MILAN — French-born visible artist and a key character on the entice world, Osman Mercan has crossed the Rubicon from the world of music to the world of design. This month Osman debuted his personal design studio, Age of Digital, unveiling its first chair.
In 2015, the self-taught visible artist established a video manufacturing firm, which got down to create its personal disruptive aesthetic. For 13 years the 33-year-old has been the inventive director for Laylow, a French entice artist. He’s now leveraging his directorial eye to create otherworldly items impressed by digital artwork. His first aluminum furnishings piece was created with a 3D instrument that’s usually utilized in movie.
In an interview, Osman defined why he has made a foray into the world of design.
WWD: You entered the world of visible arts with none formal coaching — who had been your mentors and the way did you train your self the commerce?
Osman Mercan: I’ve all the time been obsessed with cinema, fascinated by how motion pictures are made. Through the years I’ve spent days on the Movie Library François Truffaut in Les Halles [France]. Each time I found a movie, I’d analyze it in-depth, attempt to deconstruct it, by way of articles, decoding movies on YouTube, in addition to by studying essays and critiques. What me most was the way to create and inform tales by way of the transferring picture.
The Chair by Age of Digital by Osman Mercan.
Maxime Guyon
WWD: Is that this your first furnishings piece ever? Do you will have different designs that had been extra experimental?
O.M.: That is my first actual piece of furnishings. Earlier than I began on this challenge, whereas working because the inventive director for Laylow, I used to be already creating unique environments for his movies and onstage at live shows. Then once I began to develop the chair, the thought was to conceive a decor for bigger scenes — beginning with the chair after which including different components, that are in progress.
WWD: What’s the subsequent step? Design exhibits? Galleries?
O.M.: This coming yr shall be punctuated by totally different drops, every time together with an object together with ready-to-wear. This primary chapter of AOD will certainly contain an occasion the place folks can uncover the whole decor. Extra broadly, I’m constructing a bridge between design and hip-hop tradition in an effort to appeal to a better variety of folks in these disciplines and to encourage the engagement of an already curious group.
WWD: How do the worlds of music, rap, intertwine with the world of design?
O.M.: There’s a bridge throughout the creation of props and objects that create a visible universe inside these musical worlds (movies, live shows), since aesthetic codes are an integral a part of hip-hop. Personally, I feel it’s essential to ascertain who you might be and what your visible world seems like in an effort to actually dive into the world of design.
WWD: Do you actively do each visible artwork for the entice music business and design, or has one sacrificed for the opposite and the way?
O.M.: It’s solely doable to do each as one evokes the opposite — they communicate to one another, problem one another and feed one another. Slightly than sacrificing one another, they complement one another, permitting for the event of a extra harmonious and stimulating inventive universe.
WWD: Kanye West’s circle gave delivery to a trend meets design zeitgeist, which included Virgil Abloh and would later embody Samuel Ross, who crossed over to the design world from trend. How are your endeavors totally different or comparable?
O.M.: Kanye and Virgil have been very inspiring — they confirmed to our technology that it’s doable to be your self and you could keep true to your values. Getting exterior of my consolation zone was my start line and the way I started to replicate on this challenge. I all the time liked the idea of the director Marcio Kogan, who turned an architect and created every home desirous about the decor as if it had been a set. The dimensions, the planning — every little thing was conceived to seem good within the picture. I like the thought of merging expertise to reach at one thing hybrid that overturns the principles whereas injecting a way of spontaneity.
WWD: I noticed the AOD video — likening the manufacturing and molding of the chair to the connection between hearth and ice and rebirth. What does this all signify for you?
O.M.: The video is a fictional illustration of the fantastical means of creation. Since I come from the world of video, I wished to make use of this medium to speak concerning the chair. The thought was that I’d be a sculptor who virtually tears away at this materials with quite a lot of spontaneity — and with out even realizing the end result. This video is the primary expression of AOD and for which every little thing is feasible. That undeniable fact that the video concerning the making of a design object might generate 600,000 views in simply 24 hours confirms the concept that these youngsters perceive the topic — that design arouses their curiosity. So we’re defeating the elitist facet of design.
WWD: When did you will have the epiphany to leap from music to design?
O.M.: In 2021, I ended an enormous chapter of my profession with the challenge “The Unusual Story of Mr. Anderson,” a brief movie of the album, the video clips and the live performance set design for Laylow, the artist and pal with whom I work as inventive director. Throughout this challenge I noticed objects and décor. When it was throughout, I actually wished to immerse myself fully within the design world — to know the totally different methods and grasp the processes from A to Z. I wished to know the subtlety and effectivity to inform even higher these tales that individuals might uncover.