Pentagram - UnBeige

Pentagram’s William Russell on Designing for Alexander McQueen

Stephanie Murg — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 09:05:08 +0000

In a sea of ever more opulent emporiums designed by the usual luxemaster suspects (think Peter Marino, Bill Sofield, Michael Gabellini), Alexander McQueen stores swim against the high-gloss current. Bold, vaguely apocalyptic, and often shot through with a distinctively ghostly take on baroque exuberance, the shops are the work of Pentagram’s William Russell. In the below video, the London-based architect reflects on a decade of work with McQueen–both the PPR-owned house and the man himself, known as Lee to friends. “He wanted a collaborative relationship, rather than someone imposing a look or a feel onto him,” says Russell of developing the initial store concept with the designer. “He was a true genius–you don’t meet many in your life, and he was an extraordinary man.”

continued…

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50 Very Short Essays on Michael Bierut

Alissa Walker — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:02:47 +0000

There once was a designer so beloved that on the occasion of his 50th birthday, people from far and wide wanted to wish him well. So well, in fact, that the kingdom of Pentagram–housed in a castle in the biggest city in all the land–sent word to all their friends, all over the world, that they wanted to write a book dedicated to the fair designer. And it was a grand book, a book filled with 50 stories by people like the Valiant Knight Frank Gehry and Sir Massimo Vignelli and Lady Maira Kalman. And because the designer was so beloved, and because his friends were so kind, the book even included pictures. Like this:

Happy Belated Birthday to the King of Design.

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How to Dress, Dine and Date Like a NYC Design Maven

Alissa Walker — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:46:06 +0000

Via Core77 we were directed to something we may never have noticed: New York Magazine’s “A Guide to Ten Different New Yorks,” most notably starring The Design Maven. (No, not the Design Maven who loves to hide out in the comments of your favorite blogs.)

Upon viewing the illustration above you almost certainly went head first into your monitor with disbelief. It’s uncanny how similarly you are dressed today, what with your black v-neck, gray cargo pants and blue Converse sneakers (Yes, Converse! Those designers are absolutely bonkers when it comes to sneakers, you know?) It’s amazing, really, that they picked up on details like your traffic cone-orange messenger bag–probably Jack Spade–in which you carry important design items, including all the important design items which do not fit in your ever-present FedEx box (He definitely needs a FedEx box because he has to send some work to some clients. They always have clients, right?). And your black spectacles, with those squarish frames, which you don’t really need at all to see, but you need to wear, to feel more…like a design maven.

The list is actually a nice trip around Manhattan, with stops at Pentagram, Muji (still materializing), Florent, and The Cooper Union, which is heralded as the consummation capital for design power couples like Liz Diller-Ricardo Scofidio and Abbott Miller-Ellen Lupton.

The illustration, by the way, is by Jorge Colombo, and we’d love to know what color cargo pants he’s wearing today.

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Listen, You Guys, Sometimes Food Packaging Is Really Bad! Seriously!

Alissa Walker — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 23:47:00 +0000

We realize that you may, at some point in the future, want to write a story like this. Or one like this. So we’ll make it easy: If you ever get hired by a newspaper to write a “design story” about annoying supermarket packaging, here’s all you have to do:

1) Set your tale in the deep, deplorable canyons of your local grocer. Be sure to allude to the fact that you sensed something was up while filling your cart with what you previously thought of as innocent, non-branded food.

2) Beef up your descriptions of the horrific visual assault with these words (pick three): screaming, bovine jig, crayon-bright, golden sunlight, verdant, sax-playing, bilious, garish.

3) Call a designer at Pentagram for a quote expressing their displeasure through a metaphor that describes a downward trend. If you must, call Brian Collins for clever one-liner to reaffirm your position.

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