“Design the Room, Not the Candle” - Virgil Abloh

Philosophical Concept: Designing as Context  

Virgil Abloh emphasized the importance of the interaction between an object and its environment. Rather than simply selling an object and focusing on the quality or finish, his goal was to focus on crafting an environment that would support it. Going back to the title, he showed an art piece he was designing in a famous interview. This art piece was a candle… with dents in the side. It looked like junk, and he said it looked like trash and assumed someone would throw it away, but that was the point. This candle would be considered broken junk if it was in someone's garage. However, if it were in an art exhibit with entirely white walls, it would look like a high-tier abstract art piece. 

Virgil realized that the most essential part of fashion and architecture was the story sold to the audience. His goal was to shape the narrative and experience surrounding an object rather than just designing the object itself. 

• How does it fit into the space around it (the room)?
• How does it interact with other elements?
• How does it influence the experience of the user?
• How does it create or challenge meaning in its context?

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Fundamentals of Abloh-isms: 

• As a civil and architectural engineer, he was taught not only to design the building but also to design its functionality.
• Generally big emphasizes breaking traditional/societally implemented boundaries while expanding his thoughts and classrooms to wherever he goes. 
• When it comes to art, similar to telling a story, if you were to crumble up all the art, what is the idea? Big emphasis on creating and tying an idea to a brand using typography, colors, and sounds.
• Dont be so serious
• “You have to have mentors, like dead or alive. You have to sort of connect with some body of work or someone who formulated a thought or an aesthetic, and build upon that.” - Virgil Abloh at Harvard University Graduate School of Design
• The idea is working hard, do the 10,000 hours (thinking doesn't count as working)
• People he finds interesting he encourages them to produce work – knowledge buildup then fear of execution or fear of putting it out in abundance 
• The thing holding you back from executing your dreams is a myth (specifically in reference to his early carrier on him trying to build a world renowned streetwear brand based off of black hoodies with graphics)
• 3% Rule: through slightly alternating existing ideas/designs (by a minimum of 3%), you get a complete reinvention. - This will be brought up again later.

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Ideologies Through Quotes and Images: From Off-White Founder Virgil Abloh Interview on Education, Art, Culture, and Design - Youtube

• “I don’t think about boundaries, and I don’t think about boxes. I’m an optimist who believes in creativity. And of course, when you do that, all of a sudden you start drawing all over the paper and not within the lines."
• YOU HAVE TO KNOW BETTER TO DO BETTER (His famous Off-White font is an industrial yet minimalist font, always in all caps) 

• “Fostering community is super important. A lot of people individualize their trajectory, but as soon as you foster a community with the same trajectory, your success becomes real.”
• “I often use this analogy in design: I could spend a lot of time telling you about the candle, or I could just design the room it sits in.”
• "Life is so short that you can’t waste even a day subscribing to what someone thinks you can do versus knowing what you can do.”
• "Life is so short that you can't waste even a day subscribing to what someone thinks you can do versus knowing what you can do. And that's like the switch. It's like the switch in your head is if you can get to a place where you can act on that in the next hour after we're done speaking, I guarantee you it's a domino effect. Everything just starts like obliterating itself away."