Shubhankar Ray On The Prouvé RAW: Office Edition

WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo

As the global brand director for G-star RAW, Shubhankar Ray finds new ways for the denim brand to communicate. He shares his views on creativity and collaboration.

Shubhankar Ray has helped to reinvent numerous brands, including Camper, Levi’s and Caterpillar. We love his recent project in his current role as global brand director for denim brand G-star RAW, the Prouvé RAW: Office Edition. The collection, which is in its second edition, sees G-star RAW collaborate with Swiss furniture manufacturer Vitra to revive a series of furniture and lighting originals designed by Jean Prouvé in the 1940s for the offices of major French industrial companies. We caught up with him to chat about the collaboration.

How did the project come about?

We were looking for furniture for our offices, and we asked Vitra whether we could redesign some vintage Prouvé pieces and have them produce 2 500 units. They introduced us to Jean Prouvé’s daughter, Catherine Prouvé, who’s the trustee of her father’s estate. Then they proposed we look at making an actual collection of some of the iconic Prouvé pieces and release them at a much more accessible price than one would pay for the vintage pieces.

How did you make three such strongly identifiable brands collaborate?

You have to have common goals. The commonality between Vitra and G-star is that the philosophical goal is to make products of high functional and aesthetic life expectancy. This is also true of when Prouvé designed his furniture in the thirties and forties; it was meant to be utilitarian and democratic furniture.

What is your view on creativity in the 21st century?

True 21st-century creativity and innovation is like a system. Systems work because they’re a combination of different elements – like a band, everybody’s got an instrument to play. Everybody’s got to be creative and collaborate for it to work.