The Crit #26: Beltless
A new year brings a fresh slate and a new episode of the Crit.
Join hosts Oli Stratford and India Block as they unpack January’s design news and reflect upon their progress (or lack thereof) with their New Year’s resolutions.
This episode is fairly fair focused, with the hosts delving into the good, the bad and the funny of Las Vegas’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES); hopping to Sweden for a discussion about Stockholm Furniture Fair’s Guest of Honour – Front; before finally resolving into sceptical over the swiftly-growing market for pet design with the PittiPets presentation at the biannual menswear trade fair Pitti Uomo.
In addition to this, the episode turns its attention to the grid, cautiously celebrating a Virtual Power Plant Partnership between Google Nest, Ford, General Motors, energy nonprofit RMI, and various solar power and smart electrical panel makers; takes a nostalgic trip down portable-music-device lane with the release of Sony’s new delightfully buttony Walkmans; and gives a special mention to Special Project’s interface design for SlowMo, a new digital therapy service for those suffering psychosis.
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Show Notes: Ep.26 - ‘Beltless’
CES - 03:36
Front - 22:02
PittiPets - 33:29
Virtual Power Plant Partnership - 38:31
Sony Walkman NW-A306 and NWZX707- 46:10
Fact-check: The Walkman’s do have a vinyl processing feature
SlowMo - 51:53
Thanks to Convene - 57:45
Credits
All music for The Crit has been created by Yuri Suzuki and Team Suzuki (Adam Cheong-MacLeod and Charlie Carroll) at Pentagram, and our logo was designed by Leonhard Rothmoser.