{"id":14911,"date":"2018-03-22T18:47:47","date_gmt":"2018-03-22T22:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/?p=14911"},"modified":"2018-03-22T18:47:47","modified_gmt":"2018-03-22T22:47:47","slug":"vision-seeker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sothebysrealty.ca\/insightblog\/fr\/2018\/03\/22\/vision-seeker\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Mau’s Larger Than Life Design Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

While scanning the headlines in today\u2019s political climate makes most people want to curl up into a ball, Bruce Mau believes there\u2019s no better time to be alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m what I call a fact-based optimist,\u201d says the world-renowned Canadian designer and innovator. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t that long ago that women were property, that people were property, that the likelihood of having [an] education, wealth or longevity was really low. Most people today have better access to education. They have better health and greater mobility and possibility than any other time in human history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mau is excited by the sentiment. That\u2019s because this Sudbury native has devoted a career spanning three-and-a-half decades to creating positive change in the world through design. For many people, the word itself conjures up images of things like cool graphics or luxury sofas. And though he has produced his share of conventional fare \u2014 everything from books and libraries to museums and concert halls \u2014 Mau\u2019s definition of \u201cdesign\u201d takes on a deeper meaning.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\u00ab\u00a0Design is leadership. It\u2019s the ability to envision a future and systemically execute that vision,\u201d he explains. (Mau once went so far as to develop a speculative layout for the holy city of Mecca.) \u201cThe quality of design is the quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it may sound extreme, Mau, 58, certainly has the experience to back up his bold design-is-life philosophy. Together with wife Bisi Williams, he runs Massive Change Network (MCN), a global design consultancy based in Chicago, where the couple live with their three daughters, ages 22, 19 and 17. Their clients run the gamut, from big corporations like Coca-Cola (MCN created a campaign in which empty plastic bottles were upcycled into designer chairs) to Arizona State University (the MCN team conceived an entirely new style of curriculum) to FreemanXP, an experiential marketing agency for which Mau serves as chief design officer.<\/p>\n

Recently, Mau curated and spoke at the inaugural Expo for Design, Innovation & Technology (EDIT), held in fall of last year in Toronto \u2014 a 10-day immersive event showcasing the latest innovations in health care, housing, education and food. The headline exhibit, \u201cProsperity for All,\u201d featured projects offering solutions to world issues such as pollution and gender equality; for context, Mau presented a contrasting selection of photographs portraying global conflict and struggle. It was an ideal post for Mau, whose M.O. has always been about changing the world for the better.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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In the early \u201980s, he co-founded Public Good Design, an agency deemed controversial at the time. \u201cRemember, this was before NGOs were big. We said we\u2019d only work on projects that make the world a better place. All these designers said, \u2018Who do you think you are? What makes you think you can choose to do only the things you want?\u2019 And I said, \u2018Why wouldn\u2019t I?\u2019\u201d recalls Mau with a laugh. He went on to launch Bruce Mau Design in 1985, where he took the creative helm until co-founding MCN in 2010.<\/p>\n

Mau\u2019s bold approach and steadfast belief in the power of design not only garnered him fame, it also opened up opportunities to collaborate with some of the most celebrated architects around the globe \u2014 Rem Koolhaas and Frank Gehry among them. One such alliance is a restoration project for the Los Angeles River, which flows 51 miles through urban L.A. To stop floods that had destroyed homes and property, the city initially opted for extreme measures \u2014 fill in the river with concrete, a solution in opposition to one of Mau\u2019s guiding principles that reminds us that humans are not above nature. He believes we have a responsibility to design an ecosystem that sustains us. \u201cWe worked with the [LA] River Corporation on redesigning the river as a functioning ecology and infrastructure. We helped them define a vision. Now they\u2019re working with Frank Gehry to implement it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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In addition to his myriad design projects and leadership roles, Mau has written or designed more than 200 books, including the celebrated architectural title S, M, L, XL<\/em>. His 1998 book, An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth<\/em>, still, to this day, has people talking and sharing its content. Comprised of 43 statements about Mau\u2019s creative process, the book went viral. The theories it espoused \u2014 such as: \u201cThink with your mind. Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.\u201d \u2014 are just as relevant today, 20 years post-publication.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Manifesto was really done in an intimate way, where I was looking at patterns in my own life,\u201d says Mau. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to be a hot designer for a few years. It\u2019s a different thing to manage a sustainable life over the long haul.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe free mind is so powerful, so rich with possibility. I\u2019ve had such an incredible life working with creative people. I worked with [famed sculptor] Claes Oldenburg \u2014 one of the most inventive minds you could ever imagine \u2014 who showed us that with a pencil and a piece of paper, you can change the world. That\u2019s the message, ultimately, that a free mind is what changes the world.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Mau is once again working to inspire others with a new book \u2014 MC24, in which he shares 24 design principles \u2014 scheduled for release this year in the fall. \u201cThe book will give anyone access to design thinking,\u201d he says. \u201cEspecially for non-designers, it gives them a way of thinking that will accelerate their work. [The principles] can be applied to any problem in life \u2014 work, community, government.<\/p>\n

In one example \u2014 \u201cFirst inspire\u2026lead by design.\u201d \u2014 Mau points out that a designer\u2019s principal job is to inspire. \u201cIt\u2019s not a side effect,\u201d he notes. \u201cAs a designer, you must move people to a new place. You can\u2019t make them do anything. You can\u2019t order or scold them. So much of the discussion about sustainability is about scolding. You\u2019re a bad person if you don\u2019t do this. Instead, follow the lead of [California automaker] Tesla, for example, who said, \u2018I\u2019m going to give you an experience that\u2019s so awesome you\u2019ll never want to drive anything else.\u2019 That is [leading] by design.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Helping others define their vision, or essentially problem-solve, is what provides Mau with the major rush he so often seeks. \u201cI just love problems,\u201d he says excitedly, adding that he\u2019s not afraid to make mistakes. \u201cFailure is a measure of creating new things. If you\u2019re always succeeding, [then] you\u2019re not innovating but just producing.\u201d He jokes, \u201cStress is the only thing that keeps me vertical. I\u2019m careful not to unwind.\u201d In reality, however, Mau swims in his Chicago home\u2019s heated pool multiple times each day as a way to decompress (\u201cIt\u2019s even more fun to do on a crisp, cold day!\u201d).<\/p>\n

He also loves exploring new cities, though he loathes the experience of flying. \u201cNo matter how much we charge people, we cannot deliver a beautiful travel experience. It has been so degraded [and] the design quality cannot get any worse,\u201d he laments, harking back to a time in the \u201950s when KLM provided fliers with a small booklet describing the journey. \u201cIt had a little envelope made of water paper for placing your fountain pen because it might leak. It is from an era of elegance and dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps solving travel woes should be his next big project? \u201cI\u2019d do it for free!\u201d Mau exclaims. \u201cI\u2019d love to do the airlines \u2014 it would be super-cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

By Shawna Cohen  – *This article originally appeared in INSIGHT: The Art of Living | Spring 2018<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Photos: Massive Change Network (MCN) ; Michael Buckner\/Getty Images<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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