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Heavens, what’d you do with my boring city guide!

On your next visit to Berlin or Portland (should you be so lucky to visit either amazing city once, never mind multiple times), you may, as we did, stumble upon each city’s less predictable and subsequently notable city guides.

We discovered that a handful of forward-thinking businesses had decided to take tourism and recreation matters into their own hands and have started to publicize their cities in new and different ways.

In Berlin, businesses in a small, historic but otherwise little-known square collaborated with a couple of art organizations, do you read me?! and Gallery Print, to develop a city guide that’s actually worthy of exploration itself. The following is an insert from Berlin’s POTSE district’s website:

What you’re holding in your hands is a sketched-out guide to culture, food, and shopping on and around Potsdamer Strasse – a street affectionately known as “Potse” to locals and fans. Over the past five years, Potse has quietly evolved from being a nondescript thoroughfare connecting two re-emerging western Berlin districts to the city’s most concentrated hub for visual art and the things that go with it – studios, galleries, a cozy bar or two, a reading room, and even avant-garde shops for the daring.

How does Potse differ from Berlin’s many past art hubs? HISTORY: It was here that the city’s most celebrated art galleries and antique dealers congregated in the 1920s. HYPE: There’s less of it. Serious galleries have put down serious roots, and they’re often in spaces that aren’t necessarily visible from the street. Look, then look again – inside, upstairs, in the backyard. Potse reveals itself slowly, and rewards the diligent.

By producing their own guide, the forward-thinking collection of POTSE businesses have not only made their little square more distinguishable and detectable, they’ve elevated their area to the ultimate artistic shopping, seeing, eating and drinking experience. Not bad, considering the majority of the listed businesses would likely never have made it into any of the mainstream city guides.

Across the globe in Portland Oregon, something similar, though aesthetically more individualistic and authentic is afoot.

Table of Contents (TOC), the local clothing store behind Portland’s unique and engaging guide, is also a resource studio and a concept store. Their guide is truly brief. It’s half of POTSE’s size, but then again, so is Portland compared to Berlin. However, when it comes to having a distinct artistic voice, the TOC guide is equally thrilling and thriving. Unlike POTSE, TOC has curated their guide to encompass only the ultimate destinations – the crème de la crème that Portland offers. All tried, tested and trusted.

So, what’s refreshing about such a customized, aesthetically specific guide? Instead of creating competitiveness, they’ve managed to promote a sense of camaraderie among all the businesses listed. And that feeling of tribe also extends to the locals and tourists who make such great use of them. After all, who wouldn’t want a reliable recommendation for a place to eat or drink, art show to see or store to shop, especially while visiting a new city? And likewise, what like-minded entrepreneur would not wish to be part of the guide’s discerning and collaborative spirit?

While the Portland guide is not an art-fusion collaboration, being simply an initiative by an artistic company, we applaud their unique approach and progressive collaboration with competitive businesses to improve both their city’s image and the visitor’s experience. Even though guides like theirs may not be for everyone, they offer a craved-for opportunity to discover quality, authenticity and innovation, instead of the same-old–same-old.

In our next post we’ll zero in on our favourite art-fusion collaborations from Milan Design Week 2016. Till then.

POTSE GUIDE BERLIN (segment)

POTSE GUIDE BERLIN

POSTDAMMER STRASSE, BERLIN, Germany

POSTDAMMER STRASSE, BERLIN, GERMANY

POSTDAMER STRASSE THEN

POSTDAMER STRASSE NOW

TABLE OF CONTENTS STORE INTERIORS, PORTLAND, OREGON

TABLE OF CONTENTS STORE ENTRANCE SIGN, PORTLAND, OREGON

Portland-places-to-go BY yo-vintage

Art fusion: Mistakes to Avoid

Jun Takahashi, the founder and designer behind the Japanese avant-garde label Undercover and known for his rather original tagline “We Make Noise, Not Clothes”, has become wary of art collaborations. For Takahashi, many of the collaborations he sees are mere marketing gimmicks. Consequently, the ones he chooses to engage his brand with must go deeper: “What all [our] collaborations have in common is that they make it possible to do something that we cannot do as Undercover. It’s more like friendships and shared interests, and taking advantage of each other’s resources,” he says.

Clearly for Undercover, it’s not about collaborating for ‘collaboration’s sake’. But how many art or design collaborations happen for exactly that reason? How many take something that is meant to be genuine and relevant and perhaps inadvertently, cause it to become insincere and uninspiring instead? Unfortunately, the number of less-than-original, less-than-relevant and alas, less-than-desirable art collaborations has been on the rise. Sadly, it’s a misused opportunity not only for the brands, but also for the artists and designers involved.

Normally, we like to focus our attention on dynamic and desirable art-fusion collaborations that work well. However this time, we’d like to turn our eye to a few collaborations we thought didn’t quite make it.

1800 TEQUILA & KEITH HARING: ESSENTIAL ARTIST BOTTLE SERIES
For the limited-edition capsule collection of six collaborative bottles, 1800 Tequila partnered with the Keith Haring Foundation to give a new platform to Haring’s revered socio-political work. It followed their previous release of Jean Michael Basquiat’s capsule collection. The extent of each collaboration was to wrap 1800 Tequila bottles, quite predictably, in different kinds of artwork. No wonder some of the comments posted on social media were unenthused: “I love Basquiat and Haring as much as the next guy, but can we stop using their art on the most ridiculous products? In fact, let’s stop using it on clothing while we’re at it… “ And to add to the project’s lack of originality, the 1800 Tequila press releases announced each new artist’s bottle series by only replacing the participating artist’s name with the next. Taking a too simplistic approach to an art-fusion collaboration can often result in cynicism – something to avoid we say.

ETSY & WHOLE FOODS MARKET: INGREDIENTS FOR CREATIVITY
The reusable grocery bag produced in collaboration by Whole Foods and Etsy was to promote ‘ingredients & creativity.’ Yet instead, it ended up promoting ‘staleness and predictability’, so to speak. Why not truly collaborate and rather than simply printing on a conventional grocery bag, why not reinvent a bag from scratch, or deconstruct the existing one and turn the expected into the unexpected instead? A bag with a shape that’s less traditional and with art that’s less predictable; a bag that’s double-sided, with art on the inside as well as on the outside; a bag that’s ready to go places beyond a grocery store. Wouldn’t we all have loved it?

SECOND CUP COFFEE ARTIST SERIES: CREATIVITY, OPTIMISM & COLLABORATION
The series of three artist coffee cups was a collaboration that unfortunately started with an already predictable idea. By using a conventional, all-too-familiar paper cup, the collaboration had very little room left to play with newness and originality. Instead of “holding an original” which was the series theme, it was rather about holding ‘the same old’ only in different wrapping. We’re big fans of the Second Cup brand and feel optimistic their next art collaboration will push the boundaries further.

The lesson learned? Art collaborations are not about re-packaging. No matter how attractive, it’s still just wrapping. The key ingredient to a successful art-fusion collaboration is having a strong desire to challenge conventions to promote newness and desire. No small task, we say. Art collaborations have been around for a long time now, and the most memorable ones seem so effortless – what we have to remember is that the process behind each is filled with herculean efforts to achieve originality. And it’s that sort of effort that produces a product that’s so rewarding at the end.

In our next post we’ll take a look at refreshingly different city guides. We’ll see you then.

JUN TAKAHASHI’S UNDERCOVER

JUN TAKAHASHI’S UNDERCOVE

UNDERCOVER x UNIQlO

UNDERCOVER x NIKE

1800 Tequila x Jean Michael Basquiat

Second Cup Coffee Artist Series

Etsy x Whole Foods Market

The Death of a Gift Shop

In recent years, museum gift shops’ artsy t-shirts, mugs and scarves have been greeted with a diminishing sense of enthusiasm. However, more progressive art organizations like the Walker Art Centre in Minneapolis and the New Museum in New York have started to reinvent the role of their gift stores. At Arts & Labour, we say it’s about time.

In the recent New York Times article “For the Walker Art Center, a Shop That Peddles Evanescence,” Melena Ryzik examines the changing responsibility of artists and museum shops. A new conceptual art pop-up store at the Walker aims to change the traditional notion of the gift shop. As Emmet Byrne, the Walker’s Museum’s design director explains, “it’s more about a digital bazaar with pieces priced to sell, an exhibition of sorts, with curated original artworks”. Michele Tobin, the gift shop’s retail director explains further, “the priority isn’t ‘get as much as you can’ for that item in the marketplace.”

This is great news. Many so-called cultural brands like museums and art institutes have been lagging behind commercial brands like Converse, H&M and Evian among many others who’ve been redefining the meaning of products and art much faster than most art organizations. With their innovative art integration, they’ve become effective in creating a new breed of merchandise widely recognized as artist collaborations or ‘art collabs’. Blurring boundaries between art and commerce, the French fashion house Louis Vuitton has become one of the front-runners in this movement and have quite imaginatively diminished the divide between art and merchandise. The unprecedented popularity of their sold-out collaborations with avant-garde artists like Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince and Yayoi Kusama have spoken for themselves.

In contrast, the majority of museums have only managed to widen the gap. By somehow turning desirable art into undesirable merchandise, they’ve turned their gift shops into uninspiring souvenir outlets. But while they’ve languished, successful commercial brands, thriving on being seen as innovative and relevant, have been savvy enough to stay ahead of the mainstream curve. By staying connected to groundbreaking designers, artists, creative directors, writers and photographers, they’ve been able to capture the ‘next big things’ and have stayed engaged in the necessary cultural and social dialogue that translates into greater popularity and greater revenues for their brands.

In our next post we’ll report back from the Venice Biennale, highlighting the latest in art fusion. See you then.

Drawing Club at Walker Open Field: A Collaborative Coloring Book, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.

uniqlo sponsors FREE Friday nights at Moma, NY, U.S.A.

SMS # 5: Neil Jenny, Bucks Americana William Copley x Dmitri Petrov, new museum, NY, u.S.A.

SMS # 6: Bernar Venet, Astrophysics: William Copley x Dmitri Petrov, new museum, NY, u.S.A

Drawing Club at Walker Open Field: A Collaborative Coloring Book, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.

gift shop, Newseum, washington, D.C., u.s.a.

gift shop, toronto botanical gardens, toronto, ON, canada

So long store displays – Hello art installations

Fashion, often the most forward-looking and savvy of retail marketers, offers many valuable lessons to the rest of the retail industry. Fashion’s latest tutorial in the art of drawing a crowd could yet again be of great service to retailers who are ready and willing to learn, regardless of category. What’s the lesson you wonder?

A handful of pioneering fashion designers and brands, have started to put emphasis not only on designing new collections, but also on the way their latest ready-to-wear lines will be presented. Departing from the conventional use of mannequins in store displays, they’ve been outfitting each collection with its very own art installation. Simply put, it’s no longer only about the spectacle seen during Fashion Week in Paris, London or New York, but also about spectacles created directly in the retail stores in Chicago, Berlin or Shanghai. Why stray from the tried and true approach of merchandising, you ask?

As all retailers know, the competition between online and in-store traffic is growing increasingly fierce. Drawing consumers out of their homes and into your store now requires more and more marketing muscle. What the fashion industry has found is a new way to compete with online retail by providing irresistible experiences that can only be found in the physical stores. In addition to producing their own ready-to-wear collections, emerging fashion designers like Paris-based Simone Rocha or Tokyo-based Julien David have become known for taking on the additional creative task of designing their own store and often even the all-important window displays. Their installations reveal the designers’ conceptually driven motives that go well beyond the expected and have become a phenomenon fashion bloggers and journalists have started to eagerly anticipate.

London-based Selfridges and Dover Street Market, Paris-based Colette and Le Bon Marché, and Milan-based 10 Corso Como are among the department stores that have become known for pioneering the approach of presenting their collections as ever-changing art forms. Fashion designers are given free rein to design store spaces and window displays that are true experiences, drawing shoppers and social media attention even after closing hours.

In fashion, the name of the game is no longer only about new products, but also about new spaces – two equally strategic partners and one enormous force. As our eyes go to London, Paris and Milan for inspiration and appreciation, our marketing minds and creative hearts hope that more retail stores will join in by collaborating with local artists and designers to create their own unique store displays and window installations. What better, more soul-satisfying way to compete with online retail than with attention-drawing art right in the stores and on the streets?

In our next post, we’ll take a closer look at art fusion’s early adopters. See you soon.

SELFRIDGES LONDON & Simone Rocha

SELFRIDGES LONDONK & Simone Rocha

DOVER STREET MARKET NEW YORK & Simone Rocha

Louis Vuitton, TOKYO

UNDERCOVER, SHANGHAI

Dover street market ginza TOKYO & Julien david

Dover street market NEW YORK & Julien david

Do limited editions create limitless desire?

It’s not a secret that over the last decade, the popularity of art-fusion collaborations has grown dramatically. While the most talked-about collaborations seem to come and go in a flash of white-hot attention, the less successful ones linger behind in social-media silence, in hopes of one day selling out.

One decision a brand embarking on an art-fusion collaboration must face is whether to make their product plentiful and part of their regular line, or to conceive it as a capsule collection (AKA, limited edition). Is the potential for higher demand worth sacrificing the potential of moving a higher volume of product?

Let’s look at some examples.
In Comme des Garçons’ multiple collaborations with New York fashion brand, Supreme, the brands chose to create capsule collections. They also chose to make consumers jump through quite a few hoops in order to even become eligible to make their ‘must-have’ purchase. The pre-requisite for each Comme des Garçons x Supreme collaboration is that every online shopper must first apply to buy. Second, the keen online shopper must then wait until his or her name is chosen and pre-qualified for an online purchase. Last, only on the day the collection launches, the selected shopper is notified by email about his or her eligibility to order online while the limited quantities last.

While this may sound discouraging to many consumers, it’s important to recognize that to these brands’ target consumer, it is irresistible.

Let’s look at the other side of the coin.
H&M engages regularly in collaborations – with Martin Margiela, Isabel Marant and Lanvin, to name a few. Usually, on the day the launch, H&M packs its selected worldwide locations with immense amounts of the collection, creating a sense of plenty rather than scarcity. If the collection doesn’t sell extremely well in the first few days, the unsold pieces from the collection often remain scattered across the stores, while many of the sold pieces quickly make their way to eBay resellers.

If eBay can be considered a value indicator, then CDG x Supreme pieces clearly outmuscle the H&M collaborations. Not only by their outstanding resale value, but also by their distinctive promise that the collection will be worn only by a limited number of people on the streets, bringing prestige not only to the brands themselves, but also to their highly sophisticated customers.

So do the benefits of a capsule collection outweigh their smaller profit potential you ask? If art-fusion collaborations are about infusing newness and relevance while consequently increasing desire and reducing need to sell, then ‘less is more’ is the preferable formula. Consider it an investment in brand equity. Even for brands with deep pockets, doing highly selective and perhaps less frequent capsule collections can bring a higher return on their investment in the long run. Building a reputation for creating irresistible art-fusion collaborations that come in small numbers accompanied by high-demand is a dream more brands will eventually find worth pursuing.

In our next post, we’ll take a closer look into the disappearance of store displays and mannequins. See you then.

Neil Young Supreme Poster

Supreme x Undercover

Chloë Sevigny for Supreme x Comme des Garçons

Supreme x Comme des Garçons

Supreme x comme des garçons

H&M x Maison Martin Margiela

H&M x Isabel Marant

Preventing art-fusion failure

According to Denis Freedman, Creative Director of Barneys New York, “… collaboration is the basis of what we try to do, and we try to work with as many people in as many fields as possible. We always make clear it is a collaboration, something that we or they (the artists) would never do on our own, because it results in far more interesting work”. But Barneys remains ahead of the game. Along with the support of their own visual design team, Barneys partners with creative marketing consultancies whose specialty is managing art-fusion collaborations. From every project’s conception through to execution, they invest in a team to ensure the most exceptional outcome – be it a campaign, product or event.

Needless to say, a relatively inventive department store like Barney’s is much closer than its competitors to the prediction Andy Warhol made when he declared, “all department stores will become museums, and all museums will become department stores”. So far, only a very few number of stores have turned themselves into museums of style, culture and art. Dover Street Market with its locations in London, Tokyo and New York, and 10 Corso Como in Milan are the only shining examples, while a great many museums have started to rely on their gift shops as sources of revenue.

Indeed, transforming a department store into a museum or vice-versa, where one can feel truly stimulated and inspired to shop, takes a team of experts who are as knowledgeable as they are passionate about art, culture, design and retail. James B. Twitchell, the author and professor of English and Advertising at the University of Florida understands this only too well. By claiming that “art has become a central vocabulary for narratives now attached to fast-moving consumer goods”, he provides the retail industry with a rather challenging solution. One that’s no longer in the hands of business-minded retailers, but of innovative and imaginative creative collaboration consultancies. The emerging creative consultancies offer some things that neither brand managers nor advertising agencies can; discerning and ultra-current knowledge of the global art and design landscape, a roster of leading artists whose work not only lends itself well to brand collaborations but are amenable to them, a highly developed understanding of culture and style, and expertise in managing and nurturing potentially fragile artistic collaborations to their most successful ends.

Unlike Barneys, many brands (including Canadian ones) have not yet grasped the importance of having specialized creative collaboration consultants on board, and instead prefer to ‘DIY’. Is it possible that Canadian marketers aren’t thinking big enough for their brands? Could it be the reason we’re not experiencing at least a handful breathtaking art collaborations made in Canada?

Like Barney’s, brands will and have begun to grasp that navigating through the collaborative process and achieving the desired result is more complex than most are equipped to handle. For brands that understand the need to become or stay relevant by infusing their brand with art, they’ll be happy to know that delegating the collaborative process to creative teams of visual and cultural experts is not only the right step, but also the far easier one – be it their first or twenty-first project.

Are you curious about the creative experts who are shaping and transmitting art-fusion collaborations to the greater public? Please comment or contact us if you’d like more information. See you in our next post.

Henzel Studio x Barneys New York for FRieze art Fair

baz dazzled window installations by Baz Luhrman FOR Barneys New York

Dover street market London, window installation

Dover Street Market New York, Store Installation

Hover Title

10 corso como milan, store installation

Dover Street Market New York, Blood & Roses Store Installation

V&A Museum London, gift shop

Standing Ovation ’14: Our Fav. Collabs from Around the World

Every year, we like to step back, evaluate and applaud the brands and artists who have inspired and elated us with their teamwork. This time around we’ve based our selection on collaborations that have been successful at walking the line of artistic integrity while still achieving accessibility, allowing them to benefit the public at large. We’ve handpicked art-fusion collaborations we felt were approachable, but also relevant – either environmentally, socially or culturally across the full spectrum – to everyone from children to seniors, pedestrians to drivers, shoppers to spectators.

Here are the three that rose to the very top.

Park in Art: “The Z” & Gilbert’s Bedrock Real Estate Services.
Put a ten story building, 33,000 square feet of future retail space, 1,300 parking spots and 27 internationally recognized artists together and what do you get? According to Dan Mullen, the vice president of development at Gilbert’s Bedrock Real Estate Services in Detroit, you get “… a place of destination and a place to visit time and time again.” Judging by the many visitors and locals alike who come back to “the Z” again and again while snapping photograph after photograph to share on pretty much every social media platform available, he’s right.

In her photo-essay “Park in Art,” Sharon Vanderkaay, a Detroit-born artist and designer accurately remarked, “The Z could have been just another utilitarian design in a city that needs new infrastructure. But Dan Gilbert choose to make the most of this opportunity to reinforce Detroit’s image as a fascinating, optimistic, human place. Also this venture sends the message that creative approaches are welcome here.” Hats off to Gilbert’s Bedrock Real Estate Services for such a bold and beautiful move.

“The Z” was curated by Detroit’s own Library Street Collective who not only undertook the task of curating, but also managing the logistics of inviting, scheduling and hosting the 27 international artists to actually paint the 10 story building. The end result is an astonishing parking garage that not only showcases artists’ work, but also allows Detroit to hold an important survey of today’s emerging new muralism. The project is a valuable documentation of contemporary aesthetics that feed contemporary art forms today. Well-done LSC!

Restoration LEGO: ‘Dispatchwork’ by Jan Vormann.
Although the Dispatchwork project started back in 2009, it’s only in recent years that it has grown into something of a global movement. As of today, the project has been adopted by over 100 cities around the globe, including our very own Toronto. A German artist, Jan Vormann, took the initial task of improving appearances of public spaces by inserting pieces of LEGO to seal cracks and crevices in broken walls of urban structures. Even though the repairs were temporary, the playful and imaginative ‘hands-on’ approach has been offering immediate appreciation and joy to all who see them.

Since 2009, many other urban participants worldwide, took up Jan Vormann’s vision and have started to create their own LEGO patches in their own cities. Through the Dispatchers forum When & Where, anyone interested can apply to participate and share their photographs with their own artistic patches. Even though the project wasn’t originally initiated by LEGO, at least not officially, it demonstrates the incredible force a global brand can achieve, be it in Beijing or Beirut. Congrats LEGO & Jan Vormann!

The Politics of Fashion: Sterling Ruby & Raf Simons.
Just as the Los Angeles-based artist Sterling Ruby’s installations and sculptures can overwhelm viewers with their colour, size and texture, so can his political views. With this fashion collaboration, the German-born artist did not compromise, but brought his personal politics into fashion and fashion back into politics. In collaborating with the Belgian designer Raf Simons, Ruby demonstrated that art and fashion can coexist, benefit and influence each other. Even though the menswear collection included highly-priced, hand-dyed, limited-edition pieces accessible only to a select group, its political and aesthetic impact was felt democratically across all ranks of the fashion and art industry. Nicely done.

We hope all three can hear our applause all the way from Canada.

In our next post, we’ll take a look at how to prevent art-fusion collaborations from potential failures. See you then.

“THE Z” x B

“THE Z” x Hense

“THE Z” x San Sebastian

Dispatchwork, Toronto, Canada

Dispatchwork, Tel Aviv, Israel

Dispatchwork, Berlin, Germany

Dispatchwork, Bocchignano, Italy

Sterling Ruby x Raf Simons, HAND-PAINTED PARKA

Sterling Ruby x Raf Simons, HAND-PAINTED BAG

Highbrow Brands x Lowbrow Art

Comme des Garçons does it. Louis Vuitton does it. Even Hermès does it. They are among the handful of highly progressive fashion houses that have fused their highbrow brands with lowbrow street art by collaborating with avant-garde and sought-after national and international graffiti artists to help them disguise the luxury they’ve become known for. Why, you ask?

With the increasing popularity of online shopping, retail stores have more than ever become venues for experiences rather than just buying goods. While many high-end brands have been selling their sophisticated collections in equally high-end boutiques, the more avant-garde brands have been pushing the boundaries much further. By disguising and transforming retail spaces into art spaces with interchangeable street or store installations, such brands are able to truly heighten their brand’s publicity. And by using the work of the most cutting-edge artists the national and international art scene has to offer, they give a new and interesting platform to soft-sell their own high-ticketed and acclaimed collections from.

Paying attention to brands that deconstruct their store interiors or exteriors and offer extreme contrasts to their sophisticated collections has become something of a movement we all enjoy taking part in – whether just by visiting these makeshift storefronts or by exploring the art installations themselves; or simply by talking or reading about them in social media. In other words, retail is no longer about selling products that appeal to us, but about providing experiences that can truly seduce us.

The art fusion collaboration between Louis Vuitton Miami Project and the American mural graffiti artist RETNA in 2012 was one of numerous examples that set the blogosphere ablaze. RETNA, with his hieroglyphics and calligraphic designs, created murals that helped to disguise the traditional looking Louis Vuitton storefront. The store was easily spotted for its vandalized look, instead of its usual Louis Vuitton elegance. Provocative enough?

We know that by thoughtfully juxtaposing and contrasting opposites, a truly winning formula can arise. Take a look at the London or Tokyo or New York Comme des Garçons’ Dover Street Market in particular. In each and every location, fashion fuses with art ever-so tastefully and thoughtfully. You may ask yourself whether you want to look at avant-garde clothing displayed in cheap looking plywood structures or walk around beams covered in low-end graffiti knitting in order to spend so many of your hard-earned dollars. But in the end, who these days is interested in looking at innovative collections in traditionally intimidating and unwelcoming store settings that seem unfriendly for some while fatiguing, if not boring for others?

If you’re curious about what the next paradoxical differentiator brands have been experimenting with, stay tuned for our next post coming in September when we return from our summer break.

HERMÉS ATHENS x Philippos Photiadis

Comme des Garçons NY CHELSEA WALK IN ART MURAL

Comme des Garçons NY CHELSEA WALK IN ART MURALS

KONGO X HERMÈS

DOVER STREET MARKET NY

DOVER STREET MARKET LONDON x Mondongo

DOVER STREET MARKET TOKYO

COMME des GARÇONS x Hermes “Comme des Carrés” Collection’s Event

Kidult Tags Hermès Paris Store With ‘Love’

Louis Vuitton Miami Design District Store x RETNA

DOVER STREET MARKET Japan

DOVER STREET MARKET TOKYO

Charitable winning

It goes without saying that art fusion collaborations can take many forms. We’ve seen many grace the market as a new product, a new service, a special event, an in-store installation and as a graffiti application, to name a few of the more popular forms. Some run independently, but it’s worth noting that many of the most successful are a combination of two or more.

Savvy brand managers and artists alike know that the launch of a new product collaboration can be profoundly enhanced by a complementary in-store installation, multiplying the effects of the new product, and magnifying the retail experience at large. Art fusion collaborations that are thoughtfully layered, taking place on a few strategic levels are not surprisingly quite effective, or in other words, sought after and talked about.

The National Football League (NFL), Bloomingdales and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CDFA) undoubtedly knew this when they teamed up with a group of top designers to forge 48 bespoke football helmets in support of the NFL Foundation and team charities. The resulting art fusion collaboration of customized football helmets was indeed a multi-sensual, multi-faceted, multi-platform extravaganza. The helmets were designed by well-known designers like Helmut Lang, as well as up-and-comers like Monique Lhuillier for the event’s auction. The 48 haute couture helmets were then displayed in Bloomingdales 59th street store windows in New York and promoted nationally across all marketing channels of Bloomingdales, CDFA and NFL.

The bottom line? Art-fusion collaborations are the most successful when everyone is winning. The 48 haute couture helmets were an example of just that – art fusion pushing boundaries by simply employing artfulness and using all avenues available to promote the result. From this art fusion collaboration, everyone walked away a winner: Bloomingdales – engendering goodwill and fashion cred from its association with the inspiring event, the NHL Foundation – with the record-setting funds raised, the CDFA – getting exposure for its most talented designers, and of course the art lovers who bid and rightfully felt good about making a contribution towards something that’s not only desirable, but meaningful.

Recognizing art fusion as multi-dimensional collaborative opportunity that can lead to something potentially much larger than the sum of its parts can be the first step of challenging the status quo and bringing the freshness and innovation consumers are constantly searching for.

Stay tuned for our next post where we examine the strategy behind high-brow brands using low-brow in-store installations.

RICHARD CHAI

RACHEL ZOE

ALICE + OLIVIA

NICOLE MILLER

steven alan

alexis bittar

eugenia kim

tadashi shoji

fenton/fallon

MONIQUE LHUILLIER