Friday Fives, Vol. 197
This week we’re peeping Pantone’s new periwinkle, tracking the 2021 Google trends, and definitely having a panic attack over New York’s cream cheese shortage.
Prepare yourselves for a precipitation of purple pigments. Pantone’s color of the year is Very Peri. The color is similar to a standard periwinkle but interwoven with threads of glimmering red. This shade was selected because of its common application within the arena that dominates our lives: technology. This particular incarnation of periwinkle is an homage to hues of the early 2000s, when tech loomed as both savior and potential doomsday device. Today, as we approach an even more digitized age of NFTs, metaverses, and Zoom call after Zoom call after Zoom call, we’ll see more shades like Very Peri which are designed to calm and reassure visitors to digital spaces. Be right back, re-painting the office walls.
Google’s Year In Search always illuminates our innermost curiosities. It shows us that money is very much on our minds, with people hoping to hit the jackpot one way or another, searching for Mega Millions, AMC Stock, and Stimulus Checks all year. It reveals that we think Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are the real power tumultuous couple, edging out Bill and Melinda Gates as the celebrities most searched for together. The search data also points out that we’re trying to be better people, with queries about helping refugees and becoming a better partner also making the list. But mostly, Google shows us that at the end of the day, we’re all just looking for the answer to life’s biggest question: is it affect or effect? We’re going to Google it right now, too. Just to be sure.
Wine pairings are super classy. Wine and charcuterie? We’re 100% on board. Wine and chocolate? We’re ready to get choco-lit, let’s do it. How about red wine infused with the flavor of a slightly slimmer sandwich cookie? Yeah…maybe not, but that’s exactly what Oreo THINS and Barefoot Wines have done, whether you like it or not. This red wine blend purportedly has “notes of chocolate, cookies-and-creme, and oak joined by natural flavors of blackberry and dark cherries.” We can forgive them for this weird flavor alchemy, but we’ll never forgive them for not calling it a Sandwich Sauvignon, a Cookie Cabernet, or a Pinot Noireo.
Virgil Abloh’s Sustainable Luxury
A new concept car for Maybach, and one of the late Virgil Abloh’s final creative collaborations, was unveiled at Art Basel Miami Beach. The piece, called Project Maybach, is a reimagining of a more environmentally friendly luxury car that can still conquer off-road terrain. Some of its more unique features include interiors tanned with coffee beans and hood-mounted solar panels. Project Maybach reminds us of two things: that even high-end goods can be made more sustainable and stylish. And that Virgil Abloh’s bold visions will be dearly missed in the future.
More than any politician, sports team, neighborhood bar, or Broadway show ever could, the bagel with cream cheese makes New York whole. Which makes reporting this next story about as painful for New Yorkers as a friend coming to town and wanting to visit Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and then the M&M’s Store. New York bagel shops are facing a cream shortage. The nightmare scenario is caused by a supply chain issue, with bagel shop owners forecasting a complete dry up in the coming days. Some store owners have resorted to calling in favors, begging, even crossing state lines to secure the sought-after spread. Whether you’re a fan of plain, scallion, cinnamon raisin, or bacon cheddar, we need to put our differences aside and end this drought.
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The Working Assembly
NYC branding agency exploring the intersection of art, design, technology and culture. Partnering with emerging and evolving brands.
