I’m Josh Cooperman and this is the September 2024 installment of the Convo By Design Icon Registry featuring another absolutely incredible creative who appeared on the show not once, but I think this gentleman has been on the show 4 times over the past 11 years in every way possible. He has been on a panel, featured in an individual interview, been part of The Showroom series. He’s incredible. This months inductee is an amazing talent a gentleman and a friend. Timothy Corrigan.
I met Tim for the first time, I believe it was 2017. I went to his Los Angeles offices and we spoke about so many things and that is the episode I wanted to share with you today as we induct Tim into the Convo By Design Icon Registry. Somethings you should know about Tim. First, he is one heck of a person. He is one of those people you feel like you’ve known your whole life from the moment you meet him. Second, he already had a stellar career before design in the advertising industry. He led international operations for Saatchi & Saatchi’s Bates Worldwide prior to opening his eponymous design firm in 1998. For reference, Bates Worldwide, in 1998, had billings in excess of $7.7B and operations in 70+ countries with 156+ offices.
One of the interesting things Tim and I talked about was the Bates Worldwide concept of the USP. Unique Selling Proposition. A concept you see offered everywhere but rarely understood. The idea is that wherever there is competition, one must find the differentiator, the thing that makes them stand out. Something that none else offers. That idea that competitively sets you apart. That others in the field don’t offer. There is far more to the concept but in a world where every designer is an “award winning” designer, Tim allows the work to override the accolades. The irony is not lost on me. To be talking about how it’s not about the accolades, while bestowing accolades, the point is that Ti has always understood his USP, he launched his firm knowing what he wanted, while perhaps not sure how he was going to do it, stayed true to himself and the work and accolades followed. Tim is strong willed, sure of his design ideas and doesn’t seem to have anything to prove. Another reason why I am so fond of Tim Corrigan and so happy to install him as this months inductee to the CXD Icon Registry.
Thank you, Tim for taking the time and the willingness to share your story. Congratulations on your addition to the Convo By Design Icon Registry. Thank you for listening and subscribing to the show. Thank you to my partner sponsors Design Hardware, ThermaSol, TimberTech, Monogram and Pacific Sales. these are amazing partners all, they support the trade and I love sharing these amazing resources with you. Thanks again for listening, until next week, be well and take today first. – CXD
This episode of The Design Messengers is dedicated to an original in the field of design. Someone who has earned their reputation for the amazing work they do. This individual has been on Convo By Design in the past, I believe three times in different ways; As a solo guest, a multi-guest episode and on a panel I produced at the WestEdge Design Fair. Have you heard the story of Timothy Corrigan and Arch Digest? You probably have by now, if not in his Instagram feed, then perhaps through Business of Home who did an absolutely wonderful job covering this. If you have not heard this story yet, check the show notes for a link to the BoH story. Honestly, I can’t tell it any better than Fred Nicolaus executive editor@BOH did.
To synopsize, Tim worked on Sofia Vergara’s home in the Los Angeles suburb of Beverly Park. He worked on this project for years. His firm was replaced, for whatever reason with that of O’Hara Davies-Gaetano. Davies-Gaetano is another alum of Convo By Design. She has been on the show and I think that she too is a very talented designer. So, far so good, no problem. Clients and creatives part ways all the time. Enter @ArchDigest …The 800 pound gorilla in our industry. They publish the project and in the original piece, there is no mention of Corrigan’s work despite much of the specified material and architectural detail of Corrigan’s firm present in the final project. Corrigan called BS and had lawyers send a letter of complaint to AD which I have not read but which did result in a digital version correction and I would not be surprised to see a carefully worded correction in the next print edition. I am glad that they are doing this but to be frank with you, it is not only unfortunate that this happened but it was entirely avoidable. How?
The trade publications have slashed editorial staff over the past decade.
The contributors who are writing these stories are not, in most cases, trained journalists but instead, content producers who work off subject provided information and push the stories out fast. In many cases working on multiple projects for the same publication or in some cases freelancing for other outlets.
There are no real journalistic standards for our industry. There should be.
With the proliferation of social media, idea theft runs rampant, claims made are not checked and because there is so much content pushed out, it would take an army to do it.
I do not think there are any villains here. I think there are a number of players involved in this story that are overworked, overstimulated by social media content, driven to push out any celebrity driven story as fast as they can because that is what they believe their audience wants to see. I have issues with Architectural Digest and some other other industry pubs but AD in particular. Years ago, Architectural Digest published a piece on AD Pro that misattributed Convo By Design to another company. Check the show notes for a link, if it gets taken down by the time you hear this, email me and let me know so I can publish a screen shot to our IG feed. I reached out to AD’s contributor the week it happened. That was in October of 2019 and they still haven’t fixed it as of this recording.
Corrigan handled this the way it should have been handled. But let’s be honest about this… Were it a lesser designer, they most likely would have been ignored. I also think that what Tim did was incredibly brave. There could be ramifications, you just never know. My hope is that the folks at the shelter publications,if they do believe strongly in our industry and who do, in fact make our industry better will use this experience to strengthen their journalistic practices. I would like to see all the trade pubs use trained journalists with a focus on design and architecture to write. That is not always the case. But, if it were, they could catch some of these inconsistencies well in advance of publication. And, if errors are made, which happen all the time because we humans a fallible and we journalists do make mistakes, once discovered, should have practices in place to correct the issue to the very best of their ability. We will see if this happens in this case. What does that mean… To the best of one’s ability. If I am being honest with you, I think there is far more that AD can do, I feel like in this case, they have thus-far done the bare minimum. You might ask, “like what, Josh?”. Great question. I did a bit more digging, and checked out AD’s YouTube channel. The Sofia Vergara project video remains on the channel, as of this recording on March 15th, it has just over 6 million views and absolutely no reference to Tim Corrigan. Sofia mentions O’Hara at least three times but there is no mention of Corrigan, his work or his influence on this project. There is no mention of him in the description
nor in any credits. There is no credit to O’Hara in the credits either which I found odd. I think it speaks to the lack of formal guidelines in media production and project credit attribution.
Something else to consider, as machine learning continues to gain traction in every industry but specially ours, an algorithm would not know to credit Corrigan for his work on this project and in all future inquiries submitted through AI bots, he would never get credit for his work. This should trouble every single designer, architect, maker and brand from the biggest to the smallest. There should be rules, there should be standards. It would also stand to reason that the biggest players in the space from media to brands would act as thought leaders in this regard.
In an effort to help be part of the change, I would like to share a past episode of Convo By Design as it relates directly to this very issue.
Episode 175, recorded in 2017 and published in 2018 called, Intellectual Right for Creative Types features Emile Nicolau, an IP attorney I worked with at Playboy along with Wendy Posner and Gary Gibson is a fantastic opportunity to hear about the ins and out of IP rights as they affect the design community.
The link to this episode is in the show notes. At the end of the day and through this episode you will learn that regardless of the IP or attribution issue, as a professional in any industry but specifically the design and architecture industry you can choose to defend your rights. You can also choose not to. But make no mistake, that is a choice and nobody is going to do it for you. If you see something that doesn’t make sense, say something. Those on the shelter media side, you have a choice as well. Do you make it right, or not? And that is a choice, one that should not be decided based on the size and experience of the creative, nor on wether or not they have an attorney but instead, is it the right thing to do. If you made a mistake, own it. Thank you, Tim for forcing this issue. Your actions have once again made the industry better than it was when you arrived.
Thank you for listening to Convo By Design. If you have questions or comments on this issue or any others, please email me, convobydesign@outlook.com. Until next time, be well and take today first. – Convo By Design
Source: All above mentioned source material was acquired from the internet on March, 15, 2024.
I’m Josh Cooperman and this is Convo By Design. Technically its Convo By Design, in reality, this is another episode of Kyle Bunting & Friends…. If you heard this last week and you think it’s a repeat, it’s not. Keep listening.
A few months ago, you heard an episode of Convo By Design featuring Fern Santini, Lauren Rottet and Jan Showers. That episode included and was orchestrated by Kyle Bunting. Kyle and I have gotten to know each other a little bit since he was on the show and we were talking one day and this idea just came up, got legs, sprouted wings and before I knew what happened, Kyle offered to put this all-star panel together for an episode to be featured on the CXD spinoff, Lone Star House of Design.
It sounds kind of complicated, it’s really not. You can check all of the previous podcast episodes on your podcast source of choice and find everything previously referenced. Back to the story. While Kyle and I were talking after the episode with Lauren, Jan and Fern aired, I mentioned his collar with another CXD alum, Timothy Corrigan and Kyle was like… “I have an idea.” What is about to follow, in 2 episodes because it could not be packaged into one, is an incredible 2-part conversation about European rugs, collaborations, artistry in hide and a history of rug making.
This is part two of our conversation. This expands on what you’ve heard previously and showcases the history and significance of each piece referenced in the Chateau Collection. Everything from Aubusson to Savonnerie. You are going to hear about the origins of the Polonaise, delicate detail of the Boule as well as custom creations like the Empire and Moderne. This is a deep dive into color ways, replacing metallic silks with Hyde to produce a finished product that has the glimmer of polished steel. Coloring that breathes depth into the pattern.
So, this Kyle Bunting & Friends concept is pretty cool and I think you’re going to dig it. Speaking of that…Are you subscribing to the podcast, if not, please do so you get every episode automatically when they are published. You can find Convo By Design everywhere you find your favorite podcasts and now, you can find us on DesignNetwork dot Org, a destination dedicated to podcasts, all things design and architecture so make sure to check it out.
Thank you, Tim and Kyle, for being a part of this. I am so fortunate to have friends like you. I really enjoyed our time together and love the collection. Thank you Walker Zanger and ThermaSol for your partnership. And, thank you for listening and subscribing to the podcast. Keep those emails coming convo by design at Outlook dot com. Adding the word “pleasure” to our architectural aspirations will make life better for all who choose to embrace this idea. See if you can add this word to what you do every day and see what happens. I am looking forward to seeing you again in person at a design event near you very soon. Until then, be well and take today first.
This is Convo By Design. Technically, its Convo By Design… in reality, this is another episode of Kyle Bunting & Friends. A few months ago, you heard an episode of Convo By Design featuring Fern Santini,Lauren Rottet and Jan Showers. That episode included and was orchestrated by Kyle Bunting. Kyle and I have gotten to know each other a little bit since he was on the show and we were talking one day and this idea just came up, got legs, sprouted wings and before I knew what happened, Kyle offered to put this all-star panel together for an episode to be featured on the CXD spinoff, Lone Star House of Design.
It sounds kind of complicated, it’s really not. You can check all of the previous podcast episodes on your podcast source of choice and find everything previously referenced. Back to the story. While Kyle and I were talking after the episode with Lauren, Jan and Fern aired, I mentioned his collar with another CXD alum, Timothy Corrigan and Kyle was like… “I have an idea.” What is about to follow, in 2 episodes because it could not be packaged into one, is an incredible 2-part conversation about European rugs, collaborations, artistry in hide and a history of rug making.
This is part one of our conversation. You are going to hear about partnerships, European rugs by type and the process by which Timothy Corrigan imagined his Chateau Collection and Kyle set out to create it. This is a soon-to-be classic tale of creator/ designer and artist/ craftsman working together to produce something exquisite, delicate in appearance but durable, an heirloom quality rug made from the earliest of sourced materials.
So, this Kyle Bunting & Friends concept is pretty cool and I think you’re going to dig it. Speaking of that…Are you subscribing to the podcast, if not, please do so you get every episode automatically when they are published. You can find Convo By Design everywhere you find your favorite podcasts and now, you can find us on DesignNetwork dot Org, a destination dedicated to podcasts, all things design and architecture so make sure to check it out.
Thank you, Tim and Kyle, for being a part of this. I am so fortunate to have friends like you. I really enjoyed our time together and love the collection. Thank you Walker Zanger and ThermaSol for your partnership. And, thank you for listening and subscribing to the podcast. Keep those emails coming convo by design at Outlook dot com. Adding the word “pleasure” to our architectural aspirations will make life better for all who choose to embrace this idea. See if you can add this word to what you do every day and see what happens. I am looking forward to seeing you again in person at a design event near you very soon. Until then, be well and take today first.
The reason I love doing this podcast as much as I do is because of the amazing people I meet along the way. It’s as simple as that. In this episode of the show you are going to hear from three amazing designers and tremendous people; Michael Berman, Timothy Corrigan, and Genevieve Trousdale. The setting is WestEdge Design Fair and the top is mentorship. I have had the great fortune of interviewing each of them separately but I wanted them on stage so you could hear the story about the connection that binds the three of them together. This is a story about learning, teaching, sharing and collaborating. One of the greatest gifts that come from teaching is what the teacher learns from the student. This is story is very much about that.
That’s a wrap on this episode of Convo By Design. Thank you, Genevieve, Michael, and Timothy. Thank you WestEdge Design Fair for making a public forum possible. Thank you, Walker Zanger, for your support and most of all, thank you for listening. Were it not for you, there would be no Convo By Design. Until next week, keep creating.