Q. What is it about appealing to audiences through a commercial media that appealed to Imaginary Foundation?
A. We are interested in collective human behavior and the vehicles that drive it, particularly memes or units of cultural information that can be transmitted from one mind to another. This transmission of cultural experience is most prevalent in “commercial” or “pop” culture through tunes, catch-phrases, fashion, film, art and so on. As an omni-integrating world civilization speeds through a monumental cultural transformation, we find ourselves at an exhilarating punctuation point in our collective story. All vehicles for propagating our ideas become more vital now than ever before.
Q. If I understand correctly Nick (the designer) interprets the ideas the think tank comes up with through design. When, why, and how was this think tank formed?
A. The foundation was formally established in Geneva in 1973, although in a sense it had been percolating in the ether for many decades prior to that. In 1951, I presented my Doctorate Thesis from the Department of Theoretical Art at the University of Sankore. My dissertation was titled “Deep Pattern Structures: Consciousness and the Articulation of the Possible.” Looking back now I see that it served as the basis of the conceptual framework upon which the Foundation was built. I have been blessed with the good fortune to have worked and collaborated with many great thinkers and creative groups, the sum of which inspired what later became known as “The Imaginary Foundation. ” I remember a monumental conversation I had with John Paul Sartre in a charming little Parisian cafe during that tumultuous summer of ‘68 where he told me that “because we can imagine, we are free.” At that moment, I dropped my brioche and realized that I had to create a context for this idea, that would serve as a structure, a school, a commune, a philosophical centre, a radical approach to art in all its forms comparable to the Bauhaus or the garden of Epicurus. An ad-hoc team was formed and the project began. To initiate the opening of the Foundation we held a “dream-in,” a ceremony to symbolize what was of fundamental importance to The Foundation, to begin waking up to the truth of the reality around us. Our imaginations are omnidirectional. Understanding our interconnectedness releases us from our limitations and makes us part of the greater totality.
With regard to our design process, the direction is defined via committee in bi-annual meetings at the Foundation headquarters in Geneva, following guidelines in compliance with the Foundation’s worldview, research and programs. Based on his design history, Nick Philip was our choice to distill and insert the ideas of the Foundation into the semiotics of the street culture, with the hope that the antibodies of fashion mediocrity would not be able to fight off our attempt at using streetwear as an unlikely vehicle for consciousness.
Q. Are there special circumstances that you have found limit your ability to express yourself with the clothing medium?
A. It is certainly challenging. Our aim is to look at fashion through the lens of the 21st century rather than using old models and obsolete knowledge. Fashion is media. The future of media is not so removed from the fundamental nature of realty–flowing energy, an organic process. When you approach it from this state and allow the old world view of discrete disciplines to dissolve, fashion becomes a social barometer, a talisman of the collective unconscious. New social networking experiences are changing the landscape rapidly and creating new opportunities for the production and distribution of design, fashion and ideas. Our hope is to evolve, endure, and participate in a positive way with this changing landscape.
Q. Have you ever nixed a piece of clothing because you thought it might not sell as apposed to just getting your message out? Is this a difficult balance?
A. Everything is produced in small quantities at first and tested on our website. If an item does not sell we simply don’t make more. If something sells well it means it is a more successful vehicle for transporting the idea. Our challenge is to present our ideas in a way in which they are captivating and true to their intent.
Q. Do you ever feel like the message is lost in the business of being a clothing line?
A. My dear friend Marshall McLuhan said, “the medium is the message.” Perhaps in the case of the Imaginary Foundation, “the medium (or the XL) is the message.”
Q. What do you feel is the corner stone of why your brand appeals to both artist and shopping consumers?
A. Imagine all of society is in a car and that this car is backing up into the future. While there are some individuals with eyes fixed only on the ever-receding and less adequate securities of yesterday, there will always be those who want to look over their shoulder into the future. These are the people we are trying to reach with the Imaginary Foundation. And those are the people who are trying to reach us.
