Paramount | Marvel imagery files ©2008

Notes on the history of the Iron Man brand, the evolution of identity and how it comes to be.

There’s a certain conception of brand design in motion pictures. And the point is that cinema represents inherently stories that move, visually.

MOVIES. They are alive in that the imagination is framed — live and living on screen, with motion and sound. That’s the key difference. Televised applications apply, of course. But the dimensionality of these sensed combinations are that they are telling the story in sound and motion, idealized and ideated in unfolding vision. They do a lot of work to tell a story in the context of at least two senses — sound, and sight. There’s a lot more, of course, as to how this actually happens.

It’s all about how the story is framed — how it’s visually built - first in the storyline, then in how that story is created as a grouping of storyboarded / production design images, and how that is finally managed, in production design and the holistic visualization in film (read blog: http://blog.girvin.com/?p=1073).

But still, there’s something very unique to the premise of exploring identity in film design.

Films are brands — I’ve been working, along with various teams at Girvin and the client motion picture studios, as well as directors and talent, on exploring how a film can be compressed into the smallest visual space of a poster, an image — an identity.

Paramount | Marvel imagery files ©2008

The logo is the first element — the teaser, that begins the release. And when, in the end, the film closes — the logo completes the string of connection — from the opening production team caps, the set design engineering drawings, the versions for the opening launch into the market, the character of the one sheet campaign and broadsides to the final closing ads at the tail end of the run — the logo exemplifies the brand.

A quick side bar — this campaign was begun by EVP | Theatrical advertising for Paramount — but this is Marvel’s first film. Girvin’s role - the firm — and Girvin’s role, the person, was to look at possible paths for identity development. We did a lot, literally, in the form of a kind of journaled, hand scribed and engineered book of concepts — and what we’d searched out was the history — from the Girvin collection, as well as from other sources. This grouping led to where the film went in the end: note the tall capital letter treatment (bottom / orange) from the logo history file at the bottom of this assemblage:

And, where the solution netted out dimensionally:

Paramount | Marvel imagery files ©2008.

This treatment was art directed by Josh Greenstein, after Nancy Goliger passed the assignment, internally at Paramount Studios, to him.

Girvin preliminary tracings | NYC office Spring | Summer 2006

And for Girvin — and motion picture titling design — the idea of illustrating the spirit of a motion picture story is a long running presence that creatively extends back decades to 1978-9, working for Francis Ford Coppola on the titling design submissions for Apocalypse Now. In the beginning, back then, I didn’t know what I was doing — I merely submitted designs, oftentimes original art, un-copied, unnumbered, unreferenced. But after a time, working with the motion picture studios and theatrical advertising agencies, I learned a great deal about what works, what sells, what doesn’t. And, perhaps, that you can influence trend by creating a new framing of ideas. I designed to listen, listened to design. I designed to tell stories. And Girvin, the firm, over time, became a kind of renegade design consultant, for titling, identity art development, illustrations and symbols (like the eye of A Series of Unfortunate Events) as well as theatrical production art.

Paramount | imagery files ©2004 (the eye that started the project is above the type)

In further exploring the history of the identity development — and the present state branding of Iron Man — there’s an extensive back story of literally decades of personality development that’s been tied to the idea of Tony Stark (more on that below), his broken and fragile heart, the conflicted nature of his existence and experience — and what drives him anew, to another level of human explication - the spinning of the soul in a new genre of humanity. Nice story.

Girvin | Iron Man logo design journal pages:

Aside from the opening Marvel and comics research work, what inspired those pages? Understanding metal, armor and light in reflection on these materials. Where, there?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art:

But let’s go back, explore more. There’s an intriguing history, over the course of the last several decades, in the explication of the conflicted spirit of the man of iron.

Here’s a running exploration of the history of the Iron Man brand:

Here’s the launch identity for the brand, May 1968:

This is the only image of the earliest identity I could find, noted above. And, like where things went, it was a matter of exploring the sheathing of steel, the iron amalgam as the driver of the story personality and human (super) human presence.

Interestingly enough, in terms of current brand management standards, there are deviations in play:

Will need to work on that.

What’s your take away? How solid, the brand identity, of Iron Man?

tsg
—-
D.logs:
http://blog.girvin.com/
http://tim.girvin.com/Entries/index.php

Microsoft surface© interface

Some ideas about issues of interface, and the storytelling around the making of a film project, utilizing the nascent Microsoft surface© technology.

the sharing, image-shifting capacity
of the surface© technology.

Films (motion picture and television applications) are based on a sequence of actions:

1. A story.
2. A team that’s built to produce the film — could be investors, production team, director, studio management.
3. A team that works on the story development – screen writer, director, staff.
4. Another team that begins to build out the imagery of the style of the film.

The film’s director usually partners with a production designer, set designer, art director and a storyboard artist.

I was thinking about my experience working in film, on various teams, when the beginnings of the production are being set, exploring and styling the film. In working on The Matrix, Beowulf, or Spiderwick; Unforgiven, A Series of Unfortunate Events, or Star Trek…the nature of production design is about how the story will look.

Management of imagery and the culling of stylistic content is paramount. Having lots of content to access is key - lots of visuals, textual content, all that.

Some directors, like JJAbrams (Lost, Alias, M:i:III / Cloverfield), tend to operate on the presumptions of extensively planned styling. And storyboarding. The entire production is mapped out. Artists are hired to literally story-board the ideas and shooting sequences. So in meeting with the set production design team for Star Trek, as an example — under the highest scrutiny and secrecy, I might add, since this is part of a vast undercover branding effort — it’s important to absolutely control the assets, keeping secret the styling of the film. [Star Trek fans are notorious for knowing more — getting on set, stealing assets, references, anything to leak onto the pool of StarTrekian maniacs. Even reading the script is an onsite access only — nothing about the film leaves the lot].

What happens next in the process is about gathering and stylistically setting the entire visualizations for the complete production design. This often manifests into walls and walls of hundreds of images, sketches, notes — photographic references, digital “assemblage” — all stringed out in sequence for production planning. So, for example, one scene might actually be a grouping of text, notes, imagery, photographs and illustrations. From these collages, everything is designed.

When I work on a film, that’s what I’m looking for — what’s the look of it? How does it feel, holistically? There’s a great deal of more research for me and the staff, of course. But, doing the work, you’ve got to go to the collages and ideations on the film lot.

Same for Matrix.
All of the Mission: Impossibles;
Lemony Snicket,
Sahara,
Indiana Jones,
all the Star Treks.
Even Sky Captain.
Aeon Flux.
Transformers.
Iron Man…

Beowulf.

We take what we gather, and build it out — from script to stills, production design development, to visualized expressions of identity:

http://blog.girvin.com/?p=496
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=522
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=712
http://www.beowulfmovie.com/

Now what I envisage for Microsoft’s surface© is a kind of roving - horizontal, sliding gathering scale that expands vertically and horizontally, to frame a vast grouping of production details — fluently and fluidly, accessed. Instantly accessible, yet rearrangeable. Instead of walls and walls — all in the containment of surface© technology:

All images from Microsoft surface© interface.

This could be very, very cool.

What’s your take?

TSG | Lowell, Idaho

Some notes on the spiritual branding of the principles of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama — and what that means for business, brand development and human capital in culture.

Firms of Endearment.

I’ve spent the last couple of days walking around the edge of the wide perimeter of mind of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama http://www.seedsofcompassion.net.
Project notes are at: http://blog.girvin.com/?p=576

It’s been a two fold path - one, it’s all being about the sheer blessing of being in contact with a person of such spectacular exposure and experience, a human of deeply held spirituality — and two, it’s about listening and trying to, progressively, think about degrees of application. Where?

To my life, to the life of my business, to apply the spirit of the man, to the brand. That’s not me, it’s him. His Holiness, as everyone calls him. Actually, I find that kind of fascinating, that so many refer to him so completely reverentially. Beauty full, really, seeing that respect from Americans.

It’s very un-American, to be spiritually respectful. We, collectively, actually like to think of spirituality as a kind of learned commodity — it’s nice to have, but…whatever. Americans don’t get it. For the most part. That kind of supercilious character is merely arrogance — and Americans, finally, are beginning to learn about quelling that pathetic (look that word up) behavior. In traveling the world, exploring the spiritual dimensions of other cultures, it does take a kind of commitment to link in to them. Be modest, be quiet in your listening, be acquiescent, be restrained, be apologetic.

Lean in.

That is, to hear more, learn more, understand more, you’ve got to get on the ground, kneel, bow down, listen — head to earth. Americans are terrible at that kind of ingratiation. But they seem to be learning.

Why? Because we are such a failed expression in global connectivity — we’re the worst link in the worldwide networks. We’re surely necessary — us: U.S., but we’re the kind of hinge that’s so squeaky that you (the world community) know it’s (we’re) there (all the time); and yes — you need it (U.S.) — but it’s incredibly annoying. Not always the case, but in my worldly examinations, I find that again and again, I’m questioned on — “how could I be an American?” Or, more commonly, “how could I have voted for..?,” “What’s the matter with you(r) people, anyway?”

Where’s my compassion?

Back at it. The opening steps:

When I first met with Dan Kranzler and Peggy Dickens (who’d directed Dan to me), it was about how to help in the thinking of the planning applications of the branding of an event that might, or might not, center around HHDL. Over a couple of days. It was a team effort — a collaborative enterprise. The Brandquest® workshop process is all about collusion and adhesion — working together to sort ideas, innovate direction, spark new ideas and glue them together — team built — that will be about exploring brand personality and dimensionality for this extraordinary encounter. Brands, whether they are about products, teams, services or new cultural directions, are all about humanity. The human brand. If one simply thinks about the metaphor of fire — the campfire, as a place of gathering and storytelling, the real etymological link becomes clear and refined in the visionary eye.

What happened in today’s Seeds of Compassion session, in exploring, was a grouping of Northwest executives — company founders, like Howard Behar, an early principled Principal — Starbucks: http://www.bizjournals.com/ and Jeffrey Brotman, innovator, United Way Millionaire ringleader, founder of Costco: http://www.washington.edu/. Nice people, both of them.

Each of them talked about the concepts of compassionate relationships internally, to their cultures, and extrinsically, to their customer communities. Each of them, and the others in the mix of discussions, had contributions to make about caring, giving back, supporting, listening, being with their teams, supporting them. Loving them. Yes, loving them. And defining the paths that lead to the warmth and compassionate (pain empathic) character of their “brands”. Brands are entirely human. Simple - it’s where they come from. Brands are human-made.

I’ve said that too much, perhaps:

http://blog.girvin.com/?p=831
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=856
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=876
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=906

But I keep going…

His Holiness refers to a string of lessons in story, in varying gestures — and he does a lot of that: gesturing:

His Holiness uses his hands to get his ideas out — and even if he’s silent, the messages come across. Like a conductor, they are orchestrations of ideas. They are — about the brand — the compassionate business propositions:

That it’s about:
• concepts of trust — in community, close and far, trusting human and reflective values.
• truth and authenticity — the stories come from the heart.
• the definitions of value — are always about the earnings that come from, and are given to, the heart.
• honesty and truthfulness — these are sustaining and long term assets, that will be reflected back to the giver, the receiver, endlessly.
• being clear is challenging — but clarity is sincerity — and truth fullness — in action.
• there is the path of godliness — being connected to a worshipful attitude towards spiritual presence
• and, inversely, there is the path of conviction — not contrary to the spiritual path, since he refers to this as a kind of “enthusiasm”, which is, of course, the indwelling of divinity — ideas are embraced in convicted enthusiastic character. Sharing, and holding, are infectious.

So this is about the spiritual brand — it’s a new age, the population is maturing; there’s more to living than money|money|money — it’s about more, holistically advancing the meaning of your life. And seeking more in jobs and relationships; it’s about finding balance. Allowing the selective embrace. Even Chris Anderson (Wired) is referencing this proposition — the Long Tail is about finding the delicately sliced connections in community; it’s not the big flabby mass, but multiples of communities.

The point to all of these observations are about the spirit of the brand, the brand spirit — and that, in the teaching and sharing of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama — and what that humanity, the warmth, that connection between the one and the other, the compassionate being, is going to remake the business — beauty, newly found.

Something new:

to see:

And the Seeds, scene —

Times are changing — when thousands of business people are willing to take the time to explore something other than the newest Business 2.0 strategic modeling — and to listen for a couple of hours to the mystically discovered representative of an obscure order of Tibetan monks, now — a global leader and force of nature, it’s something.

Some thing — remarkable.

What’s your take? Did you go? What do you embrace?

tsg
—-

GIRVIN | Creative intelligence
New York City + Seattle | Tokyo
see the new http://www.girvin.com

Exploring creative integrations:
http://www.tim.girvin.com/

D.logs:
http://blog.girvin.com/
http://tim.girvin.com/Entries/index.php

On the 20th, last month, I’d connected with a friend, Tim Lauren, to explore the Store One | Starbucks, Pike Place Market. We’d met, examining, talking about brand management and experience planning. Tim comes from the space of experience design innovations, from a string of efforts in Symrise, the scent and flavor group based in Europe. My first link to Symrise was Roger Schmid, another extraordinary innovator and experience explorer, who also comes from a sequence of inventive explorations in this group — studying the concepts of synaesthesia and human brand experience. The mastery of scent is part of what is at the heart of the Starbucks challenge. Roger and I’ve been examining this idea — how does scent figure holistically in the memory of experience development? That can be for brands. That can be for people. That can be for fragrance designers. Product development. People that are simply connected to studying experience in relationship to their lives — what impacts them?

Here’s what I was thinking, anyway — Go home and start over. Look at the heart and get back to it:

http://blog.girvin.com/?p=906

Who sang that, anyway?
“Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.”

Who cares about Starbucks? What happened to the story? What branding strategy, burgeoning out to multiples of 1000s of stores (and hopeful stories) has lead to the difficulties that are in play?

And what about scent — what’s the deal there? There’s an edict in play stating that the toasted hyper-heating of the breakfast sandwiches wrongly blasts the coffee experience. “Stop that“, according to Howard. “Phase it out, kind of quietly,” say the teams that are listening to customer complaints.

What about the people, what do they think — do they care? Is there something contrary about peppered bacon and egg and a richly flavored scent of well-made coffee. I think, actually, that a lot of people will be less than happy about that. Really, is that the challenge?

I’d say that this is the least of it – it’s more about the emerging complexity of all the challenges, all at once. I believe that this, in a way, is why there’s so much of a tornado effect — it’s all happening simultaneously because it’s all been forgotten. All right, that’s overstating it — but, there is a disconnection. And those relationships need to be renewed.

The choosing, the consumer choice — has been changed. Crystallizing the clear, Howard Schultz intones: “I think it’s hard for people to understand—is that the headwind of the economy is very, very tough. Every consumer brand, every retailer, is under significant pressure. So it’s really hard to separate the challenges every company has from what’s going on in terms of consumer confidence. For example, mall traffic in America is down in consecutive months between 9% and 10%. It’s very difficult to manage through that. But the job of every retailer and every merchant is to put yourself in the shoes of the customer and ask yourself: Are you exceeding their expectations? That’s what we have to do as a business.”

Howard seems to agree — “we have to do everything we can to demonstrate to our customers that Starbucks is an affordable luxury. We have to surprise and delight them. And this launch of Pike Place Roast in reinventing brewed coffee is just the beginning.”

What I’m thinking, actually, is that I’m increasingly not caring about it. I’ve gone from caring a lot, being a person that watched Howard Schultz do his opening pitch, with Gordon Bowker, another friend in the founding and opening “storytelling” in the Pike Place Market — literally decades ago. I was around when Terry Heckler was doing the naming — Starbucks. The logo by Doug Fast — another friend. And, too — being a stockholder, trying to connect with Howard, and other teams — working in linking up with dozens of relationships there — down at the HQ. It’s in the blog that I’ve referenced above.

And it’s pretty much feeling a lot like what their challenge is. Profound arrogance — coupled with the bigness theming. I heard that again today, from another friend, who runs a large grouping. Big. Powerful. And pissed off.

Whatever.

There’s been an interesting plethora of schisms that have emerged — and Ad Age, for one, has been documenting them.

Web disconnects. Weird music. Movie spins. Books. Funny products. Alignments. At one point, it seemed like each idea was a kind of innovation; then, in way, it seems like they’re adding up to distractions. Howard supports the spirit of an entrepreneurial culture, that grouping of links to development and advancement of resilient change — but at a point, what’s the point to the heart of the brand? He offers — “when you get large and very successful, you have to balance creativity and entrepreneurship with process and strategy. We got a little out of balance, and we weren’t as creative and entrepreneurial as we were when we were smaller. And what I’m trying to do is infuse the company with the kind of spirit and innovation [we had] when we were younger.” (http://www.businessweek.com/)

Here are the observations on the shift that I’d spoken with Howard, over time, about:

• Build geographic reference and relevance; individually allow the stores to offer some sense of neighborhood resonance — an item of furniture, something to give it a sense of place; there are some feeble attempts — get a circulating designer in there, looking it over, making sure it’s right.
• Build a much more diversified sense of retail code — create multiplicities of brand vocabulary, don’t make me see the SOS in NYC on 57th, that I see at Pike Place PL and Bell Street, Seattle.
• Go back to the heart, get to store one, look there and see what really senses the heart of the brand. I’d mentioned some things — in that earlier blog, what of some of those? Must everything be so homogenized?
• Be real, create more sense of authentic connection — instead of littering the story and the store with dozens of papered stanchions and faked-out displays, how about setting the tone with something that’s real — brings me home?
• Bring out the product – how can we get our hands on that? Merchandise live. Live, merchandise.

I’d mentioned some of this to Howard, and others, at Starbucks. Never heard back. And I’ve discussed this, as well, in lively formatting, with others.

Here’s where they went, about 3 weeks after that other blog (and no, I’m not taking any credit here). Interesting, the alignments, given what I’d written about earlier

Get back — get back to where you once belonged:

Get back, then where do you go? Home, hand made, customized, Pike Place:

The old, now new; the new, now old –


Then, the story — what’s the link between the old, the true, the handcrafted — and this offering?

Merchandising, limited edition and dated:

What’s the story — it’s true, it’s Pike Place:

Getting to “chalk out the story” –

Numbered by hand — dated, too:

Sealed up, arm patched:

Proudly dated — every day –but for what?

Points taken? On the 20th of March, we’d explored that idea of — what happened? What’s been forgotten? We know there are a lot of people that are wondering about that. And in that blog, a couple of days later, we talked about that idea — that the real character is, what about Store One. Story, and store — one.

From the market shifts, we know there are plenty of people making their own kind of changes — where am I going? Somewhere else? Might be. I’ve tried to give it a solid pro bono shot, proverbially speaking.

We’ll see how the story turns out.

What’s your take on this?

tsg

It started here, http://blog.girvin.com/?p=576, for me, but, there is history:

It goes back.

And I go back.

I can remember the first time that I was exposed to a Tibetan vajrayana teaching presence — a human distillation of Himalayan spirituality.

It was Sogyal Rinpoche, decades back. Sogyal Rinpoche (born c. 1950, several years before me ) is a Tibetan Dzogchen master of the Nyingma tradition. He is the founder of Rigpa and the author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. That book came out sometime after my connection with him.

He was a relatively young man. And I’d been asked to create some art for him on a poster. That was all about death.

And breathing. And exhalation. And the quote that I’d rendered, with a kind of wet brush, was about breathing in, breathing out. And you keep breathing. You keep breathing till you can’t. And you exhale. And that’s that.

But the encounter, aside from the presence of this person, this Rinpoche was my first live exposure to Tibetan Buddhism. From there, off and on, that connection filtered in and out over time. There was the crazy wisdom of Chögyam Trungpa. Intriguing, but sad, the short-lived.

There was more and more weaving. And now, the return of HHDL to Seattle!
And in this way, again, it’s been a matter of giving back again. That presence is about that sense of exhalation — releasing something, giving something.

When, now, I contemplate that, all those times, it’s about that — inhalation, exhalation — something in, something out, something given, something returned.

There was, decades back, a visit by the HHDL to Seattle. And I helped on that, contributing something — art for a poster, yet again. And he was here, and there was a distant connection for me. Still, the concepts then, and the concepts now, of deep Tibetan Buddhism are somewhat remote. They are, in a manner, for me at least, something that reaches almost to a kind of scholarly realm of study. Learn Tibetan. Try to understand the vast array of symbols and iconography, practice thousands of prostrations, meditate in the chiming of millions of mantras, master the contemplative gestures of complex mudra — all: in exploring; all: in learning; all: — inhalation, exhalation, giving…

But the one thing that’s interesting, considering all this — is the simplistic beauty of HHDL — his offerings — that have verged from the deep mysteries of Buddhist wisdom, so complicated in the beginning that many Westerners, in their first exposure, couldn’t comprehend the revelations (1976) — to this:

Be, and live, in the fullness of compassion.
Give, in that.
Live light — in simply doing no harm to others.

I went on, to Tibet, wandering there, giving away hundreds of the images of HHDL to farmers, monks, country people, wanderers, children, teachers…Mongolia. Bhutan — Lama Kunzang.

Terton (Treasure finder) Dorje

Working with Gere on his site: http://www.gerefoundation.org/ supporting his visioning and the spirit of the Tibetans.

And perhaps receiving, in all of these explorations — something to the simpler side: Be Compassionate! Plant the seeds to change the visioning of the world, in that fertile ground, the children.

I’m blessed in having had the chance to exhale, in the giving.

And the inhale, the learning.
—-
Tim Girvin
New York City + Seattle | Tokyo

http://www.girvin.com
http://www.tim.girvin.com/

compassion
1340, from O.Fr. compassion, from L.L. compassionem (nom. compassio) “sympathy,” from compassus, pp. of compati “to feel pity,” from com- “together” + pati “to suffer” (see passion). Loan-translation of Gk. sympatheia.

passion
c.1175, “sufferings of Christ on the Cross,” from O.Fr. passion, from L.L. passionem (nom. passio) “suffering, enduring,” from stem of L. pati “to suffer, endure,” from PIE base *pei- “to hurt” (cf. Skt. pijati “reviles, scorns,” Gk. pema “suffering, misery, woe,” O.E. feond “enemy, devil,” Goth. faian “to blame”). Sense extended to sufferings of martyrs, and suffering generally, by 1225; meaning “strong emotion, desire” is attested from c.1374, from L.L. use of passio to render Gk. pathos. Replaced O.E. þolung (used in glosses to render L. passio), lit. “suffering,” from þolian (v.) “to endure.”

Exploring the principles of art, craft, making and the philosophical vision:

Brooklyn Museum: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/murakami/

What about Takashi Murakami?
“the difference inherent in Japanese and Western artistic practices, and the frustrating “non-art?” status that much of Japanese art bears, both within, and outside of the country.” My first response to this was to and market artistic works in non-fine arts media. But after that, I thought: “why not just revolutionize the concept of art itself?

The tradition of art, crossing to luxury, and luxury, returning to art, isn’t a new one. In fact, gathering the threads of time, it’s likely possible to find networks between the artists of a time and the luxurious outcroppings of the cultured — and back again. In fact, one might surmise that some powerful brands, even luxurious ones, from the realm of the past, found their strength in the founding hands of the artist.

References might be found in the opening principles of Louis Tiffany. The genius of the Tiffany presence, originating in the middle of the 19th century, and closing a career in the middle of the 20th century, was founded on an extraordinary inspiration of matching beauty and manufacture in artfulness. Marvelous, the character of the work, the inspiration of the man. (Can that be said of Takashi Murakami?)

L.C. Tiffany

There’s a long story in the legacy of the man’s work — and it’s surely too complex and rich to tell here — but, it’s worth exploring here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Comfort_Tiffany#Career

The Holy City, by Louis Comfort Tiffany
Stained glass window at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church,
Baltimore, Maryland © James G. Howes

One might surmise that the man was the brand — he was the craftsman, the visionary, the businessman that mixed the highest inventions of the artisanal traditions of making with the range of implemented commerce. The bridge between the ideal — and the real. (Murakami, then, too?)

Tiffany’s dragonfly lamp

Tiffany jewelry

The gesture is the link between a person, a vision and a branded dream. Hence the jump to Murakami.

There’s a slightly different spin to the story, in the peculiarly turned telling of Murakami’s creativity and his newest installation here:

I’m not done with the sense of history, impacting in a way, the character of Murakami’s actions — yet. And the concept of artists being tied to the conceptions of luxury as art | art as luxury is still less than fully examined. This allusion in formula: art + luxury = commerce, extends backwards in time to the character of the founding dreams (again) of the arts and crafts movement that was the galvanizing influence for Louis Tiffany, Tiffany & Co. — that of William Morris.

Morris was born earlier in the 19th century, enough so to influence the spirit of Louis Tiffany. His visioning was, like Tiffany’s, comprehensively expressed — in all things. William Morris’ expression of objects, architecture, decoration, literature, books and arts - the conceptions of arts and crafts expression, thoroughly integrated — were broad, and widely felt. While Morris’ sentiments were for a hopeful generation of artful utilities that could be experienced by the many, much of what he and his school created were for the rare and the few. His lush books, published by the Kelmscott Press, for example, were limited edition masterpieces of production. But, obviously, could only be explored by a relatively small and well appointed audience.

The spirit of that foliate and full expression of decorative richness was applied to virtually everything — ranging from architecture to furniture and a wide assortment of affiliated artists and evangelists championing the visioning of his work.

Some patterned wallpapers, textiles and tiles:

Art and poetic treatments:

His architecture | the Red House:

The furniture | William Morris:

Glass work — William Morris:

Tapestry work from the Morris studios:

What I’m interested in are created worlds — that is, works that are integrating visioning that ties to holistic expressions in culture. For commerce. And in this review (just for the sake of expedient reference) — I’m only exploring one distinct time framing (there are surely others) — from the shifting portals of the 1700s, to the new movements of the 1800s and the turning transitions to the beginnings of the 20th century.

That string comes from a sequence that might have been the founding of the arts and crafts ideology, as a backlash to the harsh industrial age of early Victorian transformation, from the late 18th century to the emergence of 19th century. Dreadful societal conditions, promulgated with the advance of hardened forces in the industrial revolution — similarly challenging the human condition. Arnold Toynbee’s lectures: “The Industrial Revolution, ‘the catastrophic interpretation’ of the whole of the industrial period as a time leading to ‘a rapid alienation of classes and to the degradation of a large body of producers.”

Work took on a dreadful toll. There were the rich, there were the poor. The arts and crafts took on a kind of humanist, even Socialist character, rejoining earlier simpler times, when things might have been, at least in the minds of John Ruskin, one of the key founders of the movement, more beautiful. That political reference emerged in a kind of communal sharing of wealth, the spreading of the goods. That movement’s opening, lead to an entire school of thinking — and artists that gathered to its core. William Morris, a builder of worlds. Louis Tiffany, a builder of idealized wonderment.

And now, Murakami, a builder. A philosopher. An artist. And the superflat otaku.

What I note about Murakami (and a little of the philosophy of his made world) is a kind of similarity of vision in bringing the dream of his expressions out into the larger sphere of cultural experience.

To reference, for example: “Louis Vuitton has created a temporary store within the retrospective exhibition of works by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. The store’s presence in the museum symbolizes the interweaving of art, culture, fashion and commerce that has become a fundamental component in Takashi Murakami’s philosophy.”

That sounds a little familiar. Some critics rail against this link between art, luxury, commerce — but it’s not the first time that these features have been conjoined. Callen Blair notes: “The purist Cassandras are crying that it’s another example of a museum cozying up to a corporation and engaging in commercialism.” She continues — “The Vuitton outpost isn’t a museum partnership with a corporate brand or a gift shop. (LAMoCA isn’t even making any money off the shop.) It’s part of Murakami’s art. His interest is in knocking down the wall that separates high art from low art; that’s why he makes everything from paintings for blue-chip dealer Larry Gagosian to the ubiquitously-known Vuitton bags to mouse pads and cell phone caddies sold through his company Kaikai Kiki. A retrospective of Murakami’s career that didn’t include a retail space of some sort would be incomplete. And museum officials recognize that — they told the New York Times that the boutique “symbolizes the interweaving of high art, mass culture and commerce that has become essential to Murakami’s philosophy.” William Morris?

Photo by Gion

A grounding principle to Murakami is a stride: “I don’t know if it’s a philosophy, but the thing that impulsively comes to mind as an artist is to step into areas where people don’t go.” But he counters this positioning in the bridging of east to west, in the character of his experience as being a Japanese designer with a sense of historical context: “I would like to spread “humbleness” and “moderation,” two things that are still unknown in terms of their worth in the West and around the world. These have been crucial design concepts in Japanese art and society for centuries.” Humble. hmmm…

That idea of bridging the spirit of the present to the past is similarly the guiding principle of the other artist’s worlds (and works) that I’ve suggested align with this exploration. William Morris was a facile student of the Medieval. Morris’ works in this manner, attempted to bring this character back into the fold of commercial and cultural context in the 1800s.

So too does Murakami seek bridging — the past, to the present: “Murakami attended the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, initially studying more traditionalist Japanese art. He pursued a doctorate in Nihonga, a mixture of Western and Eastern styles dating back to the late 19th century. However, due to the mass popularity of anime and manga, Japanese styles of animation and comic graphic stories, Murakami became disillusioned with Nihonga, and became fixated on otaku culture, which he felt was more representative of modern day Japanese life.”

And, in the character of the workshops and settings of production — Murakami relives that development from the arts and crafts, imbuing philosophy with extended production — and branded, signature products:

And a grouping of discrete Murakami cultural expressions — made, en masse: “In 1996, Murakami founded the “Hiropon factory,” a studio with assistants to produce his work. With success, the Hiropon factory gradually grew into a fully professionalized art production studio and also an artist management organization. In 2001, Murakami registered his organization as Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. Today it employs over 100 people, with operations in both the US (in Brooklyn, New York) and Japan. Kaikai Kiki puts on an art fair twice a year, GEISAI.” Like the workshops of Morris and Tiffany.

“Murakami formulates ideas and actively supervises the production of work, but he does not directly paint or sculpt the finished works. In addition to producing art works for exhibition in galleries and museums, KaiKai Kiki is responsible for the design of an enormous range of mass-produced products featuring Murakami’s signature images: vinyl figurines, plush toys, keychains, t-shirts, posters, and more.

Kaikai Kiki also functions as an artist management organization and has seen remarkable success in creating a domestic and international market for new Japanese art. Many of Murakami’s assistants are also artists who are exhibiting their work internationally.” (Wikipedia)

The conclusions — as an aside to criticism of his works, the alignment with Louis Vuitton, the “shop” at the Museum — it’s about creating worlds. And letting commerce be a kind of bridge between the promulgation of the principle to spreading the proverbial word. To world.

What do you think about Murakami? Is it possible that this notion upsets the principles of art — and the selling of it; is art, luxury, simply something that speaks to the few? Or, could it be another philosophy — like the spirit of William Morris, or Louis Tiffany, an ideal that brings that dream holistically to the world, broadly accessible?

What that world looks like, from the NYTimes, Julien Jordes:

Murakami production site: Kaikai Kiki Co.
http://english.kaikaikiki.co.jp/
The Daily News:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/03/26/2008-03-26_murakamis_vuitton_bags_for_sale_at_brook.html
Gothamist:
http://gothamist.com/2008/04/02/_murakami_brook.php
Anime News Network:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-12/takashi-murakami-exhibition-heads-to-brooklyn-museum
Lee Rosenbaum’s cultural commentary:
http://www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/2008/03/brooklynmurakamivuitton_it_kee.html

tsg
girvin.com

An examination of conceptions of branding environments for storytelling in contextual community.

Case study: Oakley.

American Hurrah | Oakley

Girvin backgrounder:

I believe that people understand brand comprehensively in place.

Over the last 20 years, Girvin has been working in the space of creating branded environments. That might be conceptual, like our work for Yves Saint Laurent (http://blog.girvin.com/?p=942), or functional, like our partnership with Callison Architecture on finding brand story in patterning applications for retail (www.girvin.com/clients/documents/sogo.pdf).

Or working on an enlarged variation on this theme: http://www.girvin.com/portfolio/environment/seibu/seibu.php,

Or a grouping of explorations that you can find here: http://www.girvin.com/expertise/environment.php.

Even corporate museums can be defined as a form of brand architecture: http://www.girvin.com/clients/client_list.php (click on Microsoft Museum).

Our teams have worked, as well, on restaurants, hospitality spaces, shop in shop, interactive kiosks (micro branded environments) and other built programs designed to express brand in place. Enough about us.

Personally, historically, I have worked with architects for more than 30 years. I grew up in a neighborhood of architects, so the leaning to understanding how architecture works in creating a sense of place came very early.

Let’s start by exploring the idea of definition. Wikipedia offers:

Branded environments extend the experience of an organization or company’s brand, or distinguishing characteristics as expressed in names, symbols and designs, to the design of interior or exterior settings. Components of a branded environment can include finish materials, environmental graphics, way-finding devices and signage and identity systems. Creators of branded environments leverage the effect of the physical structure and organization of space to help deliver their clients’ identity attributes, personality and key messages.

The creation of branded environments grew out of a movement within the practice of interior design in the early 1990’s that recognized that brand equity, or the perceived value in the identifying brand characteristics of an organization, could be applied to three-dimensional environments.

The practice of designing branded environments is often a research-driven effort led by an interior designer or architect, and may include a multi-disciplinary team of strategic consultants, brand development experts, marketing and communications consultants, and graphic designers. Particularly effective for retail,[1] museum and exhibit design, branded environments can support the success of many organizational types, from corporate to institutional and educational. The designed environment can reflect or express the attributes of a community or the competitive advantages of a company’s product or service.

Benefits of a branded environment can include improved brand position and communication, better customer recognition, differentiation from competitors and higher perceived value from investors.[2] Internally, benefits may include higher employee satisfaction and retention, increased productivity, and better understanding of an organization’s mission, vision and values. (Bibliographic references below)

We believe that any brand, as a holistic enterprise, needs to offer coherent expression in built space. That sense of holism, component elements building to a whole — integrated experience — seems a natural proposition, yet interestingly enough, there are plenty of existing, long standing references that do not elicit a connection between brand thinking and built environment. These companies seem pretty smart — but there’s a big break between concept and ideation - and branded execution in space. These contrary edifices that suggest nothing of what goes on in the interiors.

IBM | Somers campus, NY

Kraft | Northfield Campus, IL

Soulless, too. And, to these, and many others, I’ve been there.

It’s not worth exploring more — it’s pretty obvious that there’s a legacy of creating campuses or building expressions that don’t, really, communicate anything about the aesthetic of the brand. I can offer United Airlines (Oakbrook, IL); Kellogg’s, (Minneapolis, MN); Hershey, (Hershey, PA); (new) Apple Computer, (Cupertino, CA); Microsoft, (Redmond,WA) and countless others simply don’t say much of anything about brand vision. Sure, they’re pretty, but what’s the point? They’re largely containment devices. And I suppose that there’s something to that strategy — get ‘em in there (and out of there) as quickly and as inexpensively as possible.

Whatever the scale of the brand — efforts should be made to create story in spatial experience. The added sensate brand management renderings of scent, sound, touch, taste — these are enriching attributes of enclosure and experience. They, too, are important.

But looking around, there is more to explore. How to tell a brand story dynamically in the context of space, place and presence — and I’m not talking about bold logo applications. For while this campus entry rendering of Google is interesting, (right — there’s a logo on there) I’m not sure really what is says about the brand. The juxtaposition of the contrasting beam works seems like confusion and distraction, rather than the heart of one of the most powerful search tools ever known.

Maybe it’s a retrofit?

But what about architecture telling the story — in conceptual application?

NBBJ, an international design firm that makes its headquarters in Seattle, takes on a different stride — while the brand identity, per se, might be unseen, or minimal, there are conceptual references that are remarkable, each building speaking to a kind of corporate articulation that is emanating from the very genetics of the brand spirit.

Novartis, San Diego, CA

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridgeshire, UK

Telenor, Oslo, Norway

Samsun World Gymnasium, Incheon, Korea

Reebok, Canton, MA

McConnell Foundation, Redding, CA

In these projects, there’s a balance to the context of design, brand, story and experience expression. There’s a depth of thinking in finding the truth of brand culture — and creating an integrated, built expression of these attributes. I leave it to NBBJ for explication — on their finding the metaphors that link truth to culture, story to architecture in these buildings. You can find more at www.nbbj.com.

I’m looking for expansions on that statement, that grouping of ideas — how can they be best tied together. What’s the thread? And there have been other inquisitive references that I’ve examined on the alignment of these messages: space, place, story. From Starbucks to Gucci, from James Carpenter to Tom Ford, from Apple Stores to YSL.

Here:
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=324
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=343
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=689
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=906
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=930
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=942

I’m exploring this because I’m looking for answers. Who’s doing what to answer these questions — and who’s doing it right?

Here’s one take, to answer:

Oakley.

American Hurrah

“I always knew we would succeed. That comes from believing in what you’re doing, and striving to do it better than anyone thought possible.” Jim Jannard | Founder, Mad Scientist, Oakley

Oakley Interplanetary Headquarters

The building was designed by Colin Baden, president and chief creative officer of the company. Baden is, as well, one of the founding industrial designers for the company. Oakley was named for the dog of Jim Jannard, founder and chief executive officer. The symbology, the Oakley rendering, in the brand mark, is called the Icon. It’s the eye on everything.

And it, inherently, drives the spirit of everything that the company does — including the architecture, which is a kind of massive production design — it’s a set, a prop, for the brand. But think of prop as proposition – of attitude, ethos, invention and innovation. And while this might be seemingly excessive to many in the architectural community, it’s a prime example of principle driven by principal — Mr. Baden, who’s earned the moniker of the Mad Scientist, along with Jim Jannard, that together lead to the entry way — another world.

The design thinking is pervasive — and the marketing strategy, even working to forming the design of the products, extends deeply into the culture. Even the trading registration — the New York Stock Exchange: O O is the code. Eyes.

The design styling is surely fortress-like — and given the military nature of some of their product, it’s relevant: Oakley works with the U. S. military on both laser eye protection in assault eyewear and an alternative boot for the Elite Special Forces, in addition to the broad range of their consumer products.

The site entrance:

The space(s): It’s a place of reinforced blast walls, product torture chambers and the padded cells of mad science. Oakley’s design bunker is where inventions are conceived, developed, perfected and manufactured. In addition to the hidden catacombs of research labs and proving grounds, the architectural design of Oakley President Colin Baden includes a 400-seat amphitheater, and “absolutely no adult supervision.” Attitude, truth, invention, innovation. They’re all part of the design code — and marketing brand strategy — of the group.

These highly styled representations add to the sense of brand attitude:

They win! In the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, 150 athletes used Oakley products while earning 18 gold medals, 21 silver and 15 bronze.

Site visuals:

More facts for reference:

Tim Yue | Parking medallion

• All design links back to brand story — the Oakley brandcode®.
• The 400,000 square foot building on a forty acre site was constructed by Snyder-Langston of Irvine, California — development, construction management and general contracting services.
• The facility includes office, manufacturing, assembly and distribution areas, as well as an Oakley museum, gift shops, and heliport.
• Employee amenities include a NBA regulation basketball court, fitness center, full service cafeteria and a 450 seat auditorium.
• The industrial lobby, shown in the interior views, 6,000 square feet and is capped by a forty foot high stainless steel cylindrical structure above the building’s entrance.

And yes, the fan works.

Red Dawn

Explorations on Oakley culture.

“If you’re going to do something, be brave and jump in, but do something meaningful.” Jim Jannard

http://www.jannard.com/index.html (personal site of the founder)
http://www.ispo-sportsdesign.com/history/forum/presenter.colin-baden.43.html (colin baden | design director @ volvodesignforum)
http://www.dvinfo.net/red/reddawn1.php (overview and fan site links)
http://www.transworldmotocross.com/mx/features/article/0,13190,343858,00.html (bike / dmx link)
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.12/oakley_pr.html (wired innovation link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_GL9XNjcBI&feature=related (eyewear testing video)
http://www.truckinweb.com/features/0511tr_2005_dodge_ram_oakley_custom/photo_03.html (oakley customized truck)

Red Dawn

Founding principal: principles —

A mad scientist named Jim Jannard began questioning the limits of industry standards. “No one believed my ideas,” said Jim. “No one would listen.” In 1975, he went into business for himself. Jim started Oakley with $300 and the simple idea of making products that work better and look better than anything else out there.

In his garage lab, Jim developed a new kind of motorcycle handgrip with a unique tread and a shape that fit the rider’s closed hand. “Everything in the world can and will be made better,” Jim told skeptics, “The only questions are, ‘when and by whom?’” Top pros took notice of the new design and its Unobtainium® material that actually increased grip with sweat.

For Jim, that meant challenging the limits of conventional thinking. His homespun company was struggling yet his next invention would become a mainstay in MX racing for 17 years. Jim created the O Frame® goggle with a lens curved in the perfect arc of a cylinder. Pros like Mark Barnett, Marty Smith, Johnny O‘Mara and Jeff Ward championed its clarity and wide peripheral view.

Jim went back to his lab and started reinventing sunglasses for sports. Few believed it could be done successfully, and most thought the industry’s big companies could not be challenged. Jim used innovations from his previous inventions to create “Eyeshades®,” a design that began an evolution of eyewear from generic accessory to vital equipment.

The first world-class competitor to approach the company was Greg LeMond, who became a three-time winner of the Tour de France. Other pros like Scott Tinley, Mark Allen and Lance Armstrong demanded the performance and protection offered by Eyeshades®.

Decades of innovation brought new product technologies, blends of science and art that have been awarded more than 540 patents worldwide. Today, Jannard’s brand has become the mark of excellence and the solution to challenges facing those who cannot compromise on performance.

“Inventions wrapped in art. Oakley was founded on that idea, and it still defines us.” Jim Jannard

1. Martin and Guerin, The Interior Design Body of Knowledge, 2005 Edition.
2. Herman Miller, Inc. Three-dimensional branding: Using space as the medium for the message.

Tim Girvin | Decatur Island Studio
girvin.com

The power of two, of community, relationships in development — and the world of fragrance.

I’ve written about scent — working in that brandspace, contemplating the spirit of fragrance in the worlds of commerce, personality, travel, integrated marketing experience and holistic branding.

Here:
http://tim.girvin.com/Entries/?p=348
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=17
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=584
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=619
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=623
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=626
http://blog.girvin.com/?p=886

and here:
http://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/news/ng.asp?id=52289-dinand-and-girvin

Sniffapalooza (http://sniffapalooza.com/) is a community that’s been building over the last number of years — founded by two marvel-filled women. Women that are enthralled by the wonder of waft — the sphere of scent, the perfectionists of perfume. There is the opening visionary — Karen Dubin; and there is the operational co-foundress — Karen Adams.

Marvelous people, so completely enthusiastic, so wondrously giving, that they’ve founded an association of like-minded parfum lovers that has become a kind of consulting enclave for fragrance-based brands from all over the world. And a collective that is equally expansive and global.

From a sensuously-minded duo: to a community of tens of thousands. Nice, that story. And I’m happy to be part of it, working with these two grand women. Sniffapalooza permeates like some fabulous tint of scent… And that story has spread like wildfire, from the Wall Street Journal: http://sniffapalooza.com/wsj.php. to Women’s Wear Daily: http://sniffapalooza.com/wwd.php. Time: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1720107,00.html.

What happened — nearly one million hits last month! That’s growth of community reach — like a scented virus of luxuriance!

I first met Karen Dubin at the opening launch celebration of a new scent, the upper East side, Madison Avenue, NYC. (And I just met Karen Adams this past Fall in NYC). We’ve been on the phone, non-stop, since!

That scent launch was Timbuktu that we’d both attended, designed by the French fragrance consultant Bertrand Duchaufour, a “nose” for L’Artisan Parfumeur, the French perfume group headed by CEO Remi Clero (http://www.beautynewsnyc.com/). I met him there as well — just after L’Artisan Parfumeur was released to scent on its own, from the previous ownership of Cradle Holdings. François Duquesne, the President of L’Artisan Parfumeur, was in attendance. He formerly lead Erno Laszlo — and I’d worked with them (before his arrival) on some earlier brand consulting efforts.

Bertrand Duchaufour | nose for Symrise, L’Artisan Parfumeur

Bertrand and I’d connected at the event, exploring the history of his fragrance development. All about travel, wandering, studying, creating fragrance developments that gather experience in scent — Timbuktu (2004), for example, inspired by a unique blend of flowers, ointments, spices and woods that is used by women in the sensual African perfumery tradition. It was then, as well, that he’d introduced me to his scent (sampled only, since the launch was months off…Dzongkha, aspiring the wafts of Bhutan). Added background — his work is comprehensive — and wildly imaginative:

For Acqua di Parma
* Cipresso di Toscana (2005)
* Colonia Assoluta (2003), with Jean-Claude Ellena

For Comme des Garçons
* Series 1, Leaves: Calamus & Mint (2000)
* Series 2, Red: Harissa & Sequoia (2001)
* Series 3, Incense: Avignon (2002)
* Series 3, Incense: Kyoto (2002)
* Series 5, Sherbet: Cinnamon & Peppermint (2003)
* Series 5, Sherbet: Rhubarb (2003)

For L’Artisan Parfumeur
* Aedes de Venustas (2006, home fragrance)
* Ambroisie Ararat (2005)
* Dzongkha (2006)
* Mechant Loup (1997)
* Patchouli Patch (2002, with Evelyne Boulanger)
* Piment Brulant (2002)
* Poivre Piquant (2002)
* Timbuktu (2004)

For Givenchy
* Amarige d’Amour (2002), with Emilie Copperman
* Lucky Charms (2005)

He’s also the designer of Amouage Gold (a top of the list positioning by scent genius Luca Turin http://www.nzzfolio.ch/) And I’ve commented already on the spirit of story in that line of presentment: http://blog.girvin.com/?p=626. Christopher Chong | Amouage.

More on Sniffapalooza. Meeting Karen (D.). Well, we kept talking. And talking. And exploring. Sharing ideas. And I listened.

Working with the Karens, I, along with a team at Girvin | Seattle, worked on evolving the character of their branding — looking for ways to enhance their visual presence — and the alignment of the spirit and soul of their fragrant enterprise in community, to create something more distinctively linked to the power of that world. What is that world, anyway? Scent is the most deeply evocative link to memory. Scent, the power of recognition in psychic consciousness, quickly reminds a person of holistic experiences. The wafted flavoring of cut grass, the slice of a melon, the hint of sun on sand, piney breezes, burning wood and leaves — each of these attaches to a complete sensate experience. It’s less about just the nose gathering content of environment, but more to the holistic feelings that are immanently attached.

So, in exploring a new visualization for Sniffapalooza, an entirely collaborative development with the Karens, led us to new treatments of the identity. What did we look for? Grace, clarity, luxury, beauty, the calling of experience that is in each of us, as we sample the notes that cross the delicate threshold of our noses — and enters our minds permanently, our memories forever.

This grouping of studies explores how Girvin develops ideas — and the spiritual character of our client’s soul and community, to support the direction of enterprise. Anything we do is about capturing that sense — and the story. We ask — “what’s the story to be told, how should that story be told, and most importantly, who’s listening to it?”

Here are the ideas, rendered in sequence, giving the viewer the opening studies all the way to the completed rendering. Color? Well, we’re still working on it. Along with the Karens.

The first group — looking to an experience that is entirely focused on a more elegant treatment array. What’s the take? Too elegant! We explored designs that, to our thinking, would be appropriate for a bottle. To the Karens, the spirit is not about being overtly sophisticated, but rather to the character of fun and upbeat attributes — more accessible to the vastly enlarging group of relationships in community:

From there — a new grouping of studies that is more about elegance in typography, but simpler in tone. Bear in mind that the work of Girvin is entirely customized — much of our work is about doing things, literally, by hand. The typefaces in our roster are developed by our teams and then applied and further tuned to specific drawings. Here’s the second group:

The second group brought us to another advance. We learned more! Here there were sentiments visually that captured the spirit — lean, intelligent, but playful. So, in advancing further, we came to the third grouping of studies:

We established a good line of typographic styling, but we needed to move further — how to consider the concept of scent as actually embedded in the design vocabulary? Here, then, to the next grouping of studies:

That idea, from this last round, found payment in the selection of one solution that played on the two o’s in “palooza“. Creating a misting device that suggested a mnemonic approach to the original Sniffapalooza mark (which actually used clip art — you’ve got start somewhere!)

Here’s where that lead us, to the final(s):

The history of this development is about listening. It’s always about that, listening to the story (history!). And then building customized groupings of positioning visuals that will allow for the best way for that story to be concretely identified — the story told, the community entranced and relationships further expanded upon. It’s all about that. One story becomes another, becomes another, becomes another. Just like perfume — the scent moves into the space of the mind and imagination. Memory is captivated. And people share.

That’s our work.

Share the story. Share the love. Share the experience.

Tim Girvin | Decatur Island
girvin.com

Exploring the concept of an emerging dark luster in design, it might be more so about the exhausting confusion and difficulties of the present market — and the swirling chaos of the near future.

What’s happening now? Is the end nigh? Or night, near? What is wrong with where the world is heading? Is it possible that fashion - now in the later stages of design for 2008 — is beginning to show a darker visioning.

YES! - to the revelations of the shows launching earlier this year.

This last summer, enormous audiences formed at the Russian pavilion of the Venice Biennale to view a weirdly apocalyptic video installation — a three-screen by a collective known as AES+F. (http://www.aes-group.org/last_riot.asp)

“Filled with dreamy computer-game landscapes, scary monsters, rocket ships, carousels and nearly naked post-pubescent models engaged in elaborate mock battles,” quoting the NYTimes (see* at the end of this blog entry). “Last Riot” was the end of the world, newly expressed in chic visual garb.

Set to Wagnerian operatic scoring, as artists typically blasted the leitmotif as The End of things as we know them, this reach seems emblematic of what’s happening. To that scale of that expression, and what it means for fashion — the end is nigh is rarely the point. It’s the challenges that are faced in the confusion of what might seem The End (of an era, a sense of stability, the way things were…)

“What matters is that, when people fear shifts in the cultural tectonics, they tend to reach for myth and the verities. And, while it may seem like a stretch to extend this observation to a sphere as ostensibly superficial as fashion, it was hard to come away from the season just ended here without thinking that dressmakers are spooked by the cold breath of change.”

Recently concluded — this past month, the Paris fashion design season expressed the opinion of standing guard at the darker edge. And while there might be trouble brewing in the world, there is, as well, bubbling turmoil on the fashion front. What’s happening?

• Widespread pirating and copied dispersal of concepts online.
• Variations in the way clothing is manufactured — and how buying audiences are actually recognized and accounted for (it’s not just one demographic, well known and coddled — it’s the entire world).
• And sheer volume of expectation — new lines, new shows, micro seasons — and competitors potentially launched riffed imitations almost instantaneously.

All of this is profoundly challenging for designers — burdened under the expectations of global manufacturing giants and multinational publically held corporations, it’s a whole new game. An observer to fashion in Paris — “Mr. Gaubert, a seasoned D. J. who has spent decades creating aural backgrounds for labels like Saint Laurent and Chanel, noted how the increasing rapidity of fashion’s production cycles seems to affect everyone. “Look at the number of outfits people are showing,” he said. “Look at how many shows there are a day. Look at how many cities and markets buyers have to think about.”

“Even the shows themselves are getting faster, an impression confirmed — models now break from the gate like sprinters. They have to in order to make it up and back a 90-foot runway in time to whip backstage for the next change of clothes.

“The demands on everyone are constantly growing,” Mr. Gaubert said, referring not just to the twice-yearly ready-to-wear collections, but also to the couture presentations some labels produce, as well as precollections and resort collections and — ka-ching! — accessories.

“People can’t keep up,” he said. “The demand is insane.”
So, perhaps in response to this, designers retrench.”

“People are becoming overwhelmed,” D. J. Michel Gaubert.

They gather up earlier, classic or conservative ideals — defining the clothes that match the time, the ethos and perhaps, the mythical character that might be inherent in that fashionability.

To match that racing attribute — the models are sped out robotically — Stefano Pilati, the gifted Saint Laurent designer, offered death-faced models — that wore black lipstick, eyes darkened by black-bowl wigs, framed in clothing of a disciplined geometric graphics.

Mr. Pilati was not alone in advancing the concept of becoming a logo machine — even though he’s been quoted as saying it’s not good “to go out as advertising a brand anymore”.

Nicolas Ghesquiere

imaxtree

At Balenciaga, Nicolas Ghesquiere d