Strange journey

Welcome to Idealog Weekly, the free email newsletter for New Zealand commercial creatives, entrepreneurs and anyone rich with ideas.

Strange journey

Like so many creative young Kiwis, Nigel Stanford left school destined to become a famous musician. He made a start, too, but music turned out to be just one of the many careers the talented Stanford has turned his hand to: designer, web developer, new media entrepreneur, Trade Me general manager, and now movie producer with his own studio, Rubber Monkey.

In the current Idealog, Peter Griffin follows Stanford’s strange journey in ‘The Road to Rubber Monkey’. Stanford has an ability to think about things from the end-user’s perspective that has given an extra dimension to his work. And Sam Morgan weighs in too, reminiscing about the early days when he couldn’t get anyone to invest in Trade Me and the first employees lived on their wits, talent and self-belief.

Check out the story on our website.

Andrea Pininfarina, 1957-2008

There’s perhaps a mild irony that the head of the legendary Italian design firm Pininfarina—designer of Ferrari Testarossas and Alfa Spiders—died riding a Vespa scooter. Andrea Pininfarina was the grandson of Battista Pinin Farina, who founded the Carozzeria Pininfarina car design studio that has brought the world many classic designs. In fact, it’s fair to say that when people think of “car design” the name Pininfarina pops up. More at the Beeb.

Making friends

We really enjoyed Making Tracks, the C4 series where Nick Dwyer travels the planet making friends with the assistance of fine New Zealand music. Who knew they’re singing Scribe’s ‘Not Many’ in Palestine?

And where did we find this? On the blog of hip-hop maestro P-Money, who wrote ‘Not Many’. It’s a great blog, and last night he used it to launch his latest single. (Via Peter McLennan)

10 coolest concept cars

The funniest part of climate change is seeing what lengths the carmakers will go to conceive a cleaner, greener future. Our fav: the hybrid Hummer. But kids at the Royal College of Art just went nuts with this lot. Glass station wagon anyone?

Ads again

So you may have seen some of these before—but imagine the approvals process. Thank you, Ikea.

A matter of perspective

We spend our lives assaulted by signage. But the signs in this Melbourne carpark only make sense when seen from the right angle—that is, the angle when they mean something, so you can find your way out easily when you want to leave and not be distracted when you want to park.

The longest text

An exploration of scale and levels of detail. How much or little is contained within the tiniest, most ordinary of moments. Indeed.

Design assembler

Graphics designer Louise Kellerman at Sanders Design has been busy putting together the Design Assembly. This is about creating a sense of community amongst creatives in Auckland, hearing New Zealanders speak and getting conversations going, Louise says.

DINZ, AUT, Gordon Harris, endemicworld.com, mychillybin.co.nz and andvodka.co.nz are sponsoring the Design Asembly, and the inaugural meeting is held at the AUT Art and Design School in central Auckland on August 27 between 6.30 and 8.30pm.

Speakers for the event include Welby Ings, Kate Alexander and Shaun Lee; check out the website for more details and to RSVP.

Missionary Positions

That’s the name of Dan Taulapapa McMullins’ exhibition, with the rejoinder ‘An Illustrated Story of America Samoa’.

McMullins aims to be show a strong narrative in his work, as well as being historically informed and linking his paintings closely to his writing and filmmaking. The art draws on Samoan cultural tradition, colonisation and fa’afafine experiencies.

Check out the exhibition that runs between August 8 and 30, at the Fresh Gallery in Otara.

Quote of the week

“I was used to having my way and Sam is exactly the same. We clashed a little. I thought I was better than him. But when he came back he’d really raised the bar.”

—Nigel Stanford gives due credit to fellow Trade Me trader Sam Morgan.

More at Idealog online

Read more on our website: web exclusives, opinion, creative directory, Idealog TV, the Idealog blogs and the Idealog podcast. See you at idealog.co.nz.

  The Ideologues