Creative Social Amsterdam

Earlier this month I attended Creative Social, the global collective of digital creatives, which gathers twice a year.

Six years on from its debut in 2004, Creative Social returned to Amsterdam, the financial and cultural capital of the Netherlands. From technology to trading, sex, cannabis and Big Brother, Amsterdam continues to steadfastly push barriers. Consistently ranked third in the Innovation Cities Index and now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Amsterdam is at the top of its game in both the past and the present.

Attending were a 40-strong tribe of creative adventurers from all corners of the globe who together shared their wares and inspired those around them in a city that host Mark Chalmers described as a “Tim Burton movie with wifi”.

Programme stalwart ‘That’s Me That Is’ kicked off the event with 28 reveals of what certain Socials are up to -- each social unveiling a piece of work to be proud of. From the charming to the sublime, the session will best be remembered for LMFM's Sam Ball talking us through his Toilet Tracker initiative for Domestos – follow your turd’s journey at flushtracker.

Every modern creative -- from PR to design -- draws inspiration from technology to popular culture when re-interpreting client briefs. So it was with great excitement that Dutch design [anti] hero, Frank Tjepkama was up next.

Frank Tjepkama
Tripping through a decade of design with Frank Tjepkama, or Tjep to those who know him well, we opened our minds to his ideas on contrast of perception vs reality. Perfect design leading to the perception that reality is imperfect, but still beautiful. A man known for quirky metaphor reflected on past zeitgeist from multifunction furniture to statement jewellery and commercial interior design.

It felt more like Frank’s journey to Mars on a fantasy self-sustaining rocket ship that occasionally docked at a service station of alternate reality. Frank’s vision for saving the planet involves a sustainable Disney Land and Tulips. If you want to know more then sign up for the Tjep Gazette.

Frank presented a series of photographs that in isolation had little meaning, but juxtaposed provided the contrast between design perception and reality. the obsession with perfection and the extreme side of rational thinking vs the reality of imperfection. He went on to outline how the concept of jazz music can be applied to product design – layer upon layer of idea to form a finished piece of texture.

For those of you who are not so familiar with Tjep’s work, check out his iconic jewellery such as the Christian Cross, the Logo of Logos – a multidimensional metaphor for the consuming generation made from his trademark chemical etching process – Tjep’s signature dish.

He’s gone further with cracked vases – the ‘shock proof collection’. Ceramics coated inside with rubber, that when dropped from rooftops, bowled at walls or even shot at, don’t disntergrate, they retain shape take on a new ancient identity of mysterious webs of cracks and chips. He’s applied the process to jewellery with his latest piece, a ceramic heart that comes with a small hammer – the message: break my heart, but it will never fall apart. Genius.

What next? Artificial plants that look artificial -- a new generation of authenticity.

My take? Frank brings meaning to the mundane and utilitarian to the useless. Genius.

Rafael Rozendaal

Alternate realities continued when online artist and Tin Tin lookalike Rafael Rozendaal demo’d his personal democratisation of the internet through the language of vectors and websites-as-art.

His online creations, of which a collector or curator can buy the URL of one of his works, are simple interactions with sound and vision. What might look like a pointless waste of a pixel is jaw droppingly compelling and engaging.

As the world of cinema, TV, gaming becomes more complex and hyper real, Rafael has taken the simplification and exaggeration of sound and colour back to the curious and childlike. watching images flash on screen such as towardsandbeyond catapulted me back to late 80s Commodore 64 games

Rafael says: “People used to buy something, hang it on the wall at home so only they could see it. Today it’s cooler to own a domain name so that everyone can see it. The more people viewing, the cooler it is. Domain names are the only tradable commodity online.”

Influenced by cartoons and abstract paintings Rafael cites Betty Boo, Road Runner, Mickey Mouse and Lichtenstein as his influences. Rafael's sense of cheeky humour is perhaps best expressed in the digitisation of Kazivah’s painting, “High Society In Top Hats”, look out for the now animated ‘peeing man’at kazimirmalevich.

“Art needs a lot of attention these days”, says Rafael, “you have to spend hours or days looking at it to understand it,” adding “I prefer art to be instantaneous”.

When asked about platforms other than the desktop Rafael is quick to resist the temptation to work on everything from mobiles to tablets “the iPhone screen is too small”, should I work for Android or Apple?” he questions, asserting “am I a media company or an artist?”

Flaming Cursor is one of his most popular works, so much so that the single Google banner ad on the page covers all his monthly outgoings and has a whopping 4% click through. We’re disappointed to note that the flaming cursor doesn’t ignite and burn the banner.

Ever the sceptical I wonder if his absent-minded presentation is a non-linear act or orchestrated exploration of his work. So later that evening when we’re sitting in the hangar-like Hotel de Goudfazant next to a ping pong table and a load of dusty cars and motorbikes (it was pointed out it’s not a hotel, neither will you see a golden pheasant. But it’s an amazing place and the food was excellent and will def take the wife there next time I'm in A'Dam), he was charming and self effacing as his innocent line “nothing happens if you don’t touch it”. A manifesto of his way of life.

Wernard Bruining
Continuing the trading theme, Creative Social welcomed Wernard Bruining who founded the first Amsterdam coffee shop ‘Mellow Yellow’ back in 1973. Cannabis and the coffee shops are an underground industry bigger than the over ground and in a world that’s now starting to realise capitalist consumerism doesn’t make things better, maybe we can learn from the way of the herb.

Wernard was inspiring in his passion as a hemp oil evangelist. I thought of him as a Sensimilla Guerrilla fighting to make people aware of the considerable benefits of hemp.

Articulate and knowledgeable, Wernard took the audience through a speeded up history of the coffee shop movement, from humble beginnings as a focal point for social gatherings to billion Euro business that quietly pours millions into the tax coffers of the Dutch Government.

Wernard blew our minds with the amazing uses for hemp as a source of everything from heating oil to wonder medicine. Back through the decades Ford made a car out of hemp plastic, global corporation Du Pont effectively criminalised hemp to protect its oil-fuelled business model, and media tycoon Randolph Hearst protected his paper empire by helping outlaw hemp.

An agricultural and ecological Godsend, marijuana needs no fertilisers or pesticides to grow, is biodecradable – it’s a basic crop for a green future. Use it as concrete or “MediWeed”, the “Peoples Medicine” -- until 1977 30-40% of medicines contained hemp extract, Wernard revealed.

Wernard says: “The world is full of drugs, all medicines are drugs, coffee is a drug, and they are not going to go away – we just need to learn to live with them.”

A paid up cannabis terrorist Wernard believes the so called ‘war on drugs’ has much in common with a religious war where something is proclaimed dangerous for society, and victory, like a drug-free world, is impossible. Sober thoughts from the man who wants to heal the world with hemp.

The best of the rest
Creative Social touched on many interests close to the hearts of digital creatives, there were talks on “How To Pitch a Book” by Taschen’s Julius Wiedman – a man who receives 5000 unsolicited proposals, but who only publishes 65 books a year.

Formats
Then there was Jon de Mol, Founder of Endemol and creator of Big Brother who now runs Talpa, a multi-media empire with new formats and content at it’s heart. Geertje Hoek, manager of Talpa content, spoke about why The Netherlands punches way above its weight in TV formats, what lies at the heart of great format & content, and revealed the next big reality format that will dominate our Saturday-night screens in 2011: “The Voice Of…”, a new talent show with a twist.

Sell, sell, sell
Commercial reality vs creativity was brought to life with an insight into how to build a creative business for a trade sale. Amsterdam created the first stock market, the first share certificate and the first futures. Couple trading with a history of progression and thanks to VC firm Prime Ventures, we can see a great example of the legacy today. Specialising in technology investments with a portfolio including Layar and eBuddy, Creative Social welcomed PV's Rogier Taphoorn. The ex-Lehman Brothers' partner outlined that the name of the game, just like back then, is to make money and scale is everything.

Round tables
Various round tables, which I'd have liked to have seen more of if more time was available, centred on the issues we all experience in a client-servicing business. One I attended focused on the client obsession with paying for hours worked a frustrating if not prehistoric approach to valuing our work. We acknowledged that there are now two pitches to win a client. The first is to the marketing team, where the ideas count and second is to the procurement team. Both have a very different agenda and the latter is harming the industry. I won’t write any more on this as Tobias Gartner of Pilot in Germany has summarised the roundtable nicely here on the Creative Social Blog.

To source or not to crowd source
A similarly charged and interesting rountable entitled Mass Collaboration and Crowd Sourcing is summarised by Giant Hydra’s Ignacio Oreamuno here.

The Creative Social isn't a conference, no one was selling, egos were left at Schiphol. No business was done in the breaks, lunches or dinners (to my knowledge). So it was a refreshing gathering of like-minded people. In other words it was a social, for creatives. Just like it said on the tin.

With thanks to Mark and Daniele.