Among the best known products designed at Pentagram are the Kodak Pocket Instamatic camera, the Parker pens, the Royal and Protector razors for Wilkinson Sword, the interior for the high-speed trains of British Rail and the contemporary look of the classic black London taxis for London Taxis International. The list of Pentagram clients includes world famous giants in every sphere of production and services: Barclays Bank, the British Library, British Telecom, IBM, Lee Cooper, L’Oréal, Mazda, Novo Nordisk, Olivetti, Penguin Books, Polaroid, Rank Xerox, Reuters, Roche, Shiseido, Toyota.
Mervyn Kurlansky tells BTA about Pentagram in 1972 and in 2022, why all art can be considered a form of design, why Bulgaria is close to his heart and if he has been able to define Bulgarian design. He also answers questions about the stories he tells through his designs, the design trends in the new century and how design is impacted by war and the threat of poverty.
Q: Mr. Kurlansky, during your last visit in Sofia you were awarded an honorary Doctor’s degree by the National Academy of Arts. Is that title important for a world renowned artist?
In the context of the culture, we are conditioned by, I think such awards are important. The recipient is pleased to receive acknowledgement for the contribution he or she has made to society and the quality of his or her achievements, and those who witness the award, may well be inspired to do equally well. It sets a standard of responsible behavior for people to measure up to.
Q: Your last visit was not your first visit to Bulgaria. What makes Bulgaria close to your heart?
The people I have met. I found them to be highly talented, generous, to a fault, friendly and warm-hearted, and perhaps it’s also because my grandparents came from Eastern Europe, so I feel a kind of kinship with the people.
Q: Have you been able to find words to define Bulgarian design?
Not really. I tend to separate the word design into two aspects. Design can be defined simply as a plan to make something. Then there is the style of that something, and that is an expression of the culture in which it is produced. In our globalized world, it is becoming more difficult to see a clear distinction between the design styles of different nationalities.
Perhaps it is easier with countries that have a long tradition in design, such as Italy France, England, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and Germany
Q: The designer Teodor Lulchev says about you: „After 12 hours of work he tells you: Go on!”. What is the source of your energy?
Communing with nature. Especially trees, forests, and the ocean, as well as the animals. Then there is sunbathing, swimming, my passion for designing, listening to, and playing jazz, and generally my love of life.
Q: Is there a common message in the things you create as a designer?
Walter Pater famously said that all art aspires to the level of music.
I think that all design should aspire to the level of art, and I try to bring that common quality to my work, whilst striving to achieve a unique message with each design
Q: Can you say what the design trends of the new century look like through your eyes?
I find it difficult to make predictions of the future. Life is so uncertain. Who could have predicted Covid 19? The advent of the personal computer for designers, democratized design, and anyone, qualified or unqualified, can now produce designs. The problem with that, is that it results in mediocrity.
So, on the one hand, I see a trend towards mediocre design, even bad design, (being aware, of course, that good or bad is in the eye of the beholder) and simultaneously, I see a trend towards highly professional, innovative work. It does, however, seem a bit like business as usual, serving the commercial interests of our communities.
However, there is a growing movement to produce design that meets the economic, social, and environmental issues of our time, and it is a trend that I believe, offers new opportunity for designers to play a responsible role in the transformation towards a sustainable future for humanity.
Q: How are these trends affected by war and the threat of poverty. Design seem to require prosperity, after all.
True. Yet whilst design as we know it, requires prosperity in our current social paradigm, prosperity is not essential to the problem-solving function of designing (planning to make something). We are going to need new design thinking to become resilient in the face of the upheaval of war and climate change.
Q: What was the last story you told through design?
I have been involved in organizing a series of poster campaigns in Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Russia, (Ironically, Ukraine was to be next on the list), which promote the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. My contribution was a poster design for Peace, the 16th goal, in the Danish collection and for Responsible Consumption, the 12th goal in the Russian collection.
Q: If you have to say in one word what the Pentagram was in 1972 and what it is today, in 2022?
Unique
Q: You love to draw and play the trumpet. Can we say that every art is a form of design?
If I go back to the definition of design, that we formulated at Pentagram, that design is a simply a plan to make something, then I suppose that making art, or making music, might be considered a form of design.
The distinction I make between art, music, and design, is that art and music exist for their own sake, whereas design has a purpose. /NF/