No logo?

Now is the perfect time for Gulf designers to create their own local brand on a global scale.

Recently I’ve been re-reading No Logo, an exploration of corporate branding and identity by Canadian journalist Naomi Klein. For those of you unfamiliar with the book, Klein details how during the recession at the start of the 90s, big corporations such as Nike and Coca-Cola managed to leverage the idea that they sold a lifestyle, rather than a product. Instead of buying a training shoe, you were buying into the idea that you were an athlete with steely determination. Instead of a soft-drink, you were buying into the idea that you were discerning and ‘cool’.

You’ll note that Nike and Coca-Cola are massive brands today and pulled through that recession very successfully. So what has this got to do with interior design?

Great designers are the ones that consistently challenge perceptions. If we take architecture as an example, you can interpret someone like Frank Gehry or Jean Nouvel as a ‘brand’. You don’t just get ‘a design’ – you get a whole design ethos. They consistently challenge the status quo and defy expectations.

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Looking more deeply at brands, particular in the interiors sector, something stands out. Where are the Gulf-based brands? Where are the Gulf designers who are creating something new, rather than bringing in the latest designs from Europe and the US? Currently there aren’t many – which means the Gulf has massive potential to create really innovative design brands.

If making a great design brand rests on taking on challenges, there are really juicy ones for a local designer to get their teeth into. How do you combine the wealth of Arabic design tradition with the demands of modern Gulf life? How do you create something entirely new when you have very few local peers to compare yourself with?

There really hasn’t been a better time for a budding designer in the Gulf to create a local brand that can speak globally. It’s a golden opportunity to put into action the slogan of one of those superbrands Klein talks about – just do it.

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