Retooling During the Downturn—Lessons in Personal Branding at MEET.

We caught up with Stefan Boublil this past Monday at MEET’s First Monday coworking sessions for some lessons in personal branding. Stefan as the owner of the New York based multi-disciplinary design firm—the Apartment—has had his hand in all sorts of gigs, from helping developing the urban relaxation sanctuary YELO, to running a mayoral campaign for a fictitious political candidate under the banner of “the democratization of design” for the ICFF in 2003. Naturally we wondered what made him tick.

Stefan shared his experience as a French ex-patriot in New York City. He came to the city in 1989 to learn film making at NYU. After graduating and finding himself unable to break into film industry Stefan turned to the inspirations surrounding him—outfitting his surroundings with designed objects from France and all around. This inspiration eventually evolved into the apartment—a high concept experiential retail store that transformed living space into a store.

Every piece in the Apartment was filled with objects that Stefan had personally curated and was arranged, not in the fashion of a typical retail space but rather as they would be used in a functional living space. The space is currently redesigned as a creative corporate meeting space: MEET.

As good ideas beget good collaborators and clients, Stefan found himself approached by individuals who looked to him to design functional and inspirational living and working spaces. By centering his practice in his own personal authenticity he found a new practice in curating experiences. This, he found to be informed by his natural curiosity and wonder in narrative—distilling life experiences into stories, and finding the connections between our personal stories and the objects that we engage ourselves with in our lives.

Consulting for Velocity—a residential development in Hoboken, NJ—Stefan was able to reframe communications from a focus on $/sq ft to a narrative about family, community and belonging. The project consisted of interior and communications design, but most notably an intrigue building campaign that lead to an open house event. Communications were designed as communiqué (mailers and telegrams) from the heirs of a fictitious Danish architect magnate looking to reconnect with their extended family, and inviting them to a reunion (open house) in Hoboken.

More recently as Stefan continues to seek a practice that is more intimately his, Stefan has pursued curating community through MEET, and continued to reach out to design professionals globally—his work is intimately tied to his person and ultimately he sees himself as a curator of life. The lesson for us in personal brand building is that developing your practice is a very intimate process of self discovery and takes a very active seeking of the things that inspire us.

Thanks for sharing Stefan, and thanks for having us, MEET.