Between The Lines 005: PLAYLAB, INC.
Doing Things Differently with PLAYLAB, INC
Words: Siân Toolan
In conversation with Co-Founder and Director, Archie Lee Coates IV…
PLAYLAB, INC. is a multi-disciplinary creative studio founded in 2009. With “no particular focus”, the studio’s practice refuses to be categorised, innovating ideas and experiences across the fields of art, architecture and graphic design. Their ever-expanding portfolio contains collaborations with Virgil Abloh, a series of thirty-foot inflatable flowers in Midtown Manhattan known as Grown Up Flowers, a compilation of film scenes of Joaquin Phoenix walking titled Walking Phoenix, and a plus-shaped, water-filtering, floating swimming pool on the East River, called + POOL. Whilst difficult to describe, PLAYLAB is not determined by a discipline or style but rather an unspoken personality that is excited by the possibilities of the world around it.
Fig.1 Louis Vuitton Menswear FW21
PLAYLAB is a way of thinking, it is a “process-driven-studio” explains Archie Lee Coates IV. This process is people-based, focusing on building relationships with both expected and unexpected people, and embarking on a journey together. This journey is so often into the unknown, as PLAYLAB seeks out new experiences, things they’ve never done, and the thrill of not knowing you can do something until you've done it. “We’re climbing a mountain, but we’re just trying to get to the top of one mountain to see where the other mountains are” laughs Archie. This vision, and resulting diverse output, is only made possible through teamwork. PLAYLAB’s success can be attributed to a group mentality, with a relatively flat hierarchy, no room for ego and no necessary expertise. The six-person team balances multiple projects at once, passing them onto each other “like spinning plates” and that’s “the art of it”, says Archie.
Founded by friends Archie Lee Coates IV and Jeff Franklin at nineteen years old, with a business plan drawn on a napkin, PLAYLAB has evolved into a tight-knit team of creatives. The studio currently consists of Ana Cecilia Thompson Motta, a brilliant Brazilian Design Director, Dillon Kogle, sneaker enthusiast and Art Director, Gabriel Chan, production designer and rendering master from Hong Kong by way of Columbia University, and Peter Deering, an incredible designer and thinker from Australia. PLAYLAB recently relocated from New York to Los Angeles to be closer to many of its collaborators and, as a testament to the studio dynamic and strength of its relationships, both Ana and Dillon followed the studio 2,500 miles to the West Coast.
Fig. 2 The Team
Every PLAYLAB project traces back to a relationship. With their team, collaborators and clients, good communication and mutual respect are the key to success. It is the emphasis on no ego, honesty and friendship that has led to some of the studio’s most exciting and impactful projects. Around 2013, Archie and Jeff met Virgil Abloh, and began collaborating instantaneously. “It’s a long-term friendship” of continuous texts, fifteen WhatsApp threads, and a great deal of trust. PLAYLAB’s curious nature lends well to Virgil’s “question everything” approach, working together on his exclusive “ARTWORK” Monograph, and, since FW20, his runway design at Louis Vuitton. Archie recalls the exact moment this opportunity arose, and the overwhelming emotions of such a dream project, with the first show ironically named Heaven on Earth. PLAYLAB’s blue-sky runway was filled with blown-up scissors, paintbrushes and sewing spools, highlighting the crucial role of the atelier and the simple beauty of creation. The process of this set design, explains Archie, starts with a thought, image or track from Virgil and, in true PLAYLAB fashion, involves questioning all possible directions to “make what makes sense and what feels right”. This year, for Louis Vuitton Menswear FW21, the set was approached differently as to be optimised for film. The resulting film was a poetic and powerful reflection of the events of the last year, with an emphasis on education and inclusion, even for those outside of the usual fashion circuit, as Virgil was some time ago. Ultimately, it was representative of the PLAYLAB’s ethos and its constant adaptation and evolution.
Fig 3. Louis Vuitton Menswear FW20 & Reese Cooper SS21
“We don't want to do just runway shows now, we're doing screenplays and storyboards, and producing” exclaims Archie. Alongside Louis Vuitton, PLAYLAB has ventured into the fashion sphere with young LA-based designer Reese Cooper’s forest-themed SS21 Palais de Tokyo debut and FW21 film, but also via Drake’s Scorpion Tour Retail Experience, and art direction for Season Three footwear. In fact, PLAYLAB’s instagram includes a series of forays into footwear, deconstructing the uppers of Adidas or Converse, and pasting them together with foam as if a collage. This reoccurring exploration of the shoe as an art object is just another notch on the PLAYLAB belt, and makes complete sense given the studio’s connections. Their sneaker experiments started at Dillon’s desk as a side project that slowly expanded into a team-building exercise and metaphor for PLAYLAB’s practice. For Archie, footwear is a “combination of performance art and sculpture, and so many aspects of design that we love”. Exploring themes of distribution and production, PLAYLAB’s shoes were part of a group exhibition at Black Cube in Denver, creating a mock store set-up, Size Run, equipped with six pairs and a try-on bench. The real-life production of said footwear may involve “jumping through hoops” but for a team consistently taking great leaps, the possibilities of this project seem endless.
Fig. 4 Footwear Experiments
With over a decade of experience, PLAYLAB is not obtuse to the consequences of production methods, specifically in the fashion industry. As the second most polluting industry, the studio believes that as makers “there are some tenets to live by”. For some time, the studio has undertaken sustainable efforts, attempting to build long-term and innovative strategies with Reese Cooper, for example, and explore ways to “balance the desire to make things”. When Archie talks about sustainability, it is not just about the environment, but also pertains to people. If you look closely at PLAYLAB’s portfolio, their projects are balanced between client projects and nonprofit and pro-bono work, with ties to education. It is their work across disciplines, with big clientele and fashion houses that brings in the funds necessary to give back. “We are understanding our privilege” resolves Archie, and for long-term sustainability the studio prioritises providing access, opportunity, equality, inclusiveness and empowerment across everything that they do. This outlook is perhaps best personified by their project +POOL.
“Pure teamwork and sweat equity”
In 2010, just a year after PLAYLAB’s launch, Archie and Jeff began working with Dong-Ping Wong and Oana Stanescu, previously of Family New York, and through whom they met Virgil. They believed their collaboration to be a “cool case study”, painting a “vision for the future” in the form of a floating plus-shaped pool in the inner harbour of the NYC waterfront, designed to filter the very river it floats in - +POOL. It was a hypothetical idea, with no technological back-up, but PLAYAB created diagrams, posters, a zine and a website and sent them out to the world. What followed was an overwhelming public response and back-to-back meetings with politicians, city council members and engineering firms. The project has been ongoing for the entirety of the studio’s existence. Through grants, a series of kickstarter funds, and “pure teamwork and sweat equity”, the group proved the feasibility of the pool. They patented the technology and founded Friends of +POOL, a non-profit, to ensure that it benefits the public in the best way possible. With accessibility as a top priority, they built a swim program, Summer Bluefish, with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) that identifies kids who may not otherwise have the opportunity to learn, providing them with all the equipment and a high quality swim education. The team even created merchandise for +POOL, with the likes of Mike Perry and an iPhone pool float with Cindy Sherman. What started as a somewhat punk effort, or a lark, has slowly become a reality and, unbeknownst to many, +POOL has just been signed off by the city of New York.
Fig. 5 Water-filtering Floating Pool
Planned for Pier 35 in the East River, just north of the bridge on the Manhattan side, +POOL will filter river water within its walls, removing bacteria, contaminants and odours, without chemicals or chlorine, like a giant strainer. When +POOL opens, it will be the first time New Yorkers have been able to swim directly in their river since 1938, and that opportunity is to be afforded to everyone. The compelling plus shape is designed as four pools - a kid’s pool, sports pool, lap pool and lounge pool - to cater to all types of swimmers. As a project, it is undeniably about connecting people, and this is the epitome of PLAYLAB. It involves every discipline you can imagine, from fundraising, community building, product design, architecture, engineering, innovation, health and safety. It’s “a perfect blend” of disciplines and a perfect symbol says Archie - a plus sign you can see from space, “it is about positivity”. The work also doesn’t end with the opening of the pool, as the the non-profit will ensure its maintenance and operation, whilst supporting preservation, restoration and conservation of natural bodies of water. Further to this, the filter technology can be be licensed to other cities, offering possibilities for a brighter, cleaner future.
“Continuing to uncover, enjoy and love the things that are good”
Fig. 6 Grown Up Flowers
Painting possibilities is what PLAYLAB does best explains Archie, and those possibilities are framed by a positive mindset. In a turbulent time, like this one, there is “no need to be a megaphone for the negative, it is the other we need to publicise as the other is where the future lies”. PLAYLAB is about “continuing to uncover, enjoy and love the things that are good”. It is a multi-faceted studio, with a sense of wonder and joie de vivre reminiscent of the work of Ray and Charles Eames. Celebrating what life is and what it could be, PLAYLAB may not subscribe to one discipline but it does subscribe to a school of thought. One day, Archie hopes PLAYLAB to be a school in itself. When you think about, this idea is tightly connected to the narratives and stories they’ve woven so far as encouraging inclusivity and education is "what a modern studio should be doing”.
It is clear that PLAYLAB, INC. recognises the importance of ideas and relationships, especially in the current climate. They’ve always understood the studio as an amorphous entity, changing with the time, or looking ahead at ways to do things differently or better. It is the reason that things move so fast, for a team of just six people. Archie foresees PLAYLAB making land art, more public art and exhibitions, expanding on their video work into TV and film, launching clothing, and we even got a sneak-peak of their first piece of furniture. There’s a long list of things they haven’t yet done, just waiting to be checked off. Whilst we can’t imagine what those things will look like, we know each adventure will blend knowledge and joy and make the esoteric accessible and fun.