6/14 Abbey Road & Lunch with Graham Fink

The next day we went to Abbey Road and did some Beatle-esqe posing. I feel bad for people that have to drive down that road ever day because they have to stop in the cross walk every single time a pedestrian walks through. That would not fly in Manhattan.

Then I was lucky enough to go out to lunch with Graham Fink who would be speaking to us that afternoon. Jess Bogart, Jillian, Bill and I met him at his office and then we walked through Golden Square to a Tapas restaurant. I LOVE tapas! Bill just seemed to order everything on the menu and we had a nice talk with Graham about Alan Fletcher and about how he got into the industry. He said he brought his portfolio to different agencies and never got a job even though they liked his work, and at one of the interviews the person said his book was horrible and told him to come back in two weeks with more work. This continued on for a while until his mentor finally told him he was ready to go out and get a job, and he did. He asked me why I wanted to go into advertising and I told him I wasn’t sure that I did. I still have a lot to figure out. He told me he always knew that’s what he wanted to do, but that it was ok if I wasn’t sure. I think every person has their own path and no one necessarily does it right or wrong, you just have to go with it and see where it takes you.

Later in the day we all met him at his office which had really cool graffiti drawings all over the lobby. Here are some words of wisdom from Graham Fink:
-“A thought is often original, though you have uttered it a hundred times. It has come to you in a new route, by a new express train of association.” (The Art School)
-Don’t try too hard, you need to stumble upon great work.
-When you take a break from it, you are able to let things in and get new ideas.
-“Only those with short term memory claim originality.” (CoCo Chanel-she had the idea to put women in trousers which revolutionized how we dress today.)
-Brutal simplicity of thought-it’s easier to complicate than simplify-in this century we need to be as simple as possible.
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