Structure & Form
In my last post I wrote about product merchandising as a vehicle of storytelling. the point is a trifecta between product, brand, and creative. Read that here.
Ash Nelson Things is a multidisciplinary practice designed to explore creativity and preserve [a form of] cultural heritage through strategy, writing and design. Poised to the beat of music, fashion and culture. These are my first half ‘show notes’ for 2025.
All of my research and frameworks amount to this North Star. Exploring the vocabulary of duality within my practice. For starters.
Strategy is the first creative act.
Milestone #1: Building a brand management framework of my own, philosophically. This is my model for the development of independent, cultural brands. A niche, self-sustaining ecosystem rooted in specialized craftsmanship (blog post).
Keywords:
niche = a repository of specific knowledge. The domain of the curator. A source of inspiration for wider trends.
ecosystem = a ‘self-contained Universe’. Give them context (place) and something bigger to believe in
craft = steward of creative and artistic tradition. Indicator of political and social change.
The next layer is world building. Developing a ‘self-contained Universe’ of my own distinctive will. While documenting the tactical process to build on my philosophy. My design practice through strategy, writing and visuals. Expressed as a utopia. Exploring the concept of duality across a few contexts (within my personal practice).
Milestone #2: Brand bible. We need more stories.
My argument for cultural brand strategy comes from the ways I’ve rubbed up against creative & analytical, with special care for the zeitgeist (blog post).
So, what in particular about this moment?
Fluid identities where new myths emerge to fill in the blanks opened up by contradiction. Reassessing the systems we rely on given the past few years of uncertainty (2024 Trend Report).
The modern lifestyle brand demands total immersion. The experience is in its details. Focus on niche, bespoke experiences (2025 Notes on Luxury).
Redefining creativity. The mainstream is fringe and the fringe is mainstream (Gioia 2024).
INTERREGNUM: An interval or pause between two periods of office or other things. A period when normal government is suspended, especially between successive reigns or regimes (Bentley 2025). Chaos in creation. A time to shape culture and usher in new models.
Forms like strategy and design are key sites of cultural production and change in contemporary society (Dunne and Raby 2013). A step further, they act as methods of taste-making through curation. “The possession of a definite distinction between what you like and what you don’t” (Freestone 2022).
Design is having a dialogue about why you’re making certain decision (Abloh 2018). Architects [for example] solve problems in a very structured way. That same logic works analogous to every aspect of culture. Focus on providing good design as a humanitarian effort.
This is the part where I let go to follow my aesthetic instinct. A platform starting with the premise of using design to imagine future possibilities. Rooted in the iconoclast.
Milestone #3: Developing personal design language (semiotics).
So, for starters – establishing my ethos, establishing my threads, exploring and documenting my creativity with consideration of these contexts.
Keywords:
practice = 1) improving at something 2) a philosophy
cultural anthropology = cultural anthropology is distinct because of its emphasis on participant observation.
field notes = detailed observations and records taken during research, particularly in fields like anthropology, sociology, biology and other disciplines that require direct observation.
iconoclast = term originates from the historical practice of destroying religious icons or images (Wikipedia). Willingness to challenge established norms.
References:
The Creative Class = a key driving force of economic development of post-industrial cities in the United States. Their economic function is to create meaningful new forms (Florida 2002). Urban-based and made of creators, curators, critics, etc. Play an important role in the modern aspiration economy (Andjelic 2024).
Dystopian and utopian fiction = subgenres that explore social and political structures.
Strategy as seduction. Turning business habit into pleasure. Venus (goddess/planet) taught the art of seduction to mortal men and women.
For strategists building iconic brands.
Milestone #4: Origin Story
