Your name: David Grant
What you do: Creative Director and producer of bespoke events for people who “get it”
Your latest project: Currently working on events for Hermes, Marie Claire, News Limited, Westfield, The Magic Millions Racing Festival and The London Olympic Games.
What first inspired you to be an Event Producer? I like to live vicariously and be the “invisible hand” behind the scenes. I love the temporal nature of events and their ability to let you use your imagination in an innovative, challenging, strategic and fun way – creating something in your mind that is realised, happens then is gone the next day – probably the curse of a vivid mind and a short attention span.
How/why did you choose the medium/format you work in? Since my childhood I always had an entrepreneurial spirit and staged the best parties, happenings, school shows, parades, to delight of family and friends. In my 20s, all my diverse career choices suddenly came together and I just fell into doing events full time as a “proper job” rather than a hobby.
What do you believe the role of design is in the modern world? To inspire and delight people, to intrigue and stimulate them even when they may not exactly get it. To be audacious and brave. Beauty, emotional engagement and an aesthetic enhance people’s lives, our community and culture, and without them we’re simply just existing – not living.
Who are three people that inspire/excite you:
1) my children because their generation really have no preconceptions, prejudices and self-censorship – they embrace the new and the different and expect things to change and evolve daily – the perfect mantra for an exciting and creative popular culture.
2) anyone – not necessarily famous – who tries something new with flare and style, regardless of conventional wisdom and the discouragement of mediocre thinkers.
3) daggy – but my parents – hard working, normal, creative and artistic in their own ways.
What is your creative philosophy?
Push the boundaries, blaze a trail, dream BIG, never repeat yourself, don’t settle for “good enough” and go hard or die trying.
What does the term ‘Design Hunter’™ mean to you?
Someone who embraces the new, who appreciates creative thought, someone that sees the style and innovation in everything whether they personally like it or not, and someone who doesn’t just settle for what’s now or here but goes out and creates with endless forward momentum.
What is your favourite…
travel destination: New York
hotel/place to stay: Its a tie – AmanKila, Bali, Hotel Cipriani, Venice
periodical: Monocle
luxury goods company: Hermes
design classic: Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Kentuck Knob” House in Pennsylvania
new design: The new Porsche Panamera
type of chair: Its still hard to go beyond the Eames Lounge
meal: Pepper Steak
restaurant: The Ivy, London
drink: Brandy and Coke
gallery/museum: The Zulu War Battlefields, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
book: God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens
item in your studio/office: My desk – which is my Great Great Grandfather’s dining room table
artwork: A Dale Frank in my dining room
artist: it changes weekly as new artforms, genres and people emerge
piece of technology: anything that plays a podcast or audio book
Photography: David Gubert