Over the span of the spring semester of 2019, Parsons Paris in collaboration with Chesfield realty development group, hosted a design think tank for the client Dolce & Gabanna, with the goal of creating a graphic design for a massive hoarding which would be mounted during property construction at the brand’s flagship Avenue Montaigne address. Amongst several different groups my personal contribution was picked as the chosen design by Stefano and Domenico. The design is titled, “Haussmanization,” referring to the signature architecture of Paris’s 19th century re-modernization. We took the brand identity and imposed it into the Parisian environment, merging both modernity and la mode.
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Memories of Paris Proposal
Memories of Paris will be a space integrative installation in the form of hanging mobile characters and background graphics. The intention of this project will be to translate the artist’s feeling of nostalgia and reminiscence of Paris. What were once sketches completed in a real time and place will be re-integrated into a space to communicate the idealized environment in a graphic narrative. The budget for materials, including transparent acrylic, vinyl sticker prints, and suspension materials may range from $120-$200. The work time generously dedicated will be 24 working hours. The final installation will be modular and may be re-integrated into a multiplicity of scenarios. The key presentation factors will be the hanging of the work, and that it is to be viewed from below, meaning all pieces must be above eye level. While the original composition is considered to be placed in a corner, the flexibility of the parts allows the installation to take up as little or much space as it needs, with the possibility to span across one single wall or to be scattered into filling a whole room. The background will be a graphic sketch line up of a Parisian building horizon, while the characters may be anything from sketches of bikers to pedestrians, to dogs. Everything will be printed as a vector illustration on transparent vinyl, to heavily incorporate the art of the sketches and the dimensionality of the space.
POTE
Hi, my name is Pote. As the french significance of the term “pote” denotes, I am a friendly companion. I enjoy grabbing coffee, rolling around in the streets, and even adventuring the underground as long as I am with you. As a companion I will never leave you side, and my organic form and bright color offer the ultimate source of childish happiness and comfort. I am light enough to hug and hold, and my four wheel feet keep me mobile to follow you wherever life might take us. If the city streets ever get crazy my large dimensions (5′ x 4′) can be used to protect you. And even though there will be many children who want to touch me and squeeze me my two sticker eyes are only focused on you.
For this project my intention was to create a character of rather ambiguous form who would serve as a source of comfort and happiness to its user. From personal experience the urban jungle is often overwhelming, and in a way of mocking its hustle and bustle I wanted to make something that was completely defunct of any function except friendliness. The choice of color and form immediately recall cuteness and comfort, further exhibited through tactile experience of plush felt and a soft balloon/ ball body. The importance of the character’s mobility is to allow the artist to put it in the city context. The assembly of Pote experienced many complications, as process-documented.
These are 15 initial brainstorming sketches for the character idea.
