I think Spanish bar and tavern tenders have a good lesson in customer relationship management to teach the world. They do two things which are just great.
The first concept is the tapa (analog to a push service). You order a beer or a wine at any bar where food is also served and always get something small to nibble on, usually on bread. This “tapa” is a perfect upselling scheme. If you like it, your tendency will be to order “raciones“ of this same or similar foods on sale at the establishment. After a few wines (this bar side drinking is normally before lunch or diner) you might probably want to sit to diner with your friends. One of the most ancient and best upselling schemes I know.
The second is offering the last shot of digestive liquor on the house. “El orujitose lo da la casa“. You had a great and not inexpensive lunch on tapas and raciones and end it with some pacharán, orujoblanco or some such concoction. Then when you ask for the bill a smiling waiter tells you: “this one is on the house” (refering to the liquor shot). The costs of this are truly marginal to the establishment, and yet it will probably entice you to leave a larger tip before exiting and generate a lot of gratitude. So, more cash to the tip pool and a subjectively (and probably tipsy) happier customer. Win-win was invented in Madrid.
British artist and sculptor Henry Moore (1898 - 1986) introduced a particular form of modernism to art in the United Kingdom. He is particularly well known for his reclining female figures. Moore was born in Castleford, Yorkshire, the son of a mine engineer. He became notoriously acclaimed in the international scene as a sculptor for his large scale abstract bronze and marble figures which can be seen in significant public enclaves worldwide. Moore’s figures are normally characteristic for piercing and hollow spaces which are reminiscent of the hilly landscape of Yorkshire. Most of the wealth he made from these large scale commissions in his later years was endowed to his Foundation.
There is a quote of Moore’s which I particularly enjoy and I find condensates how I understand his work:
There are universal shapes to which everyone is subconsciously conditioned and to which they can respond if their conscious control does not shut them off
More about Henry Moore’s work and style here and in this tribute page to the artist.
Portrait of the artist in his studio in the mid 1960s via britannica. Reclining figure from sculpture.net. The Three Piece Reclining Figure: Draped in Kew Gardens via rwapplewannabe
Cool. I was there when they made this video (I mean I saw the filmaker with his tripod and his Sony HC7 camera on the tram to Kabatas). It starts on the Starbucks near Kabatas and gives nice views of Istanbul from there to Galata, including a ride on the funicular. I think they had a great time making it and I keep remembering Jim Jarmush ;-)
Paradise Lost is an epic poem writen by John Milton in blank verse in the XVIIC and originally published in 1667 in 10 books. It’s about the Judeo-Christian story of the fall of man, the temptation of Adam and Eve and the expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
Couple of other videos by the same author here and here. The Pink Panther vs Skeleton Man trailer is very surreal and quite funny. I love the Brazil soundtrack and the way Pink Panther manages to keep standing in the corridor with so much dignity ;-)
Syntegrity is a formal model presented by British theorist Anthony Stafford Beer in 1990. Now a trademark, it is “a form of non-hierarchical problem solving that can be used in a small team of 10 to 42 people. It is a business consultation product that is licensed as a basis model for solving problems in a team environment”. From synergistictensegrity
Another good description is this one: “a future-oriented approach to the design of democratic management in the sense of the heterarchical-participative type of organization. It is a holographic model for organizing processes of communication, in particular for the (self-) management of social systems. Based on the structure of polyhedra it is especially suitable for realizing team-oriented structures as well as for supporting processes of planning, knowledge generation and innovation in turbulent environments”.
But the really amazing thing that I read recently is that Beer is the brainchild of Project Cybersyn, an attempt by Chile’s Socialist government under Salvador Allende to achieve a real-time, computer controlled planned economy of sorts. The year was 1971.
“A network of about 500 telex machines linking the country from north to south supported all this. A single computer center in Santiago controlled them, using principles of cybernetics. Its futurist design offered the hope of a more participative and less bureaucratic society. The project had the participation of a multidisciplinary group of national and international scientists. Their task was to build a system for distributed decision-making supported by relevant information. But their efforts were interrupted by the coup d’etat of 1973“
The origins of the Jewish Istanbulite Camondo family probably start in 1492 Spain, from where they were expelled like all Jewish and Muslim citizens. After that their traces reappear in the ghettos of Venice and in Constantinople, Ortakoy, in 1758.
View from the top floor in the newly restored Camondo house near Galata, in Beyoglu. Photo taken by Eero Korhonen
They seemed to encounter some clashes with the Ottoman authorities and, of Austro-Hungarian nationality, fled to Cyprus only to return to Istanbul in the early 1780s. The Camondo was a family of bankers (lenders originally, “saraf”). Their institution, called after its founder Isaac Camondo & Co., started by means of lending and then diversified to control a network of retail in Galata and in Uskudar as well as a brick factory and olive oil production unit in Çorlu.
They were the bankers of the liberal Sultan Abdulaziz and later of Abdulhamit II and were allowed a very exceptional situation for foreigners: to own property. The Camondos were very active donors in the Crimean War (1853 - 1856) and philanthropists and they tried to modify the Israeli public instruction to allow Turkish and French, the languages of the official institutions and of trade, to be taught in schools (which no doubt lead to great discontent in the Jewish traditional institutions).
By the end of the XIXth Century their wealth in France, (where they moved to in the mislead hopes of finding a more welcoming and evolved society) and in other countries span companies such as Paribas, Portland Cements, the Imperial Ottoman Bank, The Refineries of Egypt, The Constantinople Water Company, The Portuguese Railways, and Franco-Canadian Credit, among many others.
After seeking and finding prosperity and wealth in Western Europe, the Camondo family, like many of Ottoman Jewish ascent, disappeared. Sadly, the French Government, blinded by its anti-Semitism, failed to welcome them into society in spite of the magnificent donation of the Nissim de Camondo house and collection in Paris and in spite of the death of war pilot Nissim in Lorraine in 1917.
Bill Milbrodt (in the image with an air guitar) is known as an eccentric avant-garde music innovator capable of making music from car parts. Recently he has lead a project for Ford Motors where he has built 31 instruments -from Focus car parts- in a record time of four weeks. A wonderful campaign idea for an abominable (aren’t they all?) car manufacturer. It’s not the first time Milbrodt does it, but Ford took a very great marketing stride in commissioning this project to him.
The fender bass in the images, made from a Ford Focus wing (United Kingdom) or fender (United States). It looks elegant, and it sounds good!
There is Pamela Anderson and then there is Pelle Anderson. He’s one of the ideators behind the Metro newspaper concept. He argues that the most off-putting thing in a newspaper is “boring photos and articles”. It’s not so much about format, design and layout, if the content sucks, you’re toast. I agree.
Then he goes into some digression in an interview on News & Tech about some elements which I consider critical not just for daily press, but also for classifieds. He argues that “there are two prevailing cultures in the daily newspaper sector: that of the major population centers and that of rural areas. City culture is the same the world over”, he states.
As a matter of fact, he is not mistaken: the concerns of metropolitans worldwide are similar and the free sheet is a tribute to this. In this light, geographical identification becomes a unifying thread in product design. But it gets more sexy when you touch classifieds. Dailies and printed sheets could never manage to suit the needs of each district in a metropolis: they cannot afford the cost structure. But hyper local classifieds can… online.
My dream was, when I moved to Paris as when I moved to Istanbul, to use a hyper local environment to tell me things like: who is selling a couch near my new flat; who is a good shiatsu master near my new home; who can deliver fresh produce to this apartment? I need privates offering goods and services and exchanges; I need professional services which I can locate by proximity; I need neighbours like myself to tell me who is the best fromagier in the Poteau market in Montmartre or to tell me who is the best fishmonger in Yesilyurt. And I want all this in one integrated interface.
So, infact, in Anderson’s printed world such micro-targeting will not happen, but in the networked economy it’s a reality. And it bites.
In the photoentrance to my ex-house in Paris, 18eme. Rue du Mont Cenis
The print media dominates the mass media economy in Finland and newspaper circulation per capita is the highest in the EU and third highest in the world.
Finland has about 200 newspapers, more than a quarter published 4 to 7 times a week. The total circulation of all newspapers exceeds 3 million and most are bought by subscription rather than from newsstands. Finland also has a very high number of magazines; there are about 2.800 weeklies, and adding titles published at least four times per year, the figure reaches 3.500.
By the way, Finland, with an average of 563 score points, was the highest-performing country on the PISA 2006 science scale. More on PISA 2006 and results
I am in the process of moving from Paris to Istanbul. (Infact, I am taking a box packing break). Besides the US where I studied (New York) and some months in Colombia, I have not lived outside Europe before. I am super excited. Istanbul is an amazing city of 15 million people and as cosmopolitan if not more than most of the super-cherished world capitals.
Some of the great things I am looking forward to right now are:
Living in what once was Byzantium and then Constantinople (I mean, come on, it has been the capital of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin and Ottoman empires!) and everything I have to see to understand this history (I must remember I actually should work…!)
Living in the only city on the planet that covers two continents (Jim Jarmush missed it in A Night On Earth, what a shame)
Living on the Golden Horn and, as in my case, over the Marmara Sea
Being in a cross-roads of East and West and all that it implies
Getting to know all about Turkish modern art, architecture and design (I mean, there is some very serious stuff going on there). I will take Istanbul Modern as the starting point
Wining, dining and dancing in all the cool places between Galata, Besiktas, Ortakoy, Nisantasi and Bebek
Working in the fascinating ecosystem of Hürriyet Medya Tower (and hopefully doing something productive and meaningful there ;-)
Learning Turkish and learning to understand Turkish culture and social norm (By the way I find Turkish people amongst the nicest most welcoming, warm, polite, refined and cultivated I know)
Remember what Napoleon Bonaparte said: “If the earth was a single state, Istanbul would be it’s capital”
I saw this animated, acrobatic, 21st Century circus opera last night in the very Parisian Theatre de Chatelet. Insane. I mean, insane. How cool.
I bet you’ve never been in an opera that starts with animation by the guy who came up with Gorillaz; that is based on a Chinese epic written in 1592; and where you are assimilated by an army of 40 Chinese acrobats, singers and dancers that keep you on the edge of the most amazing choreographic, costume and musical thrill you’ve had in ages.
Some master minds behind this are Chen Shi Zheng (conception and mise en scene), Damon Albarn (composition) (the guy from Blur) and Jamie Hewlett (co-creator of Gorillaz). All 3 in the picture below
In case you never heard of the original text, Xi You Ji (Journey to the West), by Wu Cheng, is the tale of a Chinese monk, based in a mythological world, which recites in a fantastical and comic manner his travels through India in the 7th C. He is carrying the sacred Buddhist texts and the trip will take him 17 years.
In the narration the traveller -Tripitaka- is accompanied by Monkey King and another 3 anthropomorphic buddies (a white horse, a pig and a sable).
Johannes Anderson, Johannes Anderson, Johannes Anderson… Know him? I was in the Puces de Saint Ouen last Sunday, Marche Paul Bert (coolest for XXC furniture). And there I fell in love. It was a drawer closet made in teka wood in 1950 by… yes! Johannes Anderson.
He is not like Arne Jacobsen, Anderson is less known. But he is a very elegant designer. He is Danish of course and I find the handlers of the closet the most interesting elements. They have a very simple semi-circular form to adapt you your hand which is at once very subtle to the vision and the harmony of the piece and very kind on the hand.
Drawers run like silk when you open and close and the water effects on the surface of the teka wood are sublime. I will post a picture as soon as I can, but confort you sight (eye-site ;-)) on this wonderful Ocassional Table from 1960 by the same designer.
And here come the pictures of the closet and it’s significant details ;-)
