Lecture, Tromsø, Norway
A few years ago, I went on a wonderful trip up to Tromsø (Norway), where I was invited to speak at the Design vs Music event organized by the Tank Design and Insomnia festivals.
They have been having talks since 2005, and the past speakers were some of my all-time favorites: Non-Format, Stefan Sagmeister, Scott Hansen, Oh Yeah Studio, and Big Active. Uh, what a crowd I got myself into!
This year I was on stage with Sawdust from the UK, and you can imagine my excitement.
Tromso is far up north, so I had to change three flights just to get there, and of course, they lost my luggage up and back, but who cares that I was there. After a few beers with my hosts, Christopher Ide and Sawdust, it was all good.
The lecture took place in one of the oldest theaters in Norway, and the crowd filled all the seats in there.
I told my story about how I became who I am and how I discovered that fear is the real fuel that drives me to create my projects. I presented my studio rules and showed some of my recent work. I usually use only my quotes so I left this one on my last slide 🙂
Sawdust was up next, and I saw the process behind the awesome work they do. As I imagine it, small studios are the future since we can bend all the rules and just throw in that extra mile there.
After that, it was just beer, and I had to show some of my secret ping-pong skills to new friends at the Tank design studio. They told me Norwegians are a bit cold, but this is not how I saw them. With such nice and friendly people, I felt like I was in the center of everything.
Did I mention it was also my birthday? Well because of that I just had to breathe everything in. And I did. We took a road trip the next day and the views are just breathtaking…
Everywhere you turn, there is stunning nature, and you are almost alone, even if it is some kind of view spot. There are no people, just you and the frozen land.
I was lucky enough that on the same day, we did see the Aurora Borealis. And yes, it is crazy and unbelievable. the most breathtaking thing you can imagine. I felt it was shining just for me (well, we all felt like that). Staying under it for six hours makes you think and go through life. What is important is what you have done and what you can do about it.