The Caribbean Aesthetic. A Conversation with Marlon Darbeau

"I think its ok to make what you want to make, where you make it. When you do it and for whom you do it." - Marlon Darbeau, Designer and Creative Director of AbovegroupOgilvy.

"I've never really had to consider ' The Caribbean Aesthetic'"

"I guess it's because I've never lived anywhere else. I've travelled to a couple places. Never been there long enough to heavily consider how it affects how I do things."

"The internet has had a very profound affect on how we see ourselves. What we do, how we create things of beauty. On mediums utilised, how we use them and even what we make."

"But for me it's about having insight.
Insight into yourself and insight into the space around you.
I think what is important is looking."

"I think it's based on your experiences and where you've been, and that in itself is a changing thing."

"For me I just try to make things based on how I experience things, how I see things and that aesthetic is based on my own eye sight."

left: Dishout, kitchen utensils right: Peera, designed by Marlon Darbeau

'Jazz on The Beach', set design

Do you think Trinidad has a brand?

"Yes I think Trinidad and Tobago has a brand but what we have to ask ourselves is "is it a brand that we like?"

"Is it a brand of value?"

"That value has to do with our perceptions of patriotism and economic value.
We haven't yet reached to the point of understanding how to maximize our brand."

Marlon is a collaborator at the Alice Yard art-space initiative. He comes from a family tradition of making things in a workshop that was at home or very close to home. He has become very interested in how those traditions intersect with his practice as a graphic designer, and in using this convergence to formulate ways of making his work.