Erich Joiner

...Riding the waves

Erich Joiner, Tool of North America founder and director, reveals the importance of capturing the moment before it disappears forever, his love of the ocean and his passion for timeless cars. 

What is the most creative advertising idea you’ve seen in the last few months?

A few months ago, I bid on a job for the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport to create an interactive, online test drive. Yep, sit at your computer and drive a real car on an abandoned airport. Doughnuts on the runways, drifting across the grass – all the stuff you would like to do during a test drive but can’t.

What website do you use most regularly?

TheFWA.com. It’s a good place to see a lot of fresh ideas that are pushing what’s possible with technology. Svpply.com is another curated aggregate of work, focused on smart, thought-provoking and well-designed products. I’ve always loved great design based on a cool idea in any medium, so I like just browsing around on there, checking out all the stuff. I like how random it feels.

What’s your favourite website?

Cars are a huge passion of mine. A while back, a friend told me about bringatrailer. com. The site is a listing of very unique cars and motorcycles that are currently up for sale around the world. Like all good sites, it is updated several times a day. Fresh content is king and a good URL doesn’t hurt.

What product hasn’t been invented yet that would make your life/job better?

I would love to be able to watch a movie, at home, on its opening day. You can charge me more – that’s fine. But can’t that at least be an option?

What product could you not live without?

I would have to say the camera – both motion and still. Cameras allow us to capture and record moments before they disappear forever. When I worked at Goodby Silverstein, we pitched to Kodak. I remember Rich [Silverstein] and I talking about if your house was on fire and you could run in and grab one thing, what would it be, and we both said it would be our pictures. That said, Rich was under the assumption that his bicycle was already safe.

What track/artist would you listen to for inspiration?

It really depends on my mood. There is more than one kind of inspiration. I like, for example, Radiohead for a mellower kind of inspiration. Is Radiohead actually even mellow? I guess it is when you compare it to getting inspired by the Sex Pistols. As a kid, I was consumed by punk – and questioning authority.

What fictional character do you most relate to?

Neptune. I love the ocean. I grew up surfing, sailing and diving. I have always lived within earshot of the waves. My father passed this year and we spread his ashes in the ocean just offshore. There is something so calming, knowing he’s out there.

If you could be in any band, which would you choose?

I imagine it would have been quite an experience to have been the fourth guy in Nirvana. They only put out three full studio albums, but an unimaginable amount of stuff happened in the seven years they were together, and they changed the shape of music.

Mac or PC?

When I was at the Art Center College of Design, they talked a lot about form following function. And for me, that means Mac. The operating system, the design and the packaging are just that much more intuitive. Mac versus iPad? That’s a tougher call.

What show/exhibition has most inspired you this year?

A friend of mine told me about Royal de Luxe, a marionette street-theatre company out of Paris that puts on these shows in cities around the world. The puppets are beautifully crafted and artfully manipulated with strings, kind of like the ones in Being John Malkovich. Only these puppets are 70ft tall. The performance lasts three days and the entire city is the stage. A band follows around each puppet, scoring the mood of the scene. Each night when the puppets lay down to sleep, they snore, breathe and tussle. YouTube it.

What’s the best film you’ve seen in the past year?

Black Swan. I admit that it is one of the most recent films that I’ve seen, but it’s incredibly memorable. Great story. Great storytelling. Great acting. Dark. Powerful. But not for everyone.

What’s your favourite magazine?

I spend a lot of time at magazine stands browsing and always leave with a fairly good stack of them. From magazines about hotrods or travel to design, surfing, news, Formula 1 and interior design, I go through a ton of magazines each month. It’s hard to say which is my favourite, but if I had to choose one today, it would be Dwell. It seems to have the latest green ideas.

Who’s your favourite photographer?

I’m more drawn to black and white still photography than I am to colour. I’ve always liked the work of Sebastião Salgado. His photos tell dramatic, emotive stories of real life. They’re often gritty subjects, such as poverty, war or some social injustice, but I’m struck by the beauty and the humanity that he’s able to capture at the same time.

Who’s your favourite designer?

As someone who likes cars, I have a lot of respect for the Pininfarina family. With an almost weird transition from father to son, they have created some of the most stunning and performance-capable car designs, especially from the 50s to the 70s, namely Alfa Romeos and Ferraris. The cars blend together timeless styling and the kind of innovation that has pushed the envelope of sports cars. They have also designed things outside of the automobile world, such as luggage, watches, appliances and the 2006 Olympic torch and medals.

If you could live in one city, where would it be?

I would stay exactly where I am: Manhattan Beach, LA. The beach. The waves. The people. The weather. Friends that I went to elementary school with. This is home.