Grand Prix d’Horlogerie, Genève, Suisse
Just another post about Geneva!
This time, I took one of our most wonderful classes of students out to the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, where all the leading luxury brands of watchmaking and their respective families reunited.
It was an INSANE evening in terms of pedagocial experience, both in terms of teaching and learning, because it was the first time (in almost 4 years) that I have ever gone with students to any sort of event (in Geneva, Paris, Lyon, Lille, London, everywhere - I have sort of avoided it, bizarrely) and it was so good.
Teaching - Well, they loved it too! We had a great time and bonded over the whole thing, plus there was free champagne so, even better. More importantly, we lived a hands-on experience of how prizes are handed out to the best brands and their innovations and products, category by category, it was really exciting. While the actual production of the event left quite a lot to be desired (which is quite ironic, as we were in Switzerland, in Watchmaking, so the HEART of perfection, usually), it was apparently still a lot better than previous years. I hope I don’t offend anyone by saying this because it was still an amazing experience, and anyway what would I know? I am no Watchmaking expert! Everything was fantastically pretty, that’s all I can say.
Learning - As more of an expert on the Beauty, Cosmetics, Fashion, Hospitality, Events, PR and maybe Art and Culture industries, it was a real eye-opener for me to be surrounded by all these CEOs, CMOs, General Managers, Directors, and Watchmaking families that I have never heard of, let alone met. It is just proof that every single day we can always learn something new, and I love that. I also learnt that it is absolutely fine to socialise with one’s students, and if anything, should be encouraged (and I should encourage myself)!
Great experience. Seeing all the winners and learning about all the technical details of the watches was absolutely beautiful.
They are such a passionate industry.
Full of magic and precision.
Yet fiery and proud.
Reflect: With regards to the learning experience here, and how it could feed into my art practice, and even Study Statement, I realise that perfection really is impossible, and if ever we almost reach it in some way, it is in the eye of the beholder. Brands like Chanel, Dior, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, and many more, often strive for perfection in everything they do, and often could be seen as reaching it, for example on a runway or for a media campaign. However, in art, I do believe that this is almost the opposite of what we should be striving for. Perhaps perfection in the storytelling / “story-living” capacity to bring an idea to life, but definitely not perfection in the details - perfect lines, perfect edges, perfect everything. There needs to be excitement, mistakes, errors, mess, and more.
Plan: I already knew that I had to “undo” certain ways of thinking that I have - perfect presentations, perfect business plans, etc - but it is so much harder than I thought to undo this. I need to be very, very, very precise with my 60 week plan, and I need to follow it!
Act: Must move my ass. The earlier I start to think through the details, the better. I tend to leave things very last minute - and it works - but unlike how I often create entire weeklong workshops on luxury marketing or the history of perume, I feel that this Study Statement requires much deeper, introspective work, so that is what is going to happen BEFORE Christmas, and I have already started this week.
Observe: I will check with Jonathan, Martina, and maybe even Bobby, later down the line, but I am already checking out Eliza & Kate’s examples that Jonathan gave us, which are great.
Stayed tuned for more!
