Thought Starter 0.7
— Bananas to some. Genius to others.
︎︎︎
Apple TV+ are streaming a new documentary about The Velvet Underground.
It offers a first-hand glimpse behind the music — full of thoughtful observations from John Cale, Moe Tucker, plus others who were there, as a fan, it offers a fascinating insight.
I’ve always known Andy Warhol managed the band but I’d always thought it was an art experiment, which to a degree it was, but I massively underestimated Warhol’s commercial eye.
Warhol wanted the band to break records, everything was carefully choreographed and orchestrated — the perfect example — Nico was his idea. The band were too scruffy, too intimidating, they needed the gloss of a blonde with a droney, almost blues-esq voice.
So what’s the point?
Well, apart from being a great documentary I couldn’t help but be inspired by what happens when you put amazing people together in a room.
The Factory was Warhol’s studio, a revolving door of finely selected musicians, drag queens, models, socialites, drug addicts, adult film stars, and free-thinkers — to hang out and unleash their creative potential.
Some might think this is glaringly obvious, but to create a safe space for people to express, create, and be reviewed by their peers isn’t an easy culture to cultivate.
I can only relate to this from having worked within many design and advertising studios but how do you get a hierarchical, stagnant, conglomerate to champion this philosophy?
What if every business had a Factory department? Better than an R&D department (and minus the adult film stars, or not?) but a musician, artist, poet, web developer, filmmaker and product designer all in a room to procrastinate, question, and ultimately work to a common goal?
What could Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Diageo, Johnson & Johnson, or Deloitte create, change and improve internally and externally — it would be a good experiment.
— Bananas to some. Genius to others.
︎︎︎
Apple TV+ are streaming a new documentary about The Velvet Underground.
It offers a first-hand glimpse behind the music — full of thoughtful observations from John Cale, Moe Tucker, plus others who were there, as a fan, it offers a fascinating insight.
I’ve always known Andy Warhol managed the band but I’d always thought it was an art experiment, which to a degree it was, but I massively underestimated Warhol’s commercial eye.
Warhol wanted the band to break records, everything was carefully choreographed and orchestrated — the perfect example — Nico was his idea. The band were too scruffy, too intimidating, they needed the gloss of a blonde with a droney, almost blues-esq voice.
So what’s the point?
Well, apart from being a great documentary I couldn’t help but be inspired by what happens when you put amazing people together in a room.
The Factory was Warhol’s studio, a revolving door of finely selected musicians, drag queens, models, socialites, drug addicts, adult film stars, and free-thinkers — to hang out and unleash their creative potential.
Some might think this is glaringly obvious, but to create a safe space for people to express, create, and be reviewed by their peers isn’t an easy culture to cultivate.
I can only relate to this from having worked within many design and advertising studios but how do you get a hierarchical, stagnant, conglomerate to champion this philosophy?
What if every business had a Factory department? Better than an R&D department (and minus the adult film stars, or not?) but a musician, artist, poet, web developer, filmmaker and product designer all in a room to procrastinate, question, and ultimately work to a common goal?
What could Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Diageo, Johnson & Johnson, or Deloitte create, change and improve internally and externally — it would be a good experiment.