The world is filled with fascinating humans

I travel for humanity and connection...you can too.

I meet so many amazing and fascinating people in my private life - the greatest privilege of my life. I mean starting with my husband of course, the most fascinating and acute-astute of them all. And then my mother who is the most well read, most multi-faceted polymath you’ve ever encountered. My high school English teacher who taught me critical thinking (currently we’re on a furious Middle East debate), my friend in LA who does art consulting with finesse like only the gods could match and her no bullshit whip smart wife who I adore, my bestest friend who is tackling AI and biotech (plus raise a tiny human), my Italian friend in San Francisco who’s one of the most stylish and style-making humans I have ever met (and cooks better than anyone I have ever met), our bestest friends who are the most generous humans I have ever met (and also the most gaiety inducing of them all on land and sea), my editor who is now a friend who has shaped the way we think about music through his magazine (and next will do that with science), the family members who do not support the same politics I do...I mean I could go on.

And then in a more strictly professional sense, the people I interview are equally compelling people.

It is perhaps one of the greatest joys of my life; I can be sitting with a Nobel Prize for Literature winner on Wednesday in the East Village walking with coffee at the dog park, and then chatting with a baggage handler from Newark airport by the weekend…and then on Sunday morning laughing with the creator of neurological implants on Portobello Road snooping antiques. And then I could be in Milan at Dimorestudio hearing all about their latest projects, or plotting new plans for a hotel rating system at Casa Monti in Rome later in the week.

And this October in Vegas at IMEX I will be on stage with smart people like my colleague (and actually we are friends now since I am literally recommending hair stylists to her) who works in retreats and wellness and is shifting perspectives.

I guess my point is that connecting with humans is about learning, getting inspiration but also challenging your beliefs and thoughts. Perhaps a way to remind you not to believe everything you think…

Here are two interviews with two fascinating humans - each giving us a little insight into the world, and their worlds.

First, Chandler Burr, a former NY Times scent critic, author and museum creator. And also one of my favorite humans. Oh and definitely read his books - I loved Emperor of Scent.

- What the fuck is smell anyway?

Very good question, given that while we know what smell is--it's our olfactory receptors (up in the top of your nose; they're 3-transmembrane g protein receptors, and remember that, bitches) grabbing molecules of asphalt or tomato leaf or lemon peel and sending the information "I smell like asphalt," "I smell like lemon" to the brain. That's simple. That's smell. The seriously weird thing is that we don't know exactly where the information is written on the molecule "I smell like lemon." We know exactly how sight and hearing work, the mechanisms in the eyes and ears, where the information comes from (photon wavelength for sight, air vibration for hearing). But not for smell. And smell is the most ancient of our senses, the first one we evolved. The fact that we still don't really understand it makes it one of the greatest biological mysteries.

By the way, all the pheromones crap is crap. Human beings don't operate via pheromones. There are desperate marketers desperate to make people believe they do, and there are desperate people who need various psychological reasons to believe it. 

- So forget the scent of a woman, what is the scent of a man?

Actually there's no scent of women or men. We all naturally smell like chimpanzees. Well, to modify that slightly, human males smell more strongly than human females, and males smell of different strengths--guys are on a spectrum. So are women, there are variations. But smelling girly or manly--sexism makes for awesome marketing--is a complete cultural fabrication and differs hugely from culture to culture and era to era. The French idea of what smells feminine is about as different from the Japanese idea as it can be, in part because there isn't a Japanese idea of the scent of a woman, or man for that matter as far as I know, and I lived there for a year and a half. I've never had any Japanese person say to me "That smells feminine." Ever. But I've never known any Japanese person to wear perfume. And the scent of a man--hell, that depends on whether you think Axe is manly or if you can afford "Terre d'Hermes" or CdG "2"--the one marketed, arbitrarily in my view, it's just marketing, to women, or "Portrait of a Lady" in the Malle collection. "Portrait" is a gigantic rose so beautiful it brings you to tears, and I love it on a guy--and I like really *masculine guys. To me, "Portrait of a Lady" is the scent of a man.

- What do you think is the ideal way to choose a fragrance?

Wear the goddamn thing. Put it on in the morning, see what it does during the day. Wear it on different days; completely contrary to the way it's designed for vision and hearing, evolution has programmed your sense of smell to vary in intensity (you breathe cyclically out of your two nostrils, a little bit of evolutionary design). Put it on in different climates if you can; wear it during your next business trip to London or Bangkok and see what it does. And this is, first, a subjective call. Do you like it? Does it thrill you, calm you, move you, does it make you feel like you want to feel. Someone said perfume is the most portable form of beauty. Someone also said perfume is the most portable form of intelligence. Does it make you feel smart? If it doesn't, move on. 

There are also three concrete, objective performance questions you need to answer. Does it diffuse--can you smell it at a reasonable distance (and is it at a reasonable volume) or do you have to be 2cm away from the skin to pick it up. If the latter, that's bad construction. Second, does it evolve, and if so does it do it correctly. You may or may not want evolution. Figure out whether the perfume does or doesn't do it. L'Eau d'Issey was the first major work of olfactory art designed intentionally not to evolve--at all--a technical tour de force. Third, and crucially, is structure--the pieces of it have to mesh and the machine as a whole must hold together like the newest Mercedes just out of the factory. There are perfumes that start falling apart a few minutes out of the bottle. They just shatter and implode on your skin. Choose the ones that, five hours in, are still rock solid. 

- Do you think skin can be a kind of fragrance?

No.

- How does mood and time of day and mindset change the way a fragrance smells on a wearer's skin?

Time of day, which is to say heat, levels of humidity and pollution and air conditioning and all the other things that vary throughout the day, have major impacts on the way fragrances perform. Humidity, if it's high enough, can either turbo power or drown a scent. If you're in a super urban space with exhaust pipes flooding the air with carbon monoxide, it's going to be a body slam to your scent. If you're in a rural area with ragweed and tree blossoms groaning under the weight of their own perfumes and pollen loads, it's going to be a body slam to your scent.

But mood and so on, these will change the way you feel about not just your fragrance but your clothes, your boyfriend, and whether or not to continue existing. Nothing to be done about that. Except for Prozac and Klonopin.

- Do you think the world understands the art of fragrance?

Absolutely not. I think it is profoundly startling to the world to even encounter the proposition that scent is a major artistic medium the equal of paint, clay, and music. We are at the point with scent as a medium where we were fifty years ago with photography as a medium. It was considered absurd to think of a photograph as a work of art. It was simply a record of reality, an image with no point of view and no aesthetics, and (unlike, say, choreographers, directors, or architects) photographers designed, composed, and manipulated nothing. Today we universally find that ridiculous. Photographs are filled with aesthetics, subjectivity, false and manipulated narrative, and all the other conditions of art. There are artists who have worked and are working in it as talented and aesthetically important as Giotto, Bernini, Mozart, Hopper, Glass, and Motherwell. Their names are Becker, Benaim, Ropion, Roudnitska, Cellier, Vasnier, Ellena, and their names will be known as well as their counterparts in other mediums in a decade or two.

- What does fragrance add to your world? 

Well, I have a degree in int'l trade theory and Japanese political economy, so it added nothing to my world till I started writing about it. Now it takes up almost all my time other than the screenplay and novel I'm working on, the first set in Los Angeles, the second in Manila, and neither having anything to do with scent at all.

- The simplest but most magnificent smell in the world for you?

The simplest and most beautiful in its simplicity: ginger.

The most magnificent: At this particular moment I'll say 5-Methyl-3-heptanone oxime.

Next up is Renny Ramakers. The co-founder and director of Droog in Holland happens to not only be educated as an art historian but also trained as curator and inevitably found herself as an inspiring environmental guru and world-encompassing trend setter. She specialized in design and found that inspiration came from everywhere, at all times and so included her daily moments in the way that she sees design and collaboration. A dreamer of better worlds, an activist for the future and an interested, interesting human being that are just fragments that make up her brilliance.

Copyright: Wendelien Daan ©2018

Your design has a certain element of ‘quirk’ that everyone loves and responds to. Tell me where that stems from?

Simply, because I like that! 

My favorite Michel Houellebecq novel addresses ‘rustic’ and ‘pre-industrial’ to be just fads and he goes on to say that searching for simplicity within the simple is what is key. What would your take be on that?

Yes, the way he writes about the rustic world appeals to me. I would call the longing for rural life romanticism. It’s picking out what seems to be the positive parts and leaving behind the negative. Searching for simplicity is indeed key but not only the simplicity within the simple: we need also to search for simplicity within complexity.

What is design to you?

Many people seem to be asking this question nowadays. For me design today can be anything anywhere. Design does not necessarily have to solve problems. As shown in Milan {at Salon Di Mobile}, it can also offer unexpected possibilities, inspiration. It can find a role in any aspect of daily life, and can even be invisible. Design does not only manifest itself through products, interiors, graphics, garments or buildings, but also through tools, services, scenarios, new business models and other ways of engaging with society.

You have the most incredible life story. Please tell me about your life.

Really? I am trained as an art historian. Since finishing my studies I have been working as a curator, writer and educator. I have been the chief-editor of a few leading Dutch design magazines. At a certain moment in my career I switched from digging into history to pushing the envelope and making history myself. I see both directions as part of the same process.

I’d love to know about your childhood and how design and aesthetic came to you?

I grew up in a strong Calvinistic environment as the youngest of four children. My parents were rather old when I was born. I was a lonely child because my brother and sisters were much older. As a child I lived in my own fantasies and came up with all kinds of initiatives. I created a ‘’school’’, a ‘’library” or other entities which other children could join. When I was a little bit older I started to exchange fabrics with a girlfriend. I was never stimulated by my parents to do something cultural. They did stimulate intellectual exercise but only related to theological issues. My father loved to dig into this and he wanted us to do the same. So there was no culture at home, no music, no theatre, no dancing. And I did not look well.. I was too skinny and was wearing glasses. My hair, my clothes, everything was wrong It made me feel very insecure and oh, I was so shy. But when I was 16, I decided to become the captain of my soul. I decided to become a beautiful girl. To reach that goal I had to earn money because my parents did not have the money to give me the things I wanted and besides they did not agree with my new taste. I left school and got a job. With the first money I went to the hairdressers to change my haircut and I bought fancy glasses and make up. I started to make my own clothes. A girl working in the same building was my big example. She was dressed in the spirit of the French existentialists, all in black. Later I found beautiful examples in glossy magazines and I adopted the Courreges- space look; white mini dress with white boots. This changed my life completely. All of a sudden I became an attractive girl! In our neighbourhood there was a shop selling Scandinavian design. I loved to buy textiles and accessories in this shop. At the age of 15 or 16 I went to a Kandinsky retrospective. No idea why. I needed some time to free myself from my background and I took that time. It took a while before I picked up college again. I was 28 when I started to study art history. And in my third year, on an excursion to Moscow and Leningrad I was so impressed by the social ambitions of the Russian constructivists, that I decided to specialize in design.

What inspires you?

Anything and everything.

Who are your favorite creatives?

I admire the architecture of Herzog and de Meuron, I am inspired by the writings of Rem Koolhaas, I am impressed by Ai Wei Wei and I find Michel Houellebecq a true original.

What are you consuming at the moment?

I am reading the biography of Steve Jobs and I am watching Borgen, the political Danish TV series on DVD and tonight I will go to a Rufus Wainwright concert.

Tell me about your greatest love?

That is my husband, Leon. I met him when I was 22. He is in the music business. And he is just as energetic as I am. In the first years we lived like cats and dogs. But at a certain moment I realized that I was in love with him. Since he told me not wanting a relationship, I again decided to be the captain of my soul. I told him that I did not want to see him anymore. My decision made him aware of his feelings for me. It was the start of a strong relationship. We do not have children, simply because they did not fit in our lives. We are deeply in love with each other and we love our work. It is fantastic to be so close with another person.

A few years later, we began to actively initiate projects because we sought to create a coherent message. Our projects aimed to stimulate user interaction and awareness of processes, to demonstrate that one can create a great experience with a minimum amount of design. The products and projects of those days anticipated the insights of today. What we did in the past few years and what we are continuing to do is to explore new levels of design. The world is always changing and we have to react and act.

In 2009 I set up the Droog Lab in which we explore all kinds of timely issues, with the aim to create new tools, new scenarios and new models and yes, new products. The Lab works independent from the company but it happens more than once that an outcome of a Lab project influences the activities of the company. So we are now working on a range of new products which is inspired by the outcome of the Lab project we did in Moscow: an imaginary luxury brand called Fantastical Investments in which luxury is combined with longevity, showing that sustainability does not have to mean austerity. Inspired by this project, the company is now involved with a re-interpretation of luxury, rich patterns and quality materials re-invented in contemporary products. It’s like lavish techniques used in a contemporary way.

Maybe you would call this a paradox because we like to address issues like overconsumption and overproduction. But I don’t think we should stop creating new products. We do not need more products, but we do need more beautiful products. We need products that people want to keep their whole life. It is important that we continuously redesign ourselves. But whatever direction we go, the spirit remains the same

Has your approach to design changed since founding Droog to today? Is it a new methodology that interests you? New materials? A different economic model?

Since I started in 1993, the world of design has changed tremendously. We find ourselves in an era characterised by a surplus of product offerings, which still keep growing, now to meet the growing demand of the expanding middle class in the emerging economies. Design is active in all layers of society. Today the design world is taking on everything our exciting times are offering – environmental issues, social issues, technological developments, the digital world, not to mention human needs. No longer is it about function or fun, but about society and the environment.  

Did Droog change? 

Yes and no. In the early days, our presentations concentrated on products. But for sure, these products were telling stories. They showed a different perspective on design. They distanced themselves from the perfection and stylishness of design with a capital D and connected to ordinary life with all its imperfections. Quite a number of these products became iconic, like Chest of drawers by Tejo Remy (1991), Knotted chair by Marcel Wanders (1996) and Tree-trunk bench by Jurgen Bey (1999). These products addressed themes like overconsumption and overproduction, simplicity and innovation through a craftsman’s approach to high technology. A few years later, we began to launch projects because we sought to create a coherent message. The projects aimed to stimulate user interaction and awareness of processes, to demonstrate that one can create a great experience with a minimum amount of design. The products and projects of those days anticipated the insights of today. What we did in the past few years and what we are continuing to do is to explore new levels of design. The world is always changing and we have to react and act. We are continuously redesigning ourselves. But the spirit remains the same. We are a company that produces and sells products and we do innovative projects that push the boundaries of design.

The Netherlands. I’d love to know what’s wonderful and inspiring to you there right now?

Not so much. The same goes for Europe. We live in a world that is rusted with old ideas and a lot of self-satisfaction. It is the young generation where we set our hopes on.

And the rest of the world, where do you find insights or revelations?

I am inspired by the big power shifts in the world. By developments in China, India, Brazil and many other countries. There is so much energy everywhere! One of our projects is Here, There, Everywhere. We go to all kinds of places in the world to learn from the way people over there live their lives, from their spirit. We collaborate with local partners and local designers. In China for instance I was intrigued by their copying culture. What could we learn from here? We went to the Dafeng Village where hundreds of painters are copying famous paintings and exporting them to the West. We also studied the Shanzhai movement, copying famous brands and their products where they make small changes. Sometimes even a bit of tongue-in-cheek…So, inspired by this, our team, which includes Dutch and Chinese designers, has been copying the Chinese and we developed a model for a copying culture in which the original is also rewarded, financially and by recognition. T

Tell me about your project at the Milan fair a few years ago called, Material Matters.

A few months ago I was triggered by an article in a Dutch newspaper. Economists, ecologists, political scientists and other scientists were envisioning an alternative economic model in which sustainability is built into the system. One of the things they imagined was that income tax was replaced with tax on raw materials and waste. In the article they described what this would mean - no more packaging, new businesses based on recycling, repairing and leasing. After reading this I was wondering what product designers could do when materials become too expensive? Will they develop new materials; will they redesign existing products or create services, go digital or do something else? I realized some designers are already working in a way that fits into that scenario. Dutch designer Dirk Vander Kooij has reprogrammed an abandoned Chinese robot into a 3D printer. It makes chairs and tables, using plastic regained from old fridges. German designer Markus Kaiser prints products in the desert using the sand as the raw material and the sun as the energy source. And Studio Swine (UK) proposes to go fishing for plastic debris from the sea, turning it into products on a converted boat factory. I imagined an alternative fair full of these kinds of initiatives. So we brought together existing initiatives and invented new ones. Eventually our imaginary fair presented 21 design companies based on the premise that raw materials are taxed and therefore become very expensive. One of the businesses we invented is Gallery™; a gallery that sells ordinary goods that because of the much higher price of the raw material have become collectibles. Another, Optical World™ replaces products by the illusion of the product. Or a game named Play Shop™ in which people can satisfy their need to shop without buying anything. And ShapeShifters™ is a platform for downloading, customizing and sharing designs with friends, without the need to produce these products.

Some of my favorite DROOG works: