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DESIGN INSPIRATION
Design is an intellectual process which goal is to give an esthetic soul to any type of object. The creative journey shows many similarities from our universe to another and delivers the same wonder whatever the support :; this is what we will illustrate here, exploring two very different pieces of creative work : a mythical sneaker and a piece of jewelry signed DFLY.
INSPIRATION : OPEN AND NURTURE
Back in 1987, during his visit in Paris, Tinker Hatfield, very respected designer at Nike, doesn’t see the same things as we do when he discover the breakthrough architecture of the brand new modern art museum of Paris, Beaubourg, signed Renzo Piano in the old Marais district. He doesn’t only see particolored full of giant tubes and other details evoking factories and power plants, he sees a sport shoes or more precisely details of it. His eyes focus on the transparent external stairs ; he thinks it would create magnificent air bags, as visible as the stairs, to embed the revolutionary cushioning technology that Nike and a Nasa engineer just invented. Nike Air 1 is born out of this revelation.
In the same spirit at DFLY, we are true passionate of design, giving it an artistic dimension. Our first collection isn’t inspired from architecture but from a unique and natural phenomenon, which is the trace left by the wind on sand and all the secrets embedded in the desert. Impossible to anticipate, desert wind, like Simoun in Sahara, creates its own lines on sand, in a totally random way, but always in a fluide and just beautiful way. Why not replicating this magic on a piece of jewel?
It is the act of Nature that our design Philippe Airaud has wonderfully translated in our very first jewelry line.
In the same spirit at DFLY, we are true passionate of design, giving it an artistic dimension. Our first collection isn’t inspired from architecture but from a unique and natural phenomenon, which is the trace left by the wind on sand and all the secrets embedded in the desert. Impossible to anticipate, desert wind, like Simoun in Sahara, creates its own lines on sand, in a totally random way, but always in a fluide and just beautiful way. Why not replicating this magic on a piece of jewel?
It is the act of Nature that our design Philippe Airaud has wonderfully translated in our very first jewelry line.
ADD ON AN INNOVATION THAT GIVES DEPTH
The magic created by an inspiring and well executed design takes off when a revolutionary technology is coupled with it.
In Nike’s case, the goal is to magnify the new cushioning technology invented by the NASA engineer and firstly adopted by Nike who smartly saw the extraordinary potential : Air under the athlete’s heel delivering comfort and protection, as well as an extra boost for the next stride. Tinker, thanks to his vision, makes it visible and real.
At DFLY, we see lab grown diamond, not only as an environment friendly solution, but also as an opportunity to work only with very valuable stones. Those Lab Grown diamonds are diamonds, recognized b international institutions, each stone is unique. Whereas valuable diamonds are getting rare under the earth compelling to go deeper and deeper, diamonds coming out of labs offers extraordinary gemmological characteristics. From a design standpoint, diamonds are placed like little rocks slightly hidden like in desert, and those reflect, just like in Nature, different shapes on each side of the jewel : an ‘oval’ shape and an ‘emerald’ shape facing each other.
THE ART OF AN ICONIC NAMING
At DFLY, we named the line Desert Oddity in reference to legendary David Bowie song SPACE ODDITY. It seemed interesting to add to desert this magical and totally random effect of wind on sand, Oddity reinforces this idea of strangeness.
As of NIKE AIR, the technology is in the name, Air evokes also the stride, which needs to be as light as possible.
EXPAND THE LINE THOROUGHLY
What makes it interesting once a great design is created is to keep the essence of the original in the next versions.
Nike managed to keep the sleek sport spirit across the visible air line despite the gigantic spectrum of the brand.
Our line is young, it is easier for us to avoid mistakes but the challenge is already on the table.
Beyond the Desert Oddity Bracelet, a ring and a pair of earrings complete the line. The spirit is there, the fluid lines and the two diamonds nestled like on the original bracelet. The earrings when worn give a tribal touch and thus is a reminder of Africa. The ring evokes an insect on the alert, nestled in the sand.
Cyril du CLUZEAU, co-fonder DFLY Jewelry, 15 years marketing communication Nike US/Europe