Guillermo Del Toro | Pan’s Labyrinth

I’ve written and spoken publicly in the past about the concept of the journal — the annotated sketchbook — as a place of making ideas. These days, I tend to write notes in multiple journals — keeping it casual — I’ll even use stapled books, or post-it books of the larger size. In the past, I’ve drawn journals that are gathering places for ideas, as well as project plans and notations. But in a manner, the idea of the journal is less about the actual professional work, and more about the personal work. Working with designers and other creatives, the idea of a journal book is commonplace — but to my observations, they tend to be more about the reflections and notations on a project, rather than the bigger circulations about the nature of the doing of the work.

A sketched page on architecture, archetypes and meaning — journal composite

What about the work, the process of action, creatively?

A friend of mine commented that he hated the idea of a project agenda, since it implied something that related to another concept of something secret and underhanded, the “hidden agenda.” That got me thinking about the act of creativity, the progression of creative work — and the nature of inspiration. That’s surely not impacting his process which flows like water. But the idea of the word, the agenda, it forced added contemplation. Douglas Harper offers:

agenda

1650s, from Latin, lit. “things to be done,” from neut. pl. of agendum, gerundive of agere (see act). Originally theological (opposed to matters of belief), sense of “items of business to be done at a meeting” first attested 1882.

the act of do-ing…

act (n.)

late 14c., from Old French acte, from L. actus “a doing” and actum “a thing done,” both from agere “to do, set in motion, drive, urge, chase, stir up,” from Proto Indo European root *ag- “to drive, draw out or forth, move” (cf. Greek agein “to lead, guide, drive, carry off,” agon “assembly, contest in the games,” agogos “leader;” Sanskrit ajati “drives,” ajirah “moving, active;” Old Norse aka “to drive;” Medieval Irish ag “battle”). Theatrical (1510s) and legislative (mid-15c.) senses of the word also were in Latin. The verb is first attested late 15c.; in the theatrical performance sense it is from 1590s.

What I am interested in is the relationship between the concept of meditating on the doing — the making — the agenda setting, which becomes a kind of battle to get to the idea — the heart of the ideal that lies deeper in that proposition. Journals can become just that — to the etymological gestures noted above: lead, guide, moving, active — even siege and battlements crossed. While I’ve not worked with Guillermo Del Toro, I set that as an dream. I first heard of the journals of Mr. Del Toro in reading a British paper (for a story in LA) about how he left the design book for his production of “Pan’s Labyrinth” — an extraordinary venture of imagination — in a taxi.

That story was somehow familiar to me:

THE DIRECTOR’S CRAFT
Guillermo del Toro put all his ideas for `Pan’s Labyrinth’ in a notebook — then lost it.

November 05, 2006|John Horn

THE heavyset man ran down the London street, panting, chasing the taxi. When it didn’t stop, he hopped into another cab. “Follow that cab!” he yelled.

Guillermo del Toro wasn’t directing this movie. He was living it. And it was turning into a horror tale.

The Mexican filmmaker keeps all of his ideas in leather notebooks. And Del Toro had just left four years of work in the back seat of a British cab.

Unlike in the movies, though, Del Toro couldn’t catch the taxi. Visits to the police and the taxi company proved equally fruitless.

Del Toro’s films — “Chronos,” “The Devil’s Backbone,” “Blade II,” “Hellboy” — typically feature magical realism. Fate was about to return the storytelling favor.

The cabbie spotted the misplaced journal. Working from a scrap of stationery that didn’t even have the name of Del Toro’s hotel (just its logo), the driver returned the book two days later. An overwhelmed Del Toro promptly gave him an approximately $900 tip.

The sketches and the ideas in that misplaced journal — four years of notes on character design, ruminations about plot — were the foundation of “Pan’s Labyrinth,” a child’s fantasy set in the wake of the Spanish Civil War.

The director, who at the time wasn’t even sure he’d actually make “Pan’s Labyrinth,” took the cabbie’s act as a sign. He plunged into the movie. Mexico’s submission for the foreign language Oscar opens Dec. 29.

The concept of the journal as a working place — a point of gathering — a gazement, is something that is disappearing — with literary strategists like Neil Gaiman, their journals are blogs. Dave McKean, his partner in an entire grouping of projects, mentions that he’s too busy to focus on his site. Or, the illustration of his journals, though the collected ideas or the sketchbooks of McKean’s work would likely be extraordinary.

Guillermo Del Toro has one grouping of his journals, which are accessible online — these are an interactive feature of the PictureHouse site. The added delight is Del Toro’s remarks, including a gesture to losing his journal. The delight is enhanced by the character of his observations — if you’ve ever studied any of his films with his commentary in play — he’s got a great sense of humor.

I did have the chance to work with Tim Burton on Sleepy Hollow, for Paramount Studios — and during that time, the beginning and pre-production of that effort, I sorted through imagery from his projection of the visualization of the film — including, like Guillermo’s renderings of his imaginative creatures and productions — show the conceptions of set design and character. From that, I’d developed the notion of the scratched script (how it’s done, too) that later became the title of the film. Almost — the logo looks like he did it. And surely he could…MoMa is still showing the interactive site of his work — including the sketchbooks, here:

From the Museum of Modern Art exhibition on Tim Burton

In addition to Tim Burton, and the notion of the journal place, in working with Clive Barker, on the identity conceptions for some of his films.

There too, in the Barker’s journaling notations, creative conceptions culminate in production, storytelling and stretching the realizations of the visioning. Barker’s tapestry, as a writer and illustrator, is extraordinarily broad reaching.

Barker’s notations for story and movie development

Even working with Tom Cruise, or director Tony Scott, JJ Abrams, David Fincher, I’ve often sorted through sketches of storyboards and related materials to finalize approaches for design.

What of the composite drawings in other forms of design – fashion, for example?

Dries Van Noten / stylistic working sketch

That range of creative development hits the street in a new collection of fashion designer’s sketchbooks, linked-in the notations of Nowness, and the researches of a lecturer at Central Saint Martins, ex-editor of Sleazenation, Hywel Davies.

Richard Nicoll’s developmental sketch conceptions for the forthcoming season.”

Fascinated by the journey from concept to runway — Mr. Davies’ — has compiled Fashion Designers’ Sketchbooks, a 208-page tome that collects the wonderfully revealing scrawls and illustrations of 50 top-flight fashion designers. The book covers industry greats such as Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano, as well as up-and-comers including Bora Aksu, Aitor Throup and Fred Butler, exhibiting a wide variety of brainstorming techniques. Dries Van Noten, for example, collects photographs, embellishments and fabric swatches, while Chanel’s resident genius Karl Lagerfeld rarely touches any material, filling pages upon pages with deft, effervescent watercolor sketches.”
That idea of art, exploration — seasonal or otherwise — it’s an intriguing path to the examination of content – if you’re on the path to finding something, discovering that renewed edge, walking the perimeter of the work — how do you get there? What’s the point of the effort taken, the journal / journey wandered. Going out there, I’m looking for what could be found, what could be discovered, beneath that surface.

Word labyrinths and storm gathers: what’s in the word, what storm is coming?

I’m sure that you’ve got ideas about your concepts of journals as a creative place, that goes well beyond notetaking and project documentation — a place where you explore the deeper side of the agenda — the work of design.

A gesture to that work, my use of the journal as a deeper investigation of the meaning of what’s being done, what shall be done — what’s the story, who’s telling it, and why is it worth telling? What mark, on the cover of the story?

Who cares?
I do.

T I M
–––––
M O T I O N P I C T U R E
B R A N D | S t r a t e g i e s
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RAVENS AS THE DARK STORYTELLER, THE MYTHIC BLACK RAINBOW. Is the etymology of corvid derived from the ancient Proto-Indo European seed sound kos, for shout? That would seem appropriate — ravens for shouting. Marketing as the shout, raven-style. But it’s the sound of the kraaak and croak that reaches to the heart of the word and the story – and running the linguistic gauntlet for several thousand years, the sounds of the black one, the ravening clan, that first bespeak the legend.

www.tomford.com

My daughter Madeleine pointed out the link between Tom Ford’s new 2010 Eyewear collection and the imagery of the raven — that’s a June reveal. But I’d only just discovered it. As a perpetual student of the human brand, Tom Ford, watching the insinuations of his imagination over the broad range of his brand experiences is a remarkable expanse. What I find myself struggling with — exploring and examining — is the notion of brands that are inherently lead by humans. Being a so-called “human brand” myself — having a brandstory that is inherently wrapped around me, the person — at the closest point of leadership and foundational centricity — I comprehend the challenges that it represents.

The presumption is that you know what you’re doing. Who does, that? Really? I can’t do anything without my team, of course, but having worked as the base driver for Girvin,Inc. for nearly 35 years, someone — a person — lies at the center of the brand. And you, too, lie at the center of your human brand. Lots of writing on that front, blogged and noted here.

To Tom Ford, and the raven as a stylistic emblem, the commentaries are interesting — to Tom’s shooting of “eyewear/ware” that is interplayed with corvids. Noting sensuality, Anne “of Caverville’s” reflections offer “Tom Ford’s use of ravens in his Fall 2010 ad campaign for Tom Ford Eyewear with Freja Beha Erichsen and Nicholas Hoult can be interpreted as his belief in a female-centric, new consciousness. Ford is the ace of sensual branding — or hot, sexy, sizzling marketing – whichever you prefer. The sexy marketing maestro has always pushed the envelope, roaming through the closed doors of repressed sexuality and leaving them slightly ajar upon leaving.”

www.tomford.com

According to Anne’s review, “If ravens seem a bit dark and disturbing, consider them not only symbols of death, degeneration and bad luck. Tom Ford grew up in Austin, Texas — not Santa Fe, of course — but near America’s Indian Country, where ravens are the hallmark of shape-shifting. Ravens can see all things that are hidden. In addition, ravens brought light into the darkness of the world and transformed part of Maka, Mother Earth. A raven named plants and taught animals. After the success of his debut film A Single Man, a more thoughtful Tom Ford may be evolving into a mythical storyteller.”

Others reference: Stylefrizz “If anything, everyone can attest to the clear as daylight fact that Tom Ford likes to provoke. It’s his nature – freeze the world even for a second and obtain a reaction from the humble mortals in front of his divine work. (I’m still talking about Tom Ford, yes!)

The latest fashinternet buzz was created by Tom Ford’s eyewear campaign for the Fall Winter 2010 2011 season. Eyewear campaign that’ll cause a madness, imagine that! Only Ford can go this far! The campaign feature Freja Beha Erichsen and Nicholas Hoult plus a bunch of ravens. (the story continues right after the jump with more images!) There’s something undoubtedly, unquestionably strange about the imagery and people’s reactions. Kissing ravens? Devilishly smiling while being surrounded by ravens? Breastfeeding a raven? Now that’s something only Ford will be able to get away with. As much as they hate admitting to it, the fashpeople love to feel shocked and appalled. Disgusted, even. It’s in their uberfashionable nature. We, the mere mortals we’ll only see Hitchock all over again and think – oh, look, there’s Freja looking like Harry Potter! – say you didn’t thought about that!”

OpticalVision is more to the point, literally: “Tom Ford’s Fall Winter Eyewear Campaign features ravens- like in Tippi Hedron, Alfred Hitchcock Birds. It is way too distracting, all I can think of is Tippi Hedron running, getting even more morbid – Try Nevermore (The Raven) Getting back to the Eyewear- I can’t get beyond the Ravens, raven kissing, raven biting. So you can make your own opinions.”

Interestingly, the idea of linking ravens to fashion isn’t so new. There’s a store/window designer at Bergdorf Goodman who’s got an especial love of ravens as a merchandising icon for window dressing — they keep popping up. Still, the corvid birds as wise ones is a long-running legacy. That idea ranges from styling to actual fashion, some notations, here – shot on the fly. Ravens, crows, the class:

Harry Winston | NYC

Crow | Queen Anne Hill, Washington

Signage from an abandoned shopfront | Miami, Florida

The New York Times, NYC

Lou Reed | London, UK

34th Street, Subway exit, NYC, NY

Raven icons, David Hoey — Bergdorf Goodman, Window dressing 2009 | Christmas

Ione Rucquoi, NYC, NY.

Apothek with raven mascot, Old Stockholm, Sweden

Installation, Costume galleries, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, NY

Ceiling installation, The Suzzallo Library, The University of Washington

Ravens — and the corvid class — are, in the mythic mind, a grouping of creatures that, spread all over the world, cast a sight into the legendary mind of man and their link to the archetypal experience of the dark mystery and beauty of natural experience. Gathering the raven clan to the notion of brand, or telling experience, is entirely personal — what does this bird say to you? To each, their own, in the cast of Raven shadow and call to themselves. For me, their call always means one thing — “pay attention.”

Tim | Coeur D’Alene | Idaho
….
GIRVIN | Raven brand stories
E X P E R I E N C E + D E S I G N + M E M O R Y
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GROWING UP CREATIVE | WHO’S THE TEACHER THAT PLANTS THE SEED?

Creative [V I B E] is juice, it’s jazz, it’s fire; unquenchable — it’s not dying, it’s not going out.

Harold Balazs | Porcelain enamel

Creative comes from family — and what they teach you, what comes of exploration, what comes of gifts, what comes of being in the school of being open, learning more, risking, failing, loving and learning more. Once it starts, like any solid addiction, it doesn’t let you go.

Exhibition book jacket

My exposure to the creative place of imagining began at birth — from both my Mother and Father, Lila and George Girvin. While I might’ve been a handful, as the first born, they let me head out to do what I wanted to do. My Mother is a painter, pianist, champion. My Father is a Surgeon, Lover of trees, gardener, activist.

My early years were fraught with uncertainty — but still imbued with fantastic curiosity and passion about exploration. That might’ve been science in the beginnings — a love of natural things, the examination of the biological realm — marine biology, comparative physiology, entomology, botany – but I went on from there: journals, drawing, type design, calligraphy, art and architectural history. And how, in all this, does the story unfold — what is the connection of these arts to their respective civilizations — I went there, I wandered, I wondered, and I built the premise of “my design” based on nearly no training as a designer. But thinker, idealist, ideator,, draughtsman, illustrator. Just dreams.

Harold Balazs: patience, passion, persistence

And from there — the Girvin story unfolds; that’s been told. I worked early on in the world of the scholarly, the rare and referenced hand-drawn type design, the hand-made paper, the hand-bound book, gilding and glass, carved and blasted stone, the powdered porcelain, the hand cut stencil, the silkwoven serigraph, the etched plate. All special, all artful, and mostly all luxury — made from one — for one. Girvin grew and things changed — more people, more projects, but still — the idea of doing things by hand, beautiful wrought — and a vision of extending, in the european legacy, the realm of design horizontally, unbridled, and enthusiastically explored and experimented. This idea of doing things came in my early connection with an artist from Mead, Washington — just outside of Spokane where I spent part of my childhood.

Gallery space, Spokane’s Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture

Harold Balazs is having a show in Spokane at the Museum there. Seeing it reminded me of my times there, out at the studio, exploring, experimenting, talking to Harold, learning, opening up and learning to consider the idea that doing something with art is something that can be built upon, extended horizontally. For me, the inspiration was about opening all channels of creativity — not being bound, alone, to one crafted way of expression, but aligning more holistically. If there’s an idea to examined, then doing more — spreading out — expanding that creative legacy is another.

Baked porcelain enamel wall treatments: extending the visualization

To offer something of that connection, there’s a sequence of inspirational gestures to the work of Mr. Balazs — a inspiration for many, in the collections of hundreds, and more importantly — a man that has continued the work, creatively expanding his efforts with a passionate persistence. The creative essence flows.

Notes on cabbages: drawings, cutting stencils, dusted porcelain applications baked on metal — the sequences of an idea:

Watercolor explorations: a design brand patterning

Harold Balazs steel sculpture: a graphic language, dimensioned

The classic phrasing: freely interweaving graphic expressions

A note: sketches on the symbology of Rudolf Koch

Copper and porcelain badgework: graphics, intertwining ideals

Large drawings: the energy flows

Calligraphic treatments: text, message and meaning

The workshop, an amalgam of many explorations: along with a congratulatory calligraphic note from me

Where does one seek that inspiration — the list goes and goes for me — people that I’ve connected with, known, been touched by, that breathing in, that beauty is something marvelous to feel, surging through the electricity of memory and the results that find themselves shown in the vocabulary of expression — how lightning fast, that realization, the activation — the flow, renews.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
L E S S O N S L E A R N E D
• START WITH THE IMAGINATION, END WITH THE HANDS
• PATIENCE, PASSION, PERSISTENCE
• BEGIN WITH ONE INTERPRETATION, DIMENSIONS ADVANCED IN ANOTHER
• THINK FIRST, BUILD ON A SEQUENCE OF IDEA(L)S
• THE FIRST GESTURE CAN BE BUILT
• THE IMAGINARY CAN HAVE A DESIGN LANGUAGE, BUILT IN THE HUMAN BRAND, EXTENDED
• A GRAPHICAL VOCABULARY CAN BE THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE MIND, TO HAND
• THE ALPHABET IS A WEAVING, LAYERED IN STORY SINCE THE DAWN OF WRITTEN TIME
• THE LANGUAGE OF SYMBOLS, PSYCHIC ARCHETYPES AND OTHERWISE, FORM AN UNDERLAY: KNOW THEM FLUENTLY
• THE LINE CREATES FORM, YOU DIVINE THE LANGUAGE
• ENERGY IS ETERNAL DELIGHT: GO WITH THE FLOW
• TEXT, ILLUSTRATION, THE TAPESTRY OF IMAGINATION
• DESIGN = AMALGAM

Flow, goes — to the heart of it. Another friend, also from early Spokane years –Tom Kundig, too — influenced by Harold’s wizardry, as an apprentice.

Story, to influence, learnings to imagination:

t i m
–––
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Found in the dirt, as a reminder of something special, recalled in a remote place of work.

I’ve thought about — and practiced — the idea of working, roving, writing, designing, building strategy or tactical planning somewhere other than the office(s) downtown, or around people. Being with people is critical, being away from people is equally important. The verse of conversations are counterbalanced in the silence of directed attention.

Meditations on working remotely:

I love being around people, exploring ideas, sharing thinking and being in close connection with clients and colleagues. I’ll drive or fly hundreds of miles to do that. I’ll drive or fly hundreds of miles, as well, to get away from that.

THERE ARE ADVANTAGES. AND THERE ARE DISADVANTAGES.

1. The idea of doing something with, and around, people is important. It teaches you the manners and etiquette of being with people — and communicating with them. I find a surprising lack of skill among some, in this simple gesture of connection, presentation, meaningful organization of ideas — and the expression of them, live: eye to eye. There are huge advantages to connecting with people live: eye to eye. You can sense more to who they are — if you can truly see them. I’ve noted an increasing tendency among colleagues that sending an email or text is sufficient to assure connection. I get emails from employees, when I’m only a matter of feet away, rather than stopping by to ask a question or confirm an approach. I then see the email at 10.00pm that evening, and completely miss the question, the timing, and the answer. What that says is that it’s far better to be linking, quickly to comment, then to presume that electronic media will suffice. That is, when you’re there.
2. The idea of doing nothing with, and around, people is important.
To the concept of seeking organizational solitude, I find that days will pass in my attempts to write out complex strategy, written documents, for messaging, planning for complicated communications or interview and brand auditions. Finally, I will head out, take a brake, and seek the quiet of focused contemplation. I’m still linked in, everywhere, but I’m not surrounded by pressing issues that constantly distract my focus.

A fresh set of tools to work with, explore and dig into for differentiated explorations.

Returning to the notions of attention and intentional action, the idea of taking the time to be away, working remotely to the scene, allows for that sense of continuous attention to the multiplicity of actions that are tied to doing the work, to running a business (which can be like sprinting, it would appear — there are not a lot of respites) as well as the centering tasks that need to be directed as part of the premise of refreshment. That presumes that you’re roving in a manner, or working remotely in a way that allows you to be a sentinel of what’s happening — where you are not present. There’s something, as well, to being remote — working remotely — and really not being connected at all. Work and be silent.

It’s been years since that’s happened to me — being remote, and completely without cognizance of what’s happening, at Girvin, with clients, relationships. I don’t see that as something that’s happening soon.

Making working place, special — ritual, beauty, ideas, objects, inspirations.

Some meditations on remote work:
• Contemplation, should be seen, in scene, in the context of the original etymon of the word: “with temple” — from the Latin, con + templum. Think of your remote work as special — something sacred, to be cherished and held as an embraceable ideal.
• Create a special place for your remote work. If you must work away — or have the special chance to do that — create a special way in which that character can be savored. Remote work shouldn’t be irksome, but perhaps even more pleasurable.
• Think of the remote mind. Considering the original meaning of the word, remotus, from the Latin, seen and heard in the 15th century — it was about being “removed” — to move back, and away, from something. That remote viewing allows you to be seeing, and thinking, about problems in a way that’s distant. I call this walking around a problem — in the manner of circumambulation — you’re seeing it from varying perspectives.
• Bracket time for silence: sometimes, to remoteness, it’s all the more reason for everyone to want to talk to you. Be quiet, retreat in silence. You can always think better when your mouth isn’t working.

My remote studio, 80 miles from Seattle, the San Juan Archipelago, Decatur Island

Sometimes being the warrior of the way, being incessantly on the road, you must be the remote sentinel perpetually. Standing in airports, seeking a plug location for power, I listen to people simply trying to make connections — even frantically: they’re trying to get home, metaphorically. They’re trying to find a home where they can be. As a worker — in the space of intentional knowledge — your home will be where your heart is; that’s where the best thinking will percolate — and others will benefit in the rippling of your refreshed ideas.

Remove yourself from the fray, and perhaps you might see better.

Tim
–––
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Smoke principles, brands and the waft of fire.

Firebrands.

I’ve been thinking about fire and smoke a lot these days, as you might’ve noticed. But like the proverbial A persona, I can’t relinquish the affection. It runs in the Girvin family. I like fire because of my father. I’m not sure about all of my brothers, but there’s a link. Fire, heat, passion, perfection.

Girvin

It’s nothing new, really, I’ve been writing about smoke for a long time.  Bhutan, China, Tibet, fragrance, incense, birch, anything.  Anything that burns and scents. Offerings. I believe in the idea that the transformation by fire is something mystical, clearly shared by millions of people, in the consideration of ritual — fire, the transitioning force, moves from the solid to the new molecular arrangement — burned — it’s sped up, accelerating atoms, until it’s forever altered. That process moves between the solid world, the physically known, to the mystical spirit word of the smoke — the story smoke of the Native American tradition. An idea, told on the wind of the waft of the effluent of fire, becomes the smoke of story. Watching smoke is bewitching and compelling — virtually everyone is hypnotized by the the smoked curls of this dust of fire.

What of firebrands? I’ve written about the premise of brands of fire, and those who make them.

I’d written sometime back about the work of Maarten Baas (movie at this link) and his collection of smoked furniture. These images of his work all come from his site.

As he describes it:

S M O K E
Pieces of furniture are literally burned,
after which they are preserved in a clear
epoxy coating. Except for three baroque
products, which are reproduced by the
Dutch label Moooi, all Smoke products
come from the Baas & den Herder studio
in The Netherlands. Since 2004 gallery
Moss and Maarten Baas collaborate
on the “Where There’s Smoke…” series:
a Smoke collection of well known
design classics of a.o Rietveld, Eames
and Gaudi. Besides this series, Baas
has done commissions for collectors and
museums around the world.

There are some other references, to his legacy (starting up, firing up — pardon the pun — just out of school).”

In June 2002 he graduated at the Design Academy a series of burned furniture called “Smoke”. His works were nominated for the internal “René Smeets-award” and also for the “Melkweg-award”. They lead to an invitation by IKEA to do a week workshop in France and got Baas selected for the rewarded improvisation / exposition of the Design Academy in Tokyo.

Literal, firebrands:

His design Smoke was adopted in the collection of Dutch label MOOOI, of Marcel Wanders. Thanks to successful presentations in Milan, London and Paris Smoke became known worldwide. Smoke furniture was bought by museums and collectors such as Lidewij Edelkoort and Philippe Starck.

The Smoke chandelier was part of the exhibition “Brilliant” of the Victoria & Albert museum in London.

In May 2004 a speechmaking solo-exhibition was opened with New York gallerist Murray Moss. “Where There’s Smoke” showed 25 pieces of furniture, all burned and finished of with transparent epoxy. Amongst others there were charcoaled classical designs of Gaudi, Eames, Rietveld, Sottsass and the Campana Brothers.

For the new collection of the Groninger Museum, Maarten worked on some furniture from the old collection of the museum. These were shown during the exhibition “Nocturnal Emissions” and purchased by the museum.

Also the Dutch Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam exhibited 2 of his Smoke-pieces in 2005 in an exhibition about pieces to be purchased by the Stedelijk Museum.” It goes on. Explore as you will. There was another reference to the idea of destruction — and beauty — in earlier blogs, one to Edward Burtynsky’s Manufactured Landscapes and the work of Michael Eastman and Chris Jordan — in each, the idea of dissolution (侘) forming a kind of wabi sabi. The inherent beauty of wabi sabi is imparted in rustic authenticity and worn utility and the aesthetics that emerge in this conjuncture.”

(Photograph,
wabi-sabi tea bowl Azuchi-Momoyama period, 16th century)

And in this character, the idea of wabi sabi links to pottery, which too suggests the attachment to fire.

Fire burns on.

The compelling jump for me, to this added exploration of fire relates to another exploration and connection — the Mulleavy sisters, the inspired designers of Rodarte, with whom I’ve had a connection — in correspondence. The real beauty of their work, a kind of couture of found wabi sabi, gestural gathers and inspirations from their wanderings — creative sojourns — moves beyond the fringe of the normal to the outbound of profundity of absolute creative abandon. Millions love their work, as do I. Blogged, earlier.

Rodarte sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy appeared on Martha Stewart’s special siblings episode on Thursday to talk about several of their designs. They said they pull from things they saw growing up. Martha told them she would buy Rodarte undergarments, if they were to make them.” And interesting intonation – if there was one. But she’s the one that could afford to make such an off-handed response to the character of their work.

The sisters talk about their creation process — linked to the notion of found experiences from their childhood, growing up in northern California. The attributes, as they outline, relate to the notions of textures — things that they liked — in building ensembles, the assemblies of experiences in the design of their clothing. “We wanted to use fabric that seemed old — something that might’ve come out of the Depression.” Or we’ve “been playing a lot with leather, we wanted to build a kind of cage — every single detail was made by hand.” Condors, distressed materials, infinitely microscopic detailing, the dissolution of time, in memory, in the telling of the story.

And it is all about story — mythic or otherwise, which wends its way back to their upbringing, the sense of wonder, the exploration. One outfit relates to a creation myth — a kind of legendary telling; this story, a girl in the desert, gathering materials that related to her sentiments, a discarded quilt — burnt wallpaper, no less — she gathers them, then transforms — spontaneously combusting phoenix like, into something new. Textured silk linens that bore the patterning that they’d created — a burn pattern — then sanding the fabric, then tearing and actually burning the fabric creating in the end, a composite of six different fabrics. Burning goes from creative to destructive, as noted in Amanda Fortini’s New Yorker piece, written about the sisters, they burn fabrics, for fun:

“Laura pulled a sample of sea-foam-green polyester from the from a little heap near her feet.
“I hate that,” Kate said sourly.
“Me too.”
“Like, why do they even make it?”
“Should we burn it?” Laura wanted to know. “Who has the lighter?” She got up and walked a few feet to the bathroom with the sea-foam-green bit in her hand. The chemical smell of burning polyester wafted through the studio. “Stinky,” she said. Back in her chair, she rooted around on the floor until she found a scrap of silver lamé.
“I hate that,” Kate said.
“It’s awful. Let’s burn it.” She held it away from her body and and torched it with the lighter. The edges of the fabric began to flicker and curl. As the flame seared through the material, it left a scorched lunar landscape in its wake.
“Cool,” said Kate.”

Firestruck installations at Cooper Hewitt

Destruction — by fire or otherwise, as noted in the installation of manikins in the Cooper Hewitt show of their work — and this theming is
is part of the whole picture — the fascination with fire — smoke, the torch of creativity laid bare.

Firestruck installation at Cooper Hewitt

Such is the fascination with fire. For me, for others — Maarten Baas, the Mulleavy sisters and Rodarte — and before that, hundreds of years of other forms of the blackened firing of scent and darkening burning distress — ever transformational — the end of the world, and the beginning of another.

And what perfected summary of the allegory of fire, in transformation, than Gaston Bachelard’s “The Psychoanalysis of Fire.” Perhaps a true classic, more than 60 years old, it’s poetry, reverie, magic and pyromantic gesture is imbued with a graceful meditation:

“Fire and heat provide modes of explanation in the most varied domains, because they have been for us the occasion for unforgettable memories, for simple and decisive personal experiences. Fire is thus a privileged phenomenon which can explain anything. If all that changes slowly may be explained by life, all that changes quickly is explained by fire. Fire is the ultra-living element. It is intimate and it is universal. It lives in our heart. It lives in the sky. It rises from the depths of the substance and offers itself with the warmth of love. Or it can go back down into the substance and hide there, latent and pent-up, like hate and vengeance. Among all phenomena, it is really the only one to which there can be so definitely attributed the opposing values of good and evil. It shines in Paradise. It burns in Hell. It is gentleness and torture. It is cookery and it is apocalypse. It is a pleasure for the good child sitting prudently by the hearth; yet it punishes any disobedience when the child wishes to play too close to its flames. It is well-being and it is respect. It is a tutelary and a terrible divinity, both good and bad. It can contradict itself; thus it is one of the principles of universal explanation.

“In one Australian tribe the legend is very amusing, or, rather, it is because a bird is being amusing that it succeeds in stealing the fire. “The deaf adder had formerly the sole possession of fire, which he kept securely in his inside. All the birds tried in vain to get some of it, until the small hawk came along and played such ridiculous antics that the adder could not keep his countenance and began to laugh. Then the fire escaped from him and became common property.”

Girvin

Fire, truth, transformation, magical — an enchanting presence — even as noted, as the founding principle of the firebrands, noted above. I have one distinct recollection, working with Sharon Stone on a project — her wedding invitations, 1998. She’d call, with each iteration of the design — and dial direct to my desk; I was never there. So there would be breathy, smokily intoned messages about her directorial details — in many instances revolving around the concept of the “burning” of her invitations. She would say, in her messages, “Tim, more burning, more smoke — I really think that we can use more…” In the end, the invitations were shipped overnight, boxed FedEx internationally — wrapped in silk, with blackened ostrich feathers, bead work an printed on multiple stocks of hand torn, letter-press printed hand-made stock, each one burned and smoked at the edges, an intriguingly evocative effect. Risky, time-consuming, but enthralling. Everyone showed up.

Another flaming interception — the burning of holes in our interface | UX for Muzak; the early point being a holistic “touching place” — fire-grazed, etc., in building the zen-space of the customizable place/ambient brand.

Girvin

I love fire. And smoke.

Tim | S a c r a m e n t o, C a l i f o r n i a
––––
Exploring brands of fire,
brands of passion:
GIRVIN FIREBRANDS

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Scent, script and scripture, story and history: mystery from the ancient forests.

How could these be possibly aligned? The story deepens still…

Sometime back, a couple of years ago, I was traveling in Firenze, along with Dawn Clark, Karen Dubin, Karen Adams and a team from the Sniffapalooza crowd. Meandering back into the recesses of the shelves of profumi, old shops, apothecaries and farmeceutica, expert noses and fragrance makers, I sample, scent and dream. The idea of smelling “an object, an essential amalgam” is instantly evocative of place, it’s a leaping dreaming — smelling something, I sense: I scent; find place; speak memory; ignite idea, find voice, taste color and illuminate exposure. It just happens. I smell everything — sifting and sorting, scenting nearly everything that I touch, or come in contact with — it’s a perpetual curiosity. “What’s that smell like?” There are those that would say this is a fixation. But as a sensing component of how to live and be in the world, it’s one of the strongest, to experience holism.

Touring the shelves, of some out of the way Florentine scent shop, I’d found some obscure out-of-stock and remaindered scent, designed in Germany, made in Firenze, and I was knocked out — transfixed — by the flavor. Zibermann’s Golden Adler Eau de Parfum. Standing there, with an accomplished perfume aesthete — he too was immediately struck by the darkly woody, burned character of the fragrance. It was a dense, smoky tarred scent, with a hint of a kind of polished metal, slightly hardened — like a freshly sharpened axe. The combination was so surprising that it’s no wonder it disappeared instantly off the shelves and can be only as remaindered items and as sampled fragrances.

That lead to a quest — one, reaching to the scenteur, Dr. James Dotson, that immediately recognized the smoky flavor of its exudation. Birch tar, he said. Generously, he sent along a small vial — and there it was. Laden with memories, dreams, visions, evocations.

Yet still, finding that fragrance, the sheer essence of birch tar, that’s something else — it’s not a common extraction. At least, not until you move in to learn more. First, one might examine the tree — and a link, here.

It turns out, in fact, that this distinctly dark, sexually complicating scent is an ancient one. One might find, as well — in even the opening research on birch tar — that there’s a potential for this being a hidden, dark and revealing note, in a number scents, though those shown below are less than commonly recognized, they are still built by esteemed noses. Scenting them, you’ll be drawn into a place that is reminiscent of another, older world.

Even Chanel has used the primordial scent of birch tar, recalling forest with distant pitch and wooded “burn” fragrances — a piece of charred wood, the pitch bubbled in the heat, captures something of this evocation. Russian leather, a classic foundational principle of masculine or hearty feminine scents has something of this notation — that leads to old libraries of rare books, saddlery, leather equipage that is well oiled and protected.

Scents of leather, birch and creosote:
www.luckyscents.com

A definition here, for russian leather, is “a smooth leather tanned with willow, birch, or oak, and scented on the flesh side with birch oil.” The ancient legacy of the drawn resin extends to the stone age, “Birch-tar was used widely as an adhesive as early as the late Paleolithic or early Mesolithic era. It has also been used as a disinfectant, in leather dressing, and in medicine.” And the method of its production is as “a substance (liquid when heated) derived from the dry distillation of the wood of the birch. It is therefore pyroligneous — compounded of guaiacol, phenols, cresol, xylenol, and creosol. These, to the fragrance aficionado offer further intimations — is there a familiarity, to guaiac, or creosol?

Guaiacol is present in wood smoke, resulting from the pyrolysis of lignin. The compound contributes to the flavor of many compounds, e.g. roasted coffee. Creosol is an ingredient of creosote. Compared with phenol, creosol is a less toxic disinfectant. But powerful indeed, an distant in history, their applications. Cresols have an odor characteristic to that of other simple phenols, reminiscent to some of a “coal tar” smell.

Hard to imagine, that these would have value — but I believe that the concept of smoke is something that is deeply rooted in the psychic scent / mnemonic space of people — those that can scent it, and distinguish it. There are numerous forums that wax eloquently over these fragrances. Dig into the Perfume Shrine, to explore more, of the leathers — and the inherent birched depth of their legacy here, the Vintage Perfume Vault.

The bridge, then to the other part of the story? It’s about the utility of birch — and the heritage going back thousands of years. To reference:

Medical Uses of Birch

The chaga mushroom is an adaptogen that grows on white birch trees, extracting the birch constituents and is used to treat cancer.

Birch bark is high in betulin and betulinic acid, phytochemicals which have potential as pharmaceuticals, and other chemicals which show promise as industrial lubricants.

Birch bark can be soaked until moist in water, and then formed into a cast for a broken arm.[7]

The inner bark of birch can be ingested safely.

In northern latitudes birch is considered to be the most important allergenic tree pollen, with an estimated 15-20% of hay fever sufferers sensitive to birch pollen grains.

Paper and the use of Birch Bark

Birch bark document
A birch bark inscription excavated from Novgorod, circa 1240–1260

Birch pulp’s short-fibres allow this hardwood to be used to make paper. In India, the birch (Sanskrit: ?????, bhurj) holds great historical significance in the culture of Northern India, where the thin bark coming off in winter was extensively used as writing paper. Birch paper (Sanskrit: ????? ????, bhurj p?tr?) is exceptionally durable and was the parchment used for many ancient Indian texts. This bark also has been used widely in ancient Russia as note paper (beresta) and for decorative purposes and even making footwear.

The clay pots, containing the manuscripts, with the Birch bark scriptures within, along with the rolled scrolls of bark shown above. (From Richard Salomon, The University of Washington Press)

The Birch bark scriptures, in delicate reassembly and translation by Richard Salomon and Collen Cox. (From Richard Salomon, The University of Washington Press)

Therein, the bridge. Manuscripts, ancient Buddhist texts, scribed 2200 years ago — on birch bark. In meeting with scholars at the University of Washington, who are researching these fragments, found rolled, in urns, from the mountainous regions of Afghanistan, one of my questions was — “what do they smell like?” Of course, all of their studies were sealed in glass, the fragments are so profoundly delicate. They didn’t smell them, and both Richard Salomon and Collen Cox remarked — “is that even possible?” Of course, vials of fragrance have been recovered from ancient Egypt, still redolent of their unguent derivations. There’s more here to explore at their research website — they generously offered their time and exploration of their work over the course of the last 14 years.

According to AWOL — The Ancient World Online, this study, “the Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project was founded at the University of Washington in September 1996 to promote the study, edition and publication of twenty‐seven unique birch‐bark scrolls, written in the Kharo??hī script and the Gāndhārī language, that had been acquired by the British Library in 1994.

Further discoveries have greatly increased the number of known Gāndhārī manuscripts, and the EBMP is currently involved in the study of seventy‐six birch‐bark scrolls (primarily in the British Library, the Senior Collection, the University of Washington Libraries and the Library of Congress) as well as numerous smaller manuscript fragments (in the Schøyen Collection, the Hirayama Collection, the Hayashidera Collection and the Bibliothèque nationale de France). These manuscripts date from the first century BCE to the third century CE, and as such are the oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts as well as the oldest manuscripts from South Asia. They provide unprecedented insights into the early history of Buddhism in South Asia as well as its transmission to Central Asia and China. The Gāndhārī Dictionary Project supports the work of the EBMP through its comprehensive database of Gāndhārī material (including inscriptions, administrative documents and coin legends in addition to the birch‐bark manuscripts) and by compiling the first dictionary and grammar of the Gāndhārī language. The research results of the EBMP and GDP and translations of the manuscripts are published by the University of Washington Press.”

The bridge: exploring scent, history, smoke and the mysterious intertwining of both, over time. I believe in the concept of collective, unconscious recognitions — and that the scent of smoke, whether arousing danger or comfort, can reach into the same vessel of archetypal memories in experience. Like the Native American legacy of the concept of story smoke, a mystical entwining of message, story, teachings and smoky prophecies, there are intermingling poetries that bind it all together.

t i m | PORTLAND, OREGON
–––
E X P L O R I N G T H E F R A G R A N C E O F S M O K E
http://www.girvin.com/blog/?s=smoke

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Buy, here:

I’m looking for True Brands.

What I seek is:
A story.
A person.
An offering.
Integrity in the making.
Care fullness — in the distribution.
And a legacy that continues.

I found it interesting that Barney’s would be offering, as a kind of shopper’s insight, the idea of a brand that is old. What’s cool about old? A great deal, actually — there are plenty of legacy brands, particularly in the luxury space that espouse hip turns on opening design innovations that are more than a century in use. Burberry, we’ve noted. Zegna, another. We’ve written plenty on the concept of luxury heritage, as well as authenticity in the commonplace. The central premise is that something old, “well — it’s gotta last, so it must be good.” But it’s interesting that Barney’s would be trying to tell that story as a promise of the Barney’s brand proposition. Barney’s isn’t about old stuff, let alone having any perception of heritage itself, but the proposition of seeking out something of the realm of legacy is an intriguing contrast — given their proclivity to leading edge fashion and popular styling, in just about everything that they do.

The idea of heritage brands — enterprises that are tinged with the promise of length of time in which the brand has flourished — are a theme that we’ve explored previously, in a string of blogged studies. But that actually isn’t so, it’s a brand that was formed about a half century after Duluth Packs innovation, in the 1800s. According to Wikipedia’s overview, Barney’s “began in 1923, when Barney Pressman opened his first store in NYC with $500 raised by pawning his wife’s engagement ring in order to lease a 500-square-foot space at Seventh Avenue and West 17th Street in Manhattan with 20 ft (6 m) of frontage. Barney’s Clothes was stocked with 40 brand name suits and a big sign with a slogan, “No Bunk, No Junk, No Imitations.” Barney’s sold clothing at discounted prices by purchasing showroom samples, retail overstocks, and manufacturers’ closeouts at auctions and bankruptcy sales. It also offered free alterations and free parking to attract customers.”

Barney’s, NYC.

Barney Pressman claimed to be the first Manhattan retailer to use radio and television, beginning with “Calling All Men to Barney’s” radio spots in the 1930s that parodied the introduction of the Dick Tracy show. He sponsored radio programs featuring Irish tenors and bands playing jigs to advertise Irish woolens. Women encased in barrels gave away matchbooks with the store name and address. He also chartered a boat to take 2,000 of his customers from Manhattan to Coney Island.

In a 1973 interview to Business Week, Fred Pressman became “convinced that the discount route definitely was not for us. My father and I have always hated cheap goods…. I didn’t want to sell low-end merchandise. Now, many of those who chose to, are verging on bankruptcy.” And to that challenge, in 1996, that’s just the route that they went, seeking creditor protection, Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. What is interesting about the blend is the link between quality, heritage and in this alignment with Barney’s, fashionable relevance. There’s a curious balance between the heritage of the discounting days, and where the brand is now which might suggest that they are challenged in understanding where they’re going as an organization, or that they’re simply looking for the new, in the old.

The foundational product of Duluth, the canoe pack, goes back to the very beginning of the brand — and it’s still sold today.

The hardwired genetics of the brand are linked distinctively to the camping space, and it would appear that every product they offer has the same characteristics of working, outsdoorsmen toughness. Like another legacy brand in the Pacific Northwest, Puget Tent & Awning (1896), their ultimate tradition moved from back packing equipment to actual camping gear in the form of canvas tents.

Duluth is rightfully proud of their history — any brand that survives and sustains itself on a set of foundational principle of manufacturing is worth noting. That proposition — long term and relatively “unchanging” creed in production — is extremely tough to manage and maintain. To their building on the brand story — and expanding new tellings to their community, the site proclaims that they have a mission. Not too subtle, is the spreading of their gospel:

They tell their brand story, going back to the very beginning, “The Duluth Pack has its humble roots in a poor French-Canadian named Camille Poirer, who made his way west to Duluth. Arriving here in 1870 with his “little stock of leather and tools”, he began a small shoe store and quickly made a go of it in this booming frontier town on the shores of Gitchi Gummi. On December 12, 1882, Camille filed for a patent on a new type of packsack.

It was a canvas sack that closed with a buckled flap, had new-fangled shoulder straps in addition to the traditional tumpline, a revolutionary sternum strap and an umbrella holder (for portable shade in this newly cutover country). Known then as the Poirer pack, this northwoods classic is referred to today as the original Duluth Pack.

In 1911, Camille sold off the pack business to the new Duluth Tent and Awning Company. We opened shop on 1610 West Superior Street in the then bustling West End. (You can still find us at this address.) In addition to the packs, we made countless awnings for booming Duluth businesses. Remember, during the early 1900s there were more millionaires per capita in Duluth than in any other town in America.

Duluth had lumber barons, shipping magnates, railroad tycoons and big shots in the iron ore business. Our early catalogs feature hay wagon covers, cots, wall tents and heavy canvas aprons for working blacksmiths.

America was changing. The Roaring 20s found the common man with more money and leisure time. Auto-camping became the rage, and hoards of adventure-hungry sportsman and fun-loving families headed for the hinterlands. Duluth Tent & Awning responded by creating the “auto-pack” that clamped on to the running boards of a touring car to carry extra gear. We also made canvas tents that attached to a car to create the first “mobile home”.

Duluth Pack has always made rugged packs for working people. This was certainly the case in the 1940s with the introduction of our Cruiser packs. They were the perfect field pack for the timber cruisers who snowshoed countless miles through the great North Woods grading lumber for the logging companies. Built narrow and in the box style, they could haul a load yet slip easily between thick brush. We still make the cruisers which are popular with hunters.”

Follow the link, to learn more. We like brands that have stories, and recall their legacy in everything that they do, moving from the beginnings, to the new innovations that will sustain them. We’re glad that Barney’s likes them too.

To a brand that has history, what holds true for you?

Tim Girvin | Appleton, Wisconsin
–––
A U T H E N T I C B R A N D S T O R Y T E L L I N G
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DOES THAT MEAN BRANDERS ARE OUT OF BUSINESS?
HARDLY SO, UNLESS THE PREMISE OF BRANDING IS DESIGNING LOGOS.

But there’s more. Off and on, over the years, the idea of logo on, logo off, has been an up and down movement. During the 70s, the idea of logos was everything — many brands, and their expansions, thoughtlessly expanded their brands by licensing and simply applying their logos to anything, whichever way was the path to more product and more licensing fees. There was some expansion on this proposition over time — the 80s, the 90s. But it was during the last decade, moving into the 90s and the year 2000 up, that the idea of a logo application was under more scrutiny.

There was consulting rebellion, and consumer disdain — “buying into the brand.” Buying into the brand is just that — and the logo just might represent the bridge — it’s a visual token that could link the commitment between “buying” and not purchasing. The challenge of course is that the idea of the logo is the graphic of the spoken layering of the brand — the graphic mark represents the speech, and the thought, that surrounds the identification in graphics, for the device that links to the concept of the brand story holistically. Some logos are entirely forgettable. Others are distinctly recallable and recognizable — in fact, the very disposition of their structure suggests an increase in value.

Radha Chahda, a brand consultant in Hong Kong, in her book The Cult of the Luxury Brand — focusing on Asia — speaks to the notion of brand jumping, the proposition that consumers can, and do, jump categories of “classism,” their societal measures, by buying up — leaping from one level of consumers to another.

Her reference, “The Cult of the Luxury Brand” is touted as “the first book to explore how and why an amazing “luxeplosion” is rocking Asia, sweeping up not just the glitzy upper crust, but secretaries toting their Burberry bags, junior executives sporting Rolex watches, and university students in Ferragamo shoes.”

Logos are everything here — the only way that products are defined and understood, is by their marking and patterning — or more particularly — their label. To expand on the Asian positioning, “Hong Kong boasts more Gucci and Hermes stores than New York or Paris. China’s luxury market is growing with such gusto that it will single-handedly become the biggest by 2014. Even India, the new kid on the luxury block, has 3-month waiting lists for hot items, while in Tokyo, the epicenter of the cult, 94% of women in their 20s own a Louis Vuitton bag.”

What’s distinctive, to [luxury] recognition? The logo. That business is big, as well — $80 billion global luxe industry is one capping mark. But that ideal extends to virtually every proposition.

It’s been noted (in an earlier Girvin blog) that that the power of the Apple logo is potent enough for people to think that they’re more creative and smarter. So the logic that the power of the brand is such that tampering with it is a matter of corporate security. Apple’s logo is worth billions. The distinction of the visualization is unforgettable. Intriguingly, however, this is not the case with all brands. Others are more transitory and less memorable.

But these might be perceived as luxurious distinctions.

To wit, what of WalMart’s new positioning? Is there a discernible emotional cord that links to value and holistic experience? Hard to say. And not my call, alone.

The notion is that the brand and the link to integrated capacity to tell stories and embrace consumers is significant. Logos are a kind of cohesion that fulfills the link to relational collection. It’s all about the name. A new notation offers, “K-Mart and Marc Jacobs have something in common: low- and high-end fashion products tend to have less conspicuous brand markers than midprice goods, according to a paper soon to be published in The Journal of Consumer Research.

To the emerging consumer, according to Teddy Wayne’s overview, consumers are tuning their relationship to the graphic trappings of brands, “obvious logos, expensive products use more discreet markers, such as distinctive design or detailing. High-end consumers prefer markers of status that are not decipherable by the mainstream. These signal group identity only to others with the connoisseurship to recognize their insider standing.”

The Consumer Research analyses proffers that “fashion students were more likely than regular students to favor subtle signals for products visible to others, like handbags. But for private products less relevant to identity, like underwear and socks, there was no difference between the groups.” Jonah Berger, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvannia, and one of the paper’s authors, said it was not that insiders simply had a dislike for logos.

Instead, he said, they avoid them “in identity-relevant domains to distinguish themselves from mainstream consumers who buy such products to show they’ve made it.”

Now, the distinction is subtle use of the genetic code of the brand — quiet, restrained — a brand patterning — or what we call brandcode®. It’s a more elegant statement — and during these challenging times, perhaps it’s that the notion of the brand is something that can be still favored with a relationship, but isn’t outlandishly loud. For now, at least.

Tim | Vancouver, British Columbia
––––
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Girvin BrandCode® | http://www.girvin.com/blog/?s=brandcode®

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SPONTANEITY AND IMAGERY.
I SPEND A LOT OF TIME LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHY — AND I WRITE ABOUT IT, DESIGN AROUND IT, SHOOT IT. AND I PACKAGE AND DESIGN OTHER PHOTOGRAPHER’S WORK.

DOING THAT, GIVES ONE A RESPECT FOR THE REAL ASPIRATIONS OF PHOTOGRAPHERS. What are they really shooting for, what’s being documented, why — the effort? What’s the point of it?

I BELIEVE THAT PHOTO-GRAPHY — THE MARKINGS OF LIGHT — EVINCE:
• light impressions — what shadow falls here?
• knowing the dark, the light, and the grey – in all things?
• emotional moments — seeing that, it reminds me of?
• recollections of things that have been scene – exploring the power, place?
• seen that, been there — moment, memorialized meaning?
• experiences — heartbreaking beauty?
• experiencers — emotional garlands of moments, unforgettable?

And surely the idea of emotion is about being moved — “I was so struck by that imagery that I couldn’t look away — seeing that photograph, I’ll never forget it.” I know that I have photographs that I’ve purchased, that have just this measure. I know them, I know who shot them, I know when, and I know what they mean to me. But I could hardly expect to know more of the work of those that made them — that’s their call, and visioning alone.

Let me offer these meditations. Shot, while moving, car-bound, across the state:

At the beginning, the West Queen Anne Condo, mist bound.

A lighthouse, quieted.

What lies beyond light, that range?

Climbing there, still I wonder, return?

With clap and whirling curl, clouds cusped from the Cascades’ lips — light spit.

Could that be — sight, site unseen — limited?

That barn — out there, within one mile, there is no other.

Talking with my Father, about listening for trains –
and walking from the farm out to the tracks –
a line appeared on the horizon.

As I was thinking about Pendleton blankets, I found that store, driving by.

In Sprague, for gasoline, this array of trucks, waiting.

Down the alley, heading back to the high way, I pass the farmer’s co-op, grain elevator.

The detailing of the metal seam — driving by — sanded by hand or storm?

The staggering of the type, on brick, endlessly repainted.

Tom Moore, a slightly softened san serif, bolstered by a sharp-cut cigar.

Better low, than high.

Galvanized granary, sitting alone.

Whorled wheat — as installation.

A sheet metal hermitage.

These, along with 35 others — too repetitive in their light and conceptual bracketing to be willing to bother you with. To the brand, and the image — I struggle with the gathering of the “why” of imagery and brand — how to push that deeper, so that as I consider the concept of the brand, the story, isn’t it possible that this telling could be emotionally rendered in an image of breath-taking beauty and arresting content, that just might fall out of the typical basket of “stock” and load imagery of the digital catalogues. I’m thinking so.

It’s possible that in driving by — something might be captured in the sheer haphazard nature of the draw, to bring you a new understanding. Kindly prep yourself — as you see something emerging, set your camera at the ready, calculate your shooting angle, and fire away — knowing that of the one or three or five snaps that might be grabbed, there will be one that speaks the loudest.

Use your leg as a brace on the steering wheel.

Tim
––––
Exploring drive by shooting. Try it.
http://tim.girvin.com/Entries/?p=470

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Concepts of wi-fi contrary concepts in New Dehli, India
(Photo by Girvin, story)

I say: no thanks.

For years (going back a decade) the Cingular, TMobile, Voicestream, AT&T, etc. links into the wireless networks at Starbucks were a necessity of the job. The real problem, finding a plug — to jack in, so you could get some work done. I (then and now) troll the space, looking for the right desk, the right workplace next to the right plug. Airports, too.

By now, I’m expert — I’ll use a drive-by, open my computer, jack into the newly free wifi network, download my mail, drive out, hit the road to deal with it later. And I do have iPhone, but despise dealing with mail on it. That’s only for emergency rationing.

The point is that wi-fi is now becoming something that floats in ubiquity — it really shouldn’t be charged for, anywhere — except that it is, and in those instances, you see the crowds sourcing their content on the floating timbre of another vibration, snagged from some place else.

It’s been noted that in this new realm of digital trolling, gathering content from the rippling waves anywhere, everywhere, that there’s a potential for a story to be told, brand-wise, in the e-market of controlled brand-place, like Starbucks. That is, go there, jack in for free – but sign in at the portal before you are launched into the working space that’s free for you to chose. Can they keep you there.

In studying the evolution of the Starbucks bridge, which used to be a place to bypass the acknowledgement of signature for AT&T, it’s not a place to dawdle, except for the bored.

Mobile phone, iPhone, iPad, MacBook — and only three users.
Story, here, that space.

Dial in, speaking of location-less locations.

How does a corporate storytelling emerge from the bridge of an owned brand place / space (the retail environment) that then extends the messaging to other places of connection? There’s the retail storytelling environment, then the digital realm that (could) go along with it. That’s a potential — but do the relationships, the carrying from one place to another — really work, that’s my question; if I’m there, in a place, would I consider that this would be the place that I’d want to browse content? That’s a question — it’s like working at Disney or Paramount, and constantly listening to a dithering stream of, well, Disney or Viacom / Paramount content — movies, singsongs, commericals, tv show theatrics that I might not really care about, even though these are my clients. Some comments, to explore that end — the idea of a digital place for Starbuckians, in Starbucks. If there’s a deal to be had, then ever present coupon-clippers galore, they just might dig in. Personally, I’d pass.

References, “Starbucks appeals to well-heeled adults, and there’s a tremendous opportunity to get them to reach into their pocketbooks,” offered Laura DiDio, principal at Information Technology Intelligence Corp., a technology research and consulting firm in Grafton, Mass. One of the key drivers will be cost, that is: if you’re in Starbucks, and you see something online that you like, you can buy it for less, right here and now. “If Starbucks doesn’t sell audio, video and casual game products via their digital network, they’re silly,” said Chris Brogan, president of New Marketing Labs in Boston. “Digital, done well, is powerful. Starbucks gets to add a brand allegiance to the mix, by saying, ‘If you’re buying this while in a Starbucks, the price is X.’” Starbucks didn’t offer any new details on its digital network, saying it would reveal more information closer to the launch. Starbucks Chief Information Officer Stephen Gillett, the founder of Starbuck’s Digital Ventures unit, wrote (image below) on his blog that he expects the network to include “the best paid-wall content on the internet but available ad-free and at no cost to our customers.”

As I’d noted above, that’s my worry — about going anywhere and being jacked into controlled content. Augie Ray, an analyst for Forrester Research suggests that Starbucks has to create compelling features or offers to grab people on the Wi-Fi network — otherwise people will just leave the Starbucks landing page and click to other sites.“The onus is on Starbucks to capture people and not just be something they pass through on the way to checking their email or visiting Facebook,” he offers. It’s pretty clear that the relationships are percolating.

Start here.

And really, it is get started — link in to Starbucks, for the card then Facebook.

The spirit of the social media, the storytelling, is about the community of sharing — one story, another told. That works, digital place / retail place / brand bridge place — that fluently aligns them all. But there’s a difference to the idea of brand environment and the idea that being there — being in that place, means that you’ll be captivated to look at the selling of that brand in that digital bridge environment.

Check out that number — beats Coca Cola, for friends “like.”

That little story becomes the story of many stories — videos posted, notes played, and dogs sipping coffee drinks with foamed whipped cream.

Starbucks, the explorer of social media has climbed to the top rating of big consumer brands and links to consumer relationships — Facebook and otherwise. Truth be told, there are people that care, (12 million + by now) that love the story, and tell their own.

The challenge though, is in creating a special place, the third, the fourth, or the fifth place of brand connection, is the content an expansion of experience in understanding emotional connections and relationship, or it is more to the nature of selected cool stuff, from other places. If it’s worth it, that’s where I’d live — in their brand place — if I was engaged. That will be a tough slot to beat.

Tim
––––
GIRVIN’S EXPLORATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA
HYBRID CONTENT DESIGN | http://www.girvin.com/blog/?s=twitter+%2F+facebook

the reels: http://www.youtube.com/user/GIRVIN888

girvin blogs:
http://blog.girvin.com/
http://tim.girvin.com/Entries/index.php

girvin profiles and communities:
TED: http://www.ted.com/index.php/profiles/view/id/825
Behance: http://www.behance.net/GIRVIN-Branding
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