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tiny café by B.L.U.E. architecture studio pops out amidst traditional marketplace in beijing
CategoriesArchitecture

tiny café by B.L.U.E. architecture studio pops out amidst traditional marketplace in beijing

By Zarkon Group,

B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio designs compact café in Beijing 

 

Located within the lively SanYuanLi Food Market in Beijing, this café designed by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio offers a modern twist amidst the traditional marketplace. Occupying a small 25 sqm space, it stands out at the northern entrance, blending modernity with the market’s historic charm. Inspired by the market’s vibrancy, the café’s design aims to harmonize past and present, revitalizing the community and connecting with the urban environment. ‘Our focus is on establishing both the ‘uniqueness’ and ‘everyday sensibility’ of the community space, seamlessly integrating the distinctive spatial ambiance into daily life,’ describes the team.

tiny café by B.L.U.E. architecture studio pops out amidst traditional marketplace in beijing
all images by Runzi Zhu

 

 

a harmonious dialogue with the Surroundings

 

B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio‘s design captures attention with its juxtaposition of concrete framing and a copper door. Despite its small footprint, this project aims to spark conversations about street life, community renewal, and urban connectivity, exploring innovative ways to enhance public spaces. The facade design maintains coherence with the market’s aesthetic, featuring a clever window mechanism. ‘When open, it showcases interaction and integrates communication between urban life and community scenes. When closed, the hand-hammered copper plate forms a contrast with the bustling market, resembling a piece of art,’ shares the team.

tiny café by B.L.U.E. architecture studio pops amidst traditional marketplace in beijing

 

 

The unique shape of the concrete framing mirrors the market’s vibe, while the copper door adds visual interest without overwhelming the space. ‘With this design, our objective is to initiate a discourse on street, community revitalization, and urban connections, aiming to explore innovative approaches to communal public life’. Inside, the design fosters the ritual of enjoying coffee on the go, with the sculptural bar efficiently dividing the space. The windows blur the lines between the café and the market, encouraging interaction. Material choices, from oxidized copper to hand-cast ribbed facades and elm wood surfaces, further integrate the café with its surroundings.

tiny café by B.L.U.E. architecture studio pops amidst traditional marketplace in beijing
the handcrafted copper door, in contrast with the rough and weighty concrete

tiny café by B.L.U.E. architecture studio pops amidst traditional marketplace in beijing
windows on the inner façade foster interaction among various stalls and blur the boundaries between the café and the market

Reference

A circular economy marketplace for personal electronics
CategoriesSustainable News

A circular economy marketplace for personal electronics

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: The global refurbished and used mobile phone market is expected to grow from more than $50 billion (around €47 billion) in 2022 to around $172 billion (around €161 billion) by 2033. And advocates of electronics recycling see an encouraging uptick in consumer demand for refurbished devices.

As a means of making the most of all the valuable materials found in devices that range from smartwatches and tablets to video game consoles and audio products, digital resale platform Valyuu connects buyers and sellers with its reliable second-hand electronics marketplace. Valyuu provides buyers with a reliable evaluation of products that includes photos and access to full test reports.  

Sellers have multiple options on the platform. They can sell their device for an immediate payment through Fast Pay or wait a bit longer to receive a Best Value payment. Valyuu covers all shipping costs, and if a seller chooses to donate their device to the company, Valyuu donates the value of the sale to a social inclusion and education charity.   

With data sensitivity a major barrier to large scale electronics recycling, Valyuu provides sellers with detailed instructions on how to wipe clean their devices. And once the company receives an item, its team of IT experts re-wipes the product for further data protection.

If a device needs something fixed, the Valyuu team of refurbishers makes it usable again. And if a device is no longer usable, Valyuu’s team of recyclers takes it apart for sustainable reuse and recycling.  

The Netherlands-based company operates throughout the Benelux countries of The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany and plans to continue expanding the availability of its services internationally. Having recently closed a round of seed funding that raised €2.4 million, the company plans to further expand the range of products available on its platform, further its research and development (R&D), and make its service available in more locations.  

As well as electronics, refurbishment is being used by a multitude of industries as a means of reducing waste while expanding the lifespan of goods. In Springwise’s library, innovations include a subscription service for office furniture and virtual trunk shows of used luxury items.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

A marketplace for second-hand furniture
CategoriesSustainable News

A marketplace for second-hand furniture

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Resale in fashion has risen in popularity in recent years, and now curators and sellers are taking inspiration from that model to create a burgeoning second-hand furniture market. As demand from shoppers for sustainable home furnishings grows, Berlin-based Cocoli’s online marketplace makes it easy to find high-quality bargain furniture.  

The company’s name means Community for Conscious Living, and its resale platform provides expert-reviewed second-hand, showroom, end-of-stock, and vintage furniture or home furnishings from both private sellers and well-established brands. Cocoli partners with companies like Wayfair, Sofacompany, and Kave Home to keep products out of landfill by selling them for up to 70 per cent less than the original price.  

Cocoli started with around 200 items for sale. In less than two years, the company has expanded its range of products to 350,000, which will continue to grow as it expands its network of sellers. Individuals wishing to sell on the marketplace fill out an application form. The in-house experts then check items for authenticity, quality, and condition before listing the product online. Sellers do not pay transport fees, and prices include the service fee Cocoli collects for inspecting the product and organising shipment.  

The company recently closed a round of seed funding that raised €3 million. The financing will be used to improve automation of technologies, general expansion of the company, and monitoring of the company’s climate footprint.  

Creative solutions abound in the homewares industries. In the archive, Springwise has spotted waste materials such as wood and general production waste being turned into beautiful new pieces of furniture and other materials.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

An online marketplace for scrap metal
CategoriesSustainable News

An online marketplace for scrap metal

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Metals such as steel, copper and nickel are vital components of global infrastructure and consumer goods. While the production of primary metals is very carbon and energy-intensive, metals can be recycled essentially forever without any loss in quality. Although around 70 per cent of US and 55 per cent of European steel production is based on recycled steel, other metals are not recycled as assiduously. Startup Metcycle is working to improve this by digitally facilitating international scrap metal trading.

Metcycle directly connects verified buyers and sellers of scrap metal, allowing both to benefit from direct negotiation, with better prices, better margins, and time savings. The startup verifies each company involved using external providers. They also work with an external financial service provider that facilitates each payment and holds the funds secure in an individual escrow account until the goods have been delivered, adding additional security.

By providing a one-stop-shop for scrap metal buying and selling, Metcycle’s platform eliminates the time and cost involved in steps such as obtaining letters of credit. In addition, both parties in the transaction have full transparency on the status of each transaction and can directly communicate with each other. Metcycle makes its money by charging a 4 per cent commission on the transaction value (reduced to 2 per cent during the launch phase. The cost of the commission is split 50/50 between buyer and seller.

Co-founder Sebastian Brenner recently explained the benefit of using a broker like Metcycle, “For suppliers, Metycle takes the pain of negotiating, monitoring payment and logistics flows. For buyers, we give access to prime quality material, payment options in local currency, and at payment terms.”

Production of primary metals is incredibly energy intensive. This means that decarbonising the metal manufacturing industry is vital to achieving net zero. Luckily, there are an increasing number of innovations that are helping with this. These include the use of AI to improve efficiency and a new process that can reduce the carbon emissions from steel furnaces by 90 percent.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

An educational tool for farmers doubles as an online marketplace
CategoriesSustainable News

An educational tool for farmers doubles as an online marketplace

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Digitisation has impacted every corner of our global economy, but one sector that remains largely un-digitised is the world’s oldest: agriculture. Farmers are the bedrock of the €6 trillion agriculture and food trade market, yet they make the least profit of all the main players in the food value chain. Moreover, many farmers still use the same techniques as their ancestors and lack access to the information they need to implement profit-boosting innovations. A new platform, Wikifarmer, is attempting to tackle these challenges.

Wikifarmer seeks to improve the lot of farmers in two ways. The platform is an international online resource for agricultural information and technological developments. The library offers thousands of user-generated articles, all for free, covering a huge diversity of topics, including the latest technology information and guidelines for best practices around the world. The Wikifarmer team provides localised translations of articles into 15 languages.

The platform also acts as a global farmer’s market. For shoppers, this marketplace provides a direct link to food producers in every region. With purchases covered by a money-back guarantee, shoppers can search a long list of products and contact the company itself for personalised quotes for specific requests or high-volume orders.

For farmers, the marketplace represents a welcome simplification of the food supply chain. Selling directly to consumers means that farmers can avoid commissions paid to the multitude of intermediaries they must normally deal with. So far, around 30,000 products have been listed on the site, and more than 5,000 customers have bought products directly from farmers.

From clean energy for off-grid communities to safe herbicide development, agtech is a hot area of innovation. Springwise has previously covered other innovations that aim to connect farmers directly to marketplaces, such as one focused on smallholder farmers in Ghana.

Written by: Keely Khoury

1st August 2022

Email: info@wikifarmer.com

Website: wikifarmer.com

Reference

E-Build Pakistan: Pakistan’s First Ever Online Buy & Sell Construction Industry Material & Services Portal
CategoriesConstruction National News News Zarkon Group

E-Build Pakistan: Pakistan’s First Ever Online Buy & Sell Construction Industry Material & Services Portal

By Zarkon Group,

What’s E-Build Pakistan?

E-Build Pakistan is Pakistan’s First Online Marketplace Portal to Buy & Sell Construction Material & Services that brings the country’s construction industry stakeholders and processes to a digital landscape.

From idea to execution, building the vision of EBP to a viable product was a year-long journey that will commence on 14 August 2020 when the web portal and mobile application will be made available nationwide.

E-Build Pakistan will provide national digital access to the key players in the construction industry to broaden the customer base, be a stimulator in the construction industry, open the market for new national & international construction brands to access the market, bring better products at competitive prices, help the construction industry to grow at least at 40% better rate, create online & rapid digital supply chain, connect the buyer to the supplier overriding the conventional price hikes, create employment for educated & talented youth, create dedicated income platforms for household women, contribute towards per capita income, to contribute in government National Housing Construction Schemes, to contribute in Digital Pakistan vision, create an internationally recognized construction learning programs for locally talented individuals, bringing e-learning programs for the civil, mechanical, electromechanical and architectural industry, create a competitive environment for contractors, educating the end-user, and helping them choose better suppliers & servicemen to build their dreams.

Timeline: From Concept to Reality

 

August 2019

The idea for E-Build Pakistan started from seeing a sore lack of digitalization in the construction industry all Over the world.

January 2020

After conducting research and connecting with like-minded individuals. design and development Of the EBP platform was begun.

August 2020

The platform will be ready for onboarding vendors, testing. and optimization by July. and will be launched during Pakistan’s independence day on August 14th.

October 2020

The EBP vision goes beyond business – we hope to build a thriving community. Provide relevant training. and conduct events to further Pakistan’s digital agenda.