Feb 14
Here’s how Los Angeles-based industrial designer, Spencer Nikosey, tells a visual story about making things by hand. KILLSPENCER is another great example of how branding can do more than just sell products: namely, how it can tell a story about the intersection of personal passion and commerce.
Feb 7
I recently discovered this multimedia gem by TheSartorialist.com founder and curator, Scott Schuman. Schuman, known for his spontaneous still portraits of the uber-well-dressed, now gets to play with video. It’s interesting to see how photographers handle the transition from analogue to motion. The New York Times photographer Vincent Laforet kicked off the DSLR HD craze when he shot Reverie with a 5D Mark II. Schuman makes a seamless transition, and brings the uniqueness of his still work to a new medium. ‘Lunch for 25′ is nothing short of a tutorial in how – or maybe why – you should shoot what you know. Enjoy, and please send me links to your own favorite DSLR creations that I can post.
Think you can tell a good story?
Errol Morris’ documentary about a retired commercial airline pilot [Denny Fitch] who landed a crippled DC-10 in an Iowa cornfield and saved 186 people’s lives, ranks as incomparable storytelling. “Leaving the Earth” first aired in 2000 on Bravo as part of the “Errol Morris First Person” series. The episode is hard to believe, and Morris succeeds only because of the viewer’s total confidence in one man’s unimaginable tale told into an unflinching lens.
“I had an instantaneous thought that it’s true…they really do grow the corn that tall in Iowa. The captain in a DC-10 sits about 22 feet above the ground. They don’t grow it that tall. That impact had taken out our landing gear.”
When I studied Tae Kwon Do as a child, I may have waited a year for the chance to break a board. Not my son. The lucky boy gets the call at the end of his first Tae Kwon Do class. His eyes light up at the opportunity. The board has been acidized to have the resistance of paper, so my son tears through it. Herein lies the marketing lesson.
Master Cho (the school’s owner) can make my son wait and earn the chance to break a board, but he prefers to let my son get a shot at the grand prize right away. For Master Cho, who has just opened his doors, today is what matters. He needs customers. More importantly, Master Cho knows that when it comes to those customers, one shouldn’t be afraid to over deliver.
It works.
My son gets home and shows his mom a new karate outfit and the broken board – which Master Cho has signed and dated – and asks when the next class will be. Before leaving the school Master Cho instructed me how to properly hang the broken board at home so that both sides do not meet evenly and the two pieces of wood form the shape of the letter ‘V’. V, Master Cho reminds me, stands for victory. One other thing in marketing: no matter the size of your business, you better tell a good story.
Particle recently participated in a branding and messaging panel hosted by New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. The panel focused on Senator Gillibrand’s OffTheSidelines initiative, a campaign that aims to get more women in politics. Particle spoke about media strategies that engage ethnic communities. Here’s a great NPR story about one marketer’s approach to multicultural marketing. And here’s a spot Particle’s Mále Ibarra-James worked on at the Vidal Partnership for Heineken.
Meerkat Media’s golden nugget of a short about the East Village Puppet Kitchen is fantastic for many reasons, including it’s subject, authenticity, voice, script and style.
Do you call yourself a designer? Inventor?
When I see a product I’m interested in, I want to know why it is the way it is – the evolution of it. Whether it’s based on its previous version, and that one on its previous version, and so on. I like to start from scratch and look at the different ways the product can be used. Could it be more functional? Could I give it more meaning? Change the way it’s used? This is my approach as a designer. But I think in the end what I come up with are inventions. So I don’t now. Just call me whatever you want to call me.
How did you come up with the idea for the dustball? More importantly, where can I get one?
The dustball is just a concept. We are working to further develop it, but for the moment it’s still a concept. I’m not sure how I came up with the idea. I never really have a moment. I just like to look at things around me and look at them from a new perspective and maybe make them better, easier, more functional. This was the case with the dustball. I just wondered why vacuums were designed the way they were, so I started to design a robot vacuum from scratch.
What about the edible pen? Were you one of those students that gnawed at the ends of his pencils during exams?
I certainly did! The pen is another concept. But I’m not going to further develop it. I don’t like it that much…it’s too disposable! I’d prefer to make a good quality pen instead.
Got a favorite flavor? Who provides the candy refills?
I prefer simple peppermint. If I were to produce the pen, the refills would come in packs of ten.
Where is home?
Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
You seem preoccupied with waste. Do you feel you need to address sustainability in everything that you design and build?
I really feel like this is part of my responsibility as a designer/inventor. So much new stuff is designed and produced every day. It’s easy to just make something that looks good or is new. I really believe a designer should always design sustainable things. But to be honest I’m not that good at it yet. I’m working on it
Is there a product that you are dying to redesign…something you think is not working as it should?
I see so many products every day that could be redesigned. They could be made more functional and fun, just better. Simple things, which have no value now, we just throw away when we don’t like them anymore. If something is well designed, I believe people will keep it.
What inspires you?
People, especially people that I don’t know. I like to look at people and see the way they do things.
What made you come up with the idea of children’s gift-wrapping paper?
Wrapping paper is always being thrown away. Sometimes people pay 20 euro for a simple paper poster. If you wrap something with the same paper, but call it ‘gift-wrapping paper,’ then suddenly it becomes disposable. My goal was to make gift-wrapping paper valuable, without changing the type of paper, just the print.
When you tested the concept, how did the children respond to direction?
They just liked it! The children really like to see their drawings used for something else instead of just on plain paper.
What are you working on right now?
At the moment I’m working on a new set of plugs. I want to make a special plug that you don’t just throw away. And I just finished a new set of hooks, which will be online soon!
Do you consider your book ‘How Proust Can Change Your Life’ a cult hit? Was its reception beyond what you imagined it would be?
The reception of this book was quite extraordinary for me. It was a New York Times bestseller and a bestseller in 20 different countries. It enabled me to devote myself to writing at the tender age of 27 – so I can certainly say that ‘How Proust Can Change Your Life’ changed my life. Luckily though, the success was enough that it clarified my future, but not so great as to dominate it. It’s one of those books that readers still feel is a kind of personal discovery, rather than a book one ‘has to read’: that’s a good place to be.
What do you think would have happened to your life if today’s powerful social media networks were around when it was released?
I think these networks make concentration so much harder – and I worry whether I would have been able to discipline myself enough to set down to work. Also, these networks have weakened the economic and cultural power of the book, and I wonder whether this would have discouraged me on a bad day.
Your passion is the history of ideas. Is there an idea that you think is remarkable but that is getting little recognition or respect?
I think an important idea is that human beings need guidance to live a good life. This was an idea accepted by all the world religions, but which is now rejected by contemporary secular life, which prefers to see humans as mature rational agents who should never be ‘guided’.
What can people do every day to improve their outlook on life?
Remembering its brevity seems key, a basic but vital point. The energy required to achieve is directly linked to one’s sense of the brevity of everything. It helps one overcome shyness and hesitation.
The Sunday New York Times: does reading this beast create internal conflict that one should altogether ignore? i.e. make one feel like his house isn’t big enough, car isn’t sleek enough, job isn’t cool enough?
One is simply setting oneself up for ruining a Sunday by reading this powerful, dangerous beast on a Sunday morning. Keep it till Monday, read it over lunch then, spending no more than 10 minutes, and you will be cured.
Where do you and your family call home?
North London – a contemporary home which is a refuge from all the pressures of daily life.
You travel frequently. Does it get old?
Never, but it does get more lonely. I desperately miss my children when I am traveling for work.
What are you writing about now?
I’ve just finished a book on how religion should be of interest even to committed atheists. It comes out in March in the US and is titled Religion for Atheists.
How much of the day do you spend engaged on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook?
I’d say about 15 minutes a day, which may be too much!
Do you find these social networking sites appealing or anxiety-inducing?
Appealing, far too appealing – I could easily spend all day on them if I’m not careful.
If you could hang any painting in your home, what would it be?
I’d be very keen to grab an Edward Hopper, perhaps Night Train, and hang that in the living room.
Is there a book in your library that you often come back to?
I keep returning to Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. It has incredible depths and new resonances at every age.
You’ve been a media advisor to politicians, heads of state, nonprofits, celebrities and companies. What do you like about your job? Dislike?
Best? Working with a variety of clients, helping them find their story and then helping them to tell it – especially in nontraditional places in the press. Worst? Cold calling or emailing reporters I don’t know. I do less of it these days, but it’s still not fun.
You worked for the late Ambassador Richard Holbrooke at the United Nations. What’s your fondest memory of working for him?
I liked how Ambassador Holbrooke understood both the need to work the traditional diplomatic game but how he also had an ability to identify cultural figures that could help push diplomatic or policy issues forward in the public arena. His work to get the deal for the U.S. government to repay its arrears to the UN was an unsexy and unheralded effort that was a great capstone on his tenure as U.S. Ambassador. It should have set the U.S. up for a great era of work and progress at the United Nations, but it was cut short by the election of George Bush and 9/11.
Favorite issue to flak?
I don’t have a favorite issue per se. I like finding interesting problems and stories and helping clients tell that story. I have a wide range of professional and personal interests — from food and wine, to technology to the business of media, design, music and international relations…so I like it when a client or story cuts across many areas of interests.
What website do you go to first thing in the morning?
Honestly, I find lately that the first thing I check in the morning is my Twitter feed. After that, nytimes.com and Politico’s Playbook email by Mike Allen.
How has social media changed the game?
I think as a person working in communications, FB, Twitter, etc are helpful tools to use as a listening post as to what people and reporters, in particular, are thinking at any given moment. Plus it has helped individuals and corporations get their message out directly to readers, consumers, fans, etc. without having to always rely on the traditional media outlets.
The City’s most interesting people in the food and wine industry call on you for media advice. When did you start becoming passionate about wine and food?
I’ve been fortunate that both my parents share a love of food and cooking. That has definitely rubbed off on me. My dad was a home brewer in the early 70’s and instilled in me a passion for all things artisanal. With wine, I came to it a little late, probably in my mid-20s. I was into craft beer, but while living in Washington DC I was fortunate enough to meet a guy named Pepe, who worked at Schneider’s Wine on Capitol Hill. He helped guide me to try all kinds of different wines, old and new world, and most importantly to keep an open mind. Once I discovered that wine, like music, had seemingly infinite choices and usually fascinating back stories, I was hooked. That being said, wine is most interesting when you can share it with others. Otherwise it’s just another beverage, no matter how good it tastes.
If you could only drink one wine, what would it be?
That’s tough. I would say either red burgundy (preferably grand cru) or a Barolo.
Best wine store(s) where wannabe oenophiles can find great wines and learn more?
I love UVA Wines in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Ask for Justin or DJ (who knows his champagne). UVA is one of the best stores for natural wines. In the city, I like Chambers Street Wines. Astor has a huge selection and a range of wines at different price levels. I also like Slope Cellars in Park Slope. Ask for Ben. I think we are seeing a Renaissance in the neighborhood wine shop. It seems that in Brooklyn and Manhattan, nearly every neighborhood has a great small wine shop. When you’re starting to learn about wine, having someone to guide you is important to demystifying the process and understanding what you may or may not like and building your personal confidence.
Your ideal pairing of food and wine?
A crisp white wine or rose with linguine with clams.
Favorite restaurant(s) in town?
Torrisi Italian Specialties, to me, was a revelation. In a town where there is so much hype and sameness, they showed that you can reinvent the simplest of dishes while remaining true to its roots. Torrisi reminds me of some of my favorite places in Paris, like Le Baratin or Le Verre Vole.
iPhone or Android?
I switched last year from a Blackberry to the iPhone and haven’t looked back.
Book your reading at the moment?
I am loving the 40th Anniversary book for Chez Panisse restaurant. It might be one of the most important food books to come out this year. It’s basically an oral and pictorial history of how Alice Waters and her crew started the restaurant. But more importantly, it puts the restaurant into cultural context and also drives home, as the subtitle says, “The Power of Gathering.” You see all these pictures of people eating, drinking and some cases dancing together and you realize how influential the ethos of that restaurant has become on dining around the country. I wish someone would send Anthony Bourdain a copy.
You were born in India. Your father’s job as a diplomat moved your family to London. You’ve lived in NYC for the past 14 years. Where do you call home?
A student, who ended up working for me for a couple of years, wrote to me a few years ago who’d grown up similarly in different continents. He said that the constant moving had given him a profound curiosity of what “home” means. That was a very poetic way of putting how I feel about it. There isn’t one geography that feels like home, but each of my residential projects feel like a version of home, as if each was an answer to a particular geography. Something like, “this is home on a cliff,” “this is home in the woods,” “this is home in New York City.” I feel very connected to Chandigarh, where my grandfather retired and built a house when it was still an open plain in 1960. I have a lot of family there. I also have to say that it’s very unlikely I’ll live anywhere else but New York City. It’s the people.
You studied at Yale. Were you a fan of Eero Saarinen’s design for Morse, your residential college?
Yes, I was. Perhaps its difference from the other residential colleges made me pay attention to the architecture. Saarinen’s simple distillation of an organically built Tuscan village (at least that’s what the guides would call it) was compelling, creating nooks and little hideouts. It made the use of the courtyard very flexible and a fun, less formal space to be. Its great falling was terrible terrible landscaping. I’m not sure anyone even created a landscape design for the courtyard.
What or who inspired you to pursue architecture?
I was actually encouraged by a very great architecture teacher the first architecture course I took. It was a terrific survey and excellent introduction to a little understood field. The assignments were always fun, and the course included two design projects. The professor really liked my second design project, which surprised me in two ways: 1. the amount of time I spent completely engrossed in iterating the idea was huge; and 2. that the project was worth of mention was a completely amazing to me, I had no idea how to gauge one design against another.
How would you define your style?
Style is often a misapplied term. When we talk about style, we tend to think of the decoration applied to a structure. If you think about architectural styles like gothic or baroque, you see a building evolve out of a structural idea, and the surfaces taking on shapes to reinforce that idea, structurally and emotionally. Now people build houses, for instance, and glob on a ionic column, and call it “traditional.” But that column has long ago been divorced from its tradition in Greek mythology, and long ago stripped of its structural role. It is meaningless. My interest is in simple proportions and simple geometry. I try to create buildings with structural means and materials that impart an emotion appropriate to its context. That’s what architects have been doing since the beginning of time, so I guess I’m just trying to continue the longest tradition of all.
What project(s) are your most proud of?
Haha, the next one. Seriously, there’s something in every project to look back and be satisfied with. And also a lot of ideas to further refine and develop in the next projects I’m always eager to try that new combination of ideas. Casa Kimball is often the place I’d most like to be, but that has at least a little something to do with the climate and location!
Who is the architect you most admire?
This changes constantly. I was really happy Eduardo Souta De Moura won the pritzker prize this year, I have been looking at his work over the past few years and so when he won I felt a strange kind of vindication. Here’s my short list, in no particular order: Alberto Campo Baeza; Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe; Shigeru Ban; Oscar Niemeyer; John Lautner.
How has digital media influenced the way you work?
Yes, it’s like having a huge arsenal of tools. Adding to pen, pencil and exacto knife, I now have 2 & 3D cad software, rendering software, spreadsheets, scripting languages. It’s super fun.
Name your dream design project.
I had an idea for a design studio exercise awhile ago. Define some common building blocks, like structure or program, and apply them to six different landscapes: mountain, desert, lakefront, valley, forest and ocean (cliff or beach, I could never decide). My dream is to complete at least one project in each of these landscapes. So far, I’ve done a cliff and am working on a hill in a forest.
Your favorite place to eat in NYC?
My apartment! But I think you mean restaurant, which I’m not very good at exploring. My old favorite Village on 9th Street closed down. Recently we went to Hecho en Dumbo (now in Noho) which I really liked for food and interior design.
What is your favorite building(s) in NYC? Elsewhere?
Very tough to answer. There are so many I’d like to see and haven’t been. Here’s a list of favorite spaces and images in New York in no particular order: the main concourse at Grand Central Terminal; The old world trade towers were amazing at sunset when they became a pair elegant of golden beacons; Niemeyer’s building at the New York UN (best seen in “North by Northwest,” as is Grand Central Terminal, come to think of it); Northwest corner of Central Park; Lever House (but I’ve never been inside) and; Seagrams Building; the garden immediately south of the Opera House at Lincoln Center. Elsewhere, the Red Fort in Agra, India, comes to mind.
