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.

Island Identity...On Caribbean or Island Aesthetic with Katinka Bukh

Katinka Bukh is the Director for katbukh design ltd.

She was formerly a Creative Director for Abovegroup, Trinidad.
Business Relations and Strategy Care part of position.
Abovegroup is now partnered up with Ogilvy and now called AbovegroupOgilvy.

Does the term 'Caribbean' or 'Island Aesthetic' mean anything to you 

and if so what?

As a Danish Creative Director having worked in Trinidad for a year

I found that ..

Its a small world containing a lot of worlds.

I had almost no knowledge about the Caribbean. But somehow I felt that since I'm from a small place myself - an island in fact :) - it was not to different, from a human perspective.

From a design perspective it was very different. Mostly because the confusion about what a local expression should look like. And what good design is.

Essentially there are two things I feel drive the creative process towards finding that answer in the region - its curiosity and diversity.

You can't create good design without being curious. Almost nosy in fact. You have to know everything about anything- everywhere. That makes a good designer. Cause inspirations comes from all places.

There is a sense, I feel, that there is .. a shame in looking towards other countries in the quest of finding a visual Caribbean identity. I don't agree. We all have to look in and outwards to find great answers to great questions. And we all leave our mark.

So everything coming out of the Caribbean is already Caribbean, being it good or bad.

And it leads me to the energy which springs out of the diversity that exist here. There is such a strong presence in a island cause it is by nature isolated. So here we are - close together with a distant dream of other places beyond the horizon. We are all coming from somewhere else, even it's generations ago. Its a strong history to share. I think being a young nation matters a lot. But it matters in a good way. There is no set way of doing things. There is a lot of pioneering.

New ways to be discovered. And a will to do it.

As a European having worked in three countries I dont know anymore if I'm a 'danish designer'. Where does inspiration come from? I know what my cultures aesthetic past is - for better and for worse, but does that make me that? For me its not so important anymore, because I feel as a part of the globalisation having worked in 3 countries with people from all over the world.

But when I'm in Denmark I can see it is important because its the visual clothes we wear. How we make things look tells a story about who we are. To each other and the rest of the world.

I cant wait to see more art, fashion, design, branding etc coming out of the cracks and corners of the Caribbean.

And I feel happy and privileged being a small part of that world.

Katinka Bukh