BLUE MAN GROUP
Everard Findlay: Brand Consultant & Community Organizer
Everard Finday, alongside five other respsective men of their fields, including artists Doug & Mike Starn, opera singer Simon Keenyside and Harvard scholar Noah Feldman, where photographed by Barnaby Roper for this WSJ feature article in May 2010
"I work with Louis Silverman [founder of New York real-estate investment firm G4] on community-based projects. I'm involved with GrowNYC, doing green initiatives around the city. And I'm creating a residency program on Trinidad's Gaspar Grande Island to bring artists, innovators and scientists togeher to work in tandem toward solutions for different problems."
"When Kofi Annan is wearing one, there's such a dignity in the way that he carries himself."
BUSINESS CLASS
"Eight captains of their respective industries prove the pinstripe shouldn't be confined to the boardroom. The season's best Italian suits fly on chefs, philanthropists, and artists alike. Photographed by Jenny Gage and Tom Betterton.
No matter what theatrical display Gucci sends down the runway, the core of the brand is still its impeccably tailored suits. Heightened quality and distinctive embellishments are part of the appeal for men like the philanthropist Everard Findlay, 34, wearing a Gucci pinstripe suit. As the founder of SFOTE (Special Friends of the Earth), Findlay's goal is "to bolster the people within communities so that they become their own instruments of change."
"EVERARD FINDLAY In 1991, from the nation Trinidad and Tobago, he arrived in New York to pursue studies that unify sport (in particular soccer) and visual communication. The intersection between kinetics and art had, at that moment, formed his approach to his work, directing it toward the multidisciplinary. Even his philanthropic project SFOTE moves in that direction, searching for simple and easily executable solutions to real problems faced by people living in disadvantaged communities, like financing public buses to accompany kids to a school that's too far away.
LAURENT DABLY Born in the Ivory Coast in 1962, he lost a large part of his family during the war at just 5 years old. That didn't impede him from becoming an extraordinary Tae Kwon Do champion, which began his long apprenticeship under the watch of grand master Kim Young Tae. Once retired from the agonizing activity, Laurent lent his experience to the service of his people, searching as much as possible to help young Ivorians realize their own dreams, just as it had happened to him. Additionally, he is economically and morally responsible for at least 18 orphaned brothers and sisters still in Africa."
"A self-described "generalist," Everard Fidnaly excels at drawing links between people orbiting in disparate fields-all to create surprising new constellations. Findlay's expert ability to make creative connections has translated professionally into roles as brand consultant, creative director, philanthropist and most recently founder of an artists' residence at Findlay Gaspar Grande Property, "I like to move between worlds," explains the mercurial entrepreneur. "I have friends in all walks of life and I like to curate events and make unconventional matches, such as sculptors and physicists or auto mechanics and chess champions."
Able to find the common thread in the collaborators he works with, it's fitting for Findlay to recall his boyhood years in Trinidad as a collector of all types of marbles: "I was fascinated by all different types of marbles. They were of similar shape, but I would see the differences in them from what was a cat eye, a slug, or snake eye."
Artforum International feature on the CUT/BREAK benefit show, curated by Everard Findlay, for SFOTE.
"It comes as no surprise that Everard Findlay has a kickboxing sensei. Like many New Yorkers, the debonair Findlay gives the impression he's always on the move, always engaged, always occupied, and always busy. But in his case, a martial arts regimen is less about blowing off steam than it is the study of clarity in action and cultivating a keen sense of balance in maintaining an enviable network of creative collaborations, luminary relationships, and well-produced events [...]"
"This three-day "postmodern, high-end yard sale" in Williamsburg was organized by the branding consultant Everard Findlay and his prop stylist wife Molly Findlay, and reflects their interest in "community-building experiments." More...
"Cut/Break, an exhibit organized by charity group SFOTE, opens this evening at Manhattan's Soho Grand. Like Joe Curren's Images from West Africa (pictured), all the works in the show deal with surfing and will be available at silent auction tonight. Proceeds benefit the Laventille Bus Project, an initiative that aims to provide accessible transportation to schoolchildren in Trinidad (and will launch later this year with a festival featuring TV on the Radio, Gang Gang Dance, and Aquavit chef Marcus Samuelsson, among others). Of course, if you miss the auction, the art will be up all summer, serving as inspiration to both hit the waves and get involved." More...
"Special Friends of the Earth (SFOTE) is taking the reigns this year to affect change in communities abroad with members of New York's downtown creative scene. SFOTE recently completed a mission in an impoverished area of Trinidad that lacked a public bus system. The Laventille bus project now enables children to attend school by bus, helping to lower the drop-out rate by ensuring that kids have a safe, dependent way to get to school. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. SFOTE founder Everard Findlay sat down to answer questions on the past and future of his charity organization." More...
