Marc Newson at the 92 Y
Two blocks away from my gallery is the 92nd street Y and Thursday night was the 1st of theirDialogues with Design Legends series curated by Daniella Ohad Smith.
I was eager to go and listen to Marc Newson interviewed by Alice Rawsthorn of the International Herald Tribune because he has made such a mark in so many industries from a piece of luggage for Samsonite, to spaceships for EADS, cars, furniture, jewelry to name a few. Marc Newson just opened his new exhibition “Transport” at the Gagosian Gallery.
It was interesting to learn about his approach to design, his way of thinking about his work. He grew up in Australia interested in making things and started his education with sculpture and jewelry design because they were the only classes that were practical and not just theoretical. His first creation that launched his career was the Lockheed lounge in 1986 made out of small pieces of aluminum soldered like an old aircraft hence the name. It looks great but the soldering is not intentional, he just did the piece with the technical knowledge he had at the time and through this project he learned how to do the next one. What drives him is that each piece he makes helps to expand his knowledge and solve a problem. By 1992 when he designed his Event horizon table his range with aluminum had expanded tremendously.
He is not a collector, doesn’t have emotional attachment to his work but on the other hand it is important to him that his pieces are collected, kept for a lifetime by their owners because he has managed to create something beautiful, groundbreaking, well made etc.
He wants to be recognized as a groundbreaking design talent and he welcomes challenges of very large corporations coming to him to solve a problem they, with all their means and talents haven’t been able to figure out. He worked 6 years on a project for Qantas, he designed a car concept for Ford, a spaceship for space tourism, aircrafts and many other objects. He is the choice of any luxury brand looking to make a statement in their industry from Boucheron jewelry to Riva boats, Ikepod watches etc. When he speaks about his projects you feel his excitement, he points to a number of aspects that went into the concept and production of the piece. He sees each of his opportunities to design as a dream come true, he starts from what he hates about existing products in the industry and thinks of how to make it great, from the form to every detail of its production.
Artist or designer? He doesn’t consider himself one or the other, he hates boundaries and if a gallery like Kreo or Gagosian offer him the possibility of creating a concept or a very limited edition he is happy being an artist on the other hand if a corporation sells thousands of his products he is happy being a designer. The objects take a life of their own; what’s important is to keep producing new concepts and one approach helps the other.
His body of work is enormous and his pieces sell for several million dollars at auction. What I find incredible is that he can make something beautiful for anyone. I love his Fractal Necklace for Boucheron inspired by the Julia set, a fractal whose formula was created by the French mathematician Gaston Julia (1893-1978), it is breathtaking piece with its 2,000 stones which took the craftspeople 1,500 hours to complete
