Marc Friedland
| Marc Friedland | |
|---|---|
 Los Angeles, CA, 13 October 2011 | |
| Born |
Marc December 13, 1959 Woodbridge, New Jersey |
| Occupation | American Designer |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Education |
Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Chemistry Master's degree in Public Health |
| Alma mater |
University of Miami; UCLA School of Public Health |
|
www.marcfriedlandinc.com | |
Marc Friedland (born December 13, 1959) is an American designer of social expressions and personal communications, based in Los Angeles, California. He creates invitations, stationery and branding for celebrities, companies and non-profit organizations. He is best known for producing the iconic winners’ envelope Academy Awards.[1][2]
Personal life
Friedland was born in Woodbridge, New Jersey to Jean Perlow Friedland (1920- New York) and Joseph Marlow Friedland (1913-1980 Lublin, Poland) and is the youngest of three sons. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami and Master’s from UCLA School of Public Health. While seeking a profession in the health field, an inspiring art class shifted his life's direction. He resides in Beverly Hills.[3]
Career
Founder of his namesake studio, Marc Friedland Couture Communications, and his agency Creative Intelligence, Inc., Marc Friedland has created custom invitations, visual branding and social marketing for 27 years. He also serves as the Chief Style Director for Evite Postmark. Referred to as the "godfather of the invitation" Friedland enjoys a client list that includes Fortune 400 individuals and companies, organizations, philanthropists, and cultural institutions, such as Los Angeles County Museum of Art, UNICEF, Wynn Las Vegas, and many celebrities from entertainment and sports, including Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks and Heidi Klum.[4] In the mid-1980s, Friedland began his career creating hand-painted greeting cards for Los Angeles boutiques, a technique that extended onto sneakers and vintage tuxedo jackets as a form of popular wearable art. His 1986 commission of 24,000 hand-painted covers for the stationary publication Status magazine led to 5,000 hand-painted invitations for the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in downtown Los Angeles. The event saw the debut of his clear vinyl envelope and mixed media, establishing his niche and launching his business with nonprofit gala events and high-profile projects.[5] His passion for receiving and sending mail began at an early age, when a young Marc, at age 12, sent his parents a note written on an airline air sickness bag. As a child of the Sixties, the pop art of Peter Max, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein had an influence on his visual sensibilities, and the phrase “the medium is the message,” coined by communications philosopher Marshal McLuhan, was a guiding inspiration.
Clientele
Individuals and international companies commission Friedland to commemorate, communicate and celebrate their special occasions. He has created invitations for so many A-listers, from John Travolta’s 50th birthday and Oprah’s Legends Ball to Tyler Perry, Quincy Jones, Dustin Hoffman and secret celebrity weddings, that he’s earned the moniker, “Stationer of the Stars.”
Friedland’s corporate clientele ranges from Cirque de Soleil to film and television studios, such as Warner Bros., Paramount and Universal, to the hospitality industry, including the opening of the Wynn Las Vegas resort and the Atlantis Dubai. Nonprofit organizations he has worked with include UNICEF, the 9/11 Memorial, Joffrey Ballet, and Barbra Steisand’s Women’s Health Center. For the opening of Walt Disney Concert Hall he designed a silvery package that echoed the sweeping and sculpted lines of architect Frank O. Gehry’s renowned building.
The Oscar® Envelope
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences commissioned Friedland in 2011 to design the iconic Oscar envelope for the winners in the 24 categories of the Academy Awards.[6] The handmade envelope is an iridescent metallic gold paper stock, with red-lacquered lining featuring a pattern of Oscar statuettes stamped in satin gold leaf and sealed with a shiny red sticker and red ribbon.[7] In 2013, Friedland also designed the official invitation to the Academy’s Governors Ball. It marks the first time the Academy had a specially-designed envelope which previously was a plain ecru card and envelope. Friedland describes his design as “imbued with a rich air of luxury, reminiscent of the glamorous golden age of Hollywood.” When Tom Hanks presented at the 83rd Academy Awards, he said: "These envelopes are works of art in and of themselves."[8]
Product Lines
Friedland has created exclusive signature collections for retailers such as Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Pottery Barn, Swarovski, and Wynn Las Vegas Home. His collection of holiday cards for Swarovski, called “Sparking Sentiments,” included embedded Swarovski crystals in a replica of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree topper. His work has been featured in People, Elle Décor, Vanity Fair, InStyle, Vogue, Variety, Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times.[9]
Author
Friedland’s book Invitations (Clarkson Potter, 1998) offers tips for creating captivating invites for occasions from bridal showers to birthdays, and weddings, as well as thank-you note etiquette. He also contributes a guest column to the Huffington Post. Friedland has made numerous guest appearances on outlets ranging from Entertainment Tonight to CNN.
Charitable Works
In addition to working with nonprofit organizations, Friedland has served on numerous board of directors, including the National AIDS Memorial Grove and Architecture + Design Museum. An initiative Friedland created, “Write On: Words Have Power,” expresses his core mission to preserve hand-written communications. He worked with the Chaka Khan Foundation and the Center for Early Education for the first installment of the project, which brings inner city and private school students together to collaborate on letters to President Obama. The project seeks to encourage future generations to experience the joy of the written connection and show that the “pen is mightier than the pixel.”
References
- ↑ King, Susan Los Angeles Times "Oscars: The envelope gets a new design", (February 16, 2011)
- ↑ Pike, Laurie Los Angeles magazine Marc Friedland, Invitation Designer (March 1, 2007)
- ↑ Cheakalos, Christina People magazine "Envelope, Please" (January 25, 1999)
- ↑ Alcala, Natalie LAist.com "Star Stationer Marc Friedland’s Guide to Wedding Invitations" (June 15, 2012)
- ↑ BizBash.com "Marc Friedland: Master of Dramatic Invitations" (April 30, 2001)
- ↑ Lopez, John Vanity Fair The Maker of All Those Oscar Envelopes Starlets Can Never Open: "We Re-Engineered Them to Make Them Dummy-Proof"(February 15, 2013)
- ↑ Levy, Glen Time magazine "Just What the Oscars Need: A New Envelope"(February 17, 2011)
- ↑ Glazer, Mickey, TheWrap.com "10 Secrets of the Oscar Envelope: It’s Engineered Like a German Car"
- ↑ Louie, Elaine New York Times "Style Makers, Marc Friedland, Stationery Designer" (July 1, 1990)