“There is nothing cool about me,” says Bill Cahan, totally deadpan. “I’m the Antichrist of cool.” He might be believable were he not sitting in the very cool conference room of his very cool office, surrounded by his cool projects, showing an achingly cool three-minute video that bombards one with over 500 images of his firm’s creation, with the Killer’s Mr. Brightside blasting as a soundtrack.
“I have an ironically safe personal life,” insists the creative guru, founder of Cahan Associates, the legendary SF-based design company that has garnered an unprecedented number of awards for its work. “My New Year’s resolution was to have no fear and to do things that make me uncomfortable,” says Cahan, allowing that in his professional life, that is already a given. Controversy, making people nervous, and flirting with the tension between appropriateness and self-expression is his creative modus operandi.
Cahan & Associates, according to its founder, is the embodiment of “smart contrarian thinking.” The company rose to prominence creating fresh and exciting annual reports, a previously “boring” form, specializing in design-resistant industries. Bill found himself inspired by the dissonance between the mundane environment present in these companies, which are nevertheless quietly revolutionary, as they are changing the way business is done. But, as he is quick to add, he doesn’t do annual reports anymore. For one, due to Enron-style affairs, innovative reports were seen as adding to the disingenuous nature of what certain companies were doing. Besides, Cahan is a novelty seeker, and his company was ready to move on to different things. “We’re basically a 23-year old startup,” he says proudly. The challenge at this point lies in building new businesses and agencies within the company while dealing with the sheer volume of new projects.
It sounds like this New York boy, who started out as an architect and never studied graphic design, has been hugely successful in his career conversion from 3D to 2D. But Cahan stresses that he is much less motivated by potential success than by the fact that each new job is an opportunity to fail. In his wallet is a crumpled Julian Schnabel quote about working without a script: “If you can't surprise yourself, how do you expect to surprise anyone else?" On Cahan Associate’s latest project, an advertising campaign for accessories giant Aldo, the photographer was basically shooting what Bill describes as “unchoreographed chaos” in order to try to depict pure joy through “authentic moments in time”. The client was stressing out, asking Cahan, “what’s going to happen?” “I’m not sure,” was Cahan’s gleeful reply.
Cahan seems to get a kick out of things that don’t exactly work out as planned. In fact, the company’s current website does not feature any of their work, just a simple caption that reads “Seeking Greatness” and a short video featuring a shaky close-up of Bill talking about the company at a brainstorming session, saying things like “We’re not going to talk about branding today, we’re not gonna talk about strategy, we’re not gonna talk about our process, our people, our great clients, we’re not going to talk about anything. You know why? Because it’s boring.” Reaction to the video has been virulent, spawning YouTube spoofs and blog rants about Cahan’s arrogance and pretentiousness. “Yes, it’s got that Andy Kauffman annoyance factor to it,” smiles Bill, who is not arrogant but concedes that he might come across that way, even if “I’m confident about some things, not about others.” But he doesn’t mind because making people uncomfortable is a good thing. And he certainly hasn’t bothered to take the film off the website.
Cahan Associates’ book, I am Almost Always Hungry, which came out in 1999 but still feels new, attempts to illustrate a small fraction of the devouring creative passion that goes into each of the company’s projects. Though Bill is constantly finding inspiration, it is not quite so obvious as coming across a classic painting and having a “wow” moment. Rather, for him, inspiration lies in the tension between intent and execution. Cahan cites some of Ed Ruscha’s paintings, with the friction between a staid Helvetica font, for example, and the statements or exclamations they are making. Cahan describes the best art show he has ever seen: an expo in LA featuring works by autistic and schitzophrenic artists. He describes the “impossible color combinations” and brilliance, which reminds him of a painting class he attended, in which the instructor attempted to “challenge your core belief system” by giving assignments like “what would you paint if you were insane?”
Cahan says he is “cynical” about design today. There is an overload of design, and especially a lot of copying. “The world is over designed,” says Cahan, who cites London as an example of a city he has a love-hate relationship with because, in becoming over-designed, it is beginning to lose its “rawness and unpredictability.” Cahan mentions that he travels a lot to overcome boredom- does he find other cities more inspiring? “Inspiration is in moments, it doesn’t matter where you are,” he says. He also stresses that, in the case of his company, he is just a small part of the creative process. Though he is the “catalyst and provocateur,” much inspiration also comes from collaboration with his creative team. Here too, it seems there are few constants and few rules. “We are competitive yet collaborative, we share well here. We have no rules. Maybe we could use a few,” laughs Cahan. “We work together because on any given day there is no guarantee that one person will nail something, we need to push to the next level.” Then again, he worries that sharing too nicely can sometimes bring out the “lowest common denominator.”
Cahan Associate’s success means that Cahan has the luxury of being able to actively seek out a balance in the projects they accept. Companies they work with need to represent certain core values, which is one of the reasons they accepted to work with Aldo despite initial reticence. Cahan says he doesn’t respect certain fashion companies because they “make people feel bad about themselves.” But Aldo had an AIDS campaign in ’87, before it was “cool.” And projects for innumerable large companies such as the vodka brand for which he brainstormed on “redefining what a vessel might be” are balanced by giving back in some way, “doing the right thing.” The firm has always done work for non-profits but now has created the Circle Foundation, a dedicated organization within Cahan Associates headed by Crystal Vann, a senior account manager who specializes in nonprofit branding. Their first client was The Institute for OneWorld Health, the first non-profit pharmaceutical company in the U.S. “It’s like putting Karma points back in the bank,” smiles Cahan. Now if he could only do something about that boring, uncool life of his.
Showing posts with label design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label design. Show all posts
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Musa Dajani, the Dajani group: Engineering variety
Musa Dajani, an engineer by trade, and mastermind behind some of the city’s most successful venues, loves design. His eyes light up when he describes the concepts behind his ventures, which include Nihon, Tsunami Sushi, Bar 821, Café Abir, and soon Corkage Sake and Wine shop. “None is a replica of anything, it makes it harder to run the business, but more exciting!” It is even more impressive to consider the spaces when one realizes that almost everything, from the heavy doors to the unique metalwork, is executed in-house by Dajani’s team of talented craftsmen based on his original designs. He also sources remarkable materials, from the acid-etched concrete tiles at Bar 821, to the exotic Bubinga wood slab from Africa that forms the bar at soon-to-open Corkage, to the white Malaysian pebbles in Nihon.
Quality is Musa’s foremost concern, and this extends from the materials he uses, to the food and drink available at his café, bars, and restaurants. His motto, he says, is “If you do something well, it will carry itself.” Indeed, one of the big reasons that this Palestinian, who has now lived in SF for 22 years, owns two Japanese restaurants, other than his love of sushi, is that he respects the Japanese enormously: “Everything they do is the best, it works well with our motto.”
It is obvious that Musa Dajani is doing what he loves. “Yes, you have to find that personal thing that you like, and then make it a business.” Café Abir, for example, named after Musa’s sister, was created because, Musa says, “I thought it would be the best thing to have friends hang out in a café you own.” He has aimed to make the design of Café Abir comfortable, and not intimidating, in order to encourage people to come back often, to be regulars. Musa himself begins nearly every day with a stop at Café Abir. He explains that they just finished remodeling the café, but left it much the same. Sometimes you don’t want to mess with a winning formula. And it’s not just the customers who are loyal. The staff in Dajani Group’s restaurants tend to stay for a long time. “8 years, 5 years, 6 years, I take pride in that.” He says that, while he loves to design the spaces and spend time in his venues, the food is left to the chefs: “We hire the best possible bartenders and chefs, and the result speaks for itself.” Musa also makes sure they have the best possible selection of Sake and Whiskey, and soon wine.
The day-to-day management of the office is supervised by another Dajani sibling, Khaled, making this very much a family affair. “It’s the perfect collaboration,” says Musa. “We see eye-to-eye on things, and each have our roles.” This leaves Musa somewhat free to work on other design projects, many of which are food-related venues, including City College Café, Herbivore in Berkeley, and four projects for SF State. Owning his restaurants helps him to understand what works best in terms of design and layout. “Sometimes architects can miss something that I would know from my restaurant experience.” A new Tsunami Sushi opens this April in Mission Bay.
Quality is Musa’s foremost concern, and this extends from the materials he uses, to the food and drink available at his café, bars, and restaurants. His motto, he says, is “If you do something well, it will carry itself.” Indeed, one of the big reasons that this Palestinian, who has now lived in SF for 22 years, owns two Japanese restaurants, other than his love of sushi, is that he respects the Japanese enormously: “Everything they do is the best, it works well with our motto.”
It is obvious that Musa Dajani is doing what he loves. “Yes, you have to find that personal thing that you like, and then make it a business.” Café Abir, for example, named after Musa’s sister, was created because, Musa says, “I thought it would be the best thing to have friends hang out in a café you own.” He has aimed to make the design of Café Abir comfortable, and not intimidating, in order to encourage people to come back often, to be regulars. Musa himself begins nearly every day with a stop at Café Abir. He explains that they just finished remodeling the café, but left it much the same. Sometimes you don’t want to mess with a winning formula. And it’s not just the customers who are loyal. The staff in Dajani Group’s restaurants tend to stay for a long time. “8 years, 5 years, 6 years, I take pride in that.” He says that, while he loves to design the spaces and spend time in his venues, the food is left to the chefs: “We hire the best possible bartenders and chefs, and the result speaks for itself.” Musa also makes sure they have the best possible selection of Sake and Whiskey, and soon wine.
The day-to-day management of the office is supervised by another Dajani sibling, Khaled, making this very much a family affair. “It’s the perfect collaboration,” says Musa. “We see eye-to-eye on things, and each have our roles.” This leaves Musa somewhat free to work on other design projects, many of which are food-related venues, including City College Café, Herbivore in Berkeley, and four projects for SF State. Owning his restaurants helps him to understand what works best in terms of design and layout. “Sometimes architects can miss something that I would know from my restaurant experience.” A new Tsunami Sushi opens this April in Mission Bay.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Granny chic: Twisted Preppy designer Chloe Redmond Warner
Chloe Redmond Warner, Redmond Aldrich design: Eclectic Chic
It is difficult to believe that Chloe Redmond Warner, the impeccably turned out interior designer whose latest project is the eclectic-modern South Wine+Food Bar, was raised in Montana, by “hippie” parents. Turns out Chloe spent her childhood “obsessed” with her East-Coast grandparents, whose Maine house was her summer base. “They were so stylish,” she says, and influenced a lot of her taste. Warner’s education also kept her on the East Coast, where she attended Mount Holyoke. After graduation, a stint in San Francisco was followed by a move back East to attend Harvard University’s Architecture program, which Chloe found “very hard, more than I bargained for.” It was too theoretical for her, she recalls, and she didn’t exactly thrive, knowing all the while she wanted to do interior design, which some of the pure architects viewed as an inferior discipline, and thinking until the end she would drop out. Fortunately, her thesis project, which involved ten unique elevator concepts, was “all about creating mini-worlds,” and she was finally able to implement her ideas about surface and decoration. This project completely absorbed her and gave her focus, and was very well reviewed. After receiving her degree, Chloe followed her heart back to San Francisco, where she got married to her long-term boyfriend, purchased a new home, and started her business, all in a matter of months.
Chloe attempts to describe her signature look. “I would say it’s ‘granny,’ but people have told me not to use that word!” That’s probably because no one can imagine a granny as chic as Chloe’s must have been. “Ok, how about post-preppy glam? I like to think about what a rich Republican in the seventies would have done, and then push it further with weird colors and too much pattern.” Having experienced her grandparents’ house, she says, gives her the courage to go with things that don’t seem totally “right.”
For the South project, the Autralian-Kiwi owners told her “the weirder the better.” So Chloe came up with a new imaginary client: “A handsome, rugged uncle, not very PC, who hunts, drinks, and collects things. He’s straight, but not afraid to love unexpected stuff.” What this translates to are ostrich skin banquettes with nail heads, antique bird prints on the wall, drapes with a dramatically large flower print, modern plywood lights by David Trubridge hanging from an inky ceiling, and a mosaic bar inspired by a Maori infinity-sign-like pendant, made in China, rolled up like an extremely heavy rug for shipping (it was of course stuck in Customs for a while), and topped with an amazing slab of California walnut inlaid with bronze dust.
Chloe is thrilled about the direction in which her career is headed. She and her business partner, Tyler Dawson, who sometimes collaborate, sometimes not, on depending on the project, tend to “amplify rather than complement” each other, which according to Chloe can yield amazing results, even if she thinks they may need to create a balance, perhaps in the form of a third designer, in the future.
For now, Chloe has her hands full with several exciting residential projects that run the gamut from urban to elegant. But she can’t help but be especially thrilled with clients who evoke inspirations that might seem outlandish to a less audacious designer. Perhaps the strangest client request so far was for a built-in Kegerator in a bachelor’s very tasteful ‘entertainment kitchen.’ Chloe is quick to add, “it works really well- at first I thought it was absurd, but now I’m jealous!” And does she have more weirdness to look forward to? One of the firm’s current clients has requested a décor with, as inspiration, “Slim Keith meets Elvira Hancock.” Elvira Hancock? Chloe breaks into a smile. “Yes, Michelle Pfeiffer’s character in Scarface! Love that!”
We asked Chloe to free associate on several hot topics in decorating:
Symmetry?
“Yes! I’m a Virgo, I love symmetry!”
Lights?
“Everything on dimmer, that’s non-negotiable. And you need multiple sources, 3 levels if possible starting at below eye level and working up.”
Paint?
“I love dark ceilings and a picture rail for a crisp transition. And right now I’m obsessed with Shark gray.”
Books?
“My library is organized by color, and I love the Vitamin P and Vitamin D books. The Albertus Seba book is cool, but it’s everywhere.”
Collections?
“Taxidermy and bird prints. I have a ram’s head from my grandfather’s 1940 shooting trip to Alaska.”
Holiday decorations?
“Lights, fresh flowers, wreaths… I love to get my craft on, I love my hot glue gun and the smell of hot glue!”
It is difficult to believe that Chloe Redmond Warner, the impeccably turned out interior designer whose latest project is the eclectic-modern South Wine+Food Bar, was raised in Montana, by “hippie” parents. Turns out Chloe spent her childhood “obsessed” with her East-Coast grandparents, whose Maine house was her summer base. “They were so stylish,” she says, and influenced a lot of her taste. Warner’s education also kept her on the East Coast, where she attended Mount Holyoke. After graduation, a stint in San Francisco was followed by a move back East to attend Harvard University’s Architecture program, which Chloe found “very hard, more than I bargained for.” It was too theoretical for her, she recalls, and she didn’t exactly thrive, knowing all the while she wanted to do interior design, which some of the pure architects viewed as an inferior discipline, and thinking until the end she would drop out. Fortunately, her thesis project, which involved ten unique elevator concepts, was “all about creating mini-worlds,” and she was finally able to implement her ideas about surface and decoration. This project completely absorbed her and gave her focus, and was very well reviewed. After receiving her degree, Chloe followed her heart back to San Francisco, where she got married to her long-term boyfriend, purchased a new home, and started her business, all in a matter of months.
Chloe attempts to describe her signature look. “I would say it’s ‘granny,’ but people have told me not to use that word!” That’s probably because no one can imagine a granny as chic as Chloe’s must have been. “Ok, how about post-preppy glam? I like to think about what a rich Republican in the seventies would have done, and then push it further with weird colors and too much pattern.” Having experienced her grandparents’ house, she says, gives her the courage to go with things that don’t seem totally “right.”
For the South project, the Autralian-Kiwi owners told her “the weirder the better.” So Chloe came up with a new imaginary client: “A handsome, rugged uncle, not very PC, who hunts, drinks, and collects things. He’s straight, but not afraid to love unexpected stuff.” What this translates to are ostrich skin banquettes with nail heads, antique bird prints on the wall, drapes with a dramatically large flower print, modern plywood lights by David Trubridge hanging from an inky ceiling, and a mosaic bar inspired by a Maori infinity-sign-like pendant, made in China, rolled up like an extremely heavy rug for shipping (it was of course stuck in Customs for a while), and topped with an amazing slab of California walnut inlaid with bronze dust.
Chloe is thrilled about the direction in which her career is headed. She and her business partner, Tyler Dawson, who sometimes collaborate, sometimes not, on depending on the project, tend to “amplify rather than complement” each other, which according to Chloe can yield amazing results, even if she thinks they may need to create a balance, perhaps in the form of a third designer, in the future.
For now, Chloe has her hands full with several exciting residential projects that run the gamut from urban to elegant. But she can’t help but be especially thrilled with clients who evoke inspirations that might seem outlandish to a less audacious designer. Perhaps the strangest client request so far was for a built-in Kegerator in a bachelor’s very tasteful ‘entertainment kitchen.’ Chloe is quick to add, “it works really well- at first I thought it was absurd, but now I’m jealous!” And does she have more weirdness to look forward to? One of the firm’s current clients has requested a décor with, as inspiration, “Slim Keith meets Elvira Hancock.” Elvira Hancock? Chloe breaks into a smile. “Yes, Michelle Pfeiffer’s character in Scarface! Love that!”
We asked Chloe to free associate on several hot topics in decorating:
Symmetry?
“Yes! I’m a Virgo, I love symmetry!”
Lights?
“Everything on dimmer, that’s non-negotiable. And you need multiple sources, 3 levels if possible starting at below eye level and working up.”
Paint?
“I love dark ceilings and a picture rail for a crisp transition. And right now I’m obsessed with Shark gray.”
Books?
“My library is organized by color, and I love the Vitamin P and Vitamin D books. The Albertus Seba book is cool, but it’s everywhere.”
Collections?
“Taxidermy and bird prints. I have a ram’s head from my grandfather’s 1940 shooting trip to Alaska.”
Holiday decorations?
“Lights, fresh flowers, wreaths… I love to get my craft on, I love my hot glue gun and the smell of hot glue!”
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Match Your Makeup to Your Pool Balls!
Chateau Roux, the hip, up-and-coming label known for its sophisticated tees and funky accessories, really has its eye on the ball when it comes to finding great new advertising concepts. Their amazing new pool balls are clear with bright vermillion and royal blue logo centers, and are coming soon to a trendy bar near you. We played with our balls, so to speak, at our local watering hole, The Fest (Fulham Road, London SW6), known for its Sunday Ladies’ jelly wrestling and huge selection of Eastern European beers, and got a whole lot of attention. www.chateauroux.co.uk
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
