In the context of highly distributed production, material circularity, open design, hyper customisation and low impact products and production SPACE10 and the Exploring Emergent Futures Platform at the Royal College of Art, joined forces to explore a future of retail. The project was titled Mass Distribution, as a counterpoint to mass production and mass consumption, where the distribution of production tools gives rise to the distribution of access, agency, responsibility and management in the design and production of the things a society uses.

The project asked designers to explore: what could the future look like when almost anyone could design and make almost anything, anytime and anywhere? How would customers play a role in designing, making and remaking products to their liking? What would retail stores be like if they are no longer places to sell mass produced items but rather new linkages between supply and demand? What would the future look like if things could be made when wanted, close to customers and be low impact? What could new retail experiences be like in a “digital” and “circular” economy?

As part of the collaboration, EEF was challenged to develop a conceptual framework to act as a catalyst in imagining futures of retail in the context of highly distributed manufacturing in a circular economy. The framework was developed through dialogue and workshops with EEF students and tutors and influenced by the students individual responses to the overarching context of Mass Distribution. This conceptual framework forms the basis for developing future scenarios and
concepts and was tested at SPACE10 in a workshop with IKEA teams and local designers. In December 2016, EEF Design Products students presented original insights and exhibit their personal projects at SPACE10. The SPACE10 community were invited to a special talk called “From customers to collaborators and custodians”