership program allows lobstermen to receive a premium for their product while also preserving their sustainable fishing methods, the company says. No less significantly, it also gives consumers an active hand in what has typically been a hands-off business. Finally, it dovetails nicely with the still made here trend, giving consumers a geographical connection and a story to tell about the source of their food. Website: www.catchapieceofmaine.com Spotted by: Andrew Borislow
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Over the years, we've covered various businesses for women tackling home improvement and building. From tools and steel-toe shoes to women-only construction crews, the 'do-it-herself' market continues to expand. Our latest spotting? A home improvement magazine for women that has just been launched by Karwei, one of the Netherlands' largest DIY retail chains. Their new quarterly, Ziezo, is targeted both to women who are considering a first small project, like painting a bench, to their more experienced sisters who are ready to remodel a bathroom or insulate an attic. The free print magazine, which can also be read online, aims to be both instructional and inspirational. Besides plenty of practical, hands-on advice and step-by-step instructions, Ziezo includes articles on interior design that probably wouldn't have made it to the pages of a home improvement publication for male readers. Like Home Depot, which offers Do-It-Herself Workshops, Karwei is smart to tap into market that's (still) underserved. Since DIY retailers in many parts of the world are suffering from a distressed housing market, attracting female shoppers is an opportunity they can't afford to miss. As for retailers in strong, growing markets—now’s the time to get in on the ground floor. Website: www.karwei.nl/ziezo Spotted by: RK
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As we're sure you know, jeans are traditionally made from denim, a rugged cotton dyed blue using indigo. Before indigo came around, however, the only source of blue dye in Europe was a flowering plant called woad, or glastum. (How's that for unexpected trivia ;-) The woad industry was wiped out in the late sixteenth century, when traders started importing shiploads of indigo from the Far East. An Italian fashion brand—Dondup—is now working on the forgotten commodity's comeback. Guado, as it's called in Italian, is being used to dye the company's new 'Essentia' line. Wholeheartedly embracing the still made here trend, Dondup focuses on guado's history, casting it as the original, local shade of blue. Naturally, Essentia apparel is made from organic cotton, and for colours other than blue, Dondup also works with natural dyes that have been used for centuries, like rose madder and blackberry. What works for once-dormant brands—think the Volkswagen Beetle or Tretorn sneakers, could work for unbranded goods, too, yielding their rediscoverers instant authenticity and stories to share. Time to start digging in the (art) history books ;-) Website: www.dondup.com Spotted by: Laura Penna
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We've featured two businesses that offer custom-blended tea: Blends For Friends in the UK and Design A Tea in the US. Since tea-lovers aren't the only ones to yearn for a hot beverage they can call their very own, we knew it wouldn't be long before one of our Springspotters pointed us to a company offering custom-blended coffee. From Germany this time, Sonntagmorgen (German for Sunday morning) sells made-to-order coffee blends online. Customers can choose from nine regional varieties and set their own blend ratios. A 250 gram pack of coffee can contain 4/7ths Ethiopian Sidamo and 3/7ths Indian Pearl Mountain, for example. Adjusting is easy: just flick arrows up or down. Once the momentous blend decisions have been made, coffee-meisters specify a grind (or whole beans), and can then move on to add flavouring. Sonntagmorgen offers 13 aromas, ranging from vanilla to chili peppers, and users can select up to three. Finally, customers pick a name for their personal brand of joe, which is printed on the label along with the varieties and aromas used. Prices for a custom-made blend depend on the types of coffee used, but average around EUR 7 for a 250 gram bag. Until entire pantries can be stocked with personalized food, customization opportunities abound for smart and creative entrepreneurs. (Related: Mixed-to-order muesli.) Website: www.sonntagmorgen.com Spotted by: Sven Hock
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With food prices soaring across the globe, consumers are understandably concerned. To help ensure that retailers don’t pass on more of the price increases than is strictly necessary, Italy's Department for Agriculture, Food & Forestry is offering transparency by text message. Its SMS Consumatori service tracks prices for over 80 types of fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy products, fish, etc and lets consumers access them when they’re out shopping. To use the service, shoppers send a text message to 47947, typing the name of the product they want a price for. (The system recognizes both singular and plural nouns, as well as variations.) They instantly receive a reply listing both a wholesale price and average retail prices in the North, Centre and South. If a product has various varieties, the service sends separate messages for each of the most popular ones. For example: text "pear", and SMS Consumatori will return three separate messages, for Kaiser, Conference and Abate pears. Taking a thorough approach to getting its prices right, SMS Consumatori sources information from 2,200 different stores, ranging from butchers, market stalls and greengrocers to 'ipermercati' and discount stores, and covers all of Italy. Prices are updated from Tuesday to Saturday. The project's website also shows price development over time, and where the highest and lowest prices for each product were found. Shoppers can even fill a virtual shopping cart and see what its average cost would be; registered users can save their shopping baskets for a personal view on historical data. The service is free, but to keep costs and traffic down, consumers can request a maximum of 5 prices per day and 30 per month. Since it doesn't look like global food prices will drop anytime soon, this is one to set up elsewhere if you're in government or telecom/mobile. For more on how to prosper (or fail) in a fully-informed marketplace, check out trendwatching.com's briefing on transparency tyranny. Website: www.smsconsumatori.it Spotted by: Giulia Cuccolini
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There's no doubt about it: Italian jeans brand Diesel is hitting the festival circuit this summer. A few days ago, we wrote about the limited edition, mud-resistant jeans they designed for Denmark's Roskilde festival. Another spotting came in from Pinkpop, a Dutch overnight music fest that took place last week. At Pinkpop, Diesel kindly provided hot showers, including fresh towels, shower gel and a little something for those pesky hangovers. Festival-goers who showed up between 11 am and noon—the 'One Hour Happy Shower'—were also treated to free underwear. Needless to say, the Dutch kids showed up en masse and the undies ran out in minutes, creating a nice bit of buzz for the brand. (Related: Laundromats popping up at music festivals — Swish showers on location.) Website: www.diesel.nl — www.pinkpop.nl Spotted by: RK
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A few weeks ago we wrote about Bikecaffe's coffee tricycles in the UK, and now another pedal-powered purveyor has been spotted on the streets of Copenhagen. Ole Skram has begun tempting the pedestrians and cyclists of Denmark's capital city in recent weeks with the smell of freshly brewed coffee from his coffee "chariot"—an espresso machine mounted onto a three-wheeled carrier cycle with a specially designed frame. The machine can brew coffee for several hundred people, but Skram is keeping the details of its inner workings to himself. The "coffee-man," as he's become known, says the idea came to him as he was sipping coffee at his local café; soon thereafter he found a blacksmith who could construct a contraption for mounting the coffee maker onto his bike. "I think it has turned out very well," he says. "It has spirit, flowers and charm, just the way I wanted it." Skram and his chariot can be found around central Copenhagen as well as at Østerport station and planned events. We've seen Coffee 2.0's ascension into Starbuckian ubiquity; relocalization through homegrown and fair trade retailers; mobilization through motorized coffee carts and now—the eco version—pedal-powered vendors in Denmark and the UK. Where will the next coffee chariot appear? You decide! ;-) Website: n/a Spotted by: Lars Hedegaard Pedersen
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"Open source" is a term that's familiar to many in technology, but much less so in the fashion world. A new German label, however, has embraced the principles of open source in its launch of a new line of eco-conscious clothing. Berlin-based Pamoyo was founded in 2007 by designers Frans Prins and Cecilia Palmer to create a fashion label with green vision and creative edge; its site just launched in April. All items in the company's “Styled with Heart” spring collection are one-of-a-kind pieces made from organic cotton with vintage and recycled elements mixed in. Every piece is handmade in Berlin featuring a distinctive rough sewing style and designs inspired by street style and retro images. Pamoyo’s organic cotton currently originates from Turkey and Uganda, and EUR 2 from the price of each item is set aside for investment in social and environmental projects. Together with the Grass Routes Foundation, Pamoyo is also working on a cooperation and training project with designers in the developing world. So that's Pamoyo's green side, which is admirable even if not totally unique. What really sets the label apart is that all its designs are published under the Creative Commons license for non-commercial use--a first, if the company's blog is to be believed. Other designers and artists are invited to enrich the label with their own creations, and Pamoyo pledges to ensure the high-quality and sustainable production of every product made under its name. The company is currently preparing designs and patterns for download from the Pamoyo site, and ultimately it aims to make it possible for customers to share their own creations and patterns as well. Eco clothing lines are increasingly common, but Pamoyo's focus on sharing takes it into new territory in the fashion world. One to watch! (Related: Crowdf(o)unding an eco fashion label.) Website: www.pamoyo.com Spotted by: Treehugger via RK
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We wrote about Kluster back in February, and just a few months later the crowdsourcing platform was used to create community-driven news site Knewsroom. Hard on the heels of that launch now comes NameThis, which just entered beta. Kluster-powered NameThis is designed to provide a quick and painless way for innovators to find a market-ready name for their company, product or service. Those with a thing in need of a name begin by posting a request for help and paying USD 99. Members of the community then have 48 hours to suggest names and/or invest points in their favourites. At the end of the 48 hours, NameThis's system "does some fancy math" and picks three winners. Of the fee paid by the thing's owner, USD 80 is distributed to those who contributed to the winners: USD 40 goes to the person who picked the first-place name, while USD 10 is shared amongst the influencers on that name; USD 16 goes to the second-place namer, while USD 4 is shared among the influencers on that one; and USD 8 goes to the individual who picked the third-place name, with USD 2 shared among influencers. From creating the news to naming a product, is there anything the crowds can't do better? We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, one to try out! (Related: Crowdsourcing product improvements.) Website: www.namethis.com
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For UK office workers, making tea is serious business with a political component all its own. No one wants to get stuck making the office tea every time, and that's just the problem a new, tea-focused website helps solve. MaketheTea.com is a new site from UK dairy brand Cravendale that aims to facilitate the tea-making process among groups of the beverage's fans around the world. Users of the site begin by entering their preferences for the all-important drink, including amounts of milk and sugar they like to add. (Options are also available to indicate preferences for those who prefer coffee or another beverage.) Users then invite their friends to join the site as well, forming a group of linked drinkers. Once that's done, users need only click the "Brew Now" button and MaketheTea.com will randomly select a brewer from among the group members to make that round of tea. Post-cuppa, users can then "rate or slate" the maker, depending on the quality of the brew. Part viral marketing campaign, part life hack and part social network, Makethetea.com was launched in late April. Since then, it has facilitated the making of more than 40,000 brews around the world... Not to mention serving up an undoubtedly strong cup of goodwill for Cravendale, its maker. (Related: Group dining made easy.) Website: www.makethetea.com Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen
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Back in 2006 we wrote about TOMS Shoes, an organization whose matching program donates a pair of shoes for every one that's purchased from the company. Now TOMS has launched a volunteer program by which customers can hand-deliver those donated shoes themselves. TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie was originally inspired by the disadvantaged children he saw while travelling through Argentina, and TOMS continues to donate its shoes to South American children in need. The Friends of TOMS program, however, now invites customers over 18 to travel there themselves as part of a series of what it calls Argentina Shoe Drops. Each weeklong Shoe Drop takes groups of 15 volunteers to see the places and people that inspired Blake to create his "shoes for tomorrow," distributing donated shoes along the way. Following the inaugural Argentina Shoe Drop last month, additional ones are scheduled for September, October and November of this year. In addition to airfare, the trip costs about USD 1,800, which includes all lodging, group meals, transportation within Argentina and regional group activities. Volunteers are responsible for booking their own flights to Buenos Aires. There are plenty of organizations out there that offer voluntourism opportunities, including Ritz-Carlton's Give Back Getaways program, which we covered not long ago. But California-based TOMS is one of the first we've seen to link such opportunities with a specific product, giving customers a rich experience as well as the knowledge that they've helped out. A winning combination to consider for any firm with a charitable component! Website: www.friendsoftoms.com Spotted by: Mila Roberts
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Denmark's summer Roskilde Festival is one of the largest annual music festivals in Europe, with some 75,000 attending each year. In honour of this year's event—which officially kicks off July 3—jeans company Diesel has created a limited-edition line of jeans specially designed to withstand the rigours of summer festival fun. Priced at EUR 161, the dark-blue Roskilde Festival Jeans are available for both men and women, and feature the Roskilde logo emblazoned on the hip. A specially treated commercial denim base, meanwhile, is designed to stand up to rain and mud, which were present in copious amounts at the festival last year. The jeans are available only from the official Roskilde shop—alongside jackets, caps and other promotional items the festival sells itself—or in select Diesel concept stores. Reportedly, only 1,000 pairs are up for sale, making planned scarcity part of the appeal. Summer music festivals are an ideal place for companies to get closer to their customers, who naturally tend to be relaxed and happy at such events. By creating its own, unique festival product, though, Diesel forges a tangible connection that goes far beyond anything advertising or sponsorship could likely achieve. One to emulate! Website: www.roskilde-festival.dk/2008/forside/shop/ Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen
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