Marc Newson — A Newfound Inspiration
Let’s call Marc Newson the jack of all trades for now, except he is probably the master of all (instead of none). He is a designer in the truest sense of the word and is not afraid to try his hand at anything that has to do with problem solving.
As I started to research Marc Newson, I decided that I would come up with a series of questions that would guide my research and help me uncover what I really wanted to know about him.
The questions I kept in mind are:
· What are Marc Newson’s disciplines in the design world?
· What is his specific design style or a theme he has continually throughout
his work?
· What influences him and his work?
· What are aspects of his design process?
· What makes him influential and what can someone learn from him?
· What do I personally enjoy about his work?
· What is his most famous piece and why is it the most famous?
After my research, through articles and videos, I can accurately answer most (if not all) of these questions. What I was most interested about in my research was Newson’s design process and how he extended this process throughout all of his many disciplines.
So, I am going to start with the basic information I came across and gradually become more in-depth with analysis and thinking.
Marc Newson was born in Sydney, Australia in 1963. As a child his step-father’s job caused him to move a lot, even living in Korea for five years. As a result, he has a spirit of a nomad and has moved around a lot. He has lived and worked in Sydney, Tokyo, Paris, and London where he currently resides and runs his company Marc Newson Limited. Newson is an industrial designer who works in aircraft design, product design, furniture design, jewelry design, and clothing design. Like I said, jack of all trades. He thinks of himself as a “gun for hire” and is willing to solve all types of problems.
In Sydney, Newson attended Sydney College of the Arts and studied jewelry and sculpture. In a TEDxSydney from 2013, Newson talks about how he studied art because he wanted to leave college knowing how to make something. He said jewelry was the least esoteric and was one of the reasons why he chose to study it. I found this bit of information interesting because if you look at his work and read about how he runs a tightknit company, you could see how he enjoys being hands on and continuously making things. In that same video he also mentions how the travel that he does is extremely relevant part of his life and his professional practice. I would say that his travels are a part of his own person influences and, in his pieces, you could see the other cultures that he experienced as he traveled.
For example, this piece created for furniture company Cappellini is a Japanese inspired chair.
Another example would be this piece that is currently in an exhibit in the Gagosian museum in New York. In this piece he used an enameling technique called Chinese Cloisonné and he made the piece by hand in Beijing.
Enough about his travels for now. Let me start answering the more interesting questions. I would say Newson’s most famous piece would have to be his first piece. The Lockheed Lounge (named after the American Aircraft) made in 1986 is a lounge chair made out of aluminum and is welded over formed piece of fiberglass plastic. This piece is very futuristic looking, and I would say it is the most famous because it the Lockheed Lounge is kind of what he is known for, especially in Sydney, where the original resides. In the TEDx I referenced before, Marc Newson today feels like this chair was made by someone else in a different life. When asked about when he made it, Newson says he was just carving a shape out of a lump of foam and by doing so felt like Michelangelo as he uncovered David. This interview is where I realized I really enjoyed hearing what Newson had to say and that his thought process was interesting.
From the Lockheed Lounge and on, I feel as though a key aspect to Newson’s work is this sleek and geometric style with an emphasis on form and handcrafting this form. In an interview published in the January-February 2015 edition of Harvard Business Review, Newson comments on how it is “really important that there be a physical connection between people and objects” and I personally think that is why his work is enjoyed by so many. His pieces have this quality of life to them, they seem to live each in their own dimension.
Caroline Roux in her article in The Guardian explains that Marc Newson is influential because of “his ability to work outside the usual preconceptions, to disregard the prevailing wisdom… If his freedom from the rulebook that tortures so many designers could be adopted and adapted by others, that would be influential indeed.” I agree with her because Newson’s ability to just create and solve problems without being held back by anything is fascinating. He just looks for things in the world that can be better, and most things can in his eyes. Newson enjoys the world of design because he thinks it allows him to cover a wide range of things and get to experiment with different materials and scale but always using the same thought process of how to make things better.
I am very happy with the creative I was given to research because I learned a lot by trying to understand him and his work. I can definitely put him down as one of my favorite creatives because I agree a lot with his design thinking and how he approaches design. He is a very avant-garde type of person because of his thinking and his need to just create different things just because he can. In that TEDx video he said that if he didn’t do design he would be screwed because he cannot imagine doing anything else. I relate to that because my whole world is design and I try to communicate that through my work. I believe that design, like Newson, is not constrained and because of that it offers interesting and progressive concepts to solve problems. Below I have shared some of the quotes by Newson that I found interesting and that really encompass his design thinking and process.
“Sometimes I start with the material, sometimes the idea…I began by identifying materials that I had always been interested in but had never used. Often the context of materials strikes me more than the materials themselves. Context is new, not materials.”
“For me, design is a great opportunity to improve on what is already out there, to simplify, to beautify, and to technologically improve.”
And here are some of my favorite pieces of Marc Newson’s:
Ford 021 C Concept Car (1999)
With this piece Newson wanted to focus on functionality and strip a car of any unnecessary pieces. I enjoy this piece for one because of its bright orange Pantone color (where it gets its name) and how Newson’s sleek style shines through. I love the concept of the trunk opening like a drawer in your home. The O21C was first unveiled at the 1999 Tokyo Motor Show where it was awarded best concept car.
Hennessy X.O Limited Edition (2017)
There is not much I have to say about this piece besides the fact that I LOVEEE the shape of the bottle. It is unconventional which I think would allow shelf appeal. I mean I cannot drink but would enjoy having this bottle as decoration. The organic shape is interesting and warm/inviting which I assume the company wants you to feel as you are experiencing the product.
First Class Lounge Sydney (2007)
I have never traveled first class but I am going to assume most lounges do not look like this. This lounge is eccentric and modern with a variety of textures and geometry. I could study the one picture with the chairs and tables forever.
From his website:
“Marc designed all of the furniture throughout the lounge, including easy chairs, sofas, dining table and chairs, bar stools and lighting. The colour palette of dark red, ochre, and subdued warm tones, was inspired by the Australian landscape. Instead of a computer read-out for the departure information; Marc chose an old-fashioned rotating flap display board in which the sounds of the flaps turning when new information is posted reminds visitors of bygone days of travel, adding another nostalgic element to the overall design.”
Marc Newson is an inspiration and a goal as a designer. At a time when design was just up and becoming, he was already breaking boundaries and bringing a new and interesting style to the world of design. The most amazing part of Newson’s designs is that most of them, since based on functionality and simplicity, are timeless, they will exist lifetimes after the designer will because of the strong presence they have. I would love to go see some of his work in person, I tried to see if I could go to one restaurant he designed in New York, but unfortunately it is closed. Hopefully I will get to experience his work in person one day.
CONT. Research (Starting Design System for Exhibition Project)
So after learning everything I can about Newson, I began to analyze his style and try to come to a conclusion about what makes Newson himself. To the left are some key words that I began to think of after looking at his life and his work. I wanted to incorporate these key ideas into my design system for the exhibit. For the exhibit itself, I think I want to incorporate a little bit of everything of Newson’s pieces to show his diversity. His diversity is makes him so interesting as a designer.
With those words in mind I created a mood board to try and get Newson’s style across. I think I may have gone away from his style a little bit in my mood board, the concepts are on the more experimental side, and I feel he is more on sexy design side.
Because of that, I went back to the drawing board for the mood board. Below are some of my inspiration images. I am currently thinking of using a simple color palette of white, gray, and black, with pops of the Pantone Orange 021C (because that is his favorite Pantone). I am also thinking a minimal typeface, I like Rift Soft because it is sleek and rounded and I think it would be a good primary typeface. As body copy I am thinking of using Avenir Next and then as a secondary font I want to use the script Caprizant (to give a signature effect).
I think this mood board is better and reads more of Marc Newson. I currently have two concepts for the exhibition in my head. One idea is to play off the adage “a jack of all trades” and do something with designs like a modern deck of cards (I feel like that idea could play across the different elements in an interesting way). My other idea is the concept of a renaissance man (one who did it all) and giving it a modern twist. I feel like both ideas could be fun but for different reasons. I guess I will see after I start sketching out concepts.
Sources:
Design: The Definitive Visual History by Angela Wilkes (Page 331)
https://www.designboom.com/tag/marc-newson/
https://www.dezeen.com/tag/marc-newson/
https://gagosian.com/artists/marc-newson/
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1972656_1972696_1973354,00.html
https://hbr.org/2015/01/lifes-work-marc-newson
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/nov/17/arts.highereducation
https://magazine.astonmartin.com/people/designing-future-interview-marc-newson
https://www.indesignlive.com/people/design-excellence-with-marc-newson
