The lines between tie-ups with commercial brands like Bombay Sapphire and gallery work have most certainly blurred. What is your personal take on this?
Without independent shows and self initiated projects, there would be a lower chance of the artists getting picked up by a brand. Being picked up by a brand, however, is not necessarily a good thing unless both parties are happy in this relationship. Some artists measure their success by the brands they have worked with while some artists feel brands exploit them. This boils down to which brands you like and feel affinity towards. Sometimes they compliment each other, sometimes they don’t. It can’t be forced, so the trick is curating the right people with the right brands.
Do personal aesthetics bleed across the commercial work? Or do you have any kind of set boundaries?
For us, we encourage personal aesthetics to flow into the commercial work. That is exactly why we take time in sourcing, selecting and briefing the appropriate artists. The boundaries ensure that the brand identity is still existent.
How important is the Blue Room in conveying a sense of community and creativity to future designers?
To me, is a perfect example of a community, bringing such a diverse group of artists of varying skill sets and interests together in one place under one central theme, “Infused With Imagination”. From illustrators to motion graphic designers to jewellery designers, The Blue Room is a platform for everyone to showcase themselves on not only a local level, but a global one(we are in talks to bring over the exhibits to London). With such an open brief, the artists were given free reign in terms of producing their pieces and the outcome was the fruit of their creative labour. Hopefully, visitors of the exhibition, creatives and members of the public, enjoy these laborious fruits along with their gin and leave feeling inspired as well and go forth and infuse whatever they do with imagination.
Finally, how much of Bombay Sapphire was consumed during the artistic process?
To be honest, not a lot was consumed during the artistic process but totally different story once the works were completed. A gin a day keeps life at bay, or so I tell myself.
Love the juniper based cocktails, don’t forget to join us at our next I-S Xperience on Nov 15 at The Bombay Sapphire Blue Room, DBL O, 222 Queen St. Wanna score a coveted spot, send us an email to [email protected] and (1) tell us why you think you should go, and include (2) your name, (3) age (4)occupation and (5) mobile number.
