The Quest for the New, in Remembering the Past
Contemplations on brand innovation and evolution patterning
I bought a new car in Portland, Oregon, and I recalled my days working down here. Time goes by. And back then, I was working with Lloyd Reynolds—and later, a swing by with David Kennedy, co-founder of Weiden+Kennedy, the ad agency, on the American Indian College Fund. That was back then, the 1970s—time goes by, and both of these marvelous people have also gone on. These days, with my family, there is a lot of talk about aging—with my parents, now 93 and 96, there are struggles with the vicissitudes of time and the progressions of age.
It goes without saying that nothing new is old.
Or is it?
But it might be, that the looking at the old could be something redefined, rediscovered as new. In decades of working on brands—many of them are elder, from 100 to 300 years in action. That might range from repurposing an older, abandoned identity for a beloved American Dance brand—Capezio, to strategic consulting for a school in the Lasallian heritage at St. Mary’s College, a 300-year-old principle of learning, grounded in a college that came into being in the latter 1800s. Or our work for Metzler, founded in 1674—in each, there was something of legacy that was held and retained—the elder, now made new.
From the past, make Newness.
In quietude, explore Wowness.
Focus, listen to Feelingness.
Striding forward and
Tracing threads, weaving the weft in
the quest for the tapestry of the newness of change.
In the journey of any one, the quest for the new
will be in the heart,
and the heat of passion,
of the endless curiosity.
As a seeker,
your journey will be to a new land,
a new discovery,
a different beauty—
these are the new.
And finding the new will always be
about those who,
imbued with the chromosomes of the curious,
will be engaged in that path—
out there, the new.
It’s been said that anything new
is really something seen and done before,
just rephrased in a different patterning.
When I worked as a design consultant at Disney,
I found this offering:
“We keep moving forward, opening new doors,
and doing new things, because
we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.“
Walt Disney
In working the Parisian film scene—
and studying those there,
I found this observation by Robert Bresson to be telling —
especially one that is noted for a foundational role in
the “cinéma du look” hyper-realist directing and shooting style.
“An old thing becomes new
if you detach it from what usually surrounds it.”
The point is that the journey
takes you
out there, not here.
And too, that this threading in the riverine flow of time,
will go forward, and go backward. And forward again.
In my quest for the patterning of the new,
the edge of what is perceived in the periphery of imagination,
it’s about the old, what is recalled,
and the new seeing of it.
When I think about that journey, my life,
it’s been about watching for the whorls of
learnings and insights that spin and whirl
before me, behind me—and when my heart opened.
That was new, then. I opened.
Now elder, I see them again,
kindling the old spins and the new take on
what they can be.
I’ve been called “old.”
But I am perpetually renewed,
in change, retold.
[If you’d like copy of the “love the new” card—
let us know.
Or you can write to me: girvin@girvin.com.
I help.
wishing well >
Tim Girvin | Portland, OR
GIRVIN | Strategic Brands
Projects in strategy | story | naming | messaging | print
identity | built environments | packaging
social media | websites | interactive
Digital | Built environments by Osean | Theatrical Branding
Waves | Art | Talismanika™ | Oom Carpet Arts | Technology Branding | Destination Brands
You are old—to anyone younger. And, in this moment, you are new.
And:
