Content king - Piers Fawkes, CEO and founder of PSFK, traffics in the global currency of good ideas
In an economy that values knowledge as both a product and a tool, having access to bright ideas determines who has the edge. Piers Fawkes, CEO and founder of PSFK, a New York-based trend consultancy that counts Apple and Target among its clientele, knows that better than most. His flagship Web site, PSFK.com, is nothing so much as a compendium of the quirkiest, most inventive and avantgarde ideas circulating in popular, business and consumer culture. Not for nothing does it receive up to half a million visitors a month. Shortly after returning from Singapore, where PSFK staged its sixth global conference in October, Fawkes talked to us about some of the best brainstorms to emerge from this troubled year, including a few abstract thoughts on luxury that may surprise you.
COUTURE International Jeweler: What’s your take on the downturn in the economy? Piers Fawkes: We’re trying to be positive. We’re getting ready to release a “good ideas” report. We normally do a trends issue around this time, but what would we say? “This sucks, that sucks.” We’re trying to stimulate the bounce.
CIJ: Of the things you’ve covered in the past year, what has caught your attention? PF: We’ve been looking at something called “analog love.” I wouldn’t call it a technology backlash but a nostalgic reinterpretation of products. We see this with a revival of notebooks. Muji just came out with something called the Chronotebook, which is a day-planner organized on an analog axis, like a clock. Even in technology, we’re seeing a celebration of analog. The iPhone has an application that turns your phone into something that looks like an old-fashioned clock. We’ve seen wind-up toys rather than ones you have to stick a battery in, and a move away from plastic that’s been going on for a while. I wouldn’t call it a backlash to technology but a nostalgic appreciation of the past.
CIJ: Have any retail or luxury trends intrigued you? PF: Well, we’ve been thinking about more abstract things that are luxurious. For example, the idea of light as a luxury. Many of us work in cramped offices, so light becomes a luxury. In retail, you see that with large windows and so forth, to provide this light. Another idea is clarity, minimalism and the clearing of clutter. We’re seeing a backlash against outdoor advertising — the idea that it’s a luxury to have a clean environment. Also, the growth of secret societies, not so much because people want to be exclusive but because you want to get away from things with like-minded people. You see this with secret restaurants, secret bars, restaurants that aren’t in restaurants but are in someone’s house.
CIJ: You were just in Singapore. How’s the credit crisis being perceived in Asia? PF: There was the sense that this was a Western issue and not a problem for Asia. There’s still a feeling of opportunity, and there’s still ground to make up over there. There didn’t seem to be a lot of pessimism. Obviously, the Singapore market got hammered as well, but places like that have a sheer drive to succeed. It’s a planned economy designed to be a safe harbor for business. Digital technology has leveled the playing field, as has the rise of the creative class and the creator class. These people can be fashion designers one day and graphic artists or even retailers the next. This class of artists and creatives is now emerging. We think of London, New York and Los Angeles as creative hubs, but soon we might be looking to Asia for ideas.
CIJ: And Dubai? PF: I don’t see that as much. There has to be an element of culture and history to a hub. Singapore is only 43 years old but has a tremendous amount of history, whereas some city-states don’t have that. It’s got far more of that than a place that was built up on the edge of the sea somewhere. The creative class, the creator class, has to come from the ground up.
CIJ: Finally, amid all this talk of recession and depression, do you think we’ll start seeing a backlash to luxury? PF: Different people will buy for different reasons. I think the brands we choose will, theoretically, have meaning and a story. We pay more for things with story, and I think that’s what people are looking to buy. The fact is that so many brands have no real heritage or they’ve lost their heritage, and that’s going to change our perception of luxury.
