Abstract: The Art of Design

This documentary series searches the proceess and the purpose of design arts at a very high level. It also cares about the people and artists it portrays, often digging into their personal lives. The subject matter and how they are portayed and explored are always impactful and worthwhile. The themes are applicable in the very minutae of the specific art sphere explored, bur also philosophic, personal, profound and open-ended to be applicable in life and daily thoughts.

Mostly, these are inspiring profesional stories and riveting information on the works and behind-the-scenes stories of some of the top innovators in their fields. These people are changing the world. Thank you for the series to put such a deserved spotlight on these worthile topics.

After 2 seasons, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi's 2 episodes and showrunner Morgan Neville's 3 episodes are stellar, but even a lesser episode is of high quality and insight. Learn about Architecture and Bio-Architecture and how Typecast is much more complicated than you probably think. What is Design FOR play and how can that possibly change our future? Watch Abstract: the Art of Design and with your family and friends to find lots to discuss and discover.

The ephemeral nature of the beauty we try to copy vs the lasting impression of experiencing the flow state of creative expression is the endearing and intriguing subject matter, one that the producers explore with varying levels of success.

The first one in the series is my personal favorite for the sheer brilliance of solving the impasse between the interests of toy manufacturers and the urgent need for gender neutral toys.

Highly recommended viewing.

Let's face it, these design episodes are meant to entertain rather than to provoke any intellectual thinking. Some designers are genuinely inspiring (such as Niemann and Devlin), it's just that the way the ideas are presented... it seems to tick all the boxes of clichés in terms of what people think of design. I'm sure if asked the right questions, some of the designers will be more illuminating.

The episode most fraught with clichés and posing? Hands down, Neri Oxman. All the superficial citations of well-known figures and mindless mentions of concepts and stories. And all the love for nature without remotely looking like she gives a d*mn about the conservation of it.

I went 30 years without a TV and one of the first shows on Netflix that I watched after getting one was Abstract. Very high quality designers were featured so I thought I'd found a show that I could turn to to watch on a regular basis. Then it was discontinued. I still lament that and wish that whoever was producing, directing, writing the show would do it again. There are so few options in the art and design field. If the powers that be are reading this, please know that you would have a following if enough time were given to the show to get the word out.

The show is excellent, is well directed and very well produced, but what I like the most is the very honest way to present the persons behind the work, they are not presented in typical PR or marketing way, they are presented as humans with some gifts and some struggles, their stories are truly inspiring mostly because are not fantastic or heroic, just because they are very human.