(De)signs of the times: Morgan Neville launches new Netflix series on brilliant creatives

The Oscar-winner executive produces Abstract: The Art of Design; directs episode on Christoph Niemann

note: this piece has been updated with additional quotes and images from the artists

One of the things that separates us from the world of our ancient ancestors -- the nomads and cave dwellers of prehistory -- is design. To them design probably amounted, if anything, to shaping tools to hunt, cook and eat. Perhaps someone in the tribe displayed a flair for cutting animal skins into clothing, creating the first scoop neck tunic or proto-jerkin.

Today, we are immersed in design. We could not escape it unless we retreated to the caves. Almost everything we see and touch has been mediated through a designer's eye -- advertising, text, bed linen, shoes, magazine covers, tennis rackets, cars, computers, cell phones, buildings, lampshades, chairs.

Despite its significance in our lives, design remains an undervalued or even disparaged art, perhaps because of its ubiquity. Designers are supposed to be engaged in something merely craft-like or crassly commercial. Yet observe a piece of Bakelite from the 1930s or 40s, for instance -- or better yet, hold it -- and you appreciate the transformative potential of design.
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In the best moments what happens is that design celebrates the world.

  --Christoph Niemann, graphic artist

The new Netflix series Abstract: The Art of Design, executive-produced by Morgan Neville, may go some ways to improving our understanding and appreciation of design. Each of the eight episodes is devoted to a single individual: Es Devlin (stage design); Bjarke Ingels (architecture); Paula Scher (graphic design); Ilse Crawford (interior design); Ralph Gilles (automotive design); Platon (photography); Tinker Hatfield (athletic shoe design), and graphic designer Christoph Niemann.

Graphic designer Christoph Niemann, in a scene from an episode of "Abstract: The Art of Design." Morgan Neville is executive producer of the Netflix series and he directed the Niemann episode. Photo courtesy Netflix

The series releases on Netflix today (Friday), after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January. 

Part of the pleasure of the series is to observe the work of these designers. But they also prove gifted at speaking about design as a whole, and to encapsulate the abstract nature of their creative vision.

"We really went out of our way to find people who not only did great work but who could articulate something about that great work," Neville told Nonfictionfilm.com at Sundance. At the festival Neville unveiled an episode of the series that he directed himself, focusing on Niemann, an artist with an extraordinary gift for translating reality into symbolic form. 

Two graphic designs by Christoph Niemann

"Christoph is an amazing advocate for his art. He’s so articulate," Neville said of the Berlin-based designer. Below are quotes from some of the designers featured in Abstract: The Art of Design, with some samples of their work.
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My goal is to speak visuals like a pianist speaks piano.

  --Christoph Niemann, graphic artist

Two more images by Christoph Niemann. The one at right is from his Instagram account AbstractSunday.

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The abstraction for me is this idea of getting rid of everything that's not essential to making a point.

  --Christoph Niemann, graphic designer

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Ultimately design is a tool to enhance our humanity. It's a frame for life.

  --Ilse Crawford, interior designer

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Ilse Crawford's design for Duddell's Arts Club. Photo via studioilse.com

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We spend 87-percent of our lives inside buildings. How they are designed really affects how we feel, how we behave.

  --Ilse Crawford, interior designer

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Typography is painting with words.

 --Paula Scher, graphic designer

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Two of Paula Scher's designs. (Top) the logo for the Highline in New York City. (Right) Typeface for the Public Theater in NYC.

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You have to be in a state of play to design.

  --Paula Scher, graphic designer

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Great design simplifies a very complicated world.

 --Platon, photographer

Two photographs by Platon. The one of President Obama is from his ongoing series on politicians. The image at right is for an advertising campaign for the eyewear company Cutler and Gross. Images via platonphoto.com

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The camera is nothing more than a tool.

  --Platon, photographer

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A vehicle can have a face. Or a mask. It has to impart a soul.

  --Ralph Gilles, automobile designer

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Two designs by Ralph Gilles and his team at Fiat Chrysler. Above is the Chrysler ecoVoyager concept vehicle; at right is the 2013 Dodge SRT Viper

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Everything should be art.

  Ralph Gilles, automobile designer

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Empathy is the cornerstone of design.

  --Ilse Crawford, interior designer

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Ilse Crawford's interior design at retail locations for Aesop, a skin and beauty products company. Photos via studioilse.com

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Abstraction is for me probably the most important concept of art.

  --Christoph Niemann, graphic artist

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New Yorker covers are the biggest deal for an illustrator, I think.

  --Christoph Niemann, graphic artist

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Two New Yorker cover illustrations by Christoph Niemann, from 2011. One references the immigration debate, the other the nuclear disaster at Fukushima.