2023/04 7 for all Mankind – Can You Fly?!
Details:
7 for all Mankind
Can You Fly?! by Giotto Calendoli
Spring-Summer Capsule 2023
Via Alessandro Manzoni 43, Milan
Review:
by Peter Hamer
april 28, 2023
Pay attention to this one because this display is more special than you think. Can you fly?! is the name of the capsule collection imagined by Giotto Calendoli for 7 for all Mankind. The concept revolves around a paper airplane that is present as detail on all products of the collection and, consequently, becomes the main animation/prop in the window and in-store displays. While this paper plane is objectively what the eye sees, the fact is that there are multiple facets to this concept that unfold through a mix of different offline and online channels. This makes Can you fly?! one for the books or a best practice.
First things first, Giotto. If you’ve read some of my reviews, you might have noticed I refer to artists and creatives by their last names, but it doesn’t feel right to call Giotto by his last name. I know how he talks, what he likes to eat, and how he cooks, I know his brother, love his nonna, watch him get dressed in the morning, follow his creative process, and know what his laugh sounds like. But the truth is, I’ve never met the guy. Giotto is an influencer and what makes him so good at it is his consistency in sharing his life. It is through posts and stories that I think I know him. And what I think I know about him is that he’s a dreamer. For me, Giotto is a dreamer. And since I’m a little bit (or a lot) of a dreamer myself, I can’t call him by his last name.
This introduction is important to understand the facets of this collaboration which, as anticipated, go beyond the paper plane itself. As a matter of fact, this product is so encapsulated with emotions that you will be heading on to 7’s website as soon as you finish reading this review. Can you fly?! feels like a coming-of-age story that resonates with me like the movie Boyhood, an epic movie directed by Richard Linklater about growing up. The display is, as a matter of fact, a combination of drawings, words, and phrases all painted and written by Giotto. The first window features suspended products and the second window features a pile of giant sheets that become paper planes. On each paper plane, a different hand-written message. In a making-of reel, Giotto shares with us part of the creative process that, maybe unknowingly, showcases a mix of craftsmanship and an industrialised process. This makes this display extremely contemporary as it combines the best of both worlds, the collaboration between a creative and a supplier, where both do what they need to do with a clear distinction.
So what makes this collaboration so special? Any brand can work with an influencer right? The difference lies in the shared purpose from both sides. This display is not just a coherent story, it is a connection with a community, it leverages a location, it humanizes a product, and it is the best of two brands collaborating (Giotto has his own brand Handle With Freedom) on something that encapsulates it all.
Now, did the team involved they think about all of this when they created this project? I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. Sometimes you just have to take a risk to get somewhere, because isn’t that what growing up is all about? And just to finish with a quote from Boyhood: “I guess it’s really easy to say, like I don’t care what anyone else thinks. But everyone does, you know. Deep down.” Well Giotto, if you read my review, I think this is wonderful.
