As part of our +Incubator project, we like to explore new possibilities in retail concepts that don’t exist, but which we think could. It’s a way to think about new ideas when it comes to how we think about retail, merchandising, branding, customer experience and product development.
In The Weeds is at its core, a garden-themed retail experience, but really it’s a mechanism to allow people to reconnect with the natural world in a commercial setting by giving them access to products that promote a tactile experience.
“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.”
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In the weeds is a term taken from the hospitality world that means to be behind, to be overwhelmed and in the middle of it all. It’s a term of chaos, but as anyone who has ever worked in the kitchen will tell you, that’s often where people so their true worth. Anyone can handle a normal service, but when you’re slammed and in the weeds, is where professionals show their true meddle.
There is an element of unstructured chaos to nature that we appreciate as being authentic and natural. Too much of retail can be viewed as too pristine and antiseptic, and lacking in the authenticity of organized chaos. Even in physics and mathematics, it is recognized that in the middle of chaos lie patterns that contain great beauty and design. And so it is with us.
Bringing The Garden Indoors
In The Weeds is a curated collection of home and office decor that aspires to reconnect our modern lifestyles with that of the outside world through products that excite the senses.
Wherever possible, each item has a story to tell, a sense memory to uncover, and a sensory experience to convey.
Our memories are tied up in sensory illusions of electro-chemical responses to emotions.
Light and bright. Lots of wood and cotton, linen and straw, glass and twine. Clean and simple. Soft and approachable. Components in a life well-lived and a welcoming home.
In The Weeds brings together elements of lifestyle and entertaining, decorating and hospitality. If your life was living in a magazine, this is where you would construct the set.
