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Artist and industrial design icon Ross Lovegroves work has always looked like the space-age futureand he has now partnered up with SpaceX on a project that sees him revisiting one of his most famous pieces from the past: The Bernhardt Go chair. CreativeWorkStudios is a company that fosters collaborations with an eye toward art, science and philanthropy. Having worked on a project that connected artist Refik Anadol with the NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health, CreativeWorkStudios turned to Lovegrove for its next endeavor, a partnership with the Polaris space missions to raise funds for St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. Ross Lovegrove [Photo: J Harry Edmiston/courtesy CreativeWorkStudios] Lovegrove created the flowing Bernhardt Go chairprobably my favorite objectat the turn of the millennium. With its absence of straight lines and legs that are seemingly reversed, it has a futuristic aesthetic that has landed it a spot in the film Passengers and other sci-fi projects. Which is perhaps why his partnership with the space exploration company feels so immediately organic (and causes you to momentarily forget who owns SpaceX). Using data from the landmark Polaris Dawn mission, Lovegrove is now retrofitting the Bernhardt Go into its next evolution: The $6,500 Polaris Go. A Magnesium-Injected Innovation Its apropos that Lovegrove is working with SpaceX on a project involving this particular chair. Years ago, he was invited out to the company to possibly become its design directorand when he got there, he discovered a couple hundred Bernhardt Go chairs in the canteen. [Photo: courtesy CreativeWorkStudios] While the first Polaris Dawn mission last year yielded a few firsts, such as the first commercial spacewalk, the Bernhardt Go scored one of its own when it launched in the early 2000s. Lovegrove originally designed the chair in aluminum, but found it to be too heavy. So he decided to use pressure die-cast magnesium, which weighs about 30% less without compromising strength. Thing was, it had never been done before, and has not been done since (the chairs were sealed and powder-coated, and are safe). How can I say itit wont burst into flames, but its highly flammable, Lovegrove says with a laugh. It took us a while to find somebody who would take that risk. The Bernhardt Go was hit, with TIME citing it as one of 2001s best designs, and various museums adding the chair to their collections. [Photo: courtesy CreativeWorkStudios] After partnering with CreativeWorkStudios and the Polaris team for the new project, Lovegrove reached out to Bernhardt, which had 210 originals leftand he says the company handed them over. I mean, to suddenly give up your whole stock is pretty remarkable, Lovegrove says. And it’s because of the St. Jude’s component. Which is not cynicalit’s incredibly sincere. Earth from Polaris Dawn [Photo: Jared Isaacman] Taking a New Seat Polaris mission commander (and current nominee to lead NASA) Jared Isaacman has a history of raising funds for St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, which the Polaris program has partnered with for its trio of missions. Lovegrove says its a cause close to him, as well, owing to a number of family members he has lost to cancer. As he devised ways to update the chair for the project, Lovegrove homed in on the seat pan insert. He decided to utilize data from the shockwaves of the launch to create a pattern emerging from four corners. [It] is a metaphor about the co-joining of forces for the crew membersso, the four coming together form a total balance, and a kind of dynamic unity that comes from the abstract forces of nature. [Photo: courtesy CreativeWorkStudios] Lovegrove says he wanted to find a U.S. supplier linked to the space program to make the inserts, which he was able to do. He could have created it with, say, a 3D-printed polymerbut that doesnt exactly represent space. So instead, the team used an aerospace-grade aluminum alloy, which is laser-cut to a finite dimension and then pressed incredibly thin so as to not impede the weight of the chair. The names of the four astronauts, meanwhile, are set to be laser-engraved onto the pans. Ultimately, I’d like to even look at anodizing those, possibly in other colors, so that we could do a limited edition as we roll this out, he says. In a philanthropic way, we have to sell these we have to appeal to people. [Photo: courtesy CreativeWorkStudios] The chairs are priced at $6,500 and are available for preorder on the project website, with 50 percent going to St. Jude. Lovegrove adds that this is the start of a larger project with CreativeWorkStudios and Polaris, where hell take more data and interpret it in various ways, particularly around the physical impact of space on the human bodies. If you look at space programs now, all the space adventure and business development, I think it’s going to pull [the human race] forward. I think it’s going to pull everything into a whole new mindset, Lovegrove says. They always say the most abstract thing that mankind can ever do is go into space, because we’re absolutely not designed to go into space. And then engineers come up and say, Hey, we’re doing it. As for that forward momentumits always been visually evident in the chair since the start. Has that always driven him? Everything that we do has an implied energy in it, he says. I don’t like static things.
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E-Commerce
Hows work? If you feel like answering meh, youre not alone. Gallups latest workplace survey found that employee engagement has slumped to a 10-year low. It might not be the work itself, though. You might want to take a closer look at your boss, says Dr. Katina Sawyer, coauthor of Leading for Wellness: How to Create a Team Culture Where Everyone Thrives. The proximal experiences that you have in the day to day of your workplace are what predict your general overall sentiments about your work, says Sawyer, who is an associate professor of management and organizations at the University of Arizonas Eller College of Management. That means that the people that you work with most frequently tend to be really important, specifically leaders. Direct supervisors are often the key determinant of your feelings [about your workplace]. Leadership norms are causing employees to disconnect, says Sawyer. Traditional beliefs include the idea that work should be a leaders entire focus, working tirelessly. Leaders should always have the answers and be very decisive and assertive. And the individual leader is more important than the collective team in terms of what they bring to the table. These ideas have permeated our workplaces, says Sawyer. As a result, when leaders rise through the ranks, instead of being the leader that they would have wanted, they unconsciously adopt these norms of what we’ve seen other leaders do. Unfortunately, these beliefs just dont work, and employees dont want to work for a leader who behaves this way. Feeling meh comes from the norms that workers have inherited, says Sawyer. Organizations have not figured out a way to solve for meh. When they see burnout on the rise and job satisfaction on the decline, they turn to shortsighted and trendy wellness initiatives, such as yoga in the morning and mindfulness breaks at lunch, says Sawyer. Sure, they may be fun, but are they actually driving results? she asks. While none of those things are bad in and of themselves, there’s no substitute for a bad leader. If your proximal experiences are not great, its like putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. Instead of investing in one-off solutions, Sawyer suggests that organizations boost leaders capabilities to lead in a way that supports teams and, as a byproduct, drives results and productivity. She offers four techniques that can help. Forgo the Fearless Leader The first mechanism she suggests is realizing that people don’t want superhero leaders, who are stoic, decisive, and unafraid. Actually, that’s quite demotivating for employees, because they can’t see themselves in their leader at all, says Sawyer. They also often start to see the cracks when someone presents a very perfect image of themselves as a leader. People are looking for authenticity. When they don’t see it, it gets confusing and discouraging. Building stronger teams happens when leaders and teammates share their struggles. They become motivated to continue to grow and thrive in the organization, because they actually see a pathway forward for them as human beings, says Sawyer. Dont Worry About the Clock A second mechanism is training leaders to deprogram themselves from thinking that the amount of time that they spend on work is the best metric of productivity. Overworked leaders often produce a negative climate and expect overwork from their employees, says Sawyer. That’s a recipe for burnout. Instead, leaders need to create a culture in which people feel comfortable and confident to support one another through their struggles and to show gratitude to each other. Positive team environments end up saving the leader time in the long run, because what’s supposed to be happening is functioning more smoothly, and leaders are not constantly putting out fires, says Sawyer. Reset Priorities Third, leaders need to recognize that work supports life instead of thinking you must fit your life around work. This includes encouraging employees to prioritize their personal lives by maintaining and respecting their boundaries. Help them do the things that are important to them as people, says Sawyer. If someone is a parent and they’re coaching their kids T-ball team and have to leave every Tuesday and Thursday at four in order to get there on time, be cognizant of the fact. If you make it hard for your employees to participate in things that are important to them, over time, they’re going to grow resentful. Tailor Your Wellness Approach The fourth mechanism is to realize that nothing is one-size-fits-all. One of the problems that broader wellness initiatives have is that they take a blanket approach, says Sawyer. It assumes every employee will love to participate in mindfulness at lunch, but not everybody does. Leaders need to have honest conversations about things that really contribute to each employees health and well-being. Sometimes those are physical things, like needing time to walk in the middle of the day, says Sawyer. Sometimes theyre mental health things, like needing to get to a therapy appointment every Thursday morning. Try to tailor what you offer to the extent possible to best support employees varied needs. What Employees Can Do If you are feeling meh at work and your employer isnt taking steps to change the norms, Sawyer recommends looking for people in your organization who are like-minded and then suggesting some of the cultural elements that can shift the workplace dynamics. Create a committee on health and wellness, where it’s not just one squeaky wheel, but it’s a group of people who are brainstorming to try to create a better work environment for everybody, she says. You can also try to create a micro subculture sphere of influence that adheres to new norms. Document the positive impacts to sell the idea that these mechanisms work. And take steps to regain balance and well-being on a personal level, such as participating in a hobby after work. But dont keep feeling meh about work. The meh feeling is a leading indicator that people are movng in a direction of being less engaged, says Sawyer. Companies should think of meh as a yellow flag that’s headed to red and a recipe for burnout. It wont get better on its own. Turn course now and recover instead of simply following the downward trend.
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E-Commerce
The Seattle Mariners will be repping Nintendo this season. The team announced that starting with the season opener on Thursday, team members will be wearing Nintendo patches on their jerseys. It’s the first time the team has ever had a jersey sponsorship. The Mariners promoted the partnership in a video posted to social media showing center fielder Julio Rodríguez wearing the new jersey and grabbing a Mariners ball cap that’s sitting next to a red Mario hat in a locker. Major League Baseball announced in 2022 that it would begin allowing teams to put sponsorships on their uniforms. Some teams quickly capitalized: The New York Yankees signed Starr Insurance, and the Kansas City Royals signed the convenience store and gas station chain QT. For the Mariners, the Nintendo patches are just the latest in a long-running partnership with the video game company that goes back more than three decades to 1992, when Nintendo of America purchased a controlling stake in the team. Though most of Nintendo of America’s stake was sold in 2016, the company still owns about 10% of the team. “Nintendo and the Mariners have been inextricably linked since 1992,” Kevin Martinez, the baseball teams president of business operations, said in a statement. “Now, each time the Mariners take the field, our jersey sleeves will help serve as a reminder of all that Nintendo of America has done for the Northwest community and the team.” [Photo: Seattle Mariners] Mariners players will wear white jerseys with the red-and-white Nintendo “racetrack” logo on the sleeve for home games. For away games, their turquoise jerseys will feature a red patch for the Switch 2, the Nintendo console that comes out next month. For baseball fans unhappy with corporate sponsorships finally making their way to players’ jerseys, the Nintendo patches may be unwelcome news. But at least for Mariners fans the team’s first ad might just be something they actually want to buy.
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E-Commerce
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