What Would Anything Be Without Everything Else

by Matt Olson

For over 10 years as a co-founding member of the forward-leaning, interdisciplinary studio RO/LU, Matt Olson has found that consistent mining of a wide range of influences is what allows him to deliver fresh and critically-acclaimed design. RO/LU does not rely on formal design training but instead depends on the partnership's firm grasp of design and theory history as well as an unending curiosity and openness to all things. It is this passionate understanding and unique interpretation of the world around them which has been crucial to their success. While history typically shows one action influencing the next, Olson's modes of thinking are anything but linear, and What Would Everything Be Without Everything Else provides a constellation of the references Olson routinely pulls from. Like the controlled chaos within a pinball machine, concepts and ideas are rigorously put through the course, bumping and ricocheting off each other until a path forward is created.

From architecture to travel, film to a memorable restaurant experience, the changing of the seasons to a song overheard while walking on the street, there is nothing that Olson's senses have encountered that is off-bounds for inclusion. RO/LU practices design with the unchanging principle that as opportunities arise something old can become something new, that we are made of the knowledge of others, and our post-internet zeitgeist is our perpetual connectivity to all things, and all input, stimulation, and inspiration should fully be put to use.
    
What Would Everything Be Without Everything Else presents a fascinating tour through the thought process of a renowned and acclaimed contemporary designer. By sharing the excitement and energy contained in knowledge and celebrating the living aspects of encounters with the past, a map like none other emerges.

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2016