Mariana Grezova, Author at Arts & Labour

Can Design Literacy
Curb Our Clutter Problem?

Marie Kondo, the guru of tidying up, has become a global celebrity for teaching us how to declutter our homes. Her recipe is simple: let go of what doesn’t spark joy. But while many of us are turning into decluttering devotees, few of us seem to be paying attention to what we’re bringing into our homes in the first place.

Clearing the clutter: Marie Kondo at work in a Tokyo apartment. Photograph: AP

A Regina woman motivated by Marie Kondo donates all of her unused items to the The Shirley Schneider Support Centre. (CBC News/Alex Soloducha)

What if we rejected those joyless items from the get go? What if in addition to decluttering, we choose to become more discerning consumers. What if we contemplated if our purchase will spark joy down the road, before we jump into buying? We could then decide whether investing in well-designed and well-manufactured products is more valuable than giving into impulsive bargain buys. For many of us, buying cheap items seems practical in the moment. But perhaps we’re learning the hard way, through Ms. Kondo, that the opposite is actually true. By accumulating unnecessary, poorly-designed items, we not only increase our household clutter, but also expand our communal landfill.

Photo credit: Christian Boltanski 'No Man's Land' exhibition, a 50 ton mountain of used clothing.

Have you ever wondered how many products on the market are designed to last? Unfortunately, many are intended to become irrelevant in a flash and disposed of quickly so we can buy again. Take the fashion industry. According to environmental statistics, three-fifths of all clothing ends up in incinerators or landfills within one year of being produced; an average North-American throws away eighty-one pounds of clothing per year. Or take low-cost appliances – one-third of our home appliance purchases are motivated by a desire for better and newer models, while our old ones are still functioning. And if an appliance does break down, manufacturers have made it cheaper to replace it than it is to fix it, contributing to even more landfill.

Such gloomy data suggests we should be asking ourselves what our true values are. If we genuinely want to stop the environmental train wreck we’re heading for, why isn’t there a stronger desire for longer-lasting products? One reason is possibly that we as consumers lack design literacy.

Design literacy as a rule, shouldn’t be the exclusive domain of creative professionals; it’s a skill that can help all of us improve our ability to create more enduring homes and lasting wardrobes. Having knowledge of basic design principles and how to apply them can help us to become better consumers, and as result, better stewards of the planet.

One of the most basic design principles is contrast. If we become design literate, our understanding of contrast – the dynamic balance between opposites – will help us recognize which products have the design equilibrium necessary to satisfy both aesthetics and functionality. When we become design literate, we also become empowered to resist impulsive purchases, and demand products that are both functional and beautiful – things that bring you joy, that serve you well, and that last.

Perhaps with a little more forethought and an understanding of the principles of design, we can work toward making Marie Kondo’s job obsolete.

Beyond Gizmos
& Widgets

If you’ve been to a trade show, you may have found the newest widgets and gizmos captivating, but eventually monotonous. Fortunately, examining the latest products is not what all savvy trade show goers come for. It’s the engaging and unorthodox space installations that captivate and generate the bustling traffic and talk-value everyone craves.

Dutch “eating designer” Marije Vogelzang for Caesarstone, IDS 2019

Typically, only a handful of exhibitors are able to supply visitors with a memorable experience. Trade show organizers are aware of the gap between the monotonous and the memorable and compensate in many innovative ways.

Take the January 2019 Toronto Interior Design Show (IDS) for instance. Rather than the usual fare, the IDS organizers hired the notable Brooklyn-based Firm Architecture and Design to help them redesign the traditional format. The outcome? An exceptional number of captivating public spaces for everyone to unwind; a curated business-to-business exposition featuring innovative products and services; two full trade days (instead of the former one day) to boost businesses and careers; and naturally, the anticipated IDS Conference with a lineup of national and international speakers. And let’s not forget the popular Studio North with its 65 handpicked designers and their latest prototypes.

Haven by Tangible with a getaway for attendees on the trade floor, IDS 2019

Wynnaudio showcasing loudspeakers in an innovative way to create the best sound experience, IDS 2019

The 2019 IDS ‘Discovering the Power of Design’ has legitimately accomplished a sweeping step toward becoming a trade show of influence. Now, with added anticipation, what could be the IDS next big thing? One might be Kyle Bergman, the Founder and Director of the New York based The Architecture & Design Film Festival. He attended this show looking for opportunities to introduce the Festival to Toronto. As for the IDS organizers, they could consider a collaborative film screening with the TIFF Lightbox on culturally and socially relevant local, national and international designers. Perhaps a 4-day event that could attract new IDS attendees and give extra reasons for everyone else to come again? Above all, trade shows are as much about new products as they are about timeless ideas and the stories they inspire.

The 2019 IDS took place at the Metro Convention Centre South Building in Toronto from January 17 to 20, 2019.

In Step with
Manolo Blahník

Manolo Blahník’s retrospective exhibition, The Art of the Shoes, has been making its way through Europe and Russia with stops in Milan, Madrid, St. Petersburg, and Blahník’s paternal home city, Prague. Its final, and only North American destination, is the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto where it arrived in May, 2018 and will finish its run in January.

Those who go to see the intimate exhibition will likely be there to catch a glimpse of over 200 of Blahník’s ultra-imaginative, highly-desirable and, according to some, surprisingly-comfortable footwear designs. What one does not expect to encounter though, are his gripping illustrations. Bestowed with Blahník’s own marvelous hand-lettering, each of the illustrations corresponds to a selection of his elaborate, handcrafted shoes. The framed shoe illustrations are a visual feast of their own and threaten to steal the show. In fact, it’s difficult to decide which of these two spectacles look at first: the handcrafted or the hand-drawn shoes?

Ultimately it’s impossible to separate one from the other. After all, Blahník is not only an impeccable draftsman, but also a craftsman, designing and handcrafting every shoe prototype himself, having learned the skills of shoe-making from his Spanish mother. Constantly dissatisfied with the various shoes on offer at at the time, mama Blahník decided to learn from the local cobbler and make her own. When Blahník began his career in fashion design, another powerful woman became a critical influence; Diana Vreeland, the then editor-in-chief of U.S. Vogue. When they met in 1972, she became enthralled by the young designer’s shoe sketches and advised him to focus on designing footwear.

Blahník x Vetements SS2017 collaboration.

48 years and 30,000 shoe designs later, Blahník’s iconic brand can be found all over the world. Made famous by celebrities from Anna Wintour to Rihanna, and incorporated into the brilliant Vetements 2017 spring collection by Demma Gvasalia, Manolo Blahník’s brand manifests elegance and newness at once. Whether a part of the fashion industry or not, that’s a magic mixture every brand yearns for. Lessons in spontaneity can be gleaned from the always curious Blahník; when asked about collaborating with Vetements, he admitted: “I didn’t know much about them, but I didn’t think too much. I always feel very curious to see how these youngsters are doing. So they came along, I liked them very much and I said, ‘Let’s do it.’ So we did. Everything I do is instant.”

Blahník’s shoe design collection for Sofia Coppola’s award-winning film Marie Antoinette in 2006.

With over 200 shoes and 80 original drawings, the exhibition’s thematic collection features 45 years of Manolo Blahník’s work, including his architectural, geographical and botanical inspirations. For cinema enthusiasts, the exhibition also features a film clip with a collection of shoes Blahník designed for Sofia Coppola’s award-winning film, Marie Antoinette in 2006.

Manolo Blahník’s traveling retrospective, guest-curated by Dr. Cristina Carrillo de Albornoz, The Art of Shoes, is on at The Bata Shoe Museum until January 6, 2019.

How to Buy
a Handbag

Recently, my longtime friend asked me for a handbag recommendation. More specifically, looking for an everyday workbag, she asked me to point her in the direction of a bag maker that made interesting, artful, wicked bags. Apparently, after months of looking, she’d been unable to find one even close to her liking. Join the club, if I may say?

What surprised me wasn’t her difficulties in finding the right bag, but her way of going about it. Instead of looking at fashion brands known for designing irresistible accessories like unorthodox bags, she was searching for unorthodox bag makers. I wondered whether changing her approach would lead to more success.

Normally, when in the market for a piece of clothing or accessory, the most commonsensical approach is to go to the source. Looking for a bag? Go to a bag maker. Historically, brands would gain their reputation by manufacturing distinctive, high quality goods – not for being the source of trends. As fashion got to be synonymous with newness, brands like Louis Vuitton, for example, have needed to move well beyond their high-quality, luxury trunks. Since then, they have gained notoriety for being the architects of contemporary style while being anchored by their iconic luggage. Nowadays, Vuitton is equally recognized for their luxury leather goods, as for their cutting-edge, ready-to-wear collections.

Balenciaga Multicolor Striped Oversized Tote Bag Fall 2016

For brands of all kinds, fashion among them, accessories have become a crucial component of their offerings. For instance, an oversized flea market bag can become a tipping point capable of catapulting brand’s reputation instantaneously, as it did for the luxury fashion house Balenciaga and its new creative director Demma Gvesalia’s AW16 runway. Suddenly, a label known for feminine yet avant-garde structural pieces can become an overnight sensation for upscaling an inexpensive, lightweight nylon tote into the coveted Balenciaga Bazaar Bag.

Clearly, the fashion turf has widened. A brand’s relevance now hinges on their round-the-clock breakthroughs. Be it a pair of fluorescent gloves or boots, brands need to, and have been, continuously diversifying. High and low-end brands alike have been collaborating with an increasingly wider range of trades and crafts.

So, what was my bag advice? It was two pronged. One: forget the traditional handbag brands and think contemporary fashion houses. Look for fashion designers who are recognized for newness and artistry and who have already designed a handful of unconventional handbags. The French label Maison Margiela and its cult staples label MM6 could be a good place to start. Two: look for traditional bag makers that engage in artist or brand collaborations to infuse their traditional heritage with contemporary edge. Consider looking at the London-based brand Cambridge Satchel Company.

Ultimately, I suggested to my friend that she shop for delight, not just goods. Inventiveness needs to go hand in hand with craftsmanship. An artfully conceived and well-made handbag is an investment that can easily become an endless source of daily pleasure.

Are Collabs
Oversaturated?

The collaborative symbol ‘x’ that at one time promised a thrill of anticipation, has lately been leaving us feeling something we never thought possible: jaded. Even for collab-loving design advocates like us, that exciting little symbol has been worn away of late. Now instead of implying something fresh, relevant and of cultural value, they have started to imply – dare we say it? – yet another average product disguised by the pretense of a ‘brand x art’ or ‘brand x brand’ collaboration.

Arts & Labour’s very existence (a blog born to champion the fusion of art and brand through meaningful collaboration) is a testament to the fact that collabs once stood for something worth getting excited about. But we can’t help but wonder, is that day over?

Lately, we’ve been asking ourselves whether collaborations have become a means to an end for too many brands, simply an excuse to make noise about otherwise ordinary products. The kind of art collaborations that used to make us feel excited about a brand’s vision and that looked beyond the average to invent imaginative products are now few and far between. We should note that there are still companies creating unorthodox products worthy of getting fired up about, with or without collaborations in mind, thank goodness. Most likely though, they were doing exactly that long before art and brand collaborations started to gain their now fast-fading appeal.

So, are art x brand collaborations becoming obsolete? After much soul searching and thought, we’ve come to a firm conclusion: NO. When one digs a little deeper, one discovers that it’s actually the creative intent behind them that has started to lack the vital imagination and originality that collaborations once inherently represented. Without creative vision and artistic intent, it’s little wonder that the resulting products fall flat. For example, the multitude of recent street-wear collaborations from various brands with their little-differentiated sweats, sneakers, T-shirts or hoodies has been impossible to get enthusiastic about. On top of that, these limited editions are rather unlimited and visible everywhere, both online and on the street.

In order to succeed, brands must dig deeper—and not necessarily into their pockets, but simply into more meaningful creative processes that can ultimately result in uncovering what everyone is after: an irresistible newness. As Rei Kawakubo of the Japanese avant-garde fashion label Comme des Garçons explained: “The idea is, no references. Today there are so many trends, yet everything looks the same. It’s our job to question convention. If we don’t take risks, then who will?”

Many years ago, as a student at the current Ontario College of Art & Design University in Toronto, a design adage I took to heart was that our portfolios were only as strong as our weakest piece. (It deeply resonated with me then as it does now.) Similarly, the weak collabs we’re seeing today are bringing all collaborations as a whole down. One poorly conceived art x brand project may come and go, but with it, so will the audience over time. For brand champions, this should serve as a wakeup call.

So, what’s next? We’d argue that the current art x brand collaboration overspill is an immense opportunity for brands small and large to go deeper and to make sure their creative hearts are in the right place. Are your goals to create something truly original and contribute to society, not degrade it? If so, then time, thought and shrewd creativity must be invested so that convention may be ousted. Only then will brands begin once again to develop limited-edition products that genuinely stand out as they’re meant to.

Stress-free
by Design

Sharon VanderKaay

Here’s an insider tip for clients: find someone who not only does excellent design, but is an excellent designer. What’s the difference?

When doctors go to school, they learn more than how to cure medical problems; they’re also taught how to be doctors. Being an excellent doctor involves asking diagnostic questions (interviewing skills), explaining options for treatment and demonstrating empathy, known as “bedside manner.” The best doctors realize that patients are often worried and unsure. While these professionals have very little time, they know how to make patients feel they’re in good hands.

But unlike today’s patient-focused medical education, most designers are not taught how to most effectively interact with clients. Your designer may not be aware that, similar to a worried patient, you have unobvious hopes and fears as you get ready to make a major investment in design.

When choosing a designer every client wants to know: What are they like to work with? Will I be in good hands? Will they care about what matters most to me? Will they think ahead to prevent problems or constantly be “putting out fires.”

The key to design success at Start It Up

So look for early signs that the experience of working together will be a positive one. Does the designer talk about you and your project rather than mostly about themselves? Does the designer explain what you can expect? What is their process and how would you fit in? Do they ask questions that give you a chance to reveal your hopes and fears for the project? Will they make the most of your project’s possibilities, or are they strictly problem solvers?

Working with a designer can be an enjoyable, creative, eye-opening experience. It can also be an adversarial one in which you are kept in the dark, wondering if you are making the right decisions while being confronted with predictable problems and excuses. Early signs of either extreme are there if you know what to look for.

Sharon VanderKaay is a designer who advises on the nature of creativity: how we work through ideas by ourselves and with others. vanderkaays@gmail.com

Time to Trade Booths
for Space Installations

In the age of social media, it’s become a thing of the past for brands to use trade shows to unveil new products. Gone are the days when attendees and exhibitors alike would go to a trade show expecting to get a first glimpse at the newest an industry has to offer. But if all that’s needed these days is a strategically planned Instagram, Facebook and Twitter post, are trade shows still relevant? Are trade shows needed at all?

Tokujin Yoshioka x LG light up Milano design week 2017

We’d suggest that they still are, but that the point of a trade show has evolved. Attending one is no longer about staying abreast of the latest product launches or the “booth hopping” approach of the past. Today, it’s more about savouring the whole fair experience. An amalgam of checking out a handful of breathtaking space installations, rubbing elbows with like-minded patrons, listening to one or two international celebrity speakers and sampling a few high-profile food vendors. It’s safe to say, trade show organizers have had to rethink their strategies to ensure their fairs stay well attended.

For example, attracting brands that not only want to show their products, but tell a relevant story to attendees, or even better, sponsor one, has become one of the critical strategies trade show organizers have been considering. Encouraging brands to show up with unorthodox booth designs worthy of social media attention, or inviting them to collaborate with artist collectives to help them design exceptional spaces where attendees can get fully inspired and rewarded have become the new holy grail. For trade show organizers, the idea of people leaving the show with nothing but memorable spectacles and unique experiences to share with their followers is now one of the biggest accomplishments that can be imagined.

Prototype Research_Series 02 Garment Dyed Dyneema by Stoneisland, 2017

Decode/Recode by Luca Nichetto & Ben Gorham for Salviati, 2017

Furthering the evolution of the trade show is the belief among those in the know that attendees are more likely remember a noteworthy space than a brand’s latest gadget. Norm Lehman of Syke Inc, a consulting firm for small businesses, suggested while looking at Swedish car maker Volvo’s booth during the latest Interior Design Show in Toronto, “Instead of showing off one of their shiny cars, why not sponsor the public area sitting next to their booth? Why not become part of something larger, a space with an experience that will stand out and be remembered?”

It’s not lost on brands or organizers that trade shows offer many expanding possibilities that need to be tapped into in order to get the best possible return on investment. Partnering with like-minded brands or creative professionals to design spaces worthy of collective awareness is just one of the many alternatives we’re starting to see. After all, trade shows have never been simply about launching new products, but new ideas, perspectives and experiences.

Christian Dior:
Crafting the First 10 Years

The current Christian Dior exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) can be seen as appealing for many reasons. Obviously, showcasing a collection of haute-couture gowns and dresses from Dior’s first ten years (1947 to 1957) has a pull of its own. Yet, there’s much more to it.

Christian Dior and his mannequin in the late 1940s. Rue des archives/credit

Christian Dior’s most famous silhouettes in Vogue

Alongside the 40 sophisticated dresses showcasing Dior’s New Look, the exhibition also presents the trades that enabled Dior produce a collection of such striking elegance and refinement. Whether it’s the stunningly dyed or woven textiles, detailed embroidery, dazzling ribbons or glowing sequins, each manufacturer brought their own well-esteemed creativity and expertise to the table. Dior’s high regard for their artistry and skill was most definitely a prerequisite to establishing mutually fruitful, trusting and lasting collaborations. Christian Dior had probably developed this appreciation in earlier years as a small art gallery owner while working with artists like Pablo Picasso and creating a reputation not only for the artists, but also himself.

Christian Dior’s designs from the ROM collection (Photos courtesy of the ROM)

In fact, it’s likely that as much as it was an honour to work with Dior, it was also his privilege to work with manufacturers and artisans of such high calibre. Many of them had established their names and produced extraordinary work long before Dior. Naturally, along with his reputation, it was also their own that was on the line with every new collection. As a result, producing exceptional, high-quality work was the essence of the project for everyone involved—collection-to-collection and season-to-season.

Yet, Dior’s contribution to the fashion industry goes well beyond revolutionizing the shapeless, masculine, post-war way of dressing which many women protested against even then. It’s his contribution to the revival of the “non-essential” trades, once so eminent in the pre-war France yet hardly surviving after, that’s often overlooked.

The exhibition offers a refreshing insight into an era when garment trades were respected and recognized as a significant part of the haute-couture collections. Nowadays, the spotlight has been shifted predominantly to models, stylists and photographers instead. Regrettably, the contributing trades get barely any attention today. Perhaps placing value on these artisans, just like Dior’s immaculate and pristine dresses and gowns, has become dated or simply economically unviable. Or perhaps showcasing a mutually trusting and respectful relationship with contributing trades has gone out-of-fashion?

Christian Dior is on display at the ROM till March 18, 2018. For a behind-the-scenes look at the preparation for a recent Dior couture show, we suggest watching “Dior and I” (Netflix) either before or after your visit to see the artisans in action.

Making Common
Spaces Uncommon

Whether you’re a writer, scientist, designer, architect or construction worker, all of us like to speculate about the future. We like to imagine the future as not only mysterious, but also as an extraordinary event.

IDS18 ad-series featuring Rollout’s graphics

Rollout x Robert Sangster Colourinky for IDS 2017

Future Fantastic is the theme of the upcoming Interior Design Show (IDS) in Toronto. It will be celebrating its 20th anniversary, a milestone not only for the organizers, but also its supporters. One of them is Jonathan Nodrick, the creative director and owner of Toronto-based multi-disciplinary design studio Rollout, previously a frequent IDS exhibitor, and now a fully-converted and enthusiastic sponsor. Exploring the future, whether through unorthodox wallpaper coverings or space installations, is something Jonathan has become passionate about. It is one of the reasons he signed up Rollout to design the common spaces for the show. “When the IDS crew asked us to design one of the five common areas for their upcoming Toronto show, I simply replied, why not all five?”, explains Jonathan.

Jonathan Nodrick, the CEO & Creative Director of Rollout Inc.

Intending to make the common truly uncommon – yet exceptionally communal – Jonathan has extended the challenge to his creative allies across North America, inviting them to collaborate with him and his Toronto studio on this wild venture.

Resolving the typical dilemma of working within a small budget but with super-high expectations, creative collaboration was the most sensible road to take. By engaging with other like-minded professionals, artists, scientists, designers and educators, Jonathan was able to hand-pick his unorthodox team members. Or rather, he succeeded in envisioning a possibility that everyone wanted to be part of. Yet, developing ideas with such a variety of métiers can be a challenge of its own. What’s more, working with teams dispersed across the continent makes working as a team that much more demanding.

From Rollout’s 5 common spaces for IDS18, plus & minus

From Rollout’s 5 common spaces for IDS18, alone & together

Fast forward to the final week before the opening night party. Each team has now developed their design direction stemming from the creative brief developed by Rollout’s Toronto studio. Each team has presented their detailed drawings to Jonathan and ultimately to the IDS crew for their final sign off. Each team has handed their final renderings over to Toronto where all required production and fabrication has started to materialize.

Without giving away the concepts for each of the spectacular designs, one can line up for a drink or toasted panini at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto from January 18 to 21 and explore one or two of the (un)common spaces and the parallels each represents: One & Many, Inside & Outside, Loud & Quiet, Alone & Together or Here & There. Also, make sure to secure one of the limited-edition graphic posters designed in collaboration with one of the Rollout’s collaborating artists available at each of the five (un)common spaces.

The 20th Interior Design Show is on from January 18 to 21, 2018 at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto.

Longing for
an Instagram-Worthy
Toaster

When it comes to artist x brand collaborations, fashion brands seem to be in a league of their own. There are the fashion collabs with artists that garner cultural significance along with our attention, and then there are the rest. Even though a handful of beauty and beverage brands have been making waves with artist collaborations, it seems that brands in arenas like housewares, appliances and electronics generally have been unable to impress us the way fashion brands do.

To be more precise, if one wanted to put one’s 5-year-old and still irresistible Supreme x Comme des Garcons shirt in a comparably irresistible dresser, or to chill a bottle of the endearing Paul Smith x Evian collaboration in an equally endearing refrigerator there wouldn’t be many options. That is, with one glaring exception: Evian bottles lucky enough to be owned by those with a Dolce & Gabana FAB28 refrigerator, part of a mesmerizing capsule collection with the Italian home appliances brand SMEG. However, part of the appliance’s talk-value is its eye-watering price tag of 100,000 euros*.

John Baldessari’s BMW M6 GTLM art car #19

Perhaps, there lies the point. Artist x brand collaborations outside of fashion and beauty often come with price tags that are utterly out of this world. The BMW art car, for example, just like the Dolce & Gabana x SMEG collaboration, is a limited edition of five thousand, but with a price that’s never been disclosed. The strategy behind these projects are often more about brand elevation than mass sales.

Most brands, however, don’t engage in collaborations of any kind, be it art or design. That’s to say, we will all keep cooking with perfectly-fine looking microwaves, but they most likely will never compel us to post photographs and fawn over them on social media. At Arts & Labour, we can’t help but ask … why not?

The opportunities for developing unprecedented art collaborations with brands outside of fashion, beauty and beverages are so immense that leaving them untapped seems like a wasted opportunity. Not only for the loss of brilliant business momentum that collaborations have been proven to give, but equally for consumers who’re more than ready to eschew the mundane for the extraordinary.

We like to think it’s only a matter of time before brands from different industries see the marketing light, take a page from the fashion world and consider collaborating with artists for all our sakes. Someday, they’ll see that they can go beyond helping us manage our kitchens, our laundry or our offices functionally, and start transforming our day-to-day experiences.

Wouldn’t that be something.

*Dolce & Gabana and Smeg have subsequently developed a follow up collaboration of small appliances that has not yet gone into production. No word so far on how much they will retail for or when they will launch, though we’d wager there will be a waitlist.