A Study Of Ideas: Clark Kent Koga

For us, getting dressed and making a home have never felt separate — both are built slowly, from the things you choose to live with. That thinking first brought Assembly Label and McMullin together with the Rice Paper Table Lamp. Now we've taken it off the table and onto the floor: same idea, new proportions. A Study of Ideas explores the space between thought and making — visiting the homes and studios of creatives to understand what shapes the way they think.

Meet Clark Kent Koga – a Sydney-based, Filipino-Japanese brand strategist working at the meeting point of data, creativity and culture. After several years at Google, he founded department, an independent consultancy working with some of Australia’s most distinct fashion, design and lifestyle brands.

You work at an unusual intersection of data, strategy and creativity.When a new brief comes to you, where do your ideas usually begin?

CLARK I would say I work in problem solving, and the ideas typically start from a problem presented and will kind of flow thereafter. It’s usually an inkling of a question, an inkling of a problem that slowly gets clarified through conversation. But they never come out of nowhere.

Is there a time or place where ideas come to you most easily?

CLARK No time of day, but I would say being outside. I’ve started not having my earphones in whenever I move through the world so that I can hear and I can participate with the sounds. I’m just doing what I’m doing, walking, waiting for the bus, going for a shop. And that’s probably when my brain is more relaxed to actually think.

How do you know when something is worth pursuing?

CLARK I don’t know how to quantify it because it’s going to sound woo-woo, but it’s instinct, it’s intuition. And there is just that nag in the back of your chest, your throat, wherever, that asks the question of, are you sure?

What usually happens after you have an idea?

CLARK I usually sit with the idea and let it run for up to a few years. Once I get to a place where it’s exciting, I start talking to people. And it’s also usually to stress test it. Is it an approach that would make sense for this problem? Is it an idea that’s worth pursuing? Is it trend driven? Or will it live further than that?

And once you’re ready to move forward with an idea, what do you turn to first?

CLARK Because the space that I exist in is data and creative, how I would typically approach it is with data first. When it gets to a number, you can’t say no. It’s not a negotiation. It’s just a fact of it. Then explaining the why becomes easier because it’s no longer an opinion. If it’s sound by the data side, your taste or your perspective on creative is yours to play with, if you will. As long as it’s not against what the data is saying.

What do you find yourself noticing that other people might miss?

CLARK Whenever I come across an image, a video, on Instagram, on Pinterest, wherever it is, and I like it, I ask myself why that is, and it can never end in ‘I like this image’ period. Because that’s surface level. That gets absolutely nowhere. There always has to be a deeper reason why we’re responding to it. Did it make me feel something? Did it make me want to be in the image? Did it make me want to be the person wearing those clothes?

What creative references do you find yourself returning to?

CLARK I like returning to passages of books. Just Kids by Patti Smith. I love that book. I come back to sections of that book that I want to just remember. There’s quite a lot of films, but it’s also scenes. Sometimes I just need to watch scenes of things and get re-energised from it.

Can you tell us about the space you work or live in?

CLARK I work and live here in my house, but I have a hot desk and a co-working space around the city. I can move through different environments whenever I need a change of scene, which I typically do when I’m moving between brands. I would walk two blocks between the offices to move from one desk to another because that change of scene changes where my mind is and just resets to a new problem or a new question.

If someone spent a day with you, what would they notice?

CLARK I dress like it’s a party when I’m going nowhere, like every day is a party. I’ve given up on the idea of saving a garment for a special occasion because why shouldn’t I wear it today? I will be overdressed even to 7am coffees and that’s just because I want to wear my clothes. I don’t think it’s anything more than I just want to be joyful.