BrandWatch by Michel Gutsatz

On the Bench : Considerations on Frank Gehry's Ethics & Aesthetics

The Canadian architect Frank Gehry, winner of the prestigious Pritzker Prize, in addition to his many spectacular achievements in architecture such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Walt Disney auditorium in Los Angeles, creates products for commercial brands. Together with Zaha Hadid, he is a renowned contemporary architect, the creator of very formal forms whose approach to the delicate is easily recognizable. These incursions are anecdotal at the moment, but even so, noticed and remarkable. He has already designed jewelry for Tiffany. Now he also designs furniture.

This photo shows the prototype of the Tuyomyo bench: this 3 mters long bench, created by the Canadian architect for Emeco, a U.S. manufacturer of aluminum chairs, was presented at the furniture fair in Milan in April 2009. The construction of the bench employs a manufacturing technology used in aviation, it is made of 80% recycled aluminum and weighs only 55 kg. The shape and the material used for this bench are original for this type of object. It is to be auctioned in New York in 2009 and the proceeds of the sale will be donated to the Hereditary Disease Foundation. 

Seen from the front, we observe the combination of a sinuous line (four inflexions) and an angular line (five angles). The dips and apexes of the two lines are in phase and they connect at the three peaks. This "segmenting" of the two lines suggests a kind of gradual merging of one line into the other. Two interpretations are possible: either a downward movement which presses the top plate of aluminum with its smooth and approximative form towards the rigid mold of the angular shape, into which all concavity and convexity disappear. Or, on the contrary, an upward movement where the angular shapes are softened and flattened out to result in a perfectly horizontal plane. 
A quote from Frank Gehry describing the bench (Internet site www.floornature.info ) confirms his desire for a twofold interpretation: "the form should be free and light, it must be structural in nature, and at the same time poetic, and a little dangerous". 


Chevrons That Are Less Ferocious

Angles are being rounded at Citroën. The famous chevrons of the brand have blunted their spikes and they are now embossed. Altering a logo, the supreme synthesis of brand identity, is always a delicate exercise because of its strategic importance and the message it conveys.  Besides which, Citroën is not just a brand like any other, for the French. It is a myth embedded strongly in everyone's lives.  André Citroën, the Croisières Jaune & Noire, the Traction Avant, the Deuche, the DS, de Gaulle and the attack at Petit Clamart, Séguéla ads. We all have a little bit of Citroën pinned to the soul.  As proof, the deluge of opinions and sentiments expressed on the Web after the plastic surgery. What is the nature of the changes that the brand proposes?

Graphical Changes

 

What characterizes this recent transformation is the rejection of the angle. It is completely obliterated. Not only have the upper edges of the arrows been rounded out, but the lower points have also been widened and are no longer sharp. The square motif also disappears with its four right angles.
A rejection of the angle that one observes in the new typography, which goes so far as to impose a transformation of the capital N of the former typeface and a smoothing of all the other letters which are still in capitals. A curved embossing is added, the chevrons are metallic, and the red is retrieved in the name.
The choice of curved lines, typical of the living world, is a choice of no small consequence. It is the forsaking of the abstract and perfect world of straight lines and angles, those that require tools to be drawn by men, for the world of nature.
From visual to tactile. From the abstraction of 2D to the materiality of 3D. These are the two extremes of artistic expression presented by Wilhelm Worringer in "Abstraction et Empathy", first published in 1906.  Geometric designs consisting of straight and broken lines belong to forms of abstract art and correspond to the oldest civilizations such as ancient Egypt, where men seek to transcend a reality that they believe they do not control. In contrast, the organic style, using rounded and wavy lines to imitate nature where there reigns a relationship of trust between man and the phenomena of the outside world, reached its apogee in the Greek civilization.
In our case, Citroën chose empathy. A more direct rapport with customers. Greater proximity. On the whole, a greater humanism.
This is not really new to the brand.  Everyone remembers some of the superb commercials in the 80's created by RSCG. The most poetic of them all is that of untamed chevrons (84) where a horde of horses escape from a parking lot and flee from a grey and concrete city to attain the wide open spaces of nature.

Or the one with the BX in 82 in which it personifies itself (by using Jacques Séguéla's Star Strategy) and, breaking taboos, flows into the sea after driving from Paris through a safe and quiet night, with background music and Julien Clerc singing, "J'aime, j'aime, j'aime" ("I love, I love, I love"). It is also interesting to glance back at Roland Barthes’ remarks in his Mythologies about the DS. He speaks of "... a return to an aero dynamism ... less sharp, less aggressive...; of a wide embossing"… and especially " ... as if we changed from an order of the machine to an order of the body".  This symbiosis with the living world expressed by the use of organic lines, is it the new theme of communication for Citroën?

Strass or "bling me"

Rhinestones have found a place of honour. We are leaving behind the holiday season, occasions where you traditionally have to glitter under the lights, and rhinestones were everywhere.  They have become an indispensable element in the panoply of people who determine fashion tendencies.  The word "strass" (rhinestones) appears in 1746 when the Strasbourg jeweller, Georges Frederic Strass (1701-1773) invented a transparent glass paste, which, with a percentage of lead that could exceed 50%, has a high refractive index giving it a glitter akin to that of a diamond. It has been used since then for making costume jewelry that imitates gemstones.
Traditionally used for costume jewelry and chandeliers, the glass now pervades our daily lives.  With the help of technology, rhinestones are sewn, pasted, set.  They are applied to clothing, and even directly to the skin in the form of tattoos or on the nails.
One of their most innovative and surprizing uses is the "grillz" which comes from the world of rappers. It is simply a decoration of teeth, dentures which can be decorated with diamonds, silver, gold and, of course, rhinestones. The use of these small crystals then rapidly extended to accessories, handbags, shoes, sunglasses, mobile phones, bottles and watches ranging from 20 Euros, handcuffs for Valentine's Day. 
It is only a step away from personal objects to household objects.  Several furniture pieces and lamps include rhinestones. Chairs, sofas, frames for photographs, cups, cutlery, pots, game consoles, CD players and even bathroom furniture like the superb porcelain sanitary bowl encrusted with crystals, proposed by Swarovski at 75 000 Euros.
At the 2009 Tokyo Motor show, Mercedes offers an SL 600 trimmed with 300,000 Swarovski crystals.  To be a little more discrete, one may prefer to fix them only on the wheels or the dashboard.
It is such a strong trend that it touches areas where previously competition was of a purely technological nature.  

The body of the Pentax K-m digital SLR camera launched last September, is covered with thousands of red, white and black crystals giving the most beautiful effect and clearly positions the product to cater to a feminine clientele. In the same register, the Olympus Mu 1040 is less conspicuous. 

The reasons for this frenzy are manifold:

The Eternal Jacket

Under this generic brand aesthetics heading, my intention is to reflect with you on the world of brands, as seen from the angle of their aesthetics. I use that term here, not in the philosophical sense related to beauty, but in a semiotic sense. The aesthetics of brands relate to the manner in which they approach sensitivity, the aesthetic, multisensory treatment of each of their creations.

This first note relates to men's clothing.

The most important article of the male wardrobe is now, more than ever, the jacket. A brief statistical review of the November issue of “Gentleman” shows that 48 photographs feature men wearing a jacket, against 19 who are informally dressed. It is true that the holiday season is conducive to formal wear, yet the attention and creative frenzy that the jacket is subject to is a constant surprise. Prada jackets are so short that hands can be slipped into trouser pockets without causing a crease; double-breasted suits are back in force; H & M offers tuxedos; Carlo Brandelli in London revives the original Armani unstructured jacket and christens it the "Kilgour Skeleton", while Paul Smith presents a 5-button tartan jacket, etc.

Indestructible jacket, eternally reinvented, which still remains, at the dawn of the 21st century, the most significant piece of clothing in menswear. Despite postmodern trends, iconoclastic and detrimental to any formalism, despite the advent of a leisure-oriented civilization favoring the informal look, the jacket – part of a suit, sporty, with jeans or sneakers, is the element that best defines the person wearing it.

The considerations are many and complex in the relationship established between a product and a person before actually reaching the point where a purchase is made.

"... What are the benefits that this article brings me? An impeccable cut ... The lightness and suppleness of the fabric ... the refined feel of cashmere ... the color that goes with my eyes ... cut in the Anglo-Saxon style ... it gives me confidence in myself … they will see that I'm in the loop ... It is the double-breasted suit worthy of a leader."

The discourse is even more complex when considering the identity the brand has superposed on it.  The purchase will take place because it brings the satisfaction that comes from both the intrinsic qualities of the product as well as the values that are triggered by our life in a society. Let us look at these two dimensions.