N WIND 08 | EN by N WIND

2015 October–November | Free magazine

CREATIVE NORTHERN ENERGY

Games

N WIND SHOWCASE: RIGA 10 21– 11 04

THE STRONGEST IN LATVIA ELINA DOBELE, MAREUNROL’S, KETA GUTMANE, RIJADA

North wind brings new stories and wintry beauty. Come and experience the open showcase, a space for exchanges. Latvian design pop–up store at V2 CONCEPT STORE in Vilnius, Dominikonų st. 5 N WIND SHOWCASE: RIGA is proudly supported by

why DØ we PlaY? Is it the optimum way to learn? Do we choose to hide from reality? Are we immature or is it an innate attribute of competitiveness? We play because it’s fun! This motive is solid enough, everything else is just an outcome. The entertainment factor is of major importance whilst playing – we become more open, more perceptive, more positive. And not necessarily when we’re winning. New ideas are born during playtime, we communicate and are able to find links with almost anyone. Every game has rules that we can change, perfect, adjust in a way that would suit us. Improving the rules (or the surroundings) makes them more complex, thus the fun factor will increase. Trying something inside a game enables us to try it in “real” life later. The concept of agreeing on the rules of the game and standing by them is a sign of civilisation. Money with no backup, state borders, tolerance, multiculturalism, diverse measures, morals – it’s all arbitrary, and it exists until we keep the principals and settings of the game. The surroundings alter inevitably over time – there’s no other way around it and there won’t ever be. If we’re crummy players with an even crummier imagination, this may very well lead to our environment changing in a manner that wouldn’t makes us happy. By the way, civilisation is also a game, therefore sometimes it comes to an end. What happens, happens – a few civilisations, due to poor imagination, have already left us. The same might happen in the future, that’s why we must cherish and develop our imagination. At least that’s what Albert Einstein believed. The line between the given and the desired reality of a game is often particularly thin, and the smaller it gets, the better. Will it ever vanish? Maybe it wasn’t even there? Think about it – we gain skills during a game and then use them in “real” life. Our subconscious makes notes of everything and so anything that occurs around us is real to us. Unified by the passage of time, we’re united in one reality as well. Openly yours, N WIND

P. S. One of our favourite games is “Live forever or die trying” – it’s a hard one to win, but someone will make it one day. Soon.

N WIND ENCOURAGES EXCHANGES OF CREATIVE NORTHERN ENERGY Free magazine about culture and creative business in Northern Europe. ISSN 2351–647X 2015, No. 8 Circulation: 7000 Published by JSC BLACK SWAN BRANDS Address Vilkpėdės g. 22, Vilnius www.nwindmag.eu hello@nwindmag.eu www.facebook.com/nwindmag The project is partly financed by Lithuanian Council for Culture. Cover Picture from the creative Latvian duo MAREUNROL’S 2016SS collection. Photo: Martins Cirulis Model: Mairis Karklins Authors Giedrė Stabingytė, Karolis Vyšniauskas, Tautė Bernotaitė, Justina Rutkauskaitė, Judita Malininaitė, Agnė Tuskevičiūtė, Monika Lipšic, Emilie Toomela, Tadas Svilainis, Victoria Diaz. Design Laura Tulaitė Tomas Mozūra, tomas@nwindmag.eu Printed by Lietuvos rytas print, www.print.lrytas.lt

Playing for a GIEDRĖ STABINGYTĖ

PROTAGONIST

“The world is the playground” – it’s how a man that I came to Riga for started a creative workshop, all part of a social business event named “The Happy Happy Joy Joy Festival”. Fionn Dobbin was wearing – like in most photos of him – a hat, while he wears several of them at the same time in life: one of a social businessman, another of a consultant in international projects, an owner of companies, a creator of industrial design, a lecturer and director of SSE Riga – programme for creative industries and entrepreneurship. This festival is one of Fionn’s projects: he greeted the participants in an old house of Riga, filled with miraculous combinations of wooden floor, palatial walls, a room full of hey, organic juice studio, technologies of virtual reality and positive ideas of social business. Ladies and gentlemen, no scepticism inside, please.

“Talking about creativity is like dancing about architecture”, Fionn spills it for N WIND, speaking fast and with lively energy. I ask him what was he like as a kid in a children’s playground. “I wasn’t that different from what I am today – always an experimenter and a creator for as long as I can remember. Now, in most projects I’m involved with, I’m a starter”. Fionn has his hands on a lot of initiatives, to name a few – a social fashion an design consulting company MAMMU that employs mothers, a social business accelerator SOCIFACTION, and the newest thing – NOT PERFECT EDUCATION, working with training in the fields of design thinking and entrepreneurship. I would propose that Fionn is a highly valuable player in Latvian and also international communities of business and creative industries. All projects are built upon a strong group of friends and associates, which Fionn identifies as “game partners”. By the way, he sees constructing tangible local bonds as a prime way for the Baltic countries to grow. So what brings good players to your team? “The chemistry of joy, it opens our hearts up”. Thus we start our talk by addressing fun and games.

It feels as if you were born to work happily. Many communication channels know you as HAPPYDOBBIN. What’s the role of joy in your professional and personal life? HAPPYDOBBIN is a tribute to my Irish great-grandfather. He used to organise greyhound races and thought his dogs were the fastest in the world – that made him immensely happy! To me happiness is firstly a decision and then a struggle to be in this state. Dedication and passion drives me to do the things I do, and money

Unlike many believe, optimism is not an outcome of success, it’s the other way around

is just a consequence. I often talk on optimism and pessimism in my business lectures: many people believe that optimism is an outcome of success, and I say it’s the other way around, it’s more a way of thinking, a way of examining the future. Positive emotions use different systems of our brain than negative ones do, it’s like our brain has a rainy and a sunny side. Having that in mind, which one should we focus on? Neuroscience tells us that positive experiences get our neurons “shining”, and the longer they’re active, the stronger the current of our brain’s happiness will be. It’s just like a river – more water means a wider stream. That’s exactly why positive thoughts are so useful to us. Is this also why you experiment? On “Instagram”, there’s a picture of you strolling with Hare Krishnas without a care in the world. Experimenting and surprising yourself is crucially important! It sets us free to feel profound joy. Of course, it’s also worth taking the time to consciously capture these moments in your head – it’s what I do every evening before going to bed.

Fionną Dobbiną socialiniuose tinkluose galima rasti HAPPYDOBBIN slapyvardžiu. Ivitos Grimenės nuotr.

better world I feel committed to show gratitude to my society for all opportunities that I’ve had and to contribute to the positive energy that’s changing it

And then you lie down wearing a smile, much like how Marilyn Monroe wore perfume? Ha! Exactly right. You’ve said that social problems must be dealt with joyfully. Yes, it helps people to be better-connected to the dynamics of modern life. It’s already hard as it is, and if we address the relevant problems that create tension in our society with a serious face and super strict methods, the decisions we make this way won’t get a lot of support from the people. As I’ve mentioned before, the chemistry of joy opens our

Kitchen table as a manufactory

MAMMU was first created as a social entrepreneurship brand that lets Latvian moms with financial troubles be in charge of the manufacturing of clothes. However, in the recent years MAMMU has changed its strategy and now the company is often referred to as “the wiki of fashion”: it develops design and makes products for clients, giving them the chance to have MAMMU in their stories (projects with designer Philippe Malouin, a design studio LLOT LLOV, a live communication bureau CIRC in Germany, etc.). Today the MAMMU community consists of over 30 moms, with Fionn’s wife Ivi leading design and manufacturing works. Photo my MAMMU

hearts up. I believe in social business creating a positive energy that can change a society. During the workshop, you’ve referred to a playground as “the beginning of creativity and innovations”. What does the game mean to you? Well, playing lets you lose the fear of being judged if you fail. For instance, creating prototypes is quite the playful activity! You come up with ideas, test hypotheses, then give what you have to other people to try out. They bring your toy back and you see that they’ve improved it. Back and forth, again and again. Creation is the dance of creativity.

Client

Budget

At first MAMMU used to create shawls of exclusive design whilst collaborating with Latvian designers. Photo by MAMMU

tion Solu

Task

Games break the barriers that prevent us from creating together

Fionn Dobbin: “A playground is a space for creativity and innovative thinking to flourish”.

for business. When we start seeing partners and colleagues as players on our team, that’s when hierarchy and fears vanish. Games break the barriers that prevent us from creating together. You are a strong believer in combinations and intermixture of ideas. Isn’t there a chance that a particular idea might dissolve in the mix and lose the attitude that the author had? Correct, I think that ideas become stronger in teams, yet successful teams can only be formed in a creative and enabling environment. I’m not an opportunity chaser – I’m usually led by passion, therefore it’s

easy for me to share what I do. How can we get from the playground to a place of establishing business processes? Why get there? Creation must take place in real situations, I don’t believe in simulation games. So the playground CAN witness real business processes – anything from coming up with ideas or solutions to manifesting them though prototypes, testing it all out on the street, iteration. Sooner or later it will lead to real success.

Methods of the game allow you to train, but we don’t train muscles this time, we train our potential to get out of the box.

PROTAGONIST

What I do with my students in SSE Riga is I get them out of the city for a week. The surroundings don’t even resemble their usual work environment. Everything is carefully planned all the way from breakfast to the end of the workshop, so they don’t have time to care about anything. The actors, psychologists and innovators that we invite create a platform for games which has no space for competing or evaluating. Step by step, we help the students to show us their true creativity. One of my missions is to help people create. Game partners. How are they different from regular partners, colleagues? When I’m consulting various companies, I often see “tribes” form inside the organisations. This lets competition and rivalry enter the internal culture, and it’s almost never useful

A lot of hats

Social businessman, consultant, owner of companies, lecturer, director of SSE Riga – a programme for creative industries and entrepreneurship. When asked for the secret of successfully wearing all these hats at the same time, Fionn replies: “You need to know your strong and weak sides very well”. Photo from personal archive

Uniting a town

Upon hearing about a Latvian town called Krimulda, where 95% of the population are unemployed, Fionn went there with the most talented students of SSE Riga and international lecturers. “We’ve found true potential. People were growing fruits and vegetables, making great jams, yet had no idea how to approach the market, had no business plan or brand. A business concept, ideas for products and “The Locals” brand was created in cooperation with the local community”. Photo from personal archive

Fionn accepts social business as a possibility to “create mega happiness”. One of his first projects in this area was a master’s thesis on industrial design, where he and his game partners were trying to find new ways to make living conditions in poor communities better. Then came the introduction to Dr Muhammad Yunus, one of the pioneers of microcredits, world-famous for the “Grameen Bank” project that snatched a Nobel peace prize in 2006. Fionn joined Dr Yunus’ social business accelerator “The Grameen Creative Lab”. It’s obvious that this experience was substantial for Fionn – “The Grameen Creative Lab” is a part of most projects of his, and he quotes Dr Yunus with respect and admiration, especially when stressing that social business is the missing link in the theory of economics. “Resources-based economy is turning into a knowledge economy, and it enables us to share our knowledge much easier than we could share our resources. The spread of information and knowledge-related solutions can help us solve such problems as poverty”. “I feel committed to show gratitude to my society for all opportunities that I’ve had and to contribute to the positive energy that’s changing it”, Fionn continues. Hence we resume our conversation on the potential that social business has to create well-being. You’ve noted that one dollar in charity has a single cycle of life, whereas one dollar in the social business has several cycles. Can you comment on that?

Social business, much like a regular one, aims to create a sustainable model of operations, and this model can be more helpful in the case of society’s tension centres. Social business grants us a way to create bigger value also because of its main principal – to invest profit in the development of such businesses. There are, of course, problems that should be solved by social support institutions. What triggers social businesses to grow? It depends on a given business model. Many people would be encouraged by smart uses of technology, although a lot of social businesses have complex structures. Investment capital may also not be the way to go as another crucial principal of social business is that the investors only get back as much as they’ve invested. Thus the growth, in my opinion, could be stimulated by other factors, for example, the dedication and motivation of individuals or prosumers. There is an increasing tendency of investing in transparent brands that add to the value of society, so the future of social business can be entering mass markets. “TEDxRiga” saw you give a speech on “connecting the unconnected”. What ties your different work practices together? The opportunities given to people and the fact that I’m in search of a dedication- and passion-based motivation. Our newest project NOT PERFECT EDUCATION is a boutique consultan-

cy firm, providing people with training of design thinking and entrepreneurship. We’ve created it together with the Not Perfect agency in Latvia, it’s kind of a mutual umbrella brand of ours that connects all operations. NOT PERFECT EDUCATION has a main objective which is to create an environment of possibilities for the teams, help them discover and solve problems with numerous

Lastly, let me ask you about the festival I’ve met you at – will it take place next year? By the way, the name is really uplifting. Ah, we were inspired by a German artist Joseph Beuys’ concept of “social plastic” that explored the potential of art changing societies. The festival brings people together, and these gatherings provoke innovations. So yes, the festival will

How to bring s**t from A to B

One of the first projects of Fionn for solving global problems was “Toilet Unplugged”, a mobile system of toilets. “2.6 billion people live without secure sanitation. For me, social business was always a commitment to use your freedom to create and your knowledge to deal with real issues. I dedicated my master’s thesis to this problem”. Soon after starting to work on the prototype in his home in Berlin (“most prototypes weren’t good. Also, my friends stopped visiting me – I was feeling quite lonely at the time”), Fionn and his partners realised that they have a big question to answer – how to motivate people to move s**t from A to B? The solution is to use biodigestion to turn organic waste into energy: “A person’s stools of one day has the energy that an iPod needs to play for four hours”. The project was tested for two weeks in India, then became a thesis and a business plan. You can find a fun presentation of it online called shitvideo.

tools of design. We work with companies like COSNOVA and GRANINI, but also with social businesses, universities and think tanks. I truly enjoy this! Once again, it’s related to empathy – how to observe, examine, approach people and focus on actual problems that cage them by not letting their true business potential show? Additionally, each project is very specific, so the routine is gone and that makes it interesting!

take place next year, and Art & Culture projects will be added to the programme. We’re also planning to take it to Great Britain, Spain and, of course, Germany.

thehappyhappyjoyjoyfestival.com socifaction.com mammu.lv grameencreativelab.com notperfecteducation.com

Developing 57 secrets

Vilnius-based photographer Visvaldas Morkevičius works and creates in the areas of art documentary, fashion and portrait photography, visual arts. Photo by Marius Trajanauskas

First impression

Visvaldas Morkevičius and Aušra Trakšelytė – authors of “Public Secrets”. Designer – Tomas Mrazauskas. Photo by Visvaldas Morkevičius

Giedrė Stabingytė Let‘s make it a game. The game starts when the player decides to play. I decide by turning the pages of a photo album, one by one (the anxiety of first example!). I let watching take over – it might exhibit more or less, but it conceals a great deal of things. When I’m finally immersed, photos intermix and convert into stories, into hints that only I get, into emotional impressions. The album “Public Secrets” (“Viešos paslaptys” in Lithuanian), a collec-

tion of city experiences, was published by photo artist Visvaldas Morkevičius, who urges us to play the game of an explorer: “My biggest pleasure and passion is to discover”. The exploration covers elements from city nightlife to highly personal spaces. Intimate, subjective, minimalist – the surroundings are resettled in the world of public stories and private truths. Privacy, however, is not infringed: the outlines of secrets can only be seen as much as it is necessary to expose eloquent details – hints. The photographer believes that the reader-observer is “the same sort of explorer like the author, just in terms of situations that did already occur; if I don’t stage the moment, the spectator has the freedom to invent his or her own rules”.

“This photo book started off by playing – “Public Secrets” are situations that I’ve found myself in while exploring. I showed the archived bits to my wife Milena and an art critic Aušra Trakšelytė, it’s when we began to work on the whole series – we then had to go through all the photo films and digitalize a couple of boxes of them. 96 pages contain 57

crets

57 secrets were developed and sewed into 96 pages with orange threads. Photo by Visvaldas Morkevičius

photos, yet much more of them are in my memories – I simply plunge into the moment when I don’t have the opportunity to capture it”.

“Public Secrets” were presented in the Berlin bookstore “Motto”, in the Arts Printing House in Vilnius and told in “Unseen Photo Fair” festival in Amsterdam. www.visvaldas.com

No child’s play Karolis Vyšniauskas Everything you knew about video games is no longer true, and it’s good news to all of us. No, computer games are not for children who have too much spare time. In fact, computer games don’t even require a computer – their world is now the world of phones, tablets and Facebook.

Subject

Yes, many games that the entire world plays were created in the Baltics. Yes, Lithuanian universities and state institutions don’t see games as a waste of time anymore, they accept the industry as a promising business sector that needs knowledge and investment. If we keep the pace up, Lithuania may become the next Finland – a place where the game “Angry Birds” was born.

How do we look in the worldwide market of games? Like talented youngsters.

Some of us haven’t even heard of all this, because creators of video games are mostly quiet introverts. Much like an artist paints on canvas, they spend countless days perfecting the games, yet they struggle to tell the stories of their games to others, and there aren’t that many listeners so far.

We meet Oleg Pridiuk in the centre of Vilnius. The man has a kind of sacred duty – he’s an evangelist of the games industry. Oleg promotes various

games and speaks about the whole industry to outsiders, those who show interest or those who still are a bit sceptical. The Ukrainian lives here since 2008, knows the language and he became one of the first people in this country that understood the value of games for mobile phones. At the moment Oleg is a member of the “Game Insight” team. The company works with both mobile and social games, has over 800 employees worldwide, over 176,000 followers on Facebook and a reputation of a significant part of the global industry. It was a pleasant surprise that “Game Insight” is based in Vilnius, but this was only one of the many surprises from the chat with Oleg about computer games in the Baltics. So, computer games vs mobile games. “If a person is 30 years of age and he hears the words ‘computer games’, he instantly thinks about a desktop computer and the games that were there when he was a teenager. If he’s 20, he’s already thinking about mobile games, the ones that we talk about when we talk about games in general today – not PC or gaming console ones.

are hits throughout the world and have millions of people playing them, for example, “Cloud Raiders” – a strategic action game that enables you to literally conquer the sky using your own army. Estonia has a company named “Creative Mobile”, Belarus has “Wargaming”, and both of these are also very impressive. Lithuania contains only 3 million people, yet there are around 50 companies that create games. It may be small games, not always successful, but these are great statistics and definitely an admirable start. Most of these companies are young and they need to fail a few more times to make it. If we keep the pace up, we could become the next Finland, a place where “Angry Birds” and “Clash of Clans” were born. A few success stories made Finland’s game industry into a magnet for investments”.

Games in numbers

Second to last: according to the 2012 numbers, the whole circulation of 28 EU countries was 16 billion euro, which is one of the smallest out of eleven CCI (Cultural and Creative Industries) sectors.

IDATE and “Gartner” have forecasted a 9% growth in global income of video games from 2012 to 2015, which is one of the highest in CCI sectors.

The EU holds third place in video games production after the USA and Japan. Historically speaking, countries that had a quality background in games hardware were stronger in terms of market competition, but open selling and communication platforms for computer and mobile games allowed European companies to secure a third position.

(anymore) Games for mobile phones got big quite recently. In 2005, the most popular smartphones were Nokias with an integrated “Symbian” system. They were expensive and had screens of relatively poor quality; the devices didn’t have a proper video card. “Apple” changed everything by presenting the iPhone – it had a powerful video interface that was suitable for games. This didn’t happen on purpose – “Apple” wasn’t thinking specifically about games, the company just wanted the phone to have a pretty menu. Soon “Apple Store” was born, and creators could easily upload their games onto it, the gamers could download them. Nowadays mobile games are very popular among both children and adults. Moms with kids, businessmen and absolutely anyone else – if they have a spare minute, they play”. Who creates games in the Baltic region? “I would mention “Game Insight”, “NordCurrent”, “Tag of Joy”, “On5” – these are the main companies in our country. Since their headquarters are in Lithuania, they see themselves as Lithuanian businesses. These companies create games that

Games on the Internet are free – where does the money come from? “Yes, like most things on the Internet, the games are now free – downloading them doesn’t cost anything, but the model of microtransaction was created. The game is free of charge, however if you become attached to it and wish to purchase an additional supplement for it – this will cost you a dollar, two, maybe ten. Let’s say you’re playing a war game. You have your army ready and you’re fighting a digital opponent or your friend, suddenly realising that your soldiers are too weak. You can then buy stronger soldiers and win the battles. When you’re emotionally attached to the game, it’s hard to resist that. And the game puts pressure on you to purchase things – this is the model used in order to make money, to get real profit from virtual things. A player might pay 10 dollars a month, but he also might spend 100 dollars a day. Obviously, there is now a risk that big spenders will always win, so the creators try to find

The mobile games market will double in size

Global games industry income from mobile games

2013 – 17.5 billion US dollars 2015 – 30.3 billion US dollars 2017 – 40.8 billion US dollars

Source: “Newzoo” and “AppLift”

Dynamics: two EU mobile games developers earned more money in 2013 than the whole mobile games industry of EU did in 2012.

19–20 This is how Poland and Sweden rank in the global market in relation to income from video games. The economic forecast for income from this market in 2015 is: Poland – 408 million US dollars, Sweden – 346 million US dollars. It’s worth noting that Sweden has almost three times less gamers in its inland industry than Poland does. Sources: An audit company EY has published a full-scale analysis on the economic state of the European CCI in December 2014. www.ey.com “Newzoo”

×2

What’s next? “Games are being taken seriously in Lithuania. It’s now obvious that the industry of games is a business sector, and it’s no child’s play. And that’s a crucial change. I had people from “Invest in Lithuania” visit me two years ago – it was their idea. They said: “We have Barclays, Western Union and other big names here that have created a lot of jobs. But often a young person that could become a proficient programmer ends up at a helpdesk”. There is no helpdesk in the games industry – everyone creates solid value. The government of Lithuania has finally realised that and things started to happen. It became evident that games are cool, and that it’s all cool for both the people and the country – after all, this is business. If we look to our neighbours from all directions – Russia, Belarus, Ukraine – game education is legally impossible there, and that’s the legacy of the Soviet era. Lithuania is much more liberal about it. Estonia also has amazing things happening, but it’s a tiny country, so they progress a bit slower. Latvia has other markets that are a great deal stronger than the one of games, so it leaves Lithuania as the most powerful country in terms of game developing in the Baltics.

the balance – players that buy less but spend more hours playing the game can still have the same chances of winning”. If game developers in Lithuania are so successful, why don’t we hear much about them? “It’s irrelevant where people are if everyone uploads their games onto the same “App Store”. You can be in the Bahamas, you can be Turkish or Indian – you just require a fast Internet connection to give your game to the whole world. Anyone can buy and play it. That’s the reason people don’t usually mention where they are, because this information is just not important. It’s completely natural that you might be playing a game created in Lithuania and not know anything about the Lithuanian industry behind it. Game developers, unlike other start-up people, don’t think about money that much. Most games are created because of a simple reason – the pleasure of creating games. Many individuals aim to make an entertaining quality product, not to make money, kind of like a sculptor who creates art without thinking about profit”.

TEMA

How do we look in the worldwide market of games? “Well, we look like talented youngsters, and ‘youngsters’ is the key word here. There were always people in Lithuania who tried to create something, then left the country for a place that allowed them to really create, not just try. Unlike in other progressive countries, game education was absent here, so was the overall understanding of the market. The Netherlands is a good example. They have games incubators next to universities, and massive companies reside there. An ecosystem was

There is no helpdesk in the games industry – everyone creates solid value.

constructed to help a young person or a pupil to get into the business of computer games. There was space to fail, so before you start working on something big, you already had relevant experience and a bunch of important contacts. The ecosystem in Lithuania is just about to spring up, and it’s all happening so fast. I already hear people talking about games incubators. We now have the education matters covered, even an association for game developers. We’ve started a dialogue with state institutions. If you wish to become an artist, designer, programmer of games or just be a part of the process, you can go to the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics in Vilnius University, to VGTU, to KTU or to Mykolas Romeris University. The latter even offers a course that has you living in Vilnius for two years, and in South Korea for the other two”.

But we only need to take one glance at Poland and we’ll realise how much work is still ahead of us, and even more so if we look at Scandinavia. On the other hand, especially among our neighbours, we’re the strongest, we’re very fast-growing. The education in the relevant field will hopefully help us catch up to other countries. We have a pace that we must keep. People will finish courses in universities and create games. Statistically, at least one of those games will become very successful. So far we can only be proud of the growing community of developers – we don’t yet have our super hits, but let’s be patient”.

“Enterprise Lithuania” association:

“We need more specialists of games”

We see the clear potential of the games industry and we aim to help Lithuania become a valuable and global player in this market. We promote games through the communication of success stories during relevant events. The number of participants shows that the interest is high, thus the industry has huge potential, even though the main challenge for our progress is the lack of dedicated professionals – from specific programmers to the ones good at story telling.

“WHATEVER DOESN’T KILL YOU, SIMPLY MAKES YOU STRANGER” THE JOKER

P.S. EXCEPT FOR SHARKS, THEY’LL KILL YOU. IT’S NOT WORTH THE RISK WHEN NOT READY. AND YOU CAN’T BE READY FOR SOMETHING IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE RULES OF THE GAME THAT’S ABOUT TO BE PLAYED. YOU MIGHT BE SPECTACULAR ON THE TATAMI, HAVE ALL THOSE BELTS, DANS, TITLES, BUT OUT IN THE STREET… THE SURFACE IS SLIPPERY, THERE ARE NO REFEREES, THE LIGHTING IS BAD, SO YOU’LL HAVE YOUR TEETH KNOCKED-OUT. WHY? THERE ARE RULES IN SPORT, YET NONE ON THE STREETS. WE’RE TALKING ABOUT THE ABSENCE OF REGULATIONS, ABOUT SURVIVING IN CHAOS. NOT WINNING, SURVIVING. THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE DOBERMAN IS NOT ABOUT WINNING UNDER ARTIFICIAL CONDITIONS, IT’S ABOUT ACTING UNDER NATURAL ONES. THE STREET ALWAYS PLAYS A TRICK – ACTION WITHOUT RULES MEANS TREACHERY AND SURPRISE. IT’S BRUTAL, THAT’S WHY IT’S SO DREADFULLY CLOSE TO REALITY. THE PHILOSOPHY STARTS WHERE THIS QUESTION ARISES – AM I IMPORTANT TO THE WORLD? NO, YOU’RE NOT. HOWEVER, AS AN INDIVIDUAL, YOU ARE A WORLD. AND IF YOU’RE IMPORTANT TO YOURSELF, THERE’S A SLIGHT CHANCE THAT THE WORLD WILL NOTICE. THAT IS, OF COURSE, IF YOU WON’T GET EATEN BY SHARKS AT YOUR SOLID JOB IN A BANK OR IN ANY OTHER GRIM HELLHOLE WHERE THEY PAY “FOOD MONEY” AND LET YOU WEAR A SUIT WHILST BLABBING ON ABOUT ECONOMIC PROSPECTS. YOUR PARENTS CONTRIBUTED TO YOU BECOMING A LAWYER, BANKER OR DOCTOR – THEY HAD A POOR IMAGINATION AND WANTED A SAFETY BLANKET FOR THEMSELVES, THUS THEY INVESTED IN ALL THAT. I DON’T REALLY GIVE A RAT’S ASS WHETHER YOU DO HAVE A DOBERMAN IN YOU OR NOT – NOBODIES USUALLY SQUANDER IT IN THE FIRST YEARS OF STUDIES. IF BY ANY CHANCE IT’S STILL ALIVE IN YOU – USE THAT POWER, IT WILL BECOME EXTREMELY HANDY IN THE STREET. OH, MY APOLOGIES – YOU WON’T GET INTO STREET FIGHTS, BECAUSE YOU NEVER FIND YOURSELF IN OFF-THE-RECORD SITUATIONS. LIES! THE TIME WILL COME AND THERE WILL BE NO RULES. I KNOW YOU CAN FEEL IT IN YOUR FLABBY BOTTOM EVERY SINGLE DAY. FRANKLY, YOUR ENEMY W W W. D O B E R M A N - I N S I D E . E U

Tautė Bernotaitė

Ideas as light as paper Minimalism. That’s the style behind their pieces named “Kaba”, “Tiksi”, “Buda”, “Tumba”, “Citata”. And that’s how you should see them today – as the authors of thrifty yet spacious ideas. Justė Kubilinskaitė and Simonas Tarvydas are more than just a duo, they’re a tandem, a couple and a family that’s going in the same direction for over 18 years. And, two years ago, their design brand INDI was born.

A mutual feel of aesthetics saves energy

now, hence objects like these easily find their target audience”, Justė notes. She stresses that clients appreciate the originality of INDI products and especially the illusion created by the specific fabrics. Simonas adds that there is now much more pride in focusing on national brands: “It’s wonderful to be a part of this tendency”. INDI has found its clients quite early, and that’s

SEB × N WIND: INDI is mostly associated with the design of illuminators and “Kabo” in particular – a hanging, half-round, monumental shell that resembles a rock made from stone, but is actually light as paper. In fact, “Kabo” is literally made from paper – not only the duo has found a unique voice, their process of working with fabrics is also authentic. Heavyweight-looking monolithic figures are airy paper objects, much like papier mâché. Simonas has carefully perfected a technique that makes the products long-lasting and sturdy. The eco-oriented brand gives used fabrics a second chance – most INDI items are made from old newspapers. This method is convenient in terms of costs as well. “We get the principal materials for free, so it’s very favourable business-wise. By the way, the sustainability and an environmentally friendly approach gives additional value to our products. People take consuming more seriously

DUETS

why Justė and Simonas see it more than just a self-expression practice: “INDI wasn’t a business venture at first. The desire to create and work on our own ideas acted as a stimulus to start the brand. People have noticed and appreciated it eventually, we were invited to various exhibitions and have received many offers to begin selling our items. Therefore the satisfying activity became a source of income, a business”. INDI ensured financial stability to the duo a year after

Julita Varanauskienė Family finance expert at SEB bank

penses? Children intercept these patterns. Secondly, there is always advice and teaching – if kids and parents talk about financial matters or decisions, then the little ones will be better at planning, better at controlling personal outgoings.

FINANCE

According to this duo, it’s beneficial for children to see a developing family business. Can you justify that kids who are raised by parents that have a business venture tend to manage their own finances and time better when they grow up? Is there a correlation between children of enterprising parents and the careers these kids choose?

It’s scientifically proven that parents have a huge influence on the way their children will manage the financial affairs and plan their future by ignoring short-term benefits in order to concentrate on long-term prospects. Firstly, parents act as role models – do they save or spend, buy things impulsively or are able to control the ex-

Family finance expert at SEB bank Julita Varanauskienė holding a clock by INDI. Picture by Reda Mickevičiūtė

Parents can also urge their children to have particular practices – open a savings account or at least obtain a piggy bank, help them get a payment card and explain how to use it and what it’s for. Finally, mothers and fathers have a big impact on how independent their kids will be, for instance, by letting the child decide what do to with his own allowance

the brand was launched. 11 illuminators, 2 clocks and around 10 other design objects – including an instrument to hold the book while reading in the bathtub or a small house for cats without any bolts or screws – are in the creative portfolio of INDI. All items have the same genetic code, it’s Baltic minimalism with a Nordic feel. “We’re northerners, so we tend to praise moderate forms, natural materials and purity. That inspires us to create a distinctive kind of

aesthetics, based on brightness and witty ideas”, Justė says. She agrees that a couple that creates together needs to have a similar understanding of aesthetics – it saves time that would otherwise be wasted on arguing. Even though INDI is famous for lighting objects, “Tiksi”, a round clock made from the same paper mass, received a lot of attention as well. It’s almost as mystical as time itself. No numbers, two reticent arrows, plus a

form and texture that sort of look like the Moon. The couple received a “Good Design” award from the Ministry of Culture in May 2015, so the studio that has been active for two years already has a product that deserves some of the best laurels in the country. The duo made the right choice to work not solely on illuminators: “When a creative idea comes across, it doesn’t matter whether it will be a lamp or any other element of interior. We didn’t want to cage ourselves with only one product group – that would limit the flow of creativity”. Three daughters that the couple is raising seem not to limit their creative abilities either. The balance between family and family business is kept by avoiding tension: “Our weekends and evenings are usually dedicated to family time. Maybe we’re not true businesspeople since we don’t sacrifice all of our time to work. INDI is a part of our existence that also naturally fits in to our daily life”. Justė and Simonas believe that a family business is a valid example for their children who watch how parents work, how they make money, plan their time and share responsibilities: “It urges our kids to start thinking about their future and a path that they might choose later. A profound and sincere way of communicating is the best mean of upbringing”. Does this business enable the couple to save for their children’s future? “Actually we’ve been taking care of this long before we had our own business – each month we put payments into investment funds for our daughters. Since we’ve started doing that some time ago, we’ve chosen the monthly payments to be relatively small”, the duo explains.

Picture by Reda Mickevičiūtė

– spend it or save it for something important? These things can be taught by any parents – freelancers, employees or the ones that have their own businesses, however it’s obvious that this requires time and honest communication with the children. Scientific literature tells us that if the parents are businesspeople, the chance of kids becoming businesspeople is 1.3 to 3 times greater, they may even end up working in the same sector. And not only because the children will inherit the family business or get the very needed initial funding, but because they learn how to be enterprising from the actions of their parents, they get specific knowledge of a particular industry, they have access to a bigger network of contacts, they get (genetically) or acquire (while growing up) relevant skills, character features and a certain system of values. The couple takes care of their children’s future funds. What practical advice would you give

starting-out businesspeople who have a family and wish to secure a safe financial future for their kids? The fact that they put money into investment accounts shows a rational intention to ensure a future where their daughters don’t depend only on the family’s creative business. Early efforts to save money and to invest in your children’s upbringing can lead to pretty good results, at least better results than those of parents that start thinking about it all when their kids are almost adults. As important as accumulated funds are to the children, it’s also crucial to help your child find and nourish his talents, prepare him for adulthood by spending your time with him, share the knowledge and be a solid example.

Simonas, one of the two captains of the tandem’s ship, created the method of working with fabrics that makes INDI stand out. He met Justė in the academy of arts, and later went on to work in an advertising agency, but gave up that position and concentrated on creating a family business. INDI is now the main activity for Simonas – he generates ideas and creates design. Justė works as a fashion editor and stylist for 15 years, and lately is teaching the basics of style and image. She applies her skill set and knowledge by promoting the INDI brand and looking after the overall conceptions behind it. The daughters are not just passive observers, they also suggest own ideas. “Most of our weekends are spent in the summer house, and sometimes we all just hold hands and take walks through the Old Town streets of Vilnius. Every few years we arrange a bigger trip abroad – last time we rented out a castle in Southern Italy. Holidays like these give you remarkable experiences and memories”. The duo believes that design objects should trigger similar reactions – they should stimulate the imagination, induce discussions and foster the uniqueness of Lithuanian design.

DO YOU CREATE TOGETHER? HAVE SOME PLANS? Register for the personal consultation about financial aspects at SEB.

NATURE‘S CHES JUSTINA RUTKAUSKAITĖ “So you’re playing God, aren’t you?” – when you’re a representative of the natural sciences, you tend to hear this rampant mantra of society quite often. Humans have always felt an irresistible desire to get to know nature, understand it and control it, create it according to our own rules. We have cross-bred plants and animals, sometimes even very different species, we got new and surprising results and kept looking for ways to produce artificial life. The developing technologies of genetic engineering became a weapon in the hands of scientists. A weapon that could make the impossible possible. According to data from ISAAA (The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications), the territory of genetically modified crops in the world was 1.815 million square kilometres in 2014, 40% of which was in the USA, 23% - Brazil, and 13% in Argentina. Genetically modified organisms are so far pretty controversial and, for many people, are associated with fear. This fear, however, usually originates from the lack of knowledge or the excess of shallow, scandalous and skin-deep information that society receives about the matter. For more than two decades scientists have been working on plants that would be extreme-conditions-resistant and which would give us twice as much crops. Genetically engineered plants can produce various materials that humans require, for example, “golden rice” synthesizes beta carotene and protects us from going blind while also reducing the risk of children dying from Vitamin A deficiency in developing countries. Such plants are used in the manufacturing of plastic, renewable biofuel and even pharmaceuticals – a group of Norwegian scientists led by Jihong Liu Clarke are now working on a Dengue fever vaccine.

SUBJECT

Scientific experiments with animals and humans are strictly regulated by laws. Until now, clinical research that involves modifying genetic information of humans was only allowed if the cells were somatic (that means the changes will not be passed on genetically). Recently professor Junjiu Huang and his colleagues used “CRISPR/ Cas9” for the first time – it’s a technology that acts as “molecular scissors” and edits the “inactive” zygotes in the human genome. The aim of this project was to change the mutated gene that determines beta thalassemia into a healthy one. Unfortunately, the procedure wasn’t that effective and caused additional mutations in other locations – the research is stopped until the technology will be safe and reliable.

sage about the relevant questions for the society is being sent to the observer – for example, is commercial biotechnology and eugenics a real threat? The CRISPR system is also used in the project of cloning a mammoth. The technology humanity has does not yet allow us to recreate this organism that went extinct thousands of years ago, thus the cut-and-paste principal is used to transfer the essential genes (that determine mammoth’s physiology) into a closely-related Asian elephant. It is expected to create a genetically modified animal that would look, behave and adapt to cold environments like the mammoth. Another interesting and novel sector that’s getting more and more attention is synthetic biology. The goal here is to create organisms or biological systems that don’t exist in nature or can’t originate naturally. For instance, a group of scientists from the USA led by Craig Venter change the genetic code of pigs so that their lungs could be transplanted to humans (xenotransplantation). However, such research causes scientists to end up walking on very thin ethical ice: it’s difficult to ascertain whether we as humans should be creating artificial life, bringing back extinct species, changing the DNA of our children and having influence on the genetic changes that can be passed on. Won’t a person’s identity and dignity be infringed, won’t genetic diversity be reduced and won’t it become just a tool for commercial medicine and eugenics? Working in genetic engineering requires scientific knowledge as well as creative thinking. A question was brought up – can we combine art with flasks, test-tubes, petri dishes, microscopes and other lab equipment? The Australian duo Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr proved that the symbiosis of contemporary art and science is possible. The project of these bioart pioneers called “Tissue Culture and Art” became very popular. Some of the most impressive works were named “Victimless Leather” – a thumb-sized jacket made from mouse tissue inside a glass ball, “Pig wings” – three pairs of wings grown from pig tissue, “Semi-Living Steak” – an artwork grown from embryonic stem cells of sheep and frogs, served as dinner in the “L’Art Biotech” exhibition in France. These Frankenstein-like pieces provoke internal confusion and almost erase the boundaries between “alive” and “dead”. Also, a strong mes-

One more pioneer or bioart is Eduardo Kac, who provoked a huge social discussion in 2000 by revealing Alba – a genetically modified, green-glowing bunny. During the collaboration with a French geneticist Louis Marie Houdebine, the animal got the GFP-coding (Green Fluorescent Protein) gene of a medusa (Aequorea victoria) inserted into Alba’s genome. Kac wanted to introduce the society to this new and controversial form of art, also to encourage discussions about existential matters. Of course, some scientists and protectors of animal rights were angry – they said the art piece was biologically unethical. 2009 saw the artist do an experiment that was equally radical – he created “Edunia”, a hybrid of a human and a petunia, it’s basically a “plantimal”. The DNA that controls human protein was extracted from the blood cells of Kac himself and inserted into the genome of a plant. Genetic manifestation takes place only in the red “veins” of the rose leafs, similar to the blood-vessels people have, so this was the artist’s way to portray closeness between lifeforms. Life sciences are becoming a source of inspiration for more and more individuals, yet this kind of creation needs specific conditions and laboratory equipment, which is usually very expensive and hard to obtain. That’s exactly why artists tend to get together into groups, organise a kind of “garage workshops” and are looking for labs to collaborate with. The demand for similar creative spaces stimulated bioart centres and communities to grow. An art laboratory “SymbioticA” was the first one of its kind in the world, managed by the mentioned O. Catts in Australia. Practical workshops and the development of creative ideas is of crucial importance here, especially when combining it all with scientific evidence. The creators should be ready for the critical attacks on their work and they must be profoundly informed about any possible cultural or ethical problems that might occur when manipulating lifeforms.

SS SET

Alba is a genetically modified green-glowing bunny. Artist Eduardo Kac, in collaboration with a French geneticist Louis Marie Houdebine, inserted a gene of a medusa (Aequorea Victoria) into the genome of this animal. Photos from www.ekac.org

“Victimless Leather” is a thumb-sized jacket made from mouse tissue inside a glass ball. Authors: Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr. Photo from www.drewwylie.net

Humans have always felt an irresistible desire to get to know nature The closeness between lifeforms reveals itself in the project “Edunia” by Eduardo Kac: the DNA that controls human protein was extracted from the blood cells of Kac and inserted into the genome of a plant. Genetic manifestation takes place only in the red “veins” of the rose leafs, similar to the blood-vessels people have. Photos from www.ekac.org

“Mokslas ir menas”, a public institution that initiates and organises international projects, introduces science in an authentic and interesting way.

“The Semi-Living Worry Dolls” are sculptures created in an “artificial womb”, a bioreactor that grows McCoy cells on top of degradable polymers and is sewed up with surgeon threads. The dolls are like a modern version of the Guatemalan “trouble dolls” – kids used to take them into bed to solve any problems they had. Photo from www.biofaction.com

Biotechnology is developing faster and faster, so it’s crucial to educate scientists about responsibility, and also about the respect for research objects. A social evolution should take place as well – the society needs to be constantly updated and their consciousness should be fostered, leading to an open discussion. Isaac Asimov once noted: “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom”. It’s exactly at this particular point that bioart could implement a significant mission – provide undistorted facts about the possibilities of biotechnologies and the achievements in this area. Rather than just shocking the observer, this should be done in a comprehensible manner that would trigger solid discussions about relevant problems.

Finland stands out in Europe – in 2008, a bioart society was created in Kilpisjärvi, it supports projects of art and nature sciences, provides lab equipment, organises talks on bioscience, biotechnologies and bioethics.

SCOOL – a player in

Actually, Lithuania is quite advanced in the field od biotechnology as well, its sector for life sciences is one of the strongest in Central and Eastern Europe, with product exports reaching 80%. Additionally, due to high intellectual potential and qualification of employees, favourable business conditions and European Union’s financial support, the country is attracting more and more foreign investors, and young/future scientist feel substantial here. “Mobile bioclass” was a very successful project of Vilnius University and “Thermo Fisher Scientific”. It’s the first mobile laboratory in Lithuania that introduced pupils to the freshest info on life sciences and gave them a chance to experiment. Furthermore, there is a Joint Life Sciences Centre in “Saulėtekis” that’s about to be finished – not only will it ensure great work conditions for scientists and students, it will create non-standard spaces too. It’s a new place for communicating, finding partners and coming up with innovative ideas for research and business. Bioart is taking its first steps in Lithuania, but the interest of the society in nature sciences is growing. The first ones to take this path were

subject

TERMS USED

Genetic engineering – transferring one or several genes from one organism to another. Beta carotene – the predecessor of Vitamin A that is used to produce Vitamin A in the liver. Dengue fever – an abrupt disease carried by mosquitos, caused by the Dengue virus. It’s very dangerous and is spreading in the tropics. Somatic cells – any cells of the body except sperm and egg cells.

JUDITA MALININAITĖ

Arts Printing House in Vilnius will hosted around 300 Lithuanian teachers on October 15th, even more people will listened to the discussion via Internet. A mutual goal here is finding new ways to teach creatively, hear new ideas out and take a glance at the innovations of this sector. A Finnish company SCOOL is taking courageous steps into the world by helping the education system. Being a start-up, SCOOL was created by some of the most successful Finnish TV producers Saku Tuominen and Juha Tynkkynen, also “the father” of Finnish Internet banking – Pekka Viljakainen. 1 million USD was invested in the company in 2015 by a leading Northern media group Sanoma. More and more teachers gather each year to experience the system that helps them do their job. The “Campus” programme is where exclusive seminars for teachers are organised, with the freshest information being presented and a proper amount of attention dedicated to this profession in terms of fostering communication. We’ve met an executive producer of “Campus” seminars, Mr Lasse Leponiemi, to chat about the project and the education system.

Justina Rutkauskaitė has graduated from molecular biology and genetics at Vilnius University. She continues studying and researching at the university’s Institute of Biotechnology, in the Linas Mažutis’ laboratory of microfluids. By collaborating with the ETH Zurich (one of the leading international universities for technology and the natural sciences), Justina works on a system of microflow that’s based on drops – it searches for cells that secrete single monoclonal antibodies.

Beta thalassemia – a genetic blood disease that causes disruptions in the production of haemoglobin. Xenotransplantation – the transferring of live cells, tissue or organs from an organism of one species into a one of a different species. Eugenics – a pseudoscientific theory which states that life sciences can improve the qualities of a person that are passed on genetically.

Seminars in Poland and Finland were very successful. Others will be organised in Atlanta, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Vilnius in 2015. How is it going here? Are people interested? “Campus Vilnius” is fully booked, and teachers will be able to see it online, through our website. We wanted to create a programme that would interest, excite and be academic at the same time. We will hear speeches on jobs of the future, music careers, joy and psychic health, social press, propaganda and sexuality.

Can SCOOL be called a platform for playing whilst also learning? Or is it more a social game? A social network? Yes and no. We don’t create games or games-related products, we don’t aim to develop a social network or anything like it, yet our existing system of teachers created itself, and did it rather accidently. Our mission is to help teachers and schools change. Everything develops so quickly, and it’s hard to keep up. This creates enormous pressure for schools, and dealing with it may get very complicated. We wish to give teachers innovative educational material to work with and to make their job easier. We believe that we’ll see vast changes in education next year, and this will happen on three different levels. Firstly, studying itself will change its philosophy. Previously, learning something meant learning it by heart – now all the info we need is around us. A teacher’s role will be to guide young people in understanding this data, create schemes and select elements in accordance to their needs. Often these skills are referred to as “21st century skills”. SCOOL talks about thinking, simplifying the skills and making it all accessible – “Triplet”, a service we provide, was created exactly for that purpose. Secondly, digitalisation and new

technologies are finding their way into education really fast. Recent years saw schools of various countries invest millions in gadgets: tablet computers, smart boards, etc. Technologies allow us to have new learning experiences, such as “flipped classroom” or “blended education”. A good example of that is “Dreamdo Schools”. Thirdly, education is now more global than ever. Anyone, anywhere, at

We believe that we’ll see vast changes in education next year

any given time, with the help of an Internet connection, can access an endless amount of scientific sources. Pupils and students have more opportunities to find quality material, and our “Campus” seminars provide the same opportunity to teachers in order to keep the teaching process advanced.

Tell us about “Campus” seminars and “Dreamdo Schools” programmes. How does it work? By the way, you’ve mention in past interviews that two additional programmes are coming this spring. “Campus” seminars help teachers to fully understand the changes outside schools: 3D printing, robot drones, biohacking, political and financial affairs, sexuality, pop culture, brain science and so forth. “Campus” consists of three parts: seminars all around the world, video lectures for teachers and “Campus Change Report”, an Internet magazine. “Dreamdo Schools” is a tool for teachers, allowing them to document various projects that students work on in classes – this makes the learning process a bit simpler and more fun. Projects – big or small – can be easily put into a system and shared with pupils, other groups or parents. For instance, it’s a great way to capture a drama play being created and then presented to an audience. Our new project “Triplet” was launched on September 14th in Finland. It’s a service that will turn evening news into learning material for tomorrow. Everyday Finnish teachers are able to use a fresh injection of news as a part of their plan for the day. It makes studying much more relevant and helps pupils to understand the world better. And the fourth project… well, let’s talk about it in November.

Prior to proposing your idea to a country, you probably examine the education system there. What’s the situation in Lithuania? Many countries should appreciate the profession of a teacher more as they are people that form the perceptions of our kids. Overall, the Lithuanian education system gives good results with limited resources. Youngsters easily find solid work in other countries after graduating from education institutions here. It can be a pro and a con at the same time, with the main question being “do these sharp-minded people come back, do they start businesses here or from here?” You’ve made learning into a game, helped teachers achieve their goals, attracted investors – all via Internet. Do you think that SCOOL, a start-up, could change actual schools in the future? The change itself always seems slow – it’s as if nothing is really happening. But then we start noticing the results, for example, the first “Campus” seminar was organised five years ago – it was a great event for the teachers of Helsinki. We never thought it just might turn into an international phenomenon after a few years. The good luck we are having now was not an overnight success. Despite SCOOL being a relatively new company, we’re working in the education sector for over a decade. We’re committed to help teachers in this ever-changing world. They like the work we do and I think they feel appreciated.

SUBJECT

a new education

“Campus Vilnius” will take place in Vilnius, at Menų Spaustuvė (Arts Printing House), on October 15th. campusseminar.com/vilnius

“Supernova”. The power

ADVERTISING PROJECT

Innovations are born during playtime, in the process of creation. Can we come up with ‘The Next Big Thing’ while playing? October 15th will witnessed a festival in Kaunas named “Supernova”, and it’s the first festival of international creative innovations in Lithuania. After a successful debut in Brescia, Italy about a year ago, the festival has moved to Turin and Kaunas. The organisers can be described as moulders of creative links – they run a co-working space “Talent Garden Kaunas”, with Artūras Bulota as the co-founder and captain. He seems to be creating prosperous bonds between his different activities and professional interests. “We wanted to base the festival on the same idea we based “Talent Garden Kaunas” on: to bring the community of creative industries together and make it stronger by everyone sharing their experience. The festival is firstly a kind of desire to tear down our walls”, Artūras tells N WIND. So why the Italian “Supernova”? The organisers don’t see themselves as experts of fes-

tivals, rather they feel like picky spectators and participants. Therefore, after seeing the success of the first “Supernova”, they bought the franchise of that festival, also obtaining the good know-how and an ambition to surprise the audience with quality. This year the main event will only take place one day – October 15th – six people will speak and there will be six creative workshops prior to all that. “It’s like an experiment – how many people will we attract? How will the Luca Mascaro – designer and strategist

wind the vane

11.07-07

WHAT? Conference of creativity „What’s Next 2015“ WHERE? Loftas Art Factory, Vilnius, Lithuania WHEN? November 6-7th WHY? This is the biggest international conference for creative people in the Baltics, where visual culture meets business, science and technology. And this is the time and place where delegates from different industries will answer the question “what’s next?”. Also be ready for the live virtual reality jam with 10 different teams and one challenge. www.whatsnext.lt

10.21 WHAT? Play for Real WHERE? Cinematheque, Copenhagen, Denmark WHEN? October 21st WHY? Games are getting real! Game seminar will take a closer look at how to combine serious subject matters with fun, motivation and how not only engage the player but also engage in the world around them. Different game designers will focus on how games deals with a wide variety of emotions and starts serving new purposes for creators. www.dfi.dk

11.03, 11.10-12

WHAT? Slush 2015 WHERE? Exhibition and Convention Center Messukeskus, Helsinki, Finland WHEN? November 3rd, 10-12 WHY? Slush conference with the pre-events, Nordic showcase, featuring 10 most promising tech startups from the Nordics and the Startup academy, draws together a crowd of 15.000 tech entrepreneurs, VCs and journalists. The program is a compilation of firesides and talks from entrepreneurs and investors, covering meaningful topics, lessons and business cases. www.slush.org

er of change is here Lorenzo believes in the spread of knowledge and an experiential philosophy, where a person can relate the innovation to the things he cares about. This motivational idea is the engine that drives “Supernova” forward: the festival engages in creating relationships and giving new perspectives. Luca Mascaro is a designer, a strategist and a businessman. At the festival, he spoke on experience design, the evolution of it and on “the survival of the strongest and the most adaptive”. His inspiration sources include sci-fi, architecture, human experiences and the Japanese culture, while his strategic design company “Sketchin” helps brands in creating experiences that would surpass all expectations (some people recall Steve Jobs saying to a consultant once: “I don’t want new design. I want a Bob Dylan song”). “Sketchin” has already worked with such giants as “Google”, “Ebay”, “Yahoo”, “Moleskine” and so forth.

city’s creative community react to this initiative and so on”, Artūras explained just before the event and stressed that their aim for the future is to become an event of the whole city. Lorenzo Maternini, the founder of the initial festival, was in Kaunas for the conference. He can be called a business humanist – in his eyes, innovations and their development are only valuable if a human is at the centre of the process.

The whole programme of the festival can be found here: kaunas.festivalsupernova.it. Lorenzo Maternini – festival founder and innovation humanist

11.13-29 WHAT? POFF 2015 WHERE? Cinemas in Tallinn, Estonia WHEN? November 13-29 WHY? Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, better known as POFF belongs to the 15 leading film festivals of the world. Besides the main program, the festival hosts three sub-festivals and film related special concerts, exhibitions, talks as well as international industry meeting Baltic Event which brings together filmmakers from all over the world. www.poff.ee

10.23-24

11.14

WHAT? Madonna the Rebel Heart Tour WHERE? Tele2 Arena, Stockholm, Sweden WHEN? November 14th WHY? She is Madonna for God’s sake! You can love her, you can hate her, but no one can stay apathetic for her. The worldwide concert tour celebrates a deeply self-referential record Rebel Heart. The performance is like a greatest hits run, offering a joyous, colorful and, of course, deeply unapologetic celebration of Madonna’s best musical moments. www.madonna.com

WHAT? RIGA COMM 2015 WHERE? Kipsala’s International Exhibition Centre, Riga, Latvia WHEN? October 23-24th WHY? Conference opens up new development opportunities for companies and organizations, gives an opportunity to explore the Baltic’s industry trends and test the latest solutions. Visitors will get insight into the latest IT solutions (Fair) and interactive technologies (Gaming zone), meet potential business partners (Startup zone), build up cooperation with leaders and visionaries. www.rigacomm.com

SHOWCASE: GAMES “SENZ6” – UMBRELLAS FOR WIND GAMES

These Dutch umbrellas have showcased a great amount of endurance against a wind turbine – they keep their form even when the wind speed is up to 100 KPH. “Senz6” have been awarded the “Red Dot”, “iF” and IDEA trophies for their inventiveness and design. Found in “Vėjas gluosniuose”, Užupio str. 15 / 3, Vilnius. Price: €65

FASHION MANIFESTATIONS

ADVERTISING PROJECT

Scandinavian countries lead the world in areas of tolerance and equal rights. This particular subject intrigued creators at “Acne Studios” to give a role of the face of a collection to an eleven-year-old boy, dressing him in women’s clothes and high heels, also he happens to be the son of one of the creative directors of this fashion house. As for the men, “Acne Studios” have a few topical and lightly provocative jumpers ready. Found in www.acnestudios.com. Price: from €190.

“NAKED BRUCE”

Own the courage to swim in the pool or stroll in the streets while wearing this captivating work of graphic art. Bathing suit “Tomas Markevičius x Naked Bruce”. Price: €69 CELESTE leggings. Price: €69

THE CURLY “WEEKEND BARBER” LOAFERS

Cosy and resembling a lamb’s fur (the top is covered in an imitation), these Portuguese “Weekend Barber” loafers could use a “bah” each time you click heels. Found in “Vėjas gluosniuose”, Užupio str. 15 / 3, Vilnius. Price: €192

Playing from scratch Agnė Tuskevičiūtė

Gediminas Šiaulys. Photo by Visvaldas Morkevičius

the authors and dads of an animation play “Tėčio pasaka” (dad’s tale) has not only raised the bar of quality in Lithuanian family events, but was also awarded a honourable (golden) theatre trophy. The creative process of both the play and the animated book “Abėčėlė” was influenced by playing with his own daughter. And the most recent project – toys for a well-known telecommunications company – has completely freed his imagination and I’m sure will trigger a larger mass psychosis than pimpačkiukai (little figures that people receive while shopping) did. This time we sit down for a windy talk not about toys, but about the games of creation – please welcome Mr Gediminas Šiaulys. What side of the body do you sleep on? I roll around all night. What level did you achieve in the Supermario computer game? None of them. What colour do you paint the forest? Turquoise. How do fairy tales end? The same way they end in real life. Do you go straight or around? I like zigzags. I have a goal ahead of me, but I turn left and right on the way. From 8 am to 5 pm – when does the inspiration set in? 8 am. You wake up and KABOOM! Jump up and go do it. Did you look fear in the eyes? Yes. Are you born a dreamer or can you learn how to do it? We’re all born dreamers, but not everyone learns how to do it. What would you give yourself a medal for?

From the play “Tėčio pasaka”. Photo by Darius Petrulaitis

For “jump up and do it”. What font is best for a love letter? The one that has your fingers pressing the pen hard and the letters interlacing because of emotional waves. A movie that you saw more than once: “My Friend Ivan Lapshin” by Aleksei German. I get goose bumps every time, and a lump gets stuck in my throat. Do you press Escape often? Not often, just once in a while. The most perfect shape? “Dear reader, stop rushing, calm down, relax, close your eyes and imagine any form…” Now that’ perfect. Would you start from scratch? It depends on the circumstances. As a new human figure – no, but if I had my whole experience – sure, I would jump up at 8am and head straight without any zigzags!

Wind mills

WINDY DESIGN

“Anchovy” and N WIND welcome the winds in their laboratory: the website www.fromwind.com can turn data on wind direction and speed into colours, getting the info in real time from meteorology stations of various cities in Northern Europe. Colourful prints on large silk shawls can become a perfect tool of a wind whisperer. Found in V2 CONCEPT STORE, Dominikonų str. 5, Vilnius. 110cmx110cm silk shawl price: €175

Creation is a game. The rules appear to be not that complicated – think of something that was not yet there or improve something to make it better. This doesn’t require any special physical qualities, just running after your inspiration and keeping a fast pace of life. The amateurs of creativity can only admiringly observe the ones that are in the league of professionals. If you still don’t have your hero that you could be a fan of – here’s Gediminas Šiaulys, creative director of “PetPunk” studio. He has all the rules of the wild world of advertising covered long time ago, so he trains the youngsters and acts as a legionnaire. Creative games have led the designer to theatre. One of

www.petpunkpic.com

It’s a desire of ours to give you a chance to take care of your skin using products that don’t change the essence of it. Soon a fresh series of skin and hair products will be presented: this series will be expanded and integrated to serve all skin types and needs, taking the natural rhythms of your body into account. One thing will remain the same though – our compositions will combine natural and essential oils with bioactive elements, with respect to the scientific research done on vital processes of the skin. Creating a nourishing relationship with my skin enables me to experience the world to the fullest.

The skin is the surface of my personal planet – It connects me to the world, it’s where every important link starts. It also reflects the most intimate of bonds – with my own self. I want these relationships to be sustainable and vibrant, based on a healthy exchange of energy, care and elements that work well with me.

Shop at www.youandoil.lt

a video pool

“The Deep Splash” Salomėja Marcinkevičiūtė, iš „The Deep Splash“ video laidų.

Monika Lipšic

Scenarios with spatter – that’s what “The Deep Splash” really is. The essence is encoded in the logo of the brand which resembles a road sign – a man jumping into water is an allusion to a 1967 painting called “A Bigger Splash” by David Hockney. The artist portrayed a spatter that stays still in a geometrical landscape after a dive into blue water somewhere in California, next to a modern minimalist building. This became the main incident, narrative and metaphor of the mentioned art piece, enabling many artists to relate to it and tell their own stories. The connection between the painter and California might be ex-

More serious journalistic portraits can be found among these stories, also captivating, free and improvised discussions. Every respondent changes the flow of video events. Robertas Narkus is edited live via Skype while sitting in a chair, Jonas Mekas answers “provocative” questions – actually, there are no bad questions for J. Mekas, the producer Justė Kostikovaitė notes that he never makes you feel uncomfortable. Today “The Deep Splash” has already presented composer Lina Lapelytė, artist-pataphysicist R. Narkus, creators Milda Lembertaitė, Paul Paper, Indrė Šerpetytė, Eglė Jauncėms, theoreti-

First impression

“The Deep Splash” is an openlyand experimentally-managed video project that’s officially described as a communication platform to introduce Lithuanian artists that live abroad.

talks, interviews and fresh artworks. “The Deep Splash” is based on stories of attempts to affect bigger audiences, change the locations that surround you, get away from your own self or feel free in a vast city, in a different context, without ever ignoring your roots.

Robertas Narkus. From “The Deep Splash” video archives.

plained by a desire to get to know a different kind of world, different cities, different settings. Visiting and then living in this state had a huge influence on Hockney’s style and his overall story.

That’s how the project of video shows about artists is built – by touching various aspects of art and personalities. Short sketches of meetings with artists in their studios are published online, showing

Every respondent changes the flow of video events

Salomėja Marcinkevičiūtė. From “The Deep Splash” video archives.

cian Tomas Čiučelis and curator Vita Zaman. “The Deep Dish” is made by J. Kostikovaitė, Johnston Sheard and their helpers Justinas Vilutis, Robertas Muravskis. J. Kostikovaitė, the initiator, is a curator now based in London. She takes care of international contemporary art projects and over the years has curated projects in Marrakech Biennale, Lisbon Architecture Biennale, has worked in Guangzhou, South Korea, and with the Zabludowicz collection in London. She’s the curator of Nida’s school for PhD students. Justė talks fast and a lot, jumping from one subject to another: “So, splash, splash…” Lithuanian-English linguistics is quite a problem in this case. How about “the spatter of communication”? “Yes, the Lithuanian factor is both a strength and a weakness of this project”, Justė continues. “On one hand, the context of relevant ide-

as is a bit narrower, but on the other hand, there is a chance to introduce people who create outside Lithuania and this way add to the historic value”. Most of the presented artists are from London, where the composer L. Lapelytė used to live, and where the artist I. Šerpytytė lives, who creates monuments out of personal and KGB-related past. Her photographs and objects explore the consequences of repression and war. Some of the most famous works of I. Šerpytytė are photographs and models of buildings in Lithuanian towns that people were tortured in during the Soviet era. The little houses that got a lot of attention in the United Kingdom are carved from wood by Lithua-

nian craftsmen. Sooner or later, according to Indrė, the creative works start reflecting personal experiences and origin stories. “However, the geography is dictated by the education system – many Lithuanian artists and designers have studied in the United Kingdom or the Netherlands, but not a lot of them stay there because of the cost of living. For example, Berlin offers cheaper rent and less art disciplines in English, thus many artists choose it – Julija Goyd, Vytautas Jurevičius, Inga Likšaitė, curators Viktorija Šiaulytė, Mindaugas Gapševičius and others”. The project is designed for a wide audience and is financed by public funds. So what are the prospects of it? Creators of “The Deep Splash” say it’s all closely connected to the politics on supporting art in the European Union and other countries – right now the repre-

sentation of authenticity, preservation of cultural heritage and the spread of the culture and speech are the most important factors. Despite this, the priorities for financing projects tend not to catch up to daily life and art acceleration – individuals travel around and change their residence more often than they buy a new laptop. The development of “The Deep Splash” would obviously benefit from not relying just on public financing, but then a particular challenge arises – how to secure a healthy relationship with the commercial affairs? What kind of people jump into the pool of “The Deep Splash”? What is more important here – the content or the attractive and acceptable representation of modern artists? “Well, one source of inspiration was the interview book of the ‘never-sleeping curator’ Hans-Ulrich Obrist – it’s one of the thousands of projects he does, where he talks

WELL Interview to artists, curators and philosophers who expose the ping-pong element of thoughts between people. At first the aim of “The Deep Splash” was to introduce creators of a wider range – not only artists, but designers and architect as well, though we faced a phenomenon when talking about commercial projects to designers – they stigmatize their work, they don’t try to play along with the interview situation and their stories become advertising pretty fast. There are, of course, people who possess a big scale of theoretical and curatorial knowledge, they can keep the interview profound and much more interesting conceptualwise – for example, architects Jurga Daubaraitė and Jonas Žukauskas. Their work is discursive, it includes experiments, research, exhibitions; at the moment they’re preparing for the presentation of the Baltic pavilion in the biennale of architecture in Venice”, Justė speaks and verifies her thoughts with gestures.

artist Gerda Paliušytė, and Ignas Krungelevičius, who has settled in Oslo. Shows with curator Valentinas Klimašauskas and reciter Salomėja Marcinkevičiūtė (Athens, Greece) are being prepared right now. More often than not, the audience for contemporary art projects includes similar creators that just work in a neighbouring cultural field. The changes of the audience characterizes modern culture, yet “The Deep Splash” note that they would like their moms to see these shows on national television some time later. www.thedeepsplash.com

Pirmas įspūdis

Executives of the project plan to interview a Berlin-based photographer J. Goyd and curator Viktorija Šiaulytė, artist Ulijona Odišarija that lives in London and studies at “Slade School of Art”, Žilvinas Kempinas – he resides in New York and plans his first personal exhibition in Birmingham’s IKON gallery in the UK, the Amsterdam-based curator and

These are stories of attempts to affect bigger audiences, change the surroundings, get away from your own self without ignoring your roots

Jonas Mekas. From “The Deep Splash” video archives.

By Emilie Toomela One of the best tricks played on the audience in the history of cinema was by the notorious Danish filmmaker and social scandal enthusiast Lars von Trier. His last film, “Nymphomaniac”, an epic sex tale shown in two parts, had such a playful promotion campaign, that the concept of marketing received almost as much attention in the film circuits as the film itself. Famous actors’ orgasm faces as huge posters turned out in the end to be a game that was played with cinemagoers. Dear audience, looking forward to seeing some unsimulated sexy stuff on the big screen? In a nutshell, what Trier’s film was actually about instead – it told you bible stories, fishing tips and philosophical discussions alternatively. In the format of a weird costume drama and with film chapters like in a 18th Century novel. Marketing a film is indeed a game these days. Next to “Nymphomaniac’s” campaign, the film “Ex Machina”, which tells a story about a gorgeous human-like robot Ava (played by Alicia Vikander), started its marketing with creating a Tinder account for Ava. The fictional girl chat-

with Maria Biilmann

Picture by Audrius Solominas

ted up people who swiped right on her photo. The result – a lot of buzz on the Internet, and disappointed bachelors as residue. The marketing of “Nymphomaniac” was even more elaborate in its prank on the public. The plan was geniously thought through and so perfectly fitting to the film, that most people didn’t even hesitate in thinking – oh yes, it was Lars von Trier himself who also asked the actors to simulate their Ofaces for a steamy photoshoot. Actually, this is not the case at all: the marketing campaign was created by a mischievous duo, the Einstein couple from Denmark – Maria Einstein Biilmann and Philip Einstein Lipski. So, it’s time to ask Maria Biilmann the secret recipe how to market a film and how to tell a good story. In your experience with working different films, how much do the filmmakers want to control the process and strategy of creating the film’s marketing identity? Our experience is that when filmmakers come to us, they expect that we are experts and they pretty much listen to what we have to contribute in that area. But the development of the campaign is always a close collaboration with the director, producer and also the distributor. After all, it’s their baby, right? And we certainly don’t want to be the ones to dress it in clothes the so-called parents hate. You have worked on many other Danish films besides “Nymphomaniac”, how large was the effect of

Marketing a film is indeed a game these days working with von Trier on your career? It’s hard to say. The campaign for “Nymphomaniac” definitely brought a lot of international attention to our company and to The Einstein Couple brand. And we have often been invited to film events to talk about it and how we work. But we are still waiting for that cold call from an international film producer. Haha! No, actually I think that social connections – more or less personal – are what make your career. Our experience is that whenever we are approached by a new client it’s by personal recommendations. Denmark is a small country, so professional and personal contacts are all mixed up anyway. But as I said earlier, personal recommendations are what really get you new jobs. How was the collaboration with the actors of “Nymphomaniac”? Were the orgasmic poster faces also taboo-breaking to them, not only to the audience? Yes. It took some convincing with most of the actors of “Nymphomaniac”. You have to remember that actors are used to performing for moving pictures. They are not photo models, so they don’t necessarily feel very comfortable in front of a still camera.

Your marketing campaign received world-wide praise by many respected journalists. In the end, why weren’t the ticket sales of “Nymphomaniac” very high? It’s a challenging film to market. It’s vast length alone is a barrier. So the box office numbers where never expected to go through the roof. In Denmark, the distributor was satisfied with the numbers, but I guess it was not the same in other markets. You mentioned in a previous interview that timing is very important in your marketing strategy. In which way is it essential for succeeding? You should think about marketing from the moment the film is greenlighted. Make the marketing equally as important as your script, is what we say. You can make a great film but if no one sees it, it will be in vain. So make the marketing important. Think of it at an early stage. It also makes logistics easier. Like arranging a photo shoot while still in production, so every actor is in the same location and they haven’t changed the way they look for the next movie. We would never have been able to produce the “Nymphomaniac” campaign after the filming had ended. One of the key elements in marketing these days seems to be making your project relatable to the audience. Several research studies have indicated that heroic characteristics in actors make them relatable to the viewers. On the other hand, this is not so much the case with “Nymphomaniac”. What do you see as the necessities that make a film likable and relatable to people? The same applies for the campaign – in order to market something, people need to relate to it. One of the things we always consider when we do a campaign: what is the relatable insight in the film and how can we convey it in a poster? The poster is very important and must be communicative to the audience. Everyone who has ever been sexually stimulated can relate to “Nym-

You’re not only a creative marketing tandem with Philip, but also a couple in personal life. How does the collaboration look like – do you find enough time off from work and do you ever stop working? We’ve been together privately for 17 years and during almost all of that time we have been doing the same job. For 10 years as creative managers in different advertising agencies and now five years with our own company, The Einstein Couple. When we worked at ad agencies we always discussed our work at home. I think married dentists or architects do the same. We are both good at what we do, so we decided that we would take the chance and jump into business together. But we do have separate offices. And that’s a good thing! So in the end, how should one tell a good marketing story? Is there some advice you wish someone had told you when you first started? I think our background in advertising has taught us a lot about telling a good story. It’s so hard to dig out the good story about a toothpaste or a laundry detergent. But if you want to make advertising that connects with people, you have to be able to do that. Film is much more thankful – the product is great to begin with and the audience is curious to hear what you have to say. Marketing is like any other business. You should never create something and then market it yourself. I don’t believe Nike would have been so successful if they had their engineers market their shoes. You have to have a distance from a product in order to market it. You have to be able to look at the creation as a bystander, in order to see its qualities clearly. You simply can’t do that if you have been involved in every detail in the production.

PERSONALITY LOUNGE

PLAYED, SIR!

phomaniac’s” posters, which were at the core of the whole campaign. I think it’s a big mistake to think of traditional media and social media as two different things, and “Nymphomaniac” proves it. The campaign was made for traditional media – a poster, but it spread widely through the Internet because it was worth sharing. I think you should just think of the Internet as a new media channel that has other possibilities than the traditional channels. But if you want your work to spread you have to consider if it is worth sharing.

facebook.com/theeinsteincouple

GREEN GARAGE: A VOICE FOR THE CREATIVE CULTURE “Green Garage” tries to be as open to curious minds as possible.

TADAS SVILAINIS Makers movement is an idea that started in the USA about a decade ago, uniting independent creators, inventors, artists and designers. Later it turned into a range of specific subcultures, such as the hacker movement, DIY furniture and toys, 3D printing and so forth. Despite the differences between manufacturers, they are all interconnected by the same ideology: open, easy-access learning, exchange of ideas or discoveries, promotion of handicraft, rebellion against both mass production and boundless consuming.

nology and equipment. For instance, “Aalto Fablab” organises weekly open days in Helsinki – you just need to attend, present your concept or idea and they will make the object for free. Other fabrication laboratories have an individual hourly, daily, monthly or symbolic charge. It’s worth

SPACE

The good-for-nothing toys that people receive when shopping and innovative prosthetic limbs are all made from plastic and can be printed by the same 3D printer. acknowledging that many foreign creator workshops are financed by the state in order to stimulate the country’s economy.

Makers didn’t take a long time to get to Europe. At first the manufacturing fanatics were based mostly in the cellars of their parents’ houses, garages, their own bedrooms, but soon the movement got the attention of the society and investors, thus community clubs were formed, and specific spaces, studios, workshops of creators were filled with technology. Currently there are over 15 professional workshops and a great amount of underground groups founded by friends or enthusiasts in the Baltics and Scandinavia. The distinctions between various workshops become obvious when the subject changes to the accessibility and especially the price of the tech-

Photo by Tadas Svilainis

Alisa Matsanyuk: “I realised that it will be the next big thing in a few years”. Photo by “Green garage”

A professional initiative “Green Garage” recently took its first steps in Vilnius. The founder Alisa Matsanyuk told N WIND magazine: “Everyone is welcome to visit our workshop regardless of their age, knowledge or skills. You can simply drop by, we’ll talk and decide how to go on from there. We offer courses and personalized programmes, so that you could create your own prototypes in about a year or two. Another example – let’s say we have engineers of robotics or other specific specialists at our workshop. We’ll introduce you to them and you can effectively collaborate. Even if you don’t have particular aims, just stop by to have a look around – maybe it’ll help you get a clear view on what you want. The main concept of “Green Garage” is to assemble a community together, not only to be a location where

AKTUALUMO ATEITIS VICTORIA DIAZ, mados prekių ženklų ir produktų identiteto konsultantė things are manufactured. People should see us like a gym. We try to be as open and helpful to curious individuals as possible – we even have an administrator trained especially for that!“ “Green Garage” is so far the only place of this kind in the Baltics, and Alisa founded it with her own funds. The project already has around 300,000 euro invested in it, yet it’s still in the risky experimental phase.

Laisvalaikio kultūra kone visiškai susisaistė su linksmybėmis, šėlsmu, aukšto dažnio garsais ar dinamišku vizualumu, tačiau gyvenimo stiliaus ekspertai visgi kalba apie ryškėjančią naują pramogavimo kryptį. Neurologų bei psichologų atliekami šiandienos suaugusiųjų „žaidimo kambarių“ tendencijų tyrimai plinta po didžiuosius miestus. Įsivaizduokite smėlio dėžę suaugusiesiems, kurioje vadinamasis lėtesnio žaidimo metodas skatina atsipalaiduoti ir išgryninti savo mąstymą. Idėjos formatas ir tikslai – gana inovatyvūs, todėl šis reiškinys gali drąsiai tapti svaria urbanistinės kultūros dalimi. Žaismingos mobiliosios programėlės išliks populiarios, tačiau stebinanti kruopščiai sukonstruotų panašių produktų išvaizda rinkoje pasieks įvairias amžiaus grupes, nes realistiški elementai visuomet nuostabiai išlaiko pusiausvyrą tarp technologijų ir pertraukėlių nuo jų.

“When I left “Game Insight” and the industry of games for mobile phones, I said to myself that I’ll do nothing for six months, I’ll back away from it all and purify my thoughts, not think about what I’ll do next and allow myself to fall in love with some activity I’m not familiar with. Everything started naturally, I realised that I’m moving towards something that I really like and that it will probably be the next big thing in a few years. I wanted to be a part of it. You may call it intuition, but that’s exactly how I felt before I began to work at “Game Insight”, when the mobile phone game industry was growing. It sounds cliché, however you just need to start doing what you like. It will feel euphoric at first, but sooner or later you’ll face some troubles. It’s definitely not an easy road, yet this is a big part of life, and the challenges should motivate you. Right now I don’t know whether this project will be successful or not, but I’m already happy, no matter how everything works out. And it inspires me. I didn’t have an analytic plan consisting of what and when should happen – now I do, but even today we’re constantly learning from our mistakes, we experiment, adapt, become more and more professional. If it all goes according to plan, we’ll soon expand to other Baltic countries”.

Ir anksčiau novatoriškai į biblioteką žvelgusi dizaino studija „Nendo“ neseniai Tokijuje pristatė projektą „Beauty Library“ (liet. „Grožio biblioteka“). Konceptuali parduotuvė skirta nuodugniai ir ramiai susipažinti su produktu prieš jį perkant. Tikiu, kad vis daugiau bibliotekos tipo erdvių bus atrastos iš naujo, o prekių ženklai ir toliau tirs kambarius bei panaudos juos klientams sudominti.

By the way, it’s worth noting that the goodfor-nothing toys people receive when shopping and innovative prosthetic limbs are all made from plastic and can be printed by the same 3D printer.

Prabangūs „Dominic Wilcox“ 24 karatų aukso akmenys – tobulai primenantys tuos, kurie paleisti lyg varlytės šokinėja vandens paviršiumi, – buvo sukurti lėtesniam žaidimui skatinti. Kita akmenų pusė atkuria mūsų meilę spaudai ir darbo kambario (bibliotekos) atmosferai.

www.greengarage.me

KOMENTARAS

It’s no secret that “Green Garage” is a profit-orientated business, much like most ambitious, courageous and innovative start-ups. The most important goal is to invest in visionaries. An accelerator platform for promising creators is due to be created in the future – it’ll help them find investors and provide the needed equipment, also focusing on rookies and simply curious people. Courses of 3D modelling, robotics and video game engines are already being prepared. „Rusak & Inglesby“ firmos įrankių rinkinį „Time to Yourself“ (liet. „Laikas sau“) sudaro gan primityvūs daiktai: pieštukas, laikrodis, kompasas... Jie padeda susigrąžinti nebenaudojamas mūsų kūno galias – krypties pojūtį, vidinį laikrodį, nuotykių troškulį ir pirminius instinktus. www.brandingtomorrow.com

SOO JOO PARK #MODERNVAGABOND STOCKHOLM A/W 15