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"unexpected discovery" Tag


From Inside


Sunday, May 26, 2019

FROM INSIDE

It’s like entering a never-ending tunnel.
I step in and I am lost.
I step in and I see such an excessive amount of possibilities that it becomes overwhelming.
It is extremely vast but there is only one right way.

After a long, long search when I find it, a bright light illuminates my path.
Suddenly, I understand everything, I am sure of my moves, I know how to continue.

 

A pair of pink ballet shoes shines in the dark and show me a new entrance, but inside I am still blinded and confused. Quickly I realize the pink slippers help me to adapt my body to the space and guide me towards the next opening.
I still cannot see clearly, but I feel. I feel smooth silk, tickling wool, rough cotton all around the wall. Am I in a costume shop? I choose a piece with a tulle fabric resembling a Ballet costume. I wonder, am I in Jaime Hayon’s house? Is this black hole that I am trapped in an art piece or the pieces inside are a creations in itself?
I am about to give up when a new light appears. It is a search engine and I type in « email ». Nothing fits me, I cannot find what I am looking for. So I try « futuristic ». And to my greatest delight a new gate opens.
The relief doesn’t last long. My body starts to tremble, I am dizzy and an echo is repeating the words « social » and « design », « social-design ». If that weren’t enough, guilt and uneasiness take over my body. I rewind my previous steps to find out what has changed. I have a new clothing piece! I ask myself: What is Vetements doing in fashion industry? And I quickly take it off. That’s when a new entrance, saying Jacob Jensen appeares.
However, when I enter, nothing looks like him. So I look for a multiplayer. I cannot find anyone, only a chess set. So I step in the role of a knight and find myself in the next cave: a library from the Middle Ages full of old books. Pick a goddamn book, I am told. Only if it were so simple. This choice will define my entire future, the new world I will discover. Quartz obsidian, how does it sound? I visualize a bright, colorful space to put an end to this darkness. Luckily, I wasn’t wrong. My new world constitutes a Responsive Color System.
Although this brightness is liberating at first, it blinds my senses. So I have to search again. The result is unspeakable. I cannot recognize my visual system anymore. I enter a world full of code names. It takes me a considerable time to figure out only the name of my new Earth: CIE-1931-System. It is hard because in that world I am only an x, a tiny, dull, lifeless particle of the system. Almost the youngest.
I am lost again, swimming in the fog. I am desperate to find a safe place, when a new concept is introduced to me: The Exform by Nicolas Bouriaud. I dive into this new opportunity with the hope of finally finding clarity.

But I enter again…

Chain of Connections


Monday, April 9, 2012

 

Sometimes it happens when you think that you do not have any relation with something, suddenly you find a chain of connections with yourself.

 

Richard Niessen – graphic designer working and living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Since 2006  he works together with his wife Esther de Vries. The main focus was – search for a relations between Richard Niessen and Gerrit Rietveld Academie. Richard Niessen graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in 1996. Esther de Vries graduated from this Academy as well in 1998. I selected some fragments from interviews where they mention the Rietveld Academie:

“The class in which I graduated, in 1996, we all started on our own. I think there was a need for a new generation. We were the first generation of creatives that were used to using computers. I think there was also an economic boom; a lot of clients wanted to work with young designers. Linda van Deursen had been teaching us and she was very influential. Ajax won the Champions League in 95 so she called us her Champions League.” 

“It’s one of the best schools,” says Niessen, “because it takes students seriously. Also, great designers teach there. A lot of art schools in Holland are more like schools, but the Rietveld is different…”

“It’s also because there are lots of interesting students,” adds Esther de Vries. “Everybody wants to go there, so they get a great selection of people to choose from. It generates a lot of talent.” 

“Students at the Rietveld are taught that they shouldn’t ever expect to earn any money,” laughs Niessen. “Most people prefer to stay poor and do exciting work. Sometimes we’re asked to work with commercial clients but it never works out because they see a piece of work and say ‘we want that’.” 

“Rietveld is a quite particular school. Rather than being taught in a certain style, you are trained to have an attitude. Students aren’t given straightforward assignments like ‘make a letterhead’ or ‘design a business card’. You are encouraged to be autonomous, to adopt a more art-like approach, to work more conceptually. Of course at the time I wanted to make letterheads, but after I left I was thankful for the training. It’s attitude that prepares you for anything, and you have plenty of time to find your own style after you graduate. Now I always start by thinking about what is the most interesting aspect of an assignment for me.”

(more…)


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