The Importance of Vision: Drawing Inspiration From Frank Lloyd Wright, the Great American Architect and Applying it to My Stamp Business

 "I wouldn't expect that the architectural establishment would treat me fairly. Why should they? My methods directly threatened everything they believed in back then. In circumstances such as this, one knows what usually happens. I had my position determined very early in life. I knew where my star was and so I had a choice to make: honest arrogance, or insincere humility. I chose honest arrogance."

- Frank Lloyd Wright, in a 1953 interview, when asked whether he thought that the architectural establishment treated him fairly. 

For the past year or so I have become fascinated by Frank Lloyd Wright. I knew of him for many, many years, and I was vaguely aware of the innovative nature of his designs. What initially struck me were the glass houses and brick homes built in 1906 that looked like they could have been built in 1950. But beyond that I knew very little about him. Then, one evening while I was working on the auction, I began watching, or rather, listening to a documentary about him and his life's work on Youtube.

Wright was a master manipulator of light and proportion: many of his buildings look larger on the inside than they do on the outside. Many also make use of the natural features of the landscape they were built on, bringing the outside in. He referred to this as organic architecture. But let's look at some of his work:

Falling Water, considered one of Wright's masterpieces, built over a waterfall in 1937, with most of the house being cantilevered over the falls.

The inside of one of his many homes. Note the use of natural light. Does this look to you like something built in the 1930's or 40's?

The Neil's house in Minneapolis. Note the wedge shape and extensive use of windows wo make the space appear larger.

The Guggenheim Museum in New York City. This was Wright's last building before he died in 1959. It's genius lies in it's continuous corkscrew design where you start at the bottom and work your way up. You always know what exhibits you have seen and what lies ahead. You won't miss any with this design, unlike many other museums. 

The great workroom in the SC Johnson Wax building. Lloyd tested the strength of those columns with twelve tons of material, and it actually took 60 tons before any cracks appeared in the test column. The genius with this design is that this expansive space had no walls, yet the columns create the same effect as a wall, the "lilypad" tops to the columns create the effect of a ceiling, and the space between them mimics a series of skylights, letting in a soft light. Would you believe that this building was built in the mid 1930's?

What is clear to me when I look at these images, is that this is a man who had a clear artistic vision. He was not merely content to design buildings that followed established conventions and norms. Rather, he wanted to express himself in his work. 

And so it is with what I do with my auction and my business. When I put together one of my themed auctions - a concept I will soon explain in another post, I am not merely putting a random group of stamps up for sale. I am attempting to inspire collectors by showing what a collector can do with a particular topic, or a particular period. A key consideration in this regard is to embrace the essence of the period whose stamps are being featured, and to not fight it. It is to work with what the period or topic offers, rather than comparing it to an earlier period, or an area where the material is scarce, expensive or rare. I firmly believe that this is a hobby that should be open to all, and not just the wealthy collectors, and so some of my themes work with material that is, by all accounts common and inexpensive. I treat this material with the same degree of seriousness as classic rarities. This, I also believe is essential for this great hobby to continue to thrive.

Like Wright, my beliefs about this hobby and its future do not square with what many of my contemporaries believe. Most of my fellow dealers believe that most all stamps issued after 1945 are only good for postage, and most of them will continue to use stamps from the 40's through the 80's on their mail, rather than studying and preserving this material for future collectors. Like Wright, I have chosen honest arrogance as well. I make no apologies for being different and for pursuing my vision. I know it is not for every collector, but I also know that for the small group of collectors who value what I do, it is an approach that they support. If I can make it my life's work to supply the needs of these collectors and to show the philatelic world an alternate way to view and interpret the stamps of various countries and periods, I will be truly fulfilled. 

I have talked before about the importance of having a vision, for it is your vision that underpins your brand. It is your vision that will keep you going and keep you motivated when the going gets tough. Now, of course you have to determine whether your vision is likely to yield some long-term success if you execute it. I am not suggesting that you cling stubbornly to a vision that nobody else will buy into. For example, if my auctions were unsuccessful for an extended period then I would know that it would be very difficult, if not impossible to justify continuing to pursue that vision. So, it is important to be realistic, but at the same time it is important to understand that it takes time, effort and repetition to influence established thought patterns and gain traction. So, to survive you find other ways to raise money to pay the bills while you pursue this vision. For me, it was doing accounting contract work that got us through to the point where it was clear that the vision could succeed. I say could, because many of my themes will not do well the first time I offer them. I know this. But I have prepared for it as well. 

So, this was one of my first lessons during these past 2 years: the importance of having a clear vision if one is to have any hope of building a loyal customer base. In my next post I will discuss the psychology of auctions and explain why the auction model was such a game-changer over retail, or at least why it was the perfect compliment to a retail model.