Life can seem like a merry-go-round, sometimes it feels as though the perpetual motion is just spinning us around in circles and at others it is a joyous carnival ride filled with bright lights, melodic music and childhood memories of innocence and days gone by. This year our merry-go-round was a glorious experience filled with macroons, patisseries, cafés, bistros and the amazing art of Paris.
What a whirlwind it was! Geoff, Tracy and Marie travelled to Paris late in September to attend the annual Pentawards. Although we were not successful in bringing home any Pentawards, it was a grand event nonetheless. The array of international talent and packaging designs solutions on stage was outstanding. It seems the competition is getting stronger every year.
The only Australians present this year, we sought out our southern hemisphere brothers – the kiwis (Red Cactus) and compared notes on the industry and future of design down under. It is always interesting connecting with fellow designers and expanding our networks for future prospects.
After the awards and a quick trip across the English Channel to meet with Microsoft we returned to Paris with a mission to absorb as much culture as we could. Coffee, croissants and all things sweet were definitely on the menu while trying to capture it all for our photographic library and a future e-pub (watch this space for more on e-pubs and all things interactive!)
You never know just when these images are going to come in handy. Geoff’s images from New York were the perfect accompaniment to the imagery developed for Black Swan State Theatre Company’s Death of a Salesman and John Lennon’s Imagine mosaic from Central Park appears on the introductory pages of the Dessein website. The images we have collected in Paris will no doubt feature in a future project or at the very least provide us with the inspiration for something amazing.
While the famous Statue of Liberty resides in New York her smaller sister lives quietly in Paris drawing in tourists like moths to her artistic flame. No wonder the Impressionists were able to produce such magnificient paintings – living in a city vibrant with life, romance and intrigue on every street corner. An array of architectual monuments, galleries and cafés surpassed only by the faces of the people who call her home – the artists, peddlers, waiters and buskers adding to the city’s creative history.
Its easy to see how Paris has captured so many hearts – the Asians must think so too – we have never seen so many Asian wedding parties in one place at one time! As they say, a picture paints a thousand words and if these pictures could speak, we are sure they would say …. ah Paree!
