"I think we need more thinkers and less architects. "

<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...</span><br /><br />Kelly Waters</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"> interviews</span> <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dan Friedlander of LIMN</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">about</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">Memphis Design Group</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">for </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">YHBHS<br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"I think we need more thinkers and less architects.</span> In the end I think it is within the individual, their curiosity and what they do with it. Ettore came to our opening all those years ago and he hadn’t been to the West Coast as of yet and he was fascinated by his ride from the airport to the city, the landscape of California and the freeways, he was always <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 102);">OBSERVING</span>, always <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 51);">CURIOUS</span>."<br /><br /><br /><br />The pressure of <span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">COMMERCIALISM</span></span> and the ability to break through and make it is even greater than it was ten, twenty, thirty years ago.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6182/6046367532_50c42d73c2_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6182/6046367532_50c42d73c2_b.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 509px; height: 700px;" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style=" font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://kellylynnwaters.com/">Kelly Waters</a></span>, in addition to being a designer, writes the most amazing design blog called <span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" ><a href="http://kellylynnwaters.blogspot.com/" style="font-weight: bold;">Halycon Days</a></span></span><br /><br /><br /><br />"David John of YHBHS asked me to be a part of this discussion on Ettore Sotsass and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Memphis Design</span> group, and while I have always admired Ettore Sotsass, I did not think I was the right gal for this piece. I have always been one of those individuals that have never really understood what Memphis was all about. While working at<span style="font-size:130%;"> <a href="http://www.limn.com/index.php" style="font-weight: bold;">LIMN</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Furniture</span></span> and still in school, I would round the corner and come across the Carlton or the Beverly cabinet and just stare in dismay as it talked to me from a different time in a different language. This was after all the late nineties. Everything was slick and minimal, the city was filled with dot com madness, and the pages of<a href="http://www.wallpaper.com/" style="font-weight: bold;"> <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 0);font-size:130%;" >Wallpaper</span></a> are what I lusted after!<br /><br /><br /><br />Things have changed tremendously since then of course, but I never did try to revisit what Ettore Sotsass and Memphis group were trying to share with me. I did remember Dan Friedlander, founder of <span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.limn.com/index.php" style="font-weight: bold;">LIMN </a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Furniture</span></span>, having an affinity with the Memphis pieces and that perhaps he could shed some light on what I failed to see all those years ago."<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">- Kelly W.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6062/6046367208_d95ba4283d_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6062/6046367208_d95ba4283d_b.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 702px; height: 486px;" /></a><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6183/6046367468_dcca7cd969_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6183/6046367468_dcca7cd969_b.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 698px; height: 1000px;" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">an interview between Kelly Waters and Dan Friedlander.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">KW:</span> Although I grew up in the eighties my formal education and knowledge of design was a return to modern and modernism with the introduction of deconstructivists like Zaha Hadid and Daniel Libeskind being debated and fêted. It was clear that design that spoke with such an extravagant language such as postmodernism was viewed with disdain from my professors. It wasn’t timeless so therefore it was worth a mention but not praise. How would you describe Ettore Sotsass and Memphis Design Group to someone who didn’t experience it first hand.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">DF</span>: That’s because they didn’t get it., sure Memphis isn’t as important now but when they happened upon the scene it changed everything.<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 51);">They were the first to introduce furniture as art.</span> </span></span>And before then every architect was putting<a href="http://www.corbisimages.com/images/67/A13949F3-B1DB-4E84-9265-40004F7ED923/42-20787410.jpg"> two Wasilly chairs in the living room</a><a href="http://www.corbisimages.com/images/67/A13949F3-B1DB-4E84-9265-40004F7ED923/42-20787410.jpg">.</a> That’s it, nothing else. It was boring. Sotsass and Memphis changed the landscape of design.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">KW:</span> I understand you were the first or one of the first to bring Memphis to the States is that true and how did you know about Ettore and Memphis?<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">DF: </span> We opened Limn in 1981, right around the same time people began talking about Memphis, it was just a happy coincidence. <span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=" font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">They were our first show. They made us</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span></span> I found out about them from a couple of friends I went to architecture school with at Berkeley, they were in Italy and brought back a Domus and said you have to check these guys out. It was the second show of Memphis Design in the states,(who was the first I couldn’t make it out on the tape) we had a warehouse down by the ballpark and we filled it as if it were one massive gallery and it wasn’t just Memphis but local artists and furniture designers that were doing similar things in the bay area. It was meant to show that our local talent was just as avant garde and pushing the envelope as Ettore and his collaborators.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">KW</span>: Is there a designer today that you see following in Sotsass’ footsteps or seems to be directly inspired by him? And How?<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">DF</span>: That is really difficult to answer since things are so different now. Ettore and Memphis Group didn’t make these pieces to make any money, he was running his architecture firm and this was just something he did on the side to play and have fun. No one in today’s world does anything without first considering the market.<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> The pressure of COMMERCIALISM </span></span>and the ability to break through and make it is even greater than it was ten, twenty, thirty years ago. For example take someone like<span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" > </span><a href="http://www.moroso.it/home_moroso.php?n=designers&d_id=8&l=en"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Patricia Urqiola</span>,</span></span></a> she’s incredibly talented and is one of the lucky few to break through but her designs are always thought through with a manufacturer in mind and their ability to sell. This is not to insult her or her work in anyway it’s just how things are done. So no, I’m not seeing anyone unless it is an unknown artist that I’m not aware of.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6089/6046367294_dfe891417a_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6089/6046367294_dfe891417a_b.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 700px; height: 1007px;" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />KW:</span> Are there any pieces you have kept from the Memphis Collection?<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">DF:</span> I have kept a few remnants through the years for myself.<br /><br /><br /><br />KW: Are there any other pieces that Sotsass designed outside of the Memphis collection that specifically spoke to you or grabbed your attention and why?<br /><br /><br /><br />DF: Yes, his glass pieces. He was working with glass throughout his career. They were extraordinary pieces, some blown, some blown and then cast.<br /><br /><br /><br />KW: Ettore was trained as an architect, as were you, as was I. Do you think there is something about that training that offers its students so many different paths and directions in life?<br /><br /><br /><br />DF: I have thought a lot about this since I started out as an art major and transferred to architecture hoping it would give me some tools to apply to my art, I meant to transfer back but never did. The architecture schools have such different curriculum these days. When I graduated Berkeley they created thinkers and Cal-Poly created individuals that could enter an architecture office right out of school.<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 0);"><br /><br /><br /><br />I think we need more thinkers and less architects.</span></span></span> In the end I think it is within the individual, their curiosity and what they do with it. Ettore came to our opening all those years ago and he hadn’t been to the West Coast as of yet and he was fascinated by his ride from the airport to the city, the landscape of California and the freeways, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >he was always observing, </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0); font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >always curious.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6207/6046367702_a7b26e7d26_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6207/6046367702_a7b26e7d26_b.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 700px; height: 1013px;" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6078/6045818021_a5649ffc26_b.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6078/6045818021_a5649ffc26_b.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 703px; height: 1010px;" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">(th</span></span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >ank you dan and kelly)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">images sourced from the book</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Memphis: Research, Experiences, Failures and Successes of New Design<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">by Barbara Radice</span> <a href="memphis:%20Research,%20Experiences,%20Failures%20and%20Successes%20of%20New%20Design%20by%20Barbara%20Radice">(buy it here...)</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">repost from May 2011....<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">-----------------------</span><br /><br /></span><br /><br />

"I think we need more thinkers and less architects. "

... Kelly Waters interviews Dan Friedlander of LIMN about Memphis Design Group for YHBHS "I think we need more thinkers and less ar...

Read more »