The internet’s favorite home design and decor blog, Apartment Therapy, first started its Small/Cool NYC contest back in 2005, challenging readers to showcase their real-life spaces in NYC. As the years passed and the contest grew, it’s evolved into a new type of shoppable exhibit. Apartment therapy’s Small/Cool event may have resembled a typical interior design showcase from afar, but their utilization of new tech produced an innovative experience, amplifying their exhibition to a global scale.
This year, Apartment Therapy introduced its first-ever customer-facing event in #Soho, challenging 12 designers to create the “smallest, coolest space they could imagine,” utilizing only 120 square feet. IRL visitors could attend their exhibition space, moving through the rooms, with the ability to shop each item via a unique QR code. At the front of each room, they displayed the designer’s bios and smartphone links to access information about their designs, which trend they were inspired by, and purchase each item directly from their page.
Didn’t make it to the event before it ended, or don’t live in NYC? No problem, go onto Apartment Therapy’s site right now and immerse yourself in their virtual 3D exhibit, with shoppable links included. Most of us are shopping online anyway, but seeing individual pieces curated from various brands displayed in a creative and cohesive space, adds more dimension to your shopping experience. Plus, each room includes an audio tour to hear straight from the designers why they chose specific colors, textures, and layouts which can aid consumers in how to make more educated design purchases.
Apt therapy’s small/cool exhibit is a perfect combination of a well-executed IRL experience from a tech-based platform and how they used technology to enhance the overall human experience. “The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life and are indistinguishable from it.”*
We believe brands like Apartment Therapy that understand people and create experiences that are human, culturally connected, and future-forward will win. With more DTC retailers looking to open up IRL spaces and established brick and mortar companies attempting to bring their brand to the now, we’re finding the most successful experiences learn how to balance the two.
* Weiser, “The Computer for the 21st Century,” quoted in Case, Calm Technology, 15