The Stone Twins in the PanicRoom

Last week the Dutch creative community paid hybrid production company PostPanic a visit for the first of their bi-annual PanicRoom events in 2014. On Friday we offered a summary of German studio Polynoid’s presentation that kicked off the event but also in attendance to speak to the audience were Amsterdam’s very own Irish creative duo The Stone Twins (Declan and Garech Stone) who followed the Berlin collective to the stage.

The pair has worked on briefs for clients such as Nike, Volvo, MassiveMusic and Coke Zero, but more recently won a two-year contract to oversee the creative direction of a unique landmark across the water from Amsterdam’s Central Station, set to become the city’s newest creative hub and attraction. Called The Overhoeks, and formerly a mundane and ordinary looking tower, colourful banner designs have already been fitted on the sides of the building informing people of the imminent spruce up.

Below, the twins tell us what they have in store for the project as well as what inspires the way they work today, including their Irish heritage, YouTube wonders and proper opinions.

We were asked what makes us tick. It’s a really difficult question. What inspires you and what informs your work? In a way you can summarise it by saying it is some things we like, some things we grew up with and many things that just happen to be on our hard drives.

But the first thing we’re going to tell you about is our project for what used to be the Overhoeks building in Amsterdam in the city’s Noord area. We’ve been commissioned to steer the creative direction for the iconic tower and were charged with the task of giving it a name and A’DAM is what we came up with, also an abbreviation for Amsterdam dance and music.

The top part of the building will be an observation deck, the middle section will be home to a host of creative companies, like MassiveMusic, accommodating young creative talent, and the bottom part will house some funky bars and restaurants.

When the property developers approached us we had to come up with the name and a branding strategy and for the next two years we’ll be responsible for the interior of the building. It’s an amazing brief because most of the work we do, whether it’s design or advertising, has a shelf-life, but hopefully this’ll be around for a bit longer so it’s a nice challenge to have.

But back to what makes us tick away from the work?

Irish culture and the power of the church have been a big influence for us growing up. A few weeks ago Dechlan had to reapply for his Irish passport and it made him question what exactly he is.

The iconography of the Catholic church informs a lot of our work. We used to be altar boys. There are real symmetries in the church; good and bad and heaven and hell, with no grey area. But there’s a lot that’s controlled when you’re growing up and you want to try and fight that through your work.

We’re not here on this planet forever and just the idea of life - living and dying - are prominent. Here’s an example [below] of some dark, Irish humour that we’re also drawn to.

Another thing that we really love is antique book stores. There’s a sense nowadays that creatives don’t tend to go out to explore and physically interact with books. For most projects we usually start our journey in a book store, and we basically just rip stuff off. That’s how it goes.

Here’s another clip [below] from a guy called Ballymun Stevo on YouTube:

We’re big fans of this guy and he has hundreds of films on YouTube. He’s doing his thing. In Ireland you do see people living with Down ’s syndrome but there’s no PR or marketing team behind this guy.

It’s another example of a member of the YouTube generation, and in this case yes, the guy has a much tougher challenge ahead of him. For all his clips he has a little caption underneath saying ‘please like me because that helps’, and we think that’s really powerful.

When we were introduced to this guy on the internet, we didn’t know whether to laugh and we got a bit uncomfortable with it, but after a while we just learned to respect him. He’s doing his thing.

Here’s another guy who inspires us:

And this is before the game! But Roy Keane is a big hero of ours, with that mental drive. It’s a fascinating clip and tells everything about what he is and stands for. He possesses all the characteristics we admire because he’s so single-minded. He’s a pundit now of course, on ITV, and he’s very forthright with his opinions and honest without any spin or airbrushing.

Somehow we’re living in a world where everything’s becoming generic and neutral. If you look at normal punditry, like on the BBC for example, it’s so incredibly bland without people with a proper opinion. But Roy Keane doesn’t take bullshit and that’s what we admire.

You’ve got to be brave, you’ve got to polarise and there is going to be people that don’t like you and don’t like your stuff but that’s okay. What makes us tick is people like this who stand for something.

Look out for our third and final piece from last week's PanicRoom event featuring insight from South African director Terence Neale.