David Nott with his textile artwork (pic: Terry Murden)
A new luxury retailer in Edinburgh is the latest to commission an artist to promote brand value, writes TERRY MURDEN
They say Princes Street is past its best and looking for someone to give it a much-needed lift. Look a little closer among the tired shop units and there are some nuggets of real quality that prove Edinburgh’s most famous thoroughfare ain’t done yet.
An upmarket hotel occupies number 100, Jenners is getting a major makeover, and now luxury Swiss watch-maker IWC Schaffhausen has moved into a unit at the junction with Frederick Street, selling timepieces for five-figure sums, some of them made in small numbers to ensure their scarcity value and attract the collectors.
Complementing the engineering and design excellence on show is an artwork by 32-year-old US artist David Nott who has produced a woven version of one of the company’s prized ranges, hanging on a wall to provide a focal point for the new shop.
He is among a modern breed of artist now working alongside the world’s top brands creating art to help them reach customers. His wall hangings sell for about $10,000 and have become highly sought after. He has worked with a number of luxury brands, including car manufacturer Bentley and the handbag company Burberry.
“For me it’s always luxury brands. IWC is focused on precision, so it felt like a natural fit,” he says, mindful of his own status as an upcoming artist mingling among the fashion-conscious consumers. IWC has partnerships with the Mercedes Formula 1 team and brand ambassadors such as Lewis Hamilton and the film composer Hans Zimmer. Its products also made an appearance in the recent F1 movie starring Brad Pitt.
Explaining the link with the corporate elite, he says: “Brands need things that are intriguing to people. These companies may have a lot of worth, but to make people care you have to make them pay attention. Everyone knows what Burberry does, but the product needs to entice people.
“Brands have used celebrities for endorsement and now they are turning to artists, particularly those whose work is in demand. It creates intrigue and an association with quality.”
Attending the new store’s opening, along with IWC chief executive Christoph Grainger-Herr, he reveals that he came close to not being able to complete the work.
“I fell while skateboarding and broke my collar bone,” he says, pulling back his t-shirt to reveal a 12-inch scar. “The bone snapped in half. Then a few hours later my wife went into labour with our first child.” The accident meant he missed the birth.
His face breaks into a guilty smile. “She was nice to me in the moment, but I’m sure it was incredibly difficult for her, he says. Adding to the parental crisis, he was worried he would miss the IWC deadline and be unable to finish work for other clients he had lined up, particularly as it involves using a two-handed tufting gun.
“The surgeon told me he’d be able to fix the shoulder in a week, and he was right,” says Nott, relieved that it was not an injury that would force him to give up his artistic ambitions.
As a schoolboy he developed a talent for creating portraits and other works by dots. He was diagnosed as ADHD and says that what began with doodling actually helped him concentrate when in class. At college he would spend several hours per day on new portraits.
His ‘dotting’ pieces of well-known people were turned into stickers which he sold to a retailer for 30 cents a time and managed to earn enough to set himself up for a career in art.
He says that before the internet it would have been “impossible” to operate from the small village near Boston where he still lives.
“Like many people I can now operate from anywhere,” he says. “It has killed off the old idea of the starving artist.”
PERSONAL CHECKLIST
Residence: Boston, US
Age: 32
Education: studied graphic design
Mentors and associates?
Nick Hernandez, a sculptor, has become a close friend. We speak every day, though it’s always through the internet. We have never met.
Rick Oostenbroek is the closest person to a mentor.
Did you consider another career?
I was a sponsored skateboarder. It could have been a career move but I began to get scared when pushing myself.
Who would you invite to a fantasy lunch meeting?
Daniel Arsham, a US artist based in Miami
Weeknd who I’ve been a fan of for some time.
Kurt Cobain whose music I heard as a young energetic kid.
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