Adler's session was wonderful: he's smart, thoughtful, funny, and he walked us through a visual history of his work - from his humble beginnings as a potter to top designer of ceramics, textiles and now furniture. I wanted to ask him - but they ran out of time and didn't take my question - whether he'd ever do a designer collab with The Bullseye. As you might recall, he did design a festive canister of drinking straws with Pepsi last year for Target. But it'd be amazing for him to create a full line of affordable home decor.
Unfortunately, the session with Target's SVP was disappointing. He basically just ran through a visual history of Target's television commercials. It was fun to see a couple "vintage" ones from the 1970's and 80's, but the ones from the past 10 years are so iconic and familiar that we'd all seen them already. He only briefly touched on Target's other media campaigns, in print and social media, and the significance of the designer collabs to their business. But he offered no revelations on how they select the people they collaborate with or what drives their creative choices.
All in all, it felt like just one big "advertisement" for Target. Maybe The Bullseye is just too protective of their brand to offer any real insights. But that wasn't the case with other corporate speakers - like those from Unilever and BlissWorld - who walked the audience through their creative process and illustrated how they got there.
4 comments:
If your looking for *affordable* Jonathan Adler, he currently has his Happy Chic line at JCPenney. It's super cute and runs from about $6 for a glass tumbler to about $3,000 for a lacquered or upholstered bed frame. I'm not sure if a full line at Target would be a conflict of interests with JCP at this time.
Unknown: thanks for the reminder! I had heard about his line at JCP but had forgotten; I'll have to check it out.
Target Addict - once again, Adler's retro-chic mod vibe takes me back! Like a trip to the old Nut Tree restaurant in Vacaville (if you're familiar with it.)
What a cool opportunity to hear him. I adore his playful use of pattern, color, and pottery. Heck, I even have one of his toilet paper holders. He would create a collab crowd for sure.
The Target report is a little distressing, but perhaps they were just keeping things close to the vest. Then again, that's not very "Target" to be weird/corporate about design and marketing...odd...
Music: of course I remember The Nut Tree!
For you (and others) who are interested, Adler recently designed/updated all the interiors (guest rooms and restaurants) at The Parker hotel in Palm Springs. Check it out here: http://www.theparkerpalmsprings.com/index.php
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