I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Tuesday October 8th — —

“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Tuesday October 8th — —

The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Tuesday October 8th — —

Cover the creative class of chaotic cities

After five years of developing trend reports for major brands, agencies and institutions in Europe and Latin America under the eponym wabi-sabi lab, Lucy Rojas and Andres Colmenares have launched a web app named iF / imperfect FUTURE, with the ambition to make it the next generation of trend reports. The debut report covers the capital of Colombia, Bogotá. With iF, Rojas and Colmenares aim to cover the creative class of chaotic cities, the evolution of internet culture and other related topics, using not-obvious thinking offering a wider and better access to the future.

In their work as wabi-sabi lab Rojas and Colmenares were inspired by the concept of wabi-sabi, a japanese aesthetic described as the beauty of imperfection. Guided by this principle a manifesto was formed from which wabisabi lab and other wabisabians work from. It consists of seven rules that apply to anything they do: We pursue the truth. Less is more better. We live in the economy of happiness. We move between imagination and skepticism. The only constant is change chaos. “Be water, my friend”. Imperfection is beautiful.

Applying their leitmotif, the iF BOGOTÁ Trend Report offers a panoramic view of the future, based on a unique collection of interviews, stories, pieces of data and in-depth analysis. It covers the wide spectrum of 10 themes, connecting not obvious projects, places and persons to decode the urban complexity of Bogotá, featuring insights for the categories: Arts, Architecture, Branding, Communication, Design, Drinks & Beverages, Education, Entertainment, Fashion, Food, Health & Wellness, Media, Music, Retail, Sports, Startups, Tech, Tourism, Transportation, Urban Development, Video games, Youth.

This translates in the Trend Report for Bogotá into ten different elements of the city, for instance: the contrasts and complexity of culture ànd the creative exploration of the past to build a diverse future. Focussing more on what is going on this very moment, another theme that made it in the report is: How bogotanos are using technology to make a better future. And more specifically the fad of startups in Bogotá in which a co-working boom and the role of collaboration is observed. And not just solely the field of the creative industry is explored, another theme of the report focusses on the collective experiences around faith, sports, leisure and music, giving the report a rather broad outlook on the future of the capital of Colombia.

An  inspiring vision on Bogotá in a very interesting form. With the next report on NOSTALGIA FUTURA, which will cover the development of Internet culture amongst digital artists, designers and young entrepreneurs around the globe, we look forward to more reports by imperfect FUTURE.

Photography by Susana Carrié and Marcel Capato (portraits).

For more information see here.