The Genius of Riccardo Tisci

For a packaging project we're currently working on, I decided to base my design off of a perfume box. The point of the project is to package something intangible, and be able to sell the package, without there being anything inside of it. While looking at some perfume boxes, one link led to another and I stumbled across the work of Riccardo Tisci. He's a fashion designer, but between his life and his career I found him to be extremely inspirational.

Riccardo was born in Taranto, Italy, and attended London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, and worked for companies like Puma, Coccapani, Ruffo Research before working for Givenchy's men section. He gets inspiration from his home, which is mythologically associated with marines and mermaids.

I find a lot of his life more inspirational than the work itself, however. Living in a smaller town in Ontario, it's somewhat difficult to find inspiration, as terrible as that sounds. Living in the same place my whole life makes it a little difficult to find anything that will get the creative gears going. Riccardo inspired me to look into the history of my city, which proved very interesting!

The other aspect of his life that stuck with me was that when he was offered the position as head of men's wear at Haute Couture (Givenchy), he almost declined. However, his mother called him to tell him that she was selling the house and moving into a retirement home in order to support her daughters, who were having financial difficulties. Heartbroken, he took the job and helped her stay at home, sacrificing his dream of starting his own fashion line, and helping his loved ones in need.

Though not on the same scale as his situation, I find inspiration in his ability to put others before him despite his desires, and did what he had to do. Though I enjoy graphic design, it is my ultimate goal to help my parents for all of the good they have done for me over the years. Riccardo learned a lesson in selflessness (very loose term considering how much the guy makes, but money does not make people happy, right?) and did something he didn't want to do in order to help someone he loves, and I hope I can do the same if necessary.

I realize in hindsight this blog was barely design related. Whoops.