A Case For Ignorance
I went to see the film EAMES: The Architect and The Painter on Sunday. The movie was a standard PBS art history doc, although it’s worth seeing for the archival photographs and footage. I was particularly struck by a comment from film critic Paul Schrader. In describing the business strategy of the Eames Offices, he observes:
Charles sold his ignorance rather than his expertise. When you sell your expertise, you’re limited by what you know. With Charles, companies bought the journey from not knowing to knowing.
Notes:
1. EAMES: The Architect and The Painter. First Run Features, 2011.
2. I am writing this from memory, so I may be wrong about attribution and the exact wording of the quote. Please forgive me, I’ll take notes next time.
