Girvin on GIRVIN
The alchemy of design thinking
Tim Girvin is well known for being an award-winning American designer, but his talent takes many shapes and forms. Calligrapher, illustrator, writer, public speaker and photographer, these professional titles do little to capture the essence of a man who has become legendary. Oft-considered to be a designer’s designer, other designers revere him to the extent that some imitate him—his gestures, his philosophy and even the way he speaks. And how does Girvin speak?
The language that Girvin uses to engage in conversation probing what is mysterious and paradoxical is defined as Girvinese. Contrarian by nature, Girvin will often set forth multiple, contradictory truths for you to ponder. By doing so, he invites you to take a powerful glimpse into his world and into his psyche so you can see his way of thinking. Once you have experienced his world, you will never think exactly the same way again. As a thinker, he is that powerful. And your way of thinking has just become richer, grander and more meaningful.
Forget for a moment that Girvin is a public brand that has evolved to include its own lexicon. The term Girvin conjures variations as an adverb, a proper noun, and an adjective. When something is a “Girvin,” it means it has hit a mark of excellence. And if something has been “Girvined, it means the concept has been worked, and honed and finessed to achieve its finest shape and form. Despite the perception of his public brand, Girvin is also a very private person who has just happened to have taken his inner depth and translated it to some of the most iconic brands in the world.
Anyone who knows Tim Girvin, personally or remotely, knows he has a fascination for crows, ravens, jays and magpies—the entire clan of corvids. To Girvin, crows flying in the air symbolize a black alphabet. This is an alphabet that translates into many languages, emotions and layers of thinking. “Crows are able to articulate their demeanor and offer gestures telegraphically,” he says. He has a love of ravens and crows; they’re everywhere. Everywhere Girvin goes, anywhere in the world, in Mongolia, Tibet, Turkey, Bhutan, India, Japan, he finds these birds or the birds find him. Usually it’s a mystical encounter.
“These are hyper intelligent birds,” he said. “The raven has been part of my spirit since I was very young.”
He describes his first encounter with crows at age ten. He had a mystical experience with a coven of crows. Alone, he had hiked into an old growth forest tucked in the side of a mountain in Idaho. As night fell, he heard a strange sound and could not fathom what it was. He stopped and stood still in the dim light of this dark forest. He encountered a coven (assembly of crows) engaged in a ritual. Above he encountered a giant mythological raven. Girvin describes the experience as a “profound discovery for me.”