As anyone whose done a workshop with us will know, at The Value Engineers we often talk about ‘blue, red and green balls’ as the 3 essential principles for successful innovation: blue-sky creative thinking, thoughtful and considered screening of ideas, and driven implementation of successful concepts.

But it would seem that we don’t have a monopoly on using the blue, red and green balls to bring ideas to life….

On our recent trip to Indonesia, Alex Waters and I found that Jakarta restaurant ‘The Apartment’ had created a set of molecular cocktails called redballs, blueballs and greenballs. If you wanted to taste all three you could try the interestingly named ‘slurp the balls’ – a sampler of each of the red, blue and green molecular concoctions, served in individual Chinese spoons.

Great minds think alike?!

I’ve always thought that concept restaurants were a bit painful, and frankly a little pointless. If the food is good, it speaks for itself, right?

But a recent project in Jakarta forced me to reassess my cynical point of view on the matter. Having never visited the city before, and not wanting to eat in the hotel every night, I was lucky enough to be given some inside tips by a local ex-pat resident on where to eat in the evenings.

And so it was that we found ourselves battling the Jakarta traffic to discover The Apartment – a concept bar/restaurant that is designed to literally look like an apartment. We chose a table in the library rather than the bathroom (the lighting was far gentler), and while the overall interior design was interesting and quirky, what really bowled me over was how joined up the WHOLE experience was – from the staff (dressed in matching pyjamas) greeting us with “Welcome home”, to the menus styled as the daily newspaper, it didn’t miss a trick.

What’s more, the waiters and bar staff were so proud to work there, they offered us a tour at the end of our meal, pointing out all the little details, such as the bed in the bar and the jacuzzi-styled tables on the balcony.

The home-style food was good but not amazing, but (unusually for me) it actually didn’t matter.  While it’s never going to be an international brand, some of the big retailers and other service providers around the world could learn a thing or two from The Apartment in terms of bringing a brand to life in a way that goes far beyond the design of the space.

And the  final touch as we left the building to head back to our hotel…  “Come home soon!”