SIR PAUL SMITH, THE MAN WITH A STORY

When you say Paul Smith, you say color. And stripes. Oh, and actually, you say Sir Paul Smith, because in 2000 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. Sir Paul Smith is the kind of man you know is very big and important, but only when you hear his story do you realize that what he does is truly special. At least, that was the case for me. Last week I heard him speak at the What Design Can Do conference and now I’m a fan.

First, a short history lesson. Paul was born in a small village in England where they had exactly one clothing store. When he turned 11, his father gave him a bicycle and it was love at first sight. It was cycling high and cycling low; he lived for cycling and a career as a professional cyclist was the absolute dream, he even left high school for it. But then he turned 17, had a serious car accident, had to rehabilitate in the hospital for three months, and saw a life as a top athlete slip away from him. When he was allowed to leave the hospital, he went for the first time to have a beer in a pub and met a whole bunch of art students. Their enthusiasm, passion, and love for artists like Piet Mondrian, Andy Warhol, and photographer David Bailey were infectious, and it was then that he decided, I want that too, I’m going to be a designer.

From village to Paris

That’s not so easy in a village where fashion is still a completely unknown phenomenon. Eventually, he finds a store where he can rent a few square meters at the back, completely out of sight of potential customers. Together with his girlfriend (now his wife, “we’re together for over a hundred years and I still love her”), he sells homemade clothing. Of course, Paul initially had no idea what he was doing, and it was his wife Pauline who taught him the tricks of the trade. She was a student at the prestigious Royal College of Art and taught him a lot, “I wouldn’t be here without my wife.” Those few square meters quickly became too small, and thanks to hard work and saving a lot, they were able to open a small shop in 1970. And then it goes fast, because just under six years later, he showcases his first Paul Smith collection in Paris. Now, in 2014, there are 14 different collections sold in 66 countries. Just Japan alone has 200 stores. 200!

“Het is mijn beste advies.”

You don’t get such a career just like that. It requires hard work first and foremost, but also a certain attitude towards life. “It’s all about balance, don’t worry about the rest. Someone has a bigger store than you? Doesn’t matter. Someone has a bigger car? Relax, it’s OK.” He found that balance in the early years by working hard from Monday to Thursday at a not-so-interesting job, so he could do what he loved, making clothes, from Friday to Sunday. “It’s my best piece of advice.”

But there’s more. He comes up with a list of one-liners that for the cynics among us (me, that is) initially seem like clichéd nonsense but secretly do have real meaning. To begin with, it’s vital to look around you. Look, really look, see something, notice things. He shows photos of a church in Florence and then an abstract pattern on a shirt that is now in his stores, and damn, when you have that church next to it, you understand where the pattern comes from. “Looking and seeing. You can find inspiration in everything, there’s so much around us all the time. If you can’t see it, you’re not looking properly.”

Neem nooit aan

“Make room to break the rules.” Don’t walk the beaten paths; others have already walked there. “You can’t do it without doing it,” you can think as hard as you want that you want something, but as long as you don’t actually execute it, nothing happens. “Do things which are right, not which are easy” and, very importantly, “never assume.” Never just assume that something ‘will be fine.’ Be sure that it will be fine.

When asked from the audience when he thinks he will retire, he laughs heartily. Until he can no longer walk is the answer. And that will take a while thanks to all that cycling, ‘I still got the legs of a teenager.“ Another question is why he has no shareholders. The company is still private while it could easily go public. In fact, it would only get bigger, Paul agrees. But, ”size isn’t everything. What’s everything is having a lovely day.“ And that’s just how it is.