BORN Issue 6 Winter

CONNECTING PEOPLE WHO MAKE BEAUTIFUL PRODUCTS WITH PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM

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ISSUE 6 | 2016

① A Creative Leaders Tour with Land Rover’s Chief Design Officer and many more at the forefront of the industry. ② When technology creates new communities. A look at tech businesses that bring us closer. ③ The Power is Yours. Stories of brands that put the consumer in the heart of their business. ④ Crowdfunding in the 19th Century. ⑤ Crowdfunding 2.0. ⑥ Born Awards.

Discover more on www.born.com

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DISCOVER MORE ON WWW.BORN.COM

RANGE ROVER

ONE COULD BE FORGIVEN FOR NOT GETTING OUT IN A HURRY landrover.com

Official fuel consumption figures for the Range Rover Vogue 3.0 Litre TDV6 Diesel in l/100km (mpg): Urban 7.8 (36.2), Extra urban 6.4 (44.1), Combined 6.9 (40.9). CO2 emissions 182g/km. Drive responsibly on and off-road.

Jean-Christophe Chopin BORN Founder & CEO

03 WWW.BORN.COM | ISSUE 6 | 2016 THE EDITO OF THE FOUNDER

What would a world look like if creativity trumped banks, governments and institutions? What if the left side of the brain became the driving force in our society’s values and in the education of our children?

It doesn’t have to be one or the other. There’s a misconception that form and style are mutually exclusive, but creativity belongs to us all. It is not limited to the upper echelons of the elite and this is especially true when functionality and style come together in a perfect equilibrium.

Even the most mundane objects in our daily lives deserve to be beautiful.

In the face of a struggling economy, the fusion of function and style leads us to one of the many definitions of “la belle création”: when functionality is elevated through its aesthetic, touch and interface.

The laws of branding are faltering in the face of the new digital era. Our entire society and how we operate within it has changed, and now is the time for us to rethink the rules. The world is evolving, and so must creativity.

We’re experiencing a time of unprecedented ambition, and with it a wave of entrepreneurship and creativity contagious to both the young and the established. A struggling economy cannot prevent people around the world from having ideas, it can, to the contrary, propel creative thinking to champion the challenges we face.

I find inspiration in the legacy of Steve Jobs, who remained true to his vision even when he was the only man left standing.

I find inspiration in the resilience of the design greats who might not have gotten it on their first, second or fifth try, and reinvented themselves from scratch until they did.

Creativity has a new role in our society: intelligent, rallying, inclusive and disruptive.

Creativity is hope and reality. It’s the emotion linked to technological, financial and societal prowess.

Creativity’s power is engrained in generosity, built from openmindness, as it can only reach its purpose in being adopted by many.

It is right to be inspired, just as it is legitimate to create a door when opportunity ceases to knock naturally. I created BORN from my relentless dedication to creativity, and as a way to help others realise their potential. Let’s participate, contribute and celebrate these beautiful creations that change our lives and give hope to those yet to take part.

Born Heritage For gentlemen drivers only.

WWW.BORN.COM | ISSUE 6 | 2016 THE POWER IS YOURS

The Pinterest generation is here to stay. Take one rifle through the pinboard platform’s pristine throw pillow arrangements or heavenly baked goods and recognise the nerves of steel required to fend off the DIY bug. But for the rest of us who might not be part-time carpenters, leather-tanners or domestic goddesses, a slew of design-oriented businesses are creating beautiful products, all unified by one key component in the creation process: you.

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The Power is Yours

The Social Knitwork

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THE POWER IS YOURS

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n an age of instant online shopping, Wool and the Gang reminds us of the slow gratification that comes from making things by hand.

Wool and the Gang is a London-based start-up that sells scarves, hats and mittens with just one catch: you have to knit them yourself. In doing so, the founders are reclaiming knitwear

from the conveyor belts of mass production and putting it back into the hands of people. No doubt, people will love their scarves that much more after investing in the hours to make them by hand.

Founders Aurelie Popper and Jade Harwood met as students at Central Saint Martins, both studying textile design. After stints at Balmain and Alexander McQueen, they developed a belief that fashion should be made sustainably with love, not with robots. And so, the gang was born.

Wool and the Gang kits include a pattern, the exact amount of wool required and needles, all packaged in the brand’s signature paper bag. Patterns range in complexity, letting the customer determine the degree of challenge involved. Once the purchase is made, they are part of the gang.

Online, users can customise primary and secondary colours and opt in or out of the inclusion of a handsome set of knitting needles. They can either keep their pieces for themselves or sell their creations online through the WATG knitwork.

But Wool and the Gang is more than the garments it ultimately produces. Each kit is portal into a growing community of fellow knitters, who get together at knitting parties in a growing list of countries. Right now, they’re hosted in the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland and the US, but knitters are encouraged to host their own – as WATG mandates, if you want something, take it on yourself.

“fashion should be made sustainably with love�

Produce with Purpose

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DIY dining delivered to your door

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HelloFresh seems to have a vendetta against tragic takeaway dinners. Ditto aimless ambling through supermarket aisles and mediocre meals. With sights set on greener, loftier ambitions, this Berlin-based start-up wants to revolutionise the way we eat, one delivery box of local produce at a time.

What sets it apart from ubiquitous fresh box delivery services is what accompanies the goods: recipes.

Each week, in-house chefs dream up tasty, approachable meals presented on beautifully photographed recipe cards. These are delivered right to your doorstep in a chilled box containing each ingredient required. This is a key step in avoiding food going to waste (a sad but true reality for other veggie delivery services), and if the recipients happen to learn a thing or two about cooking?

Mission accomplished.

The brand sets out to understand what it means to be busy, strapped for cash and not exactly a Jamie Oliver in the kitchen, and empowers customers to cook healthy meals for themselves and their friends. And speaking of Jamie Oliver, HelloFresh has just teamed up with the British celebrity chef for a series of limited-edition recipes that are available in six countries starting in 2016.

HelloFresh has since grown from its Berlin beginnings to offices in London, Sydney, New York and Amsterdam.

Fully customised furniture is just a few swipes away

“I’ve always thought that the perfect furniture design is adaptable to individual needs while following a specific design intent”

How to design the perfect table

Start with the legs.

The Yves Béhar Hub Table has three different leg shapes to choose from. Select one, and then slide the scales to determine the pattern and shape.

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Determine the size.

The width and length of the table are completely adjustable. The same table can live as a modest square side table or a long, elegant dining room centrepiece.

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Finish with finishings.

Choose white, black or oak for the top and frame. Combine as desired and add to basket.

THE POWER IS YOURS

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t is now possible for anyone to collaborate with renowned designer Yves Béhar without actually ever meeting him. Launched at London Design Week in 2015, Tylko is a furniture customisation app offering sleek wares for the home. The debut collection consists of a shelving unit, a pepper mill and, yes, the Béhar table.

Users go through a step-by-step process, using simple sliding scales to adjust height, width, depth, angles – even the thickness of table legs. Each piece can be as ornate or as humble as the owner desires, while the price fluctuates in real time as design decisions are made. Then, an augmented reality option superimposes the piece of furniture into its potential new home.

“I’ve always thought that the perfect furniture design is adaptable to individual needs while following a specific design intent,” Béhar stated. Indeed, a balance is struck between maintaining the designer’s original vision and granting flexibility to the personal preferences of the individual.

Custom furniture itself isn’t revolutionary, but bespoke has a price tag. Co-founder Mikolaj Molenda noticed a void for affordable customisable pieces. “We discovered that there’s no current option for these within the mid-market in the furniture industry, and Tylko is the answer to that,” Molenda said.

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The Tables have Turned

A Fine Balance

From Paris to Oakland, we look at brands that champion the precise combination of technology and creativity to foster new communities around the world.

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A FINE BALANCE

Sound Never Looked So Good

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onos is, to some audiophiles, the future of sound.

Its state-of-theart, hi-fi speakers are engineered to drench a space in the highest quality sound, and function through subscription with music streaming providers like Spotify and Apple Music. But despite what it sells, Sonos isn’t in the business of speakers. It is in the business of appreciating and loving music. As proven by its recent advertisements featuring Q-Tip, St. Vincent and a bearded and barefoot Rick Rubin, it’s something Sonos does with precision, great design and aplomb.

Last autumn Sonos opened its latest Sonos studio in a former brickworks in East London’s Shoreditch neighbourhood. A gallery, a music

Sonos studios are beautifully designed meccas for music appreciation.

venue and a gathering space, the Sonos studio is an immersion in music, technology and art. The space serves as a hub for film screenings, workshops, artist talks and, no surprise, live music. London is home to the second permanent Sonos studio, following Los Angeles and pop-ups in New York and Amsterdam, a choice that was obvious to the team given London’s deep musical legacy.

Inside, the space is one you want to be in. Local design shop Brinkworth was enlisted to create a fully acoustically sealed building with an adjustable ceiling that can be “tuned” depending on the event and musical direction. Listening galleries feel like living rooms, decked in modern furniture from Bréton Brut, Tom Dixon and Vitsoe. This dedication to design is one that extends throughout Sonos's system, from the industrial styling of its speakers to its awardwinning corporate identity – and what better atmosphere for cultivating the next generation of music lovers.

Five tech tools furthering creativity

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Vimeo | An online video-hosting site with crystal clear HD and no ads. It has recently dipped into content creation by funding the hilarious High Maintenance web series.

A fashion house takes a leap of faith Faith Connexion is unrecognisable from what it once was. The French luxury brand, founded in the early 2000s and acquired in 2012 by Groupe Allard, has shuttered its boutiques and done away with its existing creative team.

The brand recognised limitations in the traditional model, a tunnel vision effect of a single creative director executing on a single vision. Instead, its creative approach is made up of the sum of many.

Faith Connexion combines a collective of designers and artists to contribute to each collection. Online, they attribute the individual street artists who spray and splatter painted their latest collections. These are just two of many; the plan is to double the size of the creative studio and increase the number of contributing artists to approximately one hundred.

Despite the brand’s growth, Faith Connexion will not be opening stores anytime soon. Its distribution strategy – referred to as the “Circle of Faith” – consists of partnerships with select multi-brand retailers around the world: in Paris at L’Eclaireur, Maxfield in Los Angeles and in Beirut at Le66 Champs Elysées. In what owner Alexandre Allard refers to as “a virtual adventure,” stores within the Circle of Faith use an app to shop from Faith Connexion’s inventory; items are pulled directly from the brand’s warehouse and sent straight to customers in Faith Connexion’s packaging (not that of the retailer). In return, the retailer gets 30 percent of the sale price. And it’s selling. Last summer, Kim Kardashian made headlines for wearing a slinky number in St Barts.

The collections blend artfulness with street punk: tutus, ripped jeans and smart blazers make up a single look in the latest collection. The roughed-up luxury aesthetic reveals that much of the creative team behind Faith Connexion previously learned their craft at Balmain. Indeed much of the brand’s initial buzz was a result of the ambiguity around whether Christophe Decarnin, Balmain’s former artistic director, is quietly sitting at the helm. The nature of his involvement and how this grand fashion experiment pans out remain to be seen.

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Squarespace | Squarespace gives people with no digital experience the tools to create websites.

A robust support system of in-person workshops and video tutorials exists for those who need a little hand.

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InVision | For those who specialise in digital design, InVision is a tool to help websites come to life through prototypes – all without a single line of code.

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WhatFont | For designers who never stop designing, WhatFont is a browser extension that allows users to highlight a font they like, and find out what it is and where to find it.

A FINE BALANCE

No stores and no single creative vision: how Faith Connexion is pushing industry frontiers.

Selfies, rich kids on boats and unimaginative brunch arrangements are three things you won’t find on VSCO. The six-year-old company out of Oakland, California, takes a decidedly different approach from its fellow, though much larger, photo-sharing app Instagram.

First, the VSCO Grid highlights the best photos posted of the day. Though thousands are uploaded daily, only around 400 are selected to be featured on the Grid. The curation is done not by algorithms but by humans, and aims to inspire rather than induce envy. Second, there is no “like” function.

It’s noteworthy how these two deciding factors distinguish the look and feel of images that can be found on the Grid.

The stuff of “like” baiting and instant validation is markedly absent, replaced by shadowy portraits, dusty landscapes and sunny interiors.

VSCO (pronounced “visco”) makes its money in part through collaborations with brands like Burberry and Marriott. The latter is a collection of visual travel guides

by VSCO-approved photographers that explore the texture – grainy walls, moody staircases and lush architecture – of cities like Seattle, Berlin and Cairo.

At last count, over 72 million photos tagged #vsco were uploaded to Instagram.

The extensive community of artists, both established and amateur, is nurtured through the VSCO Artist Initiative, a USD $1m grant. Selected artists are profiled and given resources, and their books and posters sold at the Artist Initiative online shop.

The latest for VSCO is its own discovery of moving image. The recent launch of DSCO (yes, pronounced “disco”) similarly bestows two-second GIFs with the same, ethereal treatment.

Behance | Behance is an Adobe-owned online platform for creative individuals to publish their portfolio, and connects them to future employers and the creative community.

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VSCO has grown from a photoediting platform to a creative community of millions.

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iPhoneography without selfies or likes

BORN CREATIVE LEADERS

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CREATIVE LEADERS TOUR

Dispatches from the BORN Creative Leaders Tour

We created the BORN Creative Leaders Tour series to help individuals find their footing as they endeavour to build their businesses. To find inspiration, we travelled through Europe seeking the continent’s most ambitious entrepreneurs, designers and chefs to learn about their craft for a series of filmed interviews, which we post online for the BORN community. At BORN, we facilitate mentorship and pass on wisdom from entrepreneurs at the top of their game to up-and-comers. ⦁ In Italy we met Michelin-starred chef Massimo Bottura, who wrote us a manifesto that covers intellectual endeavours in the kitchen, culinary technique and Lou Reed. Back in London, we spoke with the very wise Gerry McGovern, Land Rover’s Chief Design Officer, about a well-rounded approach to automotive design, and chatted old-school Italian glamour with fashion designer Serafina Sama. ⦁ The latest leg of the tour took us to Geneva, where we met with the watch industry guru Jean-Claude Biver, the guys behind The Hamburger Foundation, who allege theirs are some of the best hamburgers in the world (we won’t disagree), and philanthropist Yann Borgstedt. ⦁ We collected the highlights of what they had to say about creativity, drive and making things happen for yourself. Visit us online to watch the full interviews and for new films every week. ⦁ Next stops for the BORN Creative Leaders Tour: New York and Paris!

creativeleaders.born.com

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I certainly wasn’t born a car designer. My father never drove a car in his life!

From a very early age, I sensed that I had some artistic sensibility. I was fascinated by film, colour, art. I grew up in Coventry, which was heavily bombed during the war. It was totally rebuilt in what was considered then to be an international style of architectural modernism.

That sense of optimism had a massive influence on me. Even today, I’m still fascinated with mid-century modernism. But I certainly wasn’t born a car designer.

My father never drove a car in his life!

A lot of people doing the sort of job I do will be carobsessed, which is important of course, but I’ve always been interested in more than that. I eat, breathe and sleep design in its various manifestations, whether it’s in architecture, product design, interior design or art.

A lot of my contemporaries probably collect cars; I don’t. I collect art.

People often ask, “What’s the measure of great design?” For me it’s simple: it’s one that sells. I love to design cars, but we need to sell them so we can reinvest and create livelihood for people. That’s a good social, moral story as much as anything else.

For a long time, creativity has been thought of as a “nice to have.” Art was always a cultural incentive, but design was never thought of as a viable career choice when I first started. Today we’re living in a world where technology, connectivity, sustainability, all these forces are a melting pot for what needs to sustain the way we live, and that’s creativity. I’m not talking about design here, but creativity is essential even in boardrooms.

It’s big dreams that move the world up. If you have an idea you should try and live it. And don’t give up, because to create anything there are going to be hurdles.

CREATIVE LEADERS TOUR

#BornLandRover

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The World According to Gerry McGovern

Gerry McGovern is the Chief Design Officer for Land Rover. We met at his studio, where he told us about creativity and what it takes to design iconic cars.

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Isa Arfen is a five-year-old womenswear brand founded by the 33-year-old Serafina Sama. The brand has grown considerably and today counts Alexa Chung and Lena Dunham among its fans. We met Serafina at her studio in Notting Hill to talk about old-school Italian glamour and her dreams for the brand’s future.

Orlebar Brown launched in 2007 with a vision to do away with unsightly swimwear conventions, like large tropical prints or garish colours, and instead give an air of style to the beach uniform. We met founder Adam Brown and learned how this photographer created a hugely successful brand in virtually no time at all.

Serafina Sama

Adam Brown

Born: You moved to London 16 years ago to study fashion at Central Saint Martins. Was London your first source of inspiration?

On the watershed moment

On starting from scratch

“The idea for Orlebar Brown came at a friend’s 40th birthday. There was a big group of people between 25 and 50, all working within creative industries. I was sitting by the pool, thinking the women looked great but the men were just ghastly in their baggy boxer shorts and brash patterns!

When we changed clothes for lunch, the idea of transitioning from one space to the next caught my attention. Why should we need to change from pool to lunch, from swimsuits to shorts? That idea fermented in my head, and I decided to make shorts you can swim in, instead of swimming shorts. And that idea of focusing on transitions in space has remained a cornerstone of Orlebar Brown.”

“I’m delighted that I knew nothing when I started. I genuinely mean that. I worked as a photographer and approached this as a series of challenges.”

Serafina Sama: No, my actual first sources of inspiration were probably my mother and my aunts when I was growing up.

The women in my family were the ones who spurred my interest in fashion. One of them was really into vintage, and the other into folkloric costumes, so there was this very Italian eccentricity that surrounded me.

B: What happened between finishing at Central Saint Martins and starting your own brand?

B: What advice would you give to those looking to become a successful creative entrepreneur?

SS: I took a year off before I finished my degree, which you are encouraged to do. I spent some time in Milan at Marni, at Lanvin in Paris and at Vogue in New York.

Even if you are only making coffee, just seeing Alber Elbaz doing a fitting gives you so much. It was the first time I got to see how a studio works in real life.

SS: To have a clear vision of what you are, and what you want to put out there. Keep believing in it and have fun with it at the same time.

And don’t be afraid to ask for help and for other people’s opinions.

They either make you think about things you hadn’t before or they confirm your own beliefs.

B: What was the first concept of Isa Arfen?

B: You’re now in most high-end boutiques, celebrities are wearing your brand and you just did an Elle cover with Alexa Chung. What’s next?

SS: I started with the idea of creating a wardrobe that felt feminine and had a bit of oldschool Italian glamour, but was still wearable. I felt the brands I admired did great statement pieces that get worn once and then you get tired of them. I looked at my husband, who gets dressed in 10 minutes because he has those few key pieces that all work well together. I didn’t have that in my wardrobe. I wanted pieces you can count on.

SS: I have a lot of dreams for the brand. I dream of introducing accessories, handbags, shoes and costume jewellery. I’d like to tell the full story. And I would love to have my own store here in London.

My dream store would have the collection but also a florist corner and little espresso bar, because I love interiors. Who knows, Isa Arfen Casa one day! If I start daydreaming I can loose myself quickly.

On learning the ropes “I did a three-day course on starting your own fashion business. I did a one-week drawing course so I can get information to a pattern cutter.

When I learned to draw, I had to learn about cash flow. I always asked friends. People are very generous with their knowledge and enjoy helping others. Don’t be afraid to ask.”

On creating a community

On timeless design “Great design is timeless. Orlebar Brown is not about high fashion.

We are about a man or woman who has an evolved sense of who they are. Whether it’s colour, fit or length, they know who they are and what they want to wear.”

“In the very early days, I started asking people to send photos telling us where their shorts have been. In the last few months we had 7,000 people sending us their photos.

This has been a great way for us to understand who our customers are.

For me it’s very interesting because it’s also about participation.

Community, belonging to a club and participating in the life of a brand.”

Creativity is poetry

Massimo Bottura

When we met Massimo Bottura at his Modena eatery, Osteria Francescana, we wanted to get to the bottom of what creativity means to him, and how he has applied it across his career. We were in luck. The three-Michelin-starred chef had spent the day prior on a train preparing for a conference on the same topic, so this was top of mind. He wrote down his thoughts or, as he referred to them, “the compression of my 20 years in Osteria Francescana. And it goes something like this”: 15 WWW.BORN.COM | ISSUE 6 | 2016 CREATIVE LEADERS TOUR

“At the moment you have mastered a technique, you are conscious of your means. You have developed critical thinking and most of all, you know yourself. Then, at that moment, along the road to creativity, if you trip over a ripe banana or taste a pesto with breadcrumbs or are witness to a broken tart, you can see the world with new eyes. Those of a child, who’s stealing raw tortellini from under the table: that is the moment when you capture that flash in the dark. Creating a recipe is an intellectual gesture that involves ingredients, technique, memory and the compression of everything in bites of edible culture that have the flavour of your passion, used as a vehicle to transfer emotion. Creativity is poetry.

In a world of obligations, you can lose your point of reference. The secret is to keep a small space open for poetry, to be able to jump into that space, and realise the unimaginable. Creativity is folly. In an essay about Lou Reed, Lester Bangs wrote, 'Lou Reed is my hero, principally because he stands for all the most fucked up things I could ever possibly conceive of. Which probably only shows the limit of my own imagination.' Creativity is the speed of your thoughts, what allows you to rebound, to react, to capture that light and arrive on time to your next appointment, because trains that leave at dawn do not wait for everyone. Creativity is liberating all that you have inside, without filter, without being shy. It is the happiness of a gesture, the scandal of the emotion.

Like my beloved jazz, it is the dissonance that makes the harmonic, melodic. It is the intuition of the pauses and the silence that makes the music. The concentration and then the performance. The chord of the guitar that breaks and turns into an opportunity. A contemporary chef needs to live in the moment, to explore and go deep without forgetting the past and where he comes from.

That is your unique vantage point. Knowing where you stand in the world is what will keep you grounded and not washed away by the first storm. You cannot improvise being a great chef, but a great chef knows how to improvise.”

伀搀攀漀渀 椀猀 愀 洀愀爀欀攀琀 氀攀愀搀攀爀 椀渀 猀琀爀甀挀琀甀爀椀渀最Ⰰ 愀渀愀氀礀稀椀渀最 愀渀搀 琀爀愀搀椀渀最 琀栀攀 昀甀氀氀 爀愀渀最攀 漀昀 ǻ砀攀搀 椀渀挀漀洀攀 ☀ 攀焀甀椀琀礀 瀀爀漀搀甀挀琀猀⸀ 唀唀氀椀稀椀渀最 愀 挀爀攀愀愀瘀攀 愀渀搀 戀攀猀瀀漀欀攀 愀瀀瀀爀漀愀挀栀Ⰰ 眀攀 愀爀攀 愀戀氀攀 琀漀 漀û攀爀 甀渀椀焀甀攀 椀搀攀愀ⴀ搀爀椀瘀攀渀 洀愀爀欀攀琀ⴀ戀愀猀攀搀 猀漀氀甀甀漀渀猀 琀漀 漀甀爀 椀渀琀攀爀渀愀愀漀渀愀氀 挀氀椀攀渀琀 戀愀猀攀⸀

伀䐀䔀伀一 䌀䄀倀䤀吀䄀䰀 䜀刀伀唀倀 䰀䰀䌀 㜀㔀 䰀攀砀椀渀最琀漀渀 䄀瘀攀渀甀攀 一攀眀 夀漀爀欀 䌀椀琀礀Ⰰ ㄀ ㈀㈀

䄀一䐀刀䔀圀 䰀⸀ 䘀䔀䰀䐀匀䌀䠀刀䔀䤀䈀䔀刀 ⬀㄀ ㈀㄀㈀ⴀ㈀㔀㜀ⴀ㘀㜀㘀㠀 眀眀眀⸀漀搀攀漀渀挀愀瀀⸀挀漀洀

䴀愀渀愀最椀渀最 䐀椀爀攀挀琀漀爀 䠀攀愀搀 漀昀 䤀渀瘀攀猀琀洀攀渀琀 䈀愀渀欀椀渀最

愀昀攀氀搀猀挀栀爀攀椀戀攀爀䀀漀搀攀漀渀挀愀瀀⸀挀漀洀

BORN focuses on 3 categories:

1. INNOVATION/TECHNOLOGY

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664K 219%

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over 10 years versus S&P 500 Index

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3. HOMEWARE total worldwide crowdfunding pledges

$23BN

in 2015 [$23

bn

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co

in 2014

mm

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in

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Average backers pledge for rewards is

$75

in 2013

in 2012

$34.4BN $16.2BN $6.1BN $2.7BN

•

North America $17.3bn

•

Asia $10.5bn

•

Europe $6.5bn

•

South America $85m

•

Oceania $68m

•

Africa $24m

20M online customers of design-led products

THE PEOPLE ECOMONY IN NUMBERS

e-

co m

$15k — $150k

for a product launch on average

[$60bn of

$60BN

Needs are

DESIGN-LED SMBS

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bn e-

2. LIFESTYLE (Fashion, Sport, Accessories)

Design-led businesses have consistently outperformed in the last 10 years: the Design Value Index (DVI) of market capitalisation-weighted, design-driven companies is

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[$76

$76BN

SMBS IN THE WORLD

200,000,000

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THE PEOPLE ECOMONY IN NUMBERS

In time for the BORN in NYC launch in April, we celebrate the city and its people who once took part in an unprecedented collective effort to complete the Statue of Liberty in 1885.

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he Statue of Liberty, a beacon of freedom and photo ops, is one the earliest examples of crowdfunding as we know it today. The statue was a diplomatic gift from France to the United States, but New York Governor Grover Cleveland refused to use city funds to build a pedestal.

Although the French succeeded in raising 250,000 francs from regional governments and the descendants of French soldiers who fought in the American Revolution, the American campaign of auctions, plays and boxing matches didn’t reap many rewards. By 1884, the American Committee for the Statue of Liberty had run out of money. Unless something happened, Lady Liberty would have nowhere to stand.

It came down to one man’s ingenuity to help save the day. Prominent publisher Joseph Pulitzer decided to take the matter into his own hands and launched a campaign to fund the statue’s granite plinth through a campaign in his newspaper, the New York World.

At the launch, Pulitzer wrote a passionate editorial to rouse the crowds: “The New York World is the people’s paper, and now it appeals to the people to come forward and raise the money. Let us not wait for the millionaires to give us this money. It is not a gift from the millionaires of France to the millionaires of America, but a gift of the whole people of France to the whole people of America.”

The bold move paid off, as he succeeded in raising the remaining $100,000 from over 160,000 donors within a few months. A true testament to the power of the sharing economy, the story managed to capture the imagination of New Yorkers of all ages, as one family’s pledge attests: “Philip and Eliza Bender, 50 cents each; (children) Anna, 25 cents; Frannie, 25 cents; Leonard, 10 cents; Frank, 15 cents; Alice, 10 cents; Ralph, 10 cents; Carri, 10 cents; Miss Nicey 25 cents.”

What makes this collective fundraising effort so interesting to us now are the parallels to today’s crowdfunding platforms. The World was acting as the single platform that raised small donations from a large group of people. Pulitzer also recognised the importance of rewarding donors by offering gold coins for the largest donations and vowed to publish every single donor’s name, no matter how small their contribution, in the paper. And this took it viral.

BORN ULTIMATE AWARDS 2016

1. TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION 2. SPORT & LEISURE 3. FASHION & ACCESSORIES 4. HOME DESIGN

5. ARCHITECTURE 6. SOCIAL IMPACT 7. DISTINCTIVE CREATIVITY 8. WATCHES

Special Prizes: 1. EMERGING COLLECTIVE 2. CROWDFUNDED PROJECT

3. RESORT WEAR

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Born Awards 2016

Born Awards 2012-2013

Born Awards 2013-2014

Born Awards 2014-2015

The Born Awards Trophy Designed by Gerry McGovern

21 WWW.BORN.COM | ISSUE 6 | 2016 BORN ULTIMATE AWARDS 2016

Now in their sixth year, the Born Awards are an annual celebration of creativity and excellence.

We think it’s important to recognise the accomplishments of established creatives and have already awarded the likes of Ferrari’s Flavio Manzoni, Zinedine Zidane, Jean-Michel Jarre, Danny Boyle and Lapo Elkann during the previous editions. Equally important however is to encourage and celebrate the new guard as well, the young creatives who are working hard to one day become the leading creators of tomorrow.

This mix of established and new blood is what makes the Born Awards a unique platform for sharing ideas and celebrating creativity.

We look forward to this year’s ceremony, which will take place on March 23rd and 24th in Courchevel. Stay tuned to awards.born.com closer to the date to check out this year’s nominees and winners.

This year’s award will be designed by Land Rover’s Chief Design Officer, Gerry McGovern.

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A Wireframe of Mind 25 WWW.BORN.COM | ISSUE 6 | 2016 A WIREFRAME OF MIND

n automotive design, a key stage of the process is when the vehicle is visualised in 3D wireframe files. All subsequent development is hinged upon this as ideas go from concept to reality. Land Rover is playing on this, having built physical wireframes of the Evoque Convertible, a sculptural representation of the vehicle’s form.

BORN selected renowned artist Richard Orlinski to be given creative control of the wireframe sculpture to create his own unique installation. For Orlinski, this is an exciting challenge to build something from an existing design. The piece will be on show in Courchevel until end of March and has already been sold for 50,000CHF at the Womanity Foundation Gala that took place in Geneva on February 4th.

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A Luxury Fortress on Wheels 27

For those who require a getaway car or are simply looking to live vicariously through their inner James Bond, Land Rover has just the car for it. An escape hatch? Sure. Explosion proof? Naturally. The Sentinel is Land Rover’s first fully armoured vehicle, engineered entirely by the Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) department. The design is based on the swanky Range Rover Autobiography with customisable interiors. The discreet shell does not hint at the fact that it is indeed bulletproof, but instead speaks to its nimbleness and elegance – not unlike Mr. Bond himself.

While a fully armoured vehicle may not be in the cards, the Sentinel’s design is based on that of the Range Rover Autobiography, a car more suited for everyday use than for the transport of world leaders. From fuel type to interior finishes to the tint of the sunroof, it’s entirely customisable and can be created at landrover.com.

❷ The core is built from a superhigh-strength steel, protecting passengers from significant explosions from above or below the car (up to 15kg TNT blasts), including a grenade attack. ❸ A flat tyre would be a rather anticlimactic interruption. The Sentinel’s tyres are engineered with flat inserts which allow the car to keep moving even when the tyres are completely deflated. ❹ The Sentinel is fitted with an Emergency Escape System, a secret hatch that lets passengers make a safe exit if doors and windows are obstructed – not unlike the most pristine of superhero getaway cars. ❺ For new drivers, a full training programme is offered to ensure that all new drivers are able to operate the car to its full potential in the most challenging situations.

Find out more at landrover.com/sentinel

A LUXURY FORTRESS ON WHEELS

❶ The multi-laminated, tinted windows shield nosey eyes and can withstand bullets. They can resist targeted penetration by 7.62mm high-velocity, armourpiercing bullets.

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FEATURES

LEGENDS LIVE FOREVER ACADEMY

I Georges Favre-Jacot

www.zenith-watches.com

titanium

BORN Awards March 23-24, 2016 L’Apogée Hotel / Cap Horn Courchevel BORN in NY Our first US campaigns will launch in April on born.com BORN 2.0

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CREATIVE LEADERS TOUR

Next April we will unveil the second iteration of our platform Creative Leaders Tour Tune in to view our new interviews over the coming months at creativeleaders.born.com.

We will add some fresh insights from new creators every week, including: BORN in Geneva • • •

Watch industry guru Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of Tag Heuer and Hublot Philanthropist Yann Borgstedt, Founder of The Womanity Foundation The guys behind Geneva’s The Hamburger Foundation and oyster bar Chez Henri

BORN in Italy • •

Fashion avant-gardist Claudio Antonioli Footwear designer Alberto Del Biondi

BORN in London •

Musician and movie score extraordinaire Michael Stevens

Contacts

WWW.BORN.COM BORN UK Soho Works 56 Shoreditch High Street London, E1 6JJ BORN USA Fueled Collective 568 Broadway New York, NY 10012 CONTACT contact@born.com +44 [0] 7552 396 097 BORN is published by BORN UK, Soho Works 56 Shoreditch High Street London, E1 6JJ All Rights Reserved.

PRODUCTION AGENCY Apropos [www.apropos-london.com] SPECIAL THANKS TO: Land Rover [www.landrover.co.uk] Moncler [www.moncler.com] Zenith Watches [www.zenith-watches.com] Edmiston [www.edmiston.com] Le Cap Horn Restaurant Courchevel Le Tremplin Restaurant Courchevel ESF Courchevel 1850 For commercial opportunities with BORN contact Pierre Sapin Email: psapin@born.com Tel: +44 (0) 7552 396097

www.chanel.com

La Ligne de CHANEL - Tél. 0 800 255 005 (appel gratuit depuis un poste fixe).