DDi - January 2012 - (Page 64)

64 | Think Tank Provenance explored C ircumstance has led to me spending the past 10 days in the United Kingdom and, as is always the case on an extended trip home, I’m struck by the sheer “Englishness” of it all. As the saying goes: “There is nothing so English as an Englishman living abroad.” Perhaps I’m more sensitive to this, given that I now live in the United States, but I think cultural distinctions run deep. From bus stops and coffee cups to street fashion and the food I’m ordering, the differences feel more primal. And that leads me to the idea of provenance. Provenance is defined as “the origin of something.” For a while now, I’ve been musing that this concept—and the “design DNA” that results from it— has never been more important than it is today. Our world is unifying at a ferocious rate. Close to 60 percent of us follow one of just two religions and speak one of just three languages. And in times like these, I wonder if our differences will increasingly cease to matter? Or will they become more important than ever? After a series of jaunts around the globe over the past several years, I have been slack-jawed at how vanilla it’s all becoming. That creeping reality could not be more depressing to me. Eggs and bacon three days straight in Mumbai, India, felt a bit sad. American couture in Paris felt, frankly, a tad ridiculous. But nothing topped the hotels. Micro-versions of places I call my home in the United States, and all in the name of some vacuous global standard of hospitality. These places represent the antithesis of the journeys I hope to take; journeys where it’s all about getting back to the roots of a place. Such journeys have given me the three best meals of my life (Delhi, Tokyo and Lyon) and none of them came without straying as far as I could from the well-beaten path. Provenance infused each of those meals—from the ingredients to the recipes, to the preparation and the service. And I will never forget a single detail of each one of them. Christian Davies, age 1 The reason provenance is so important in the world of retail today is that it lies at the heart of what makes one brand, one store or one product different from the next. When so many brands seem to be blurring into a homogenized, postgeographic mush, the idea of anything that might distinguish one thing from another makes this concept a very powerful tool. Look at some of the brands that have leveraged their origins to great effect in our current climate. Here in the U.K., brands like Jaguar and Burberry are redefining themselves through provenance—but not in some flag-waving, nationalistic or romantic way, rather in a quiet, confident, contemporary expression of the image and identity of the land they are from. With a number of U.S. retail brands poised for global expansion, I can’t help wondering if a look back at their roots might not serve them well? Perhaps it is time, in a quiet and humble way, for us to remind the world of where these brands are from. And what that means in the world we live in today. There’s one more thing that makes provenance compelling, and it’s particularly relevant in these challenging economic times. In fact, it might be the single best thing about provenance—it is free. To qualify, all you have to do is be “born” there. And each of us, wherever we find ourselves today, was born somewhere. —Christian Davies is executive creative director, Americas for Columbus, Ohiobased FITCH. His own particular provenance is a small town on the east coast of England called Boston. Yes, the original one. | January 2012 www.ddionline.com http://www.ddionline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DDi - January 2012

DDi - January 2012
Table of Contents
From the Editor
From the Show Director
Newsworthy
Shopper Insights
Editor’s Choice
Design Snapshot ICE
Design Snapshot Boxpark and Cashel Mall
Habitat Antique
51 East
Channel Focus: Financial Air Bank
Retail Around the World
GlobalShop Show Preview
Right Light
Product Spotlight
Calendar
Advertisers
Classifieds
Think Tank

DDi - January 2012