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THE BRILLIANCE! HTTP://WWW.THEBRILLIANCE.COM/ Interview update! Summer on the streets and the internet with Dee & Ricky! Virgil caught up with the 'so-wait-what-do-they-do?' guys Dee & Ricky of the downtown NYC creative community to cover creating a brand, having fun, what they had for breakfast, never working a desk job, never not working, connecting with Marc Jacobs and more. Good read, and you read it here first! Summer time in swing for sure more...posts, interviews, Flickr lifestyle, variety, juxtaposition and whatever else we feel like. We're still THE BRILLIANCE!!! And we're still really internet. |
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Interview! > David Gensler!  Welcome to the real David Gensler and what he really thinks about everything. Co-Founder and President of the KDU and considered by many to be the top youth culture strategist in the world, David took some time out off his wild busy schedule to chop it up with THE BRILLIANCE! Interview by Benjamin and Chuck.
THE BRILLIANCE! > David Gensler himself... What's good with you right now? DAVID GENSLER > David Gensler needs a clone... and a vacation. TB! > Before we get started, anything you want to say to set the tone for this interview? DG > The tone of the interview is that beat to 50 Cents Candy Shop... so as you read this shit hum that beat in your head... it will make the medicine go down smooth. 50 Cent songs and lots of alcohol make me dance... and I don't dance. It is a weird thing to see large white bald dude dancing to 50 Cent. TB! > Anything random inspiring you lately? DG > I have been recently consumed with the idea of reductionism, multiplicity and duality. I have been deeply studying Islamic geometry and various eastern religions. It is amazing that everything that we try to do in branding and design has already been done thousands of years ago in some religion, just with different packaging. I have also been obsessed with the idea of density. It sickens me. I want to live in a world with less things and more ideas and places. So many designers are so focused on making more stuff and none of it has meaning. It is just junk to fill the moment. So what inspires me most right now is meaning. Who & What David Gensler is... TB! > Let's jump right into this... Tell us about yourself, fill people in that are on the outside of the branding world; who is David Gensler? DG > Well I am a Strategist, Designer and Entrepreneur, at least that is the nice little boxes that people put me in. At various points in my career I have held the titles, CEO, President, Chief Creative Officer, Creative Director, Director, Photographer, Graphic Designer, Industrial Designer, Copywriter, Art Director... I honestly see myself differently. To quote Buckminster Fuller, " I am a verb." I am too young and too ambitious to be any one thing. I know I do some things well. I have spent the last 10 years designing and building companies and brands. I have always tried to make new connections between existing things versus attempting to invent. I would rather recognize something that exists, something that others are not seeing. There is less risk attached. I have a strong reputation at winning and simply out pacing others. TB! > You have been accused of being arrogant? Are you arrogant? DG > I would rather be arrogant and effective than humble and worthless. I see no place for humility in my world. It is my role to start and win wars. I am extremely effective at this task, so much so that I would not want to personally be on the opposing team. Frank Lloyd Wright said that he had to choose early on in his career between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. He chose the former and had no reason to change and that is how I see it. You can be humble and broke while I take all the money. In the same breath, anyone that knows me knows that I am extremely giving and generous of my time and resources. I will go to the ends of the earth to help a friend. TB! > Human Brand, Native, Rocafella, The KDU, etc... You have been involved in so much to date. How did it start? When did you decide that branding was your thing? DG > I didn't really make a conscious decision to focus on brand development or strategy, it was something that just happened as I tried to design things bigger or deeper. I wanted to design the entire solution, not just images or message or object. I began looking at the big picture very early in my career. As time went on I began to realize that there was almost no one providing similar holistic solutions. Human Brand was the first company to truly pioneer soup to nuts holistic solutions. We had the ability to do almost anything to grow or fix a brand. The problem was the red tape involved with walking away from a global service paradigm. Ultimately the clients were not ready for such a radical departure from the norm. TB! > You pioneered many phrases and methods that are just now coming into strong recognition in the mainstream. For instance Personal Brand Development, e.g. Human Brands and terms like organic brand development. Are you excited to see that these ideas have taken root in the global marketplace? DG > Sure. I think many of the ideas came from my discontent with the system I was forced to operate in. I rebelled and searched for something, a piece of land to call my own. When I was in the advertising business, I immediately searched for connections in industrial design and architecture. I don't think anything I was talking about was new, just positioned and presented differently. In terms of the Human Brand, personal brand development stuff, it just seemed so logical at the time. The market was so consumed with a great desire for celebrity. When we found opportunities to interact in this market we exploded rapidly. I treated celebrity brands in the same way I would have developed and managed solutions for large corporate brands. Seems almost too simple to be innovative right? But in the celebrity management world the systems for managing personal brands are inefficient and sloppy. The entire industry was and is disjointed and fractured. The organic brand development, yeah, it is weird to read about the new crop of "holistic brand management" firms. There are 5 that I know of that literally copied and pasted parts of the Human Brand site directly into their corporate literature. I guess it is flattering. But it would be nice if they spent the time to reword the language a bit... or at least cite the source. Time at Roc-a-fella... TB! > You sold your company Native to Damon Dash/Roc-a-fella... You then took a position as Chief Brand Officer for the ROC full time, as well as CEO and partner of Native/DBG . Your time there was during their days of explosive brand recognition/growth... Can you tell us a bit about your time there? What was your daily life like? What was your relationship with Damon Dash and Kareem 'Biggs' Burk like? DG > Well Human Brand sort of merged and morphed into Native/DBG. It happened very quickly. Very "HIP HOP!!!!" In hindsight. I mostly remember the good stuff. But there was just way too much drama. No structure, in a traditional sense. My day consisted of me managing my direct staff at Native and in the Rocawear marketing department and figuring out ways to expand and enhance the various brands. My relationship with Dame was funny. I liked him personally until the last week I was there, but I lost respect for him early on. He would allow his ego to retard his personal growth and that of the companies. Biggs was cool. I miss him... He would take the time to properly address problems and generally cared about the staff. I wish them both well. TB! > Any projects you were really proud of while at the Roc? Anything worth mention here? DG > I am proud of everything we accomplished and attempted to accomplish. I am proud of the team I assembled and the work they did. I am proud that I had the chance to work with some of the most gifted minds in entertainment. I personally like both the main Rocawear campaign and the State Property campaign. A lot of energy went into those campaigns. The State Property campaign was in my opinion the best hip hop / urban campaign ever. TB! > And more importantly... Why did you choose to leave? Did you see the recent split coming? DG > OK. It has been a year so I am not going to sit back and keep my mouth shut anymore. Most of the inner circle people knew what was happening. Jay did Jay's thing and Dame did his thing. I was direct partners with Dame and Biggs so my interaction with Jay was limited. I always thought Jay was a gentlemen and highly intelligent. His recent growth is amazing. The dude just makes all the right moves and surrounds himself with good people who are dedicated to making things happen. Mr. Carter should hit me up and I will DONATE all the strategies I developed while at the ROC. I am sure he is more interested in making money then the idiots I was forced to deal with. I had strategies developed and ready to go that would have taken the ROC over the billion mark, but it was like explaining math to a chicken, they just did not get it. Dame had a habit of surrounding himself with "yes men". It is ok to be confident... it is even OK to be arrogant... but you have to back it up with talent, otherwise you are a bagpipe. Dame is the textbook example of what goes around comes around. He just called his loyal wife and the mother of daughter as his "bitch" in the press. What a gentleman. An idiot in a suit is nothing more than a well dressed idiot. Ultimately it was not the right place for me personally. Dame was experiencing a lot of personal issues and I felt he was not remotely focused on leading a global enterprise. I was also beyond frustrated with the rest of the executive staff. Some one ultimately has to aim the gun and everyone has to care about winning and this just did not exist at the ROC (at the executive level). It is also impossible to grow a business when your outside advisors and money managers are corrupt. CORRUPT!!! TB! > Do you still maintain any contacts/relationships with those who were involved with Roc? DG > I have great relationships with a few of the old designers and some of the sales people. I miss a few people. The design staff at Rocawear was very dedicated and talented. And everyone else that is supposed to have Dame's back just yaps to me about all the drama. It is some funny shit. The KDU... TB! > The KDU is now your new venture... Briefly fill everyone in on what exactly The KDU is. DG > Jason Bass and myself formed the KDU roughly a year ago. It serves two functions - first, it provides capitalization, structure and management to an ever-growing number of street culture brands and secondly, it serves as a global creative network. A Masonic Order for creative professionals around the world. Everything is focused on helping individual members achieve their goals. It is a giant spider web. It is also a place where I do not have the red tape and politics to hold me back. TB! > Tell us a bit about your current ventures with KarmaLoop. Where you are aiming to drive it in the near future? What is the next big thing in online retailing? DG > I began working with Karmaloop about 6 months ago developing advance competitive strategies. Their particular market target is the same, for the most part, as the KDU's, so the synergy made sense. Karmaloop was very interested in being number one in the market. They understood that they had a small perception problem in the core street market. We began correcting that by implementing Participation Programs, meaning all their marketing is now designed to directly contribute to the culture they are targeting. This way they can make big moves with less risk... if some one tries to honestly contribute in a positive way to something and it does not work, the intent is still recognized as a good thing by the intended audience, allowing the company to get back up and try again. Most major brands don't get this. They operate on the "more is more and more is always better" philosophy. They think that just throwing money at something will make it work. That might be true in the mainstream market when you are selling soap or washing machines, but heavy handed over exposure and cultural manipulation is the kiss of death in the youth / street markets. In the near future you will see more and more great brands on Karmaloop with different sections of the site dedicated to niche interests, such as toys, sneakers, art and lots of smaller international brands... and maybe a few surprises... that the competitors will never see coming. As far as online retailers in general, I think that the brands (retailers) need to figure better ways to interact directly with consumers in an offline environment. There are some very simple and effective ways to achieve this, but I am keeping that a secret for now... Stay tuned over the next 6 months and you will see. And go buy some cool gear - www.karmaloop.com TB! > What does The Royal mean to you? What does it mean to the current state of publications, since there are so many bland magazines out there right now...What sets it apart and why has it been so successful? Why is it free? DG > Well it is free because we want to make sure everyone gets it. It is not about consuming, it is about informing and educating, so we keep it free. I am sure with a few minor tweaks we could go toe to toe with any "design" magazine on the newsstand and pound them. We have some distinct advantages, like our online presence and the existing core market distribution channels. All the newsstand publications are bound by the price and it limits their reach into the core market. We are free to penetrate deeper and deeper. What does the Royal mean? Well, it is a great way to help talented friends that need some extra exposure. It is a great vehicle to communicate with people you respect and admire. It is also a great way to show people how things are connected - graphics, business, art, architecture, transportation design, alternative sports, photography, technology - it is fun. One of the main differences between the Royal and say a Wallpaper or a Surface is that we use 90% of the people featured as distribution channels. We believe that if we cover the best of the best... and they expose the Royal to their networks... then we can advance place our tiny magazine and brand into the right markets quicker. The strategy has worked like magic. We are everywhere we want and need to be. TB! > You have had your hands dirty with the success of many people, from companies to individuals to entire brands from east to west. What does it take for you to really see potential in someone and run with it? With so many talents and considerably potential-filled brands out there, are there any standout traits that you look for before you involve yourself with them? What about individuals, from entrepreneurs to artists? DG > This question makes me feel old. Lets see... I like people who are two things - oddly informed about all aspects of the world, cultures, business and their particular craft. I also like people that are naturally driven and self-sufficient. People who are already pushing themselves along and not depending on anyone or anything. Again raw data and the lust to just soak in as much as possible is a critical trait. I want to work with warriors - people who are really aggressive, people who have an ego but understand how to use it. I hate the hipster bullshit attitude that success is not a big deal... well then go paint a wall mural in the ghetto and stop clogging the market. I think the funniest thing about youth culture right now is the " I am too cool to care about money" attitude. I have seen a lot of idiocy in my days, but that takes the cake. I love idiots with this attitude... I am just standing in the shadows waiting for them to slip... and I will be right there to take their money. TB! > JB Classics. Tell us why nobody else out there is doing what Jason does with this brand? Are there any feature keys to the success of it? DG > Well it is honestly Jason's speed. In design, manufacturing, press, marketing, everything. No other company including Nike and Adidas can bring an exclusive product to market faster and with more impact. Jason also sees what he does as art. It is more than a means to simply make money, it is his art, so he is 100x's more dedicated and committed to it anyone inside any of the competitor brands. TB! > Your involvement with people like Kareem Black, Chuck Anderson of NoPattern, Jenna Rivers, Bob Partington, The Royal, and others has covered countless spectrums. Tell us a little bit about each of these people, just some general thoughts, and then any other key players that have been involved in projects with you along the way. DG > These are big questions... yikes.., I will try to keep it short and sweet. Well Kareem and Chuck were the first people we (Jason Bass and I) began working with about a year ago, just putting our talents together to create new things. Supporting each other, spinning press, pushing new business. Kareem is an amazing photographer. His style of portraits are classic. Chuck is next level, especially for his age. As he matures he will only get better and better, which hard to believe is even possible. Bob Partington is truly a genius. I have personally never seen someone process the type of work he is cranking out. In the next 6 months, Bob will become a household name. Jenna is literally a prodigy. Her ability to take in large amounts of data, process it and turn it into fuel is something I have never experienced. Partnering with Jenna allowed me to take the SVSV brand far beyond what I originally envisioned for the brand. With the exception of myself, Bob and JB, I am pretty sure everyone is WAY under 30. Jenna is currently only 19 and she has already demonstrated that she is a serious force in the design world. As she matures as a designer I am confident that she will become one of the most powerful design voices of her generation, time will tell. I really do believe you achieve greatness "on the shoulders of giants." You can't fight battles, let alone entire wars alone. You need armies and I feel extremely secure surrounded by the caliber of talent that exists in the KDU. Mash Culture... TB! > Alright... Your specialty, the phrase you coined, everything you rep right now: Mash Culture. We have few questions for you in regard this...
TB! > Let's switch gears back to traditional branding theory. What is the role that true product value plays in the consumers mind when they are considering 'pledging' to a particular brand? Should it be more important than it is now? DG > "Pledging" really only applies to such a limit array of brand categories these days - home wares, automobiles, luxury items... almost everything else is fueled by location and price. I think in any superabundant landscape you need to look very closely at things to see the forest from the trees. TB! > Speaking of 'pledging' or participation... Why do people 'pledge' to brands in TODAYS world? Do you feel there been any significant changes in brand participation in the last few decades? DG > Again - I think these ideas are outdated. Brand loyalty is so governed by category it does not play a part in generalized discussions. TB! > Honesty in branding... Not necessarily truth vs. lies but more in-line with refreshing and simplistic honesty that reflects both the product/service and the actual 'image' of the brand. Is this at all prevalent in today's world? DG > Well... I am not sure. In the brands I touch there is really no reason to fluff the reality. The products are what they are. The value is obvious. In most brands, I do not see to many over inflated claims, I am not really sure what is going on with all the get rich quick programs on late night TV. They seem to be such a great exercise in mind control. Hello Mr. or Mrs. Cant Sleep... would you like more wealth? Ok. Here are 4 easy steps. Steps one through 3... send us money... step 4... you make money. It is that simple... call now, operators standing by. TB! > In regards to the question above... Can you name some brands that fall on either side of the honesty spectrum? DG > I honestly can't say... lets see... I am not sure if that Spiced Pepsi was claiming anything but it sure was nasty. It was "honestly" horrible. I think Budweiser should promote their new energy beer as "fight juice" and just call it a day. Scion should just say that we found the ultimate way of ripping off dumb teenagers and broke college kids with the "dream of never ending upgrades"... I also think all porn is very honest... probably the most honest advertising in the world. Very focused and effective messaging. TB! > In the past you have spoken a great deal about the death of the traditional advertising industry. What are your current feeling towards the industry? Is anyone doing it right? Oh boy... you see it boils down to a simple reality. Advertising - NOT BRAND DEVELOPMENT - is simple mind control, just no one has the balls to come out and say it. Brand Development goes deeper into the sustained growth of the business. Advertising is basically the process of creating a message that you hope will be accepted and believed by the greater majority of consumers. This is why most brands have become nothing more than lies that are commonly agreed upon by the public. Brands used to be driven by grand visions, not super systems of creating cheaper and cheaper products then attempting at higher and higher margins. Sure, that is part of any great business and brand, but you can't eliminate the heart from the equation or you are left with nothing. Advertising agencies for the most part are lie brokers. They contribute nothing to culture. I think all brands should be managed by in-house teams and supported by outside specialty talent. TB! > Mass consumerism and luxury brands making far more attainable products/services than they ever have in the past. How is the educated consumer reacting to this versus the uneducated consumer? DG > See there is a crack in this question... and it is a big one. It proves that the overall value system surrounding brands is flawed. HOW can an exclusive luxury brand become a mass product? The function of "mass" and the function of "exclusive" are directly in conflict with each other. Eventually, all these actions to make luxury brands more profitable by going "mass" will back fire and destroy them... and yes... the educated consumer will be the sword that does the killing. These brands need to make a stand. Take SVSV. The price points are really high and that is driven by the method of construction and the materials used. The garments and objects will never go on sale. Luxury is not marked down. If you can't afford it buy something else. TB! > Give us your quick definition of an 'educated' consumer. DG > Someone who does not think Vogue is the bible and epistemology requires a strong antifungal cream. TB! > With mass consumerism and a saturated luxury market without doubt we will see a reversal which will create a new market and/or new consumer. What will this look like? DG > Again. I think there will be a very clear line between true luxury and fake luxury. Take Mercedes. I do not want my German luxury car manufactured and assembled anywhere else but Germany. I would rather own a ford truck than a Mercedes that was assembled in Kentucky. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Kentucky or any other state that assembles Mercedes. I just want a nice reduction on the sticker price. TB! > So many brands are blatantly exploiting popular culture. One example that comes to mind for me is McDonald's, it just seems they abuse and overexpose the use of hip-hop and black culture in their commercials on TV and Radio. It really makes it feel generic to me. What do you think? What are some other examples of how advertisers are hurting themselves and their audience? DG > A lot of big corporate brands are really, really out of touch with how to reach and communicate with their audience. McDonalds is about the most mainstream brand you can get - every color, race and creed eats there - why? Because they are everywhere and they serve tasty cheap food. I have no idea why McDonalds thinks they need to push hamburgers to black people differently than they do to white people or anyone else. In the youth culture work they do... oh God... they are so far off it is simply insulting. The formula - hip-hop beat + black male voice + some "edgy" graphics and don't forget the graffiti drips = people wanting cheeseburgers. COME ON! Just tell me you have a good 5 for 5 deal like Arby's and I am there. TB! > Keeping it classic... Form and function. What does that mean to you and your approach in the world of branding? DG > Well I think of this in two distinct ways - form and function follow profit. If you see it another way, you don't belong in business. Great design, whether it be form or function should motivate people and separate the object or service or experience from the competition, ultimately leading to higher sales. Another way of looking at the same form and function debate is by possibly adding "thought." Form, function and thought. The metaphysical is where brands exist. Tactile manifestations of brands are obviously limited to the physical world and thus governed by our 5 senses... that is why the "idea" and the story behind the brand is so crucial. In this superabundant landscape, form and function are meaningless without thought. TB! > Keeping it new... What has technology done to consumers? For example, eBay has, in essence, killed the jet-setter fashion world. Brands that were extremely exclusive and literally restricted in geographic terms are now available in standardized global market. What are your thoughts on this? DG > Well I would go as far as to say Ebay killed anything... again this is just reality. Life, death, taxes and Ebay (YO! Ebay should pay me for that!). I think online purchasing is the biggest consumer movement ever, especially when we reach the point where the broadcasted TV programming is interfaced with shopping. This will happen in the very near future. You watch a show or movie and instantly click and order something you see. Sure this will disrupt the current brick and mortar retail paradigm, but ultimately make it stronger and force it to be extraordinary. Competition usually makes both sides stronger. Serum vs. Venom... TB! > Switching topics again... Tell us about SVSV... As a brand, as a product, as a lifestyle purchase... DG > SVSV is a reaction to the ignorance and blindness that is plaguing our core market. False exclusivity and inflated value. Our generation and culture should have an option that commands its position through true quality and craft. I don't see it as a lifestyle, just an option. An alternative. No big claims, just suggestions. SVSV is hopefully a light in what has become a dark room. TB! > SVSV has garnered much press, online and in print. From Shift to Vibe to AdCritic, people picked up on it pretty quick. Do you think they are drawn to the products, the image, the concept, or all of the above? DG > We spent our time. Each part was sculpted; nothing was rushed or thrown together. There were no deadlines, just lots of time to carefully pick each word, each image. I wanted to personally steer away from the sexy over styled model driven images, we opted instead to use the one color "nature in conflict" graphics. Overall I am very pleased with the results. TB! > You have mentioned it will be branded as luxury street-wear. Luxury and street-wear brands are consumed in the same demographic quite often. But they are often purposefully consumed in contrast or juxtaposition to each other. How does SVSV plan to execute the merging of the two as the actual brand strategy? Without that natural contrast that the consumer creates in today's world... DG > Quality is quality... people can recognize high craftsmanship. In street culture the only high quality you find is in art. Right now some of the most progressive and gifted artists in the world are coming from various global street cultures. In the past street wear was mostly designed for pure utilitarian function attached to street sports, e.g. skateboarding, BMX, etc. But as the first generation of the core culture grew older and matured, they for the most part abandoned the brands of their youth instead of evolving them to fit their current needs. Brands should be able to adapt to consumers, not be so focused on an ideal of a particular lifestyle. I grew up wearing hoodies and skating, now I run companies. I feel uncomfortable in a suit, so I needed something in between. An $8000 pure Vicuna tailored hoodie does the trick. TB! > What will be your 'anchor' piece in the SVSV collection? The piece that really defines the brand and the whole feel of SVSV... DG > I don't think we want to have an anchor piece. I have not actually ever thought of it. I think the "anchor" is just the desire to offer easy to wear street wear in materials, either natural or synthetic, that are rare, exquisite or extraordinary. I personal love the sharp collar light jacket. It has an elegant fit and feels amazing. TB! > The long term direction of SVSV... Where will I see it in 10 years? DG > Hopefully SVSV will remain small and move far away from NYC. I want to be more connected to the world and NYC has a way of isolating you while making you think you are hyper connected. I want to live on a farm and operate the entire brand out of barns. Push the high craft aspect of the brand to new limits. I hope the brand has something to do with helping my generation reestablish a better understanding of value. Closing... TB! > To kind of wrap things up... Name drop some brands that really inspire you. What brands have convinced David Gensler to part with his cash? DG > I am really into Puma right now. The Mihara stuff is really amazing design. The Starck stuff is bold and the 96 Hour brand is really innovative as an overall brand. I think LRG is the strongest young brand inhabiting what's left of the "urban" space. They are the best cross over brand on the market. I like some Y3 stuff, especially the shoes. I dig CP Company and Stone Island. Acronym. I am really into Wally yachts, Spyker cars, Morgan autos... I really like Sarah Cihat's rehabbed skull ramekins (www.sarahcihat.com)... Alpa cameras... on the flip side I love the simplicity of Zero Image pin hole cameras... I love Confederate motorcycles http://www.confederate.com/... I will buy art faster than clothing or consumer junk that does not have a direct function in my work. I am a really, really obsessive reader and book collector. I have a giant library. I wish all my friends in the publishing world would send me more free books to review... wink wink. I love my friend Dave's store in Brooklyn called the Future Perfect. Dave really does it right, great store. Apple really gets it. I mean everything they do just sets the bar. I am really trying to figure out who to contact at Umbra about getting me some free Kim Jones gear... come on Umbra... I will rock it and talk about it ALL DAY LONG... send me some gear!!! XL! TB! > The in-between brands... Give us a brand you would love to steer in the right direction. Brands you feel are salvageable. DG > I think Adidas almost got it right with their heritage line... but it looks like they tried to hard. It looks like it is 2 years late. RBK is probably the best "almost got it brand"... they come SO close... but something is always wrong... they clearly have no design vision. It ends up being an exercise in empting a warehouse. But they could fix it if they just found a vision and an understanding that the product is more important than the message. TB! > The ones that are a complete waste... Who has no hope right now? And why? DG > Well Von Dutch... that just always was a bad move. Drunken Monkey... I just don't get it. Hip Hop suit companies... Ok I get the Russell Simmons' angle... but all the copycats? Come on... The Sprite Miles Thirst character seems like such a racists stereotype... how did they pull that crap off? Oh yeah... the Nike G Series... good God people... I hope someone got fired over that project! And could someone explain why I am supposed to care about Nike White Label? I just don't understand how a company such as Nike, that has clearly produced more innovative products than all their competitors combined can get some things so very wrong. It seems like in their search to become everything to everyone, they have become the Maytag of the style industry... reliable and boring. TB! > What's your favorite shop in NY? Favorite area in NY? Favorite city in the US? Favorite city in the world? DG > Are we dating? I like long walks off short piers and lots of porn. Shops in NYC... well the ones that hook me up with free shit and the ones that keep it real. Goliath on 105th in Harlem is tight. And.... everyone else needs to pay me to mention their names. Favorite City? I like NYC. I also like small town in the Pennsylvania, like Kutztown or Lancaster. Favorite place in the world is where ever I happen to be standing at a given time. TB! > Who is on your playlist right now? If you could organize a concert, what 5 musical acts would absolutely have to be there? DG > I just borrow other people's iPod's and listen to what they have downloaded. Right now I am into new 50 Cent, Kanye, Common, Mos Def, The Game, Jay Z, Biggie, some tracks from the Garden State soundtrack, always Tool, EL-P, System of a Down, Beatles, some classical mixed in. I am waiting for the new Talib album. TB! > Anything to close with? Anything you need to get off your chest right now? DG > Nope. Thanks for a very thoughtful interview. Opening your eyes to things while stepping back is a good move right now. There is a lot going on and it is easy to get caught up in the moment. For better or worse, this is our planet and we, through self-inflicted blindness, have become the dinosaur and the asteroid all at once. We need to find a balance with our environment and ourselves. As designers, it is our responsibility to at least be aware of these things. We don't need to become activists and spend our days thumping our chest and picketing, but we should at least understand that as the world becomes more densely populated and as technology helps fill whatever cracks there are remaining, we need to develop ways to interact with each other with more compassion and civility, not just make more witty tee shirt designs. TB! > Thanks for your time Dave! End. The pictures below are collections of both personal work and client work including Rocafella work, Native, SVSV, personal photography, KDU, and others.
> Website: http://www.thekdu.com/ > Website: http://www.svsv.net/ > Website: http://www.theroyalmagazine.com/ > Website: http://www.davidgensler.com/ > Website: http://www.suite2206.com/ > Website: http://www.triplewide.net/ > Website: http://www.bobpartington.com/ > Website: http://www.kareemblack.com/ |
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THE BRILLIANCE is NOT affiliated with ANY of the companies/products/services/places reviewed in any way, shape, or form.
All opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of ANY of the companies/products/services/places reviewed.