The Freezing of the Sea, Antarctica, Herbert George Ponting, 1911

I’ve been accused of being a shut-in. I like staying home, working in the yard, and eating gumbo. I’m not the type of person who would love to eat at fancy restaurants every night. However, for someone who supposedly is a shut-in, I’ve been to every continent on earth except Antarctica. This is one of my goals. I’ve seen documentaries about exploration cruises to Antarctica, but everyone looks like they are over 65. They all have orange coats, and I wonder if that’s coincidence, or a cruise gift.

Herbert Ponting was the photographer on Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition in 1910. Illustration had been the art form used to document scientific expeditions for centuries. Ponting and Scott were determined to use photography as this resource. Ponting’s work, especially his film work, is the basis for every wildlife documentary we see now. After 14 months with the expedition, Ponting returned to England to catalogue the photographs. The Scott expedition, unfortunately, ended tragically with Scott and the other expedition members died from exposure, malnutrition, and exhaustion. While it may seem gruesome, he was buried inside the Ross Ice Shelf. His body will slowly move toward the sea, and eventually be set adrift inside an iceberg. This seems remarkably fitting for the polar explorer.

Ponting’s images were too sharp and clear for an Edwardian audience who preferred photographs soft and painterly. But this technique was a precursor to modernist photography and the sharp focus of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Willard Van Dyke.

Grotto in Berg, Antarctica, Herbert George Ponting 1911

The Castle Iceberg, Antarctica, Herbert Ponting, 1911

Icebergs, Antarctica, Herbert Ponting, 1911

Herbert Ponting, Antarctica, 1911

The Terra Nova, Herbert Ponting, 1911

The Terra Nova, Antarctica, Herbert George Ponting, 1910

Death of an Iceberg, Antarctica, Herbert George Ponting, 1911

Barne Glacier, Antarctica, Herbert George Ponting, 1911

Antarctica, Herbert George Ponting 1911

Mt Erebus, Antarctica, Herbert George Ponting 1911

Mt Erebus and a Dome Cloud, Antarctica, Herbert George Ponting 1911

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Henry Wolf, Show magazine, 1961

I admit I’m fairly out of touch with the lifestyles of young and sophisticated urbanite males today. I know where they are. I see them at skate stores at Sunset Junction and tiny restaurants in Brooklyn. I know that a beard is required, or a “scruffy” look. Jaunty hats of all types are good. And vintage ironic t-shirts are useful. I’ve tried the beard thing, but I look like Burl Ives, and when I don’t shave I hear my grandmother’s voice in my head, “a man who doesn’t shave every day is like a woman leaving the house in hair curlers.”

In the early 1960s, the same crowd took tips on life from sophisticated and intellectual magazines such as Esquire, Playboy, and Show. No, Playboy was not always just images of naked young ladies. Each of these magazines targeted that young man on the town with articles about hi-fi stereos, how to smoke a pipe, and current political thought. Show was a short-lived, but remarkable magazine devoted to the entertainment arts. Henry Wolf was the art director and responsible for unexpected and smart covers. Today, Show would be Us magazine. What a wonderful time it must have been when a magazine about entertainment could have a cover with a re-purposed Ukiyo-e print on the cover, not Kim Kardashian.

Henry Wolf, Show magazine, 1963

Henry Wolf, Show magazine, 1964

Henry Wolf, Show magazine, 1963

Henry Wolf, Show magazine, 1963

Henry Wolf, Show magazine, 1963, detail

Henry Wolf, Show magazine, 1963, detail

Henry Wolf, Show magazine, 1962

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Salem China Dinnerware, Old Gloucester, Pat Prichard, 1956, detail

A great episode of the Twilight Zone is Time Enough at Last with Burgess Meredith. Meredith plays a man who loves to read, but is annoyingly interrupted by those around him. He survives a nuclear war while reading in a bank vault, and then discovers a post-apocalyptic world with no people and all the time to read for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, he drops his glasses and is left with time and books, but cannot see them. I have a similar irony, albeit less dramatic.

I love dishes and drinking glasses. I have too many of these. But, I live in a region where earthquakes cause breakage. I’m also concerned that my guests will break a glass or dish. So I keep the collections in a cabinet, and use the Melmac plastic dinnerware. I typically say, “I know you won’t mind using plastic, but we’re all family and can be casual.” Of course I say this to everyone regardless of my relationship and carefully watch the dish cabinet. I realize this is selfish and stupid. Is my goal to maintain a complete set of Russell Wright Iroquois Casual dinnerware intact until I die?

One of my absolute favorite sets is Salem China Company’s Pat Prichard Nostalgic Old America from 1956. Viktor Schreckengost designed the forms, and Pat Prichard created the art. Old Gloucester is a fantastic collection of New England forms such as clipper ships, rooster weathervanes, baked beans, and a seaside village. I guess baked beans are big in New England. Old Comstock depicts a western scene with happy horses, old west saloons, and a stagecoach. Clearly, this is New England nostalgia from another time. Unlike the HBO mini-series John Adams (yes related), there is no depiction of surgery with no anesthesia. And on Old Comstock, unlike Deadwood, there is no whoring or liberal use of the “C” word (and I don’t mean China).

Salem China Dinnerware, Old Gloucester, Pat Prichard, 1956

Salem China Dinnerware, Old Gloucester, Pat Prichard, 1956

Salem China Dinnerware, Old Gloucester, Pat Prichard, 1956

Salem China Dinnerware, Old Gloucester, Pat Prichard, 1956

Salem China Dinnerware, Old Gloucester, Pat Prichard, 1956, detail

Salem China Dinnerware, Old Gloucester, Pat Prichard, 1956, detail

Salem China Dinnerware, Old Comstock, Pat Prichard, 1956

Salem China Dinnerware, Old Comstock, Pat Prichard, 1956, detail

Salem China Dinnerware, Old Comstock, Pat Prichard, 1956, detail

Salem China Dinnerware, Old Comstock, Pat Prichard, 1956, detail

Salem China Dinnerware, Old Comstock, Pat Prichard, 1956, detail

Salem China Dinnerware, Old Comstock, Pat Prichard, 1956, detail

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Die Welt newspaper, Ellsworth Kelly imagery, Cornelius Tittel Culture Editor

Once in awhile, we’re lucky to have a confluence of events that create an epiphany. These are mine: Marian Bantjes’ documentary by Lynda.com, a lecture at the AIGA Pivot Conference, a hellish week of one crisis after another, and the German newspaper Die Welt. Let me explain.

I’m sick to death of “safe.” Somewhere along the way, I forgot that my job is to create wonder, excitement, thought, and challenge the status quo. During the recession, I found myself acceding to committee decisions and research that led to benign and banal solutions. Marian always reminds me that I am able to make whatever I want. Our job as designers is to make extraordinary, not nice and forgetful. At the Pivot conference, there was a subtext that graphic design was no longer relevant, individual vision must be assimilated into collaboration, and artifacts were about “delight” with the same weight as a nice floral arrangement. One speaker relentlessly hammered the audience with factually flawed doom and gloom, suggesting that charts, submission of the individual, and meetings were the future of the profession. Let me off now if that is true.

On Friday, I reached a snapping point. Every job was a rush, every deadline critical. The designers in the office were panicked. So I stopped everything. We are designers, not a quick print shop. Stop, think, make something great. If it takes more than five minutes, good. Of course, everyone went right back to work, but with a sigh of relief. Sometimes it’s good to remember we are not performing neurosurgery and a patient is on the table with half a skull.

On Saturday, my oldest and best friend Erica Shapeero, who has the most fabulous life of anyone I know, returned from a trip to London and Munich with Die Welt. This issue was designed to honor an exhibition by Ellsworth Kelly. The culture editor, Cornelius Tittel, convinced the newspaper to run Kelly shapes in place of all photographs. It’s genius, brave, and uncompromising. How do you convince a newspaper to swap the soccer image with an Ellsworth shape? Unbelievable and wonderful. This reminded me that I started as a designer to make incredible things, challenge others, and myself, not to make nice, listen to banal strategy, and trade remarkable for benign. There is a reason this blog is named burning settlers cabin, not the quiet settlers cabin. Light the house on fire. Fuck safe.

Die Welt newspaper, sports section

Die Welt newspaper, detail

Die Welt newspaper, Ellsworth Kelly imagery, Cornelius Tittel Culture Editor

Die Welt newspaper,Financial section

Die Welt newspaper, Ellsworth Kelly imagery, Cornelius Tittel Culture Editor

Die Welt newspaper, Ellsworth Kelly imagery, Cornelius Tittel Culture Editor

Die Welt newspaper, Ellsworth Kelly imagery, Cornelius Tittel Culture Editor

Die Welt newspaper, Ellsworth Kelly imagery, Cornelius Tittel Culture Editor

Die Welt newspaper, Ellsworth Kelly imagery, Cornelius Tittel Culture Editor

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It's 7:30am and my hair really does fall that way

Last week at the AIGA Pivot Conference, Command X was, as always, a huge success. The young professionals who are contestants are the bravest people on the planet. There is no way in hell I would get up in front of 1,500 designers and defend my choices. This year’s group, Spencer Charles, Wendy Hu, Matt Hunsberger, Susan Murphy, Mark Nizinski, Jesse Reed, and Sarah Sawtell are remarkable designers with nerves of steel. The judges, Ellen Lupton, DJ Stout, Michael Vanderbyl, and guest judges, Karl Heiselman, Chip Kidd, and Matt Munoz had the unenviable job of determining who moved on to the next challenge. Michael Bierut hosted the competition, and I mentored and filmed the behind the scenes updates.

Behind the scenes, drama ensued. Michael Vanderbyl was reprimanded by an attendee for suggesting the use of a shamrock on a piece. Supposedly this is deeply offensive to Irish people. I asked Command X contestant, Susan Murphy, who is an actual Irish person, if she was offended, and she was fine with it. In fact, she suggested many names and comments that could be quite offensive to the Irish.

And then another speaker attacked my great friend Bonnie Siegler for Command X. According to an onlooker at the party where the bloodthirsty attack occurred, Bonnie stood defenseless as this person became increasingly furious. As this onlooker said, “it was like a chained angry dog who was let off its leash. There was spitting, snarling, and lunging.” I didn’t realize that “fun” is clearly a filthy word we should never use. Design should be laborious and we should refrain from making artifacts. Charts and meetings are the future.

As usual, nothing shocking happened to me, except for the scandal in Marian Bantjes room. Marian needed to learn how to tie a tie. I can’t do it backwards, so I sat behind Marian to teach her. The result was a photograph that looks like a cover of Viva or Oui magazine, or a soft-core porn film. Thank God it was Marian and I wasn’t teaching one of the Command X contestants how to tie a tie.

Sean Adams, Sarah Sawtell, Mark Nizinski, Wendy Hu, Michael Vanderbyl, Susan Murphy, Matt Hunsberger, Spencer Charles

Our brave contestants and worthy judges

Ellen Lupton, D.J. Stout, Michael Vanderbyl, and Matthew Munoz

Sean Adams and Jesse Reed

Sarah Sawtell in a groovy motion shot

Me harassing Spencer with bad ideas

Susan was truly scared of me and my color suggestions

Wendy attacked by the camera crew

Susan Murphy (a real Irish person who likes shamrocks)

If you don't like someone standing over you, try a camera crew

Marian and I and the "ties and knots" episode

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