ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Stefan Sagmeister - Graphic designer
Renowned for album covers, posters and his recent book of life lessons, designer Stefan Sagmeister invariably has a slightly different way of looking at things.

Why you should listen

Stefan Sagmeister is no mere commercial gun for hire. Sure, he's created eye-catching graphics for clients including the Rolling Stones and Lou Reed, but he pours his heart and soul into every piece of work. His design work is at once timeless and of the moment, and his painstaking attention to the smallest details creates work that offers something new every time you look at it.

While a sense of humor invariably surfaces in his designs, Sagmeister is nonetheless very serious about his work; his intimate approach and sincere thoughtfulness elevate his design. A genuine maverick, Sagmeister achieved notoriety in the 1990s as the designer who self-harmed in the name of craft: He created a poster advertising a speaking engagement by carving the salient details onto his torso.

More profile about the speaker
Stefan Sagmeister | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2009

Stefan Sagmeister: The power of time off

Stefan Sagmeister: Denbora librearen boterea

Filmed:
3,447,979 views

Zazpi urteoro, Stefan Sagmeister diseinatzaileak New York-en duen estudio itxi egiten du, bere sormen- ikuspegia berritu eta freskatzeko. Askotan gutxiesten den denbora librearen balioa azaltzen du, eta Bali-n iragandako denborak sortarazitako proiektu berritzaileak erakusten ditu.
- Graphic designer
Renowned for album covers, posters and his recent book of life lessons, designer Stefan Sagmeister invariably has a slightly different way of looking at things. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
I run a design studio in New York.
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Diseinu estudio bat dut New York-en.
00:15
Every seven years, I close it for one year
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Zazpi urtetik behin itxi egiten dut
00:19
to pursue
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zenbait
00:22
some little experiments, things that
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experimentu egiteko, lan urte arrunt batean
00:24
are always difficult to accomplish
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aurrera ateratzeko
00:27
during the regular working year.
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zailak diren gauzak.
00:29
In that year, we are not available
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Urte hortan ez dugu
00:31
for any of our clients.
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gure bezeroentzako lanik egiten.
00:33
We are totally closed.
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Erabat itxita gaude.
00:36
And as you can imagine,
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Eta imagina dezakezuen bezala
00:38
it is a lovely and very energetic time.
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oso garai ederra eta energetikoa da.
00:42
I originally had opened the studio in New York
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Nire estudioa New York-en ireki nuen
00:45
to combine my two loves, music and design.
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nire bi pasioak lotzeko, musika eta diseinua.
00:48
And we created videos and packaging
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Eta bideoak eta aukezpen materiala sortu dugu
00:51
for many musicians that you know,
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ezagutzen dituzuen musikari askorentzat,
00:53
and for even more that you've never heard of.
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Eta ezezagunak zaizkizuen musikari askoz gehiagorentzat.
00:57
As I realized, just like with many many things in my life
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Eta konturatu nintzen, benetan maite ditudan
01:01
that I actually love,
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bizitzako beste gauza askorekin bezala,
01:03
I adapt to it.
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ohitu egiten naizela.
01:05
And I get, over time, bored by them.
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Eta, denbora iragan ahala, aspertu egiten naizela.
01:07
And for sure, in our case,
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Eta noski, gure kasuan
01:10
our work started to look the same.
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lana beti itxura berdina hartzen hasi zen.
01:12
You see here a glass eye in a die cut of a book.
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Hemen. liburu batean sartuta dagoen kristalezko begi bat.
01:15
Quite the similar idea, then, a perfume packaged
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Antzerako ideia hemen, liburu batean
01:18
in a book, in a die cut.
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sartuta dagoen perfume bat.
01:22
So I decided to close it down for one year.
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Beraz urte batez estudioa ixtea erabaki nuen.
01:27
Also is the knowledge that
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Gaur egun gauza jakina da
01:29
right now we spend about
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gure bizitzako haserako 25 urteak
01:31
in the first 25 years of our lives learning,
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ikasten ematen ditugula.
01:35
then there is another 40 years
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Gero beste 40 urteko tarte bat dago
01:37
that's really reserved for working.
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benetan lan egiteko erreserbatuta.
01:40
And then tacked on at the end of it
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Eta horren amaierari itsatsita
01:42
are about 15 years for retirement.
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15 urteko erretiroa dugu.
01:45
And I thought it might be helpful
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Eta pentsatu nuen lagungarri izango zela
01:48
to basically cut off five of those retirement years
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oinarrian erretiroari bost urte hartu
01:52
and intersperse them in between those working years.
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eta lan-urte hoietan tartekatzea.
01:58
(Applause)
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(Txaloak)
02:04
That's clearly enjoyable for myself.
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Nabarmena da hori atsegin dudala.
02:06
But probably even more important is
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Baina agian garrantzitsuagoa da
02:09
that the work that comes out of these years
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urte hoietatik ateratzen den lanak
02:12
flows back into the company
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empresarengan eta gizartearengan orokorrean ,
02:14
and into society at large,
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duen eragina,
02:16
rather than just benefiting a grandchild or two.
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biloba bat edo birentzako onuraz haraindi.
02:22
There is a fellow TEDster who spoke two years ago,
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Duela bi urte hitzaldi bat eman zuen TED kide bat dago,
02:25
Jonathan Haidt,
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Jonathan Haidt,
02:27
who defined his work into three different levels.
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eta hark lana hiru maila ezberdinetan sailkatzen zuen.
02:31
And they rang very true for me.
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Eta oso egiazko iruditu zitzaizkidan.
02:33
I can see my work as a job. I do it for money.
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Nire lana eginbehar bezala ikusi dezaket. Diruagatik egiten dut.
02:36
I likely already look forward to the weekend on Thursdays.
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Ostegunerako asteburua besterik ez dut gogoan.
02:40
And I probably will need a hobby as a leveling mechanism.
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Eta seguruenik hobby-ren bat beharko dut oreka-mekanismo bezala.
02:45
In a career I'm definitely more engaged.
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Karrera batean, askoz konprometituago nago.
02:48
But at the same time, there will be periods when I think
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Baina era berean, zenbait momentuta pentsatuko dut
02:50
is all that really hard work really worth my while?
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hain gogor lan egiteak pena merezi al du?
02:55
While in the third one, in the calling,
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Hirugarrengoan, bokazioan,
02:57
very much likely I would do it also
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seguru aski egiten dudana egingo nuke
03:00
if I wouldn't be financially compensated for it.
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trukean dirurik jasoko ez banu ere.
03:04
I am not a religious person myself,
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Ez naiz pertsona erlijiosoa,
03:06
but I did look for nature.
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baina nire izaerak bilatzera narama.
03:09
I had spent my first sabbatical in New York City.
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Nire lehen urte sabatikoa New York-en pasa nuen.
03:13
Looked for something different for the second one.
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Bigarrenerako ezberdina izango zen zerbaiten bila nenbilen.
03:16
Europe and the U.S. didn't really feel enticing
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Europa eta EE.BB. ez zitzaizkidan erakargarri
03:19
because I knew them too well. So Asia it was.
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oso ongi ezagutzen nituelako. Beraz Asia Aukeratu nuen.
03:22
The most beautiful landscapes I had seen in Asia
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Asian ikusi nituen paisaia ederrenak
03:24
were Sri Lanka and Bali.
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Sri lanka eta Balin zeuden.
03:26
Sri Lanka still had the civil war going on, so Bali it was.
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Sri Lankan gerrate zibilean zeuden. Beraz Bali aukeratu nuen.
03:30
It's a wonderful, very craft-oriented society.
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Gizarte zoragarria da, eskulanari garrantzia handia ematen diona.
03:34
I arrived there in September 2008,
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2008ko Irailean iritsi nintzen hara,
03:38
and pretty much started to work right away.
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eta berehalaxe hasi nintzen lanean.
03:41
There is wonderful inspiration coming from the area itself.
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Tokiak berak iradokitzen dizun inspirazio zoragarria zetorkidan.
03:47
However the first thing that I needed was
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Edonola, behar izan nuen lehenengo gauza
03:50
mosquito repellent typography
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eltxoak uxatzeko tipografia izan zen
03:53
because they were definitely around heavily.
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zeren ikaragarri molestatzen ninduten.
03:56
And then I needed some sort of way
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Eta gero nire etxea inguratzen zuten
03:59
to be able to get back to all the wild dogs
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eta nire goizeko ibilaldietan erasotzen ninduten
04:02
that surround my house,
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txakur basati guztiak uxatzeko
04:04
and attacked me during my morning walks.
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eraren bat bilatu behar nuen.
04:07
So we created this series of 99 portraits on tee shirts.
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Beraz kamixeta serie bat sortu genuen 99 erretraturekin.
04:13
Every single dog on one tee shirt.
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Txakur bakoitza kamixeta batean.
04:17
As a little retaliation
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Mendeku txiki bat izan zen
04:19
with a just ever so slightly menacing message
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mehatxu mezu pittin batekin.
04:23
(Laughter)
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(Barreak)
04:24
on the back of the shirt.
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kamixetaren atzekaldean.
04:26
(Laughter)
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(Barreak)
04:28
Just before I left New York
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New York utzi baino lehen
04:30
I decided I could actually renovate my studio.
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nire estudioa berritu nahi nuela erabaki nuen.
04:34
And then just leave it all to them.
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Dena norbaiten kargu utzi
04:37
And I don't have to do anything.
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eta hartara nik ez nuen ezer egin beharko.
04:39
So I looked for furniture.
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Beraz altzariak begiratzen hasi
04:41
And it turned out that
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eta konturatu nintzen
04:43
all the furniture that I really liked,
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gustatzen zitzaizkidan altzariak
04:45
I couldn't afford.
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ezin nituela ordaindu
04:47
And all the stuff I could afford, I didn't like.
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eta ordain nitzazkeenak, ez nituela gustoko.
04:49
So one of the things that we pursued in Bali
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Beraz, Balin lortu nahi genuen gauza garrantzitsuenetako bat
04:51
was pieces of furniture.
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altzariak ziren.
04:54
This one, of course, still works with the wild dogs.
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Honek, noski, oraindik txakur basatiak ditu bere baitan.
04:57
It's not quite finished yet.
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Ez dago oraindik amaituta.
05:00
And I think by the time this lamp came about,
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Eta uste dut lanpara hau sortu zenerako
05:03
(Laughter)
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(Barreak)
05:05
I had finally made peace with those dogs.
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Txakurrekin bakean nengoela.
05:09
(Laughter)
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(Barreak)
05:14
Then there is a coffee table. I also did a coffee table.
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Kafea hartzeko mahai hau ere egin nuen.
05:17
It's called Be Here Now.
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Hemen Egon Orain izena du.
05:19
It includes 330 compasses.
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330 iparorratz ditu bere baitan.
05:23
And we had custom espresso cups made
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Eta iman bat izkutatzen zuten
05:26
that hide a magnet inside,
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katiluak egin genituen,
05:28
and make those compasses go crazy,
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honek iparrorratzak erotu egiten ditu
05:31
always centering on them.
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beti katilua seinalatuz.
05:34
Then this is a fairly talkative, verbose kind of chair.
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Gero aulki berritsu hau dugu, jario dexentea duena.
05:42
I also started meditating for the first time in my life in Bali.
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Hortaz gain, Balin meditatzen hasi nintzen.
05:46
And at the same time, I'm extremely aware
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Era berean, erabat konsziente naiz
05:48
how boring it is to hear about other people's happinesses.
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zein aspergarria den beste pertsonen zorionari buruz entzutea.
05:52
So I will not really go too far into it.
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Beraz ez dut hortan sakonduko
05:57
Many of you will know this TEDster,
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Zuetako askok ezagutuko duzue TED kide hau,
06:00
Danny Gilbert, whose book, actually,
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Danny Gilbert, bere liburua
06:02
I got it through the TED book club.
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TED liburu elkartearen bitartez lortu nuen.
06:04
I think it took me four years
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Uste dut lau urte iragan direla
06:06
to finally read it, while on sabbatical.
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irakurri dudan arte, nire urte sabatikoan.
06:10
And I was pleased to see
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Eta asko poztu nintzen
06:12
that he actually wrote the book while he was on sabbatical.
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liburua garai sabatiko batean idatzi zuela jakin nuenean.
06:16
And I'll show you a couple of people
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Garai sabatikoak bikain aprobetxatzen
06:18
that did well by pursuing sabbaticals.
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dakiten pertsona pare bat erakutsiko dizuet.
06:22
This is Ferran Adria. Many people think
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Hau Ferran Adria da. Askok uste dute
06:24
he is right now the best chef in the world
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une hontan munduko sukaldaririk onena dela
06:27
with his restaurant north of Barcelona, El Bulli.
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Bartzelonatik iparraldera du bere jatetxea, elBulli.
06:30
His restaurant is open seven months every year.
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Bere jatetxeak urtero zazpi hilabete ematen ditu irekita.
06:32
He closes it down for five months
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Eta bost hilabete itxita
06:34
to experiment with a full kitchen staff.
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sukaldari talde guztiarekin experimentatu ahal izateko.
06:37
His latest numbers are fairly impressive.
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Bere azken zenbakiak harrigarriak dira.
06:39
He can seat, throughout the year,
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Urte guztian zehar,
06:43
he can seat 8,000 people.
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8.000 pertsona zerbitzatu ditzake
06:46
And he has 2.2 million requests for reservations.
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Eta 2,2 miloi erretserba-eskaera ditu.
06:51
If I look at my cycle, seven years, one year sabbatical,
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Nire zikloari begiratzen badiot, zazpi lan urte, bat sabatikoa
06:54
it's 12.5 percent of my time.
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nire denboraren % 12,5-a da
06:57
And if I look at companies that are actually more successful than mine,
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Eta nire baina arrakastatsuago diren enpresei begiratzen badiet
07:02
3M since the 1930s
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3M, 1930. hamarkadatik
07:05
is giving all their engineers
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bere ingeniari guztiei
07:07
15 percent to pursue whatever they want.
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%15-a ematen die nahi dutena egin dezaten.
07:11
There is some good successes.
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Eta oso arrakasta onak lortu ditu.
07:13
Scotch tape came out of this program,
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Zeloa programa hontatik irten zen,
07:16
as well as Art Fry developed
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era berean, Art Fry-ek paper itsakorrak garatu zituen
07:20
sticky notes from during his personal time for 3M.
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3M-ek ematen zion denbora pertsonal horretan
07:24
Google, of course, very famously
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Google-k, ezaguna den bezala
07:26
gives 20 percent for their software engineers
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%20-a ematen die bere software ingenieriei
07:28
to pursue their own personal projects.
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baraien proiektu pertsonalak jarraitu ditzaten.
07:32
Anybody in here has actually ever conducted a sabbatical?
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Hemengo norbaitek izan al du noizbait denbora sabatiko bat?
07:38
That's about five percent of everybody.
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Hemen gaudenon %5-a da hori.
07:44
So I'm not sure if you saw your neighbor putting their hand up.
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Ez dakit ondoan eserita daukazuenaren eskua jasota ikusi duzuen ala ez.
07:48
Talk to them about if it was successful or not.
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Galde iezaiozue arrakastatsua izan zen ala ez.
07:52
I've found that
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Konturatu naiz
07:54
finding out about what I'm going to like in the future,
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etorkizunean egin nahi izango dudana jakiteko erarik hoberena,
07:58
my very best way is to talk to people
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jadanik hortan aritu den jendearekin
08:00
who have actually done it
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hizketa egitea dela,
08:02
much better than myself envisioning it.
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nik neuk buruan irudikatzea baino askoz hobeto.
08:06
When I had the idea of doing one,
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Urte sabatikoa hartzeko ideia izan nuenean
08:08
the process was I made the decision and I put it into my daily planner book.
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erabakia hartu eta nire agendan ipini nuen.
08:14
And then I told as many, many people as I possibly could about it
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Gero, ahal izan nuen pertsona kopuru zabalenari kontatu nion
08:18
so that there was no way that I could chicken out later on.
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ondoren kokiltzeko aukerarik ez izateko.
08:21
(Laughter)
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(Barreak)
08:23
In the beginning, on the first sabbatical,
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Hasieran, nire lehen urte sabatikoa
08:26
it was rather disastrous.
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nahiko desastrea izan zen.
08:30
I had thought that I should do this without any plan,
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Inolako planik gabe bizi behar nuela pentsatu nuen
08:34
that this vacuum of time somehow would
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nolabait denbora hutsune hori
08:38
be wonderful and enticing
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zoragarri eta liluragarri bilakatuko zela
08:40
for idea generation. It was not.
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ideiak sortu ahal izateko. Ez zen hala izan.
08:43
I just, without a plan, I just reacted
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Inolako planik gabe, eskaera txikiei
08:47
to little requests, not work requests,
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erantzuten nien soilik, ez ziren lan eskaerak,
08:50
those I all said no to, but other little requests.
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haiei guztiei ezetz esaten nien, beste eskaera txikiak ziren.
08:53
Sending mail to Japanese design magazines and things like that.
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Japoniako diseinu aldizkarietara gutunak bidali eta horrelako gauzak.
08:56
So I became my own intern.
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Beraz, nire bekadun propioa bihurtu nintzen.
08:58
(Laughter)
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(Barreak)
09:01
And I very quickly
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Beraz berehala
09:03
made a list of the things I was interested in,
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interesatzen ninduten gauzen zerrenda bat egin nuen,
09:07
put them in a hierarchy, divided them into chunks of time
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hierarkikoki antolatu, denbora ataletan zatitu
09:11
and then made a plan, very much like in grade school.
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eta plangintza bat ezarri nuen, eskolan egin ohi den bezala.
09:15
What does it say here? Monday, 8 to 9: story writing;
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Zer dio hemen? Astelehena 8tatik 9tara: istorioak idaztea.
09:19
9 to 10: future thinking.
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9tatik 10tara: etorkizunari buruz pentsatzea
09:21
Was not very successful. And so on and so forth.
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Hori ez zen oso arrakastatsua izan. Eta honela aste guztia.
09:24
And that actually, specifically as a starting point
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Eta egian esan, lehenego urte sabatikoaren
09:26
of the first sabbatical, worked really well for me.
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abiapuntu gisa, oso ondo funtzionatu zuen niretzat.
09:29
What came out of it?
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Zer atera zen hortik?
09:31
I really got close to design again.
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Diseinuarekiko lotura berriro sentitu nuen.
09:33
I had fun.
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Dibertitu egin nintzen.
09:35
Financially, seen over the long term, it was actually successful.
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Finantza aldetik, eta epe luzerako ikuspegiarekin, arrakastatsua izan zen.
09:38
Because of the improved quality, we could ask for higher prices.
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Kalitatea hobetu genuenez, prezio altuagoak ezarri genituen.
09:43
And probably most importantly,
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Eta agian garrantzitsuago dena,
09:45
basically everything we've done
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lehenengo urte sabatikoaren ondorengo
09:47
in the seven years following the first sabbatical
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zazpi urteetan egin genuen guztia
09:49
came out of thinking of that one single year.
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oinarrian, urte horren inguruko gogoetatik irten zen.
09:53
And I'll show you a couple of projects
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Urte sabatiko haren ondorengo zazpi urte haietan
09:56
that came out of the seven years following that sabbatical.
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burututako pare bat proiektu erakutsiko dizkizuet.
10:01
One of the strands of thinking I was involved in was
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Nere baitan nituen pentsakera ildoetako batek zion
10:05
that sameness is so incredibly overrated.
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Uniformetasuna neurriz kanpo baloratzen dela.
10:07
This whole idea that everything needs to be exactly the same
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Gauza guztiak erabat berdinak izan behar horrek
10:11
works for a very very few strand of companies,
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enpresa gutxi batzuentzako funtzionatzen du
10:14
and not for everybody else.
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eta beste guztientzako ez
10:16
We were asked to design an identity for Casa da Musica,
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Case de Musica-rentzat identitate bat diseinatzeko eskatu ziguten,
10:20
the Rem Koolhaas-built music center
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Rem Koolhaas-ek sortutako musika-zentrua da,
10:23
in Porto, in Portugal.
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Oporto-n, Portugalen.
10:25
And even though I desired to do an identity
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Eta arkitektura erabiltzen ez zuen
10:29
that doesn't use the architecture,
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identitate bat sortu nahi nuen,
10:33
I failed at that.
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baina porrot egin nuen.
10:35
And mostly also because I realized
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Zerbaitetaz jabetu nintzen
10:38
out of a Rem Koolhaas presentation to the city of Porto, where
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Ren Koolhaas-ek Oportoko hiriarentzat egin zuen aukezpena ikusi ondoren,
10:41
he talked about a conglomeration of various layers of meaning.
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non esanahi geruza ezberdinen konglomeratuaz aritu zen hizketan.
10:45
Which I understood after I
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Arkitektura diskurtsotik
10:47
translated it from architecture speech
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hizkuntza arruntera itzuli ondoren,
10:49
in to regular English,
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ulertu nuen oinarrian
10:51
basically as logo making.
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logo sortzeaz ari zela.
10:53
And I understood that the building itself was a logo.
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Eta ulertu nuen eraikina bera logo bat zela.
10:56
So then it became quite easy.
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Orduan oso erreza bilakatu zen.
10:58
We put a mask on it,
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Maskara bat ipini genion,
11:00
looked at it deep down in the ground,
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tokian bertan sakonki aztertu genuen,
11:02
checked it out from all sides,
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alde guztiak miatu genituen
11:05
west, north, south, east,
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mendebala, iparra, hegoa, ekialdea
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top and bottom.
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gainetik eta azpitik.
11:10
Colored them in a very particular way
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Oso era berezian koloreztatu genuen
11:12
by having a friend of mine write a piece of software,
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nire lagun batek sortutako software bati esker
11:15
the Casa da Musica Logo Generator.
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"Casa de Musica Logo Sortzailea".
11:17
That's connected to a scanner.
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Eskaner bati konektatua dago.
11:20
You put any image in there, like that Beethoven image.
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Edozein irudi bertan sartzen duzu, adibidez Beethoven-en irudi hau.
11:23
And the software, in a second,
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Eta softwarea-ak, segundu baten,
11:26
will give you the Casa da Musica Beethoven logo.
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Casa de Musica Beethoven logoa sortzen du.
11:29
Which, when you actually have to design a Beethoven poster,
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Eta hori, Beethoven-en poster bat diseinatu behar duzunean
11:32
comes in handy, because the visual information of the logo
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oso erabilgarria da, logoan azaltzen den informazio bisuala
11:37
and the actual poster is exactly the same.
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eta posterreakoa, berdin-berdinak bait dira.
11:40
So it will always fit together, conceptually, of course.
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Beraz, beti datoz bat, kontzeptualki, noski.
11:44
If Zappa's music is performed, it gets its own logo.
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Zappá-ren musika jo behar badute, bere logo propioa sortzen da.
11:48
Or Philip Glass or Lou Reed or the Chemical Brothers,
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edo Philip Glass, edo Lou Reed, edo Chemical Brothers,
11:51
who all performed there, get their own
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denek han jo dute, eta bakoitzak bere logoa izan du.
11:53
Casa da Musica logo.
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Casa de Musica logoak.
11:55
It works the same internally with the president or the musical director,
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Berdin funtzionatzen du presidentearekin edo musika zuzendariarekin,
11:59
whose Casa da Musica portraits wind up on their business cards.
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bakoitzaren Casa de Musica erretratuak bere negozio-txarteletan azaltzen dira.
12:03
There is a full-blown orchestra
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Benetako orkesta bat dago
12:05
living inside the building.
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eraikinaren barruan bizitzen.
12:08
It has a more transparent identity.
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Identitate gardenagoa dauka.
12:12
The truck they go on tour with.
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Biratan erabiltzen duten kamioia.
12:15
Or there's a smaller contemporary orchestra,
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Edo12 laguneko orkesta garaikide txikiago bat dago,
12:18
12 people that remixes its own title.
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bere izenburua bertsionatzen da.
12:24
And one of the handy things that came about
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Eta erabilgarri suertatu den gauzatako bat izan zen
12:26
was that you could take the logo type
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logotipoa har zenezakeela
12:29
and create advertising out of it.
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eta bertatik iragarkiak sortu.
12:32
Like this Donna Toney poster,
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Donna Toney poster hau bezala,
12:34
or Chopin, or Mozart,
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edo Chopin, edo Mozart,
12:36
or La Monte Young.
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edo La Monte Young.
12:38
You can take the shape and make typography out of it.
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Forma har dezakezu eta bertatik tipografia sortu.
12:42
You can grow it underneath the skin.
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Azalaren azpian koka dezakezu.
12:44
You can have a poster for a family event in front of the house,
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Etxearen aurrean egingo den famili ospakizun baten posterra sortu dezakezu,
12:48
or a rave underneath the house
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edo "rave" festa batena,
12:51
or a weekly program,
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edo asteroko programa bat,
12:53
as well as educational services.
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eta baita hezkuntza zerbitzuak ere.
12:57
Second insight. So far, until that point I had
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Bigarren burutazioa. Une horretara arte
13:00
been mostly involved
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gehienbat diseinuaren hizkuntza
13:03
or used the language of design
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erabiltzen nuen
13:05
for promotional purposes,
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promozioarekin zerikusia zuten helburuetarako,
13:07
which was fine with me.
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eta ondo sentitzen nintzen.
13:09
On one hand I have nothing against selling.
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Alde batetik, ez dut ezer saltzearen kontra.
13:11
My parents are both salespeople.
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Nire gurasoak saltzaileak dira.
13:14
But I did feel that
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Baina sentitzen nuen
13:16
I spent so much time learning this language,
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hizkuntza hau ikasten hainbeste denbora igaro ondoren
13:18
why do I only promote with it?
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zergatik erabili promoziorako bakarrik?
13:21
There must be something else.
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Zerbait gehiago egin liteke.
13:23
And the whole series of work came out of it.
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Eta lan multzo oso bat bertatik abiatu zen.
13:25
Some of you might have seen it.
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Zuetako batzuk dagoeneko ikusi duzue.
13:27
I showed some of it
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Zenbait la erakutsi ditut
13:29
at earlier TEDs before,
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aurreko TED hitzalditan,
13:31
under the title "Things I've Learned in My Life So Far."
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"Orain arte nire bizitzan ikasi ditudan gauzak" izenburupean.
13:34
I'll just show two now.
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Bi erakutsiko dizkizuet.
13:36
This is a whole wall of bananas
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Hau heldutasun-puntu desberdina duten
13:39
at different ripenesses
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banana-pareta bat da
13:41
on the opening day in this gallery in New York.
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New York-eko galeria hau inauguratu zen egunean
13:44
It says, "Self-confidence produces fine results."
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hala zion: "Autokonfidantzak emaitza bikainak sortzen ditu".
13:48
This is after a week.
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Hau astebete beranduago da.
13:50
After two weeks,
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Bi aste beranduago,
13:52
three weeks, four weeks, five weeks.
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hiru aste, lau aste, bost aste.
13:55
And you see the self confidence almost comes back,
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Ikusten duzuenez, autokonfidantza ia itzuli egiten da,
13:57
but not quite.
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baina ez guztiz.
14:01
These are some pictures visitors sent to me.
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Zenbait bisitarik argazkiak bidali zizkidaten.
14:04
(Laughter)
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(Barreak)
14:05
And then the city of Amsterdam
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Ondoren, Amsterdam-eko hiriak
14:07
gave us a plaza and asked us to do something.
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plaza bat eman zigun eta zerbait egiteko eskatu.
14:10
We used the stone plates as a grid
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Harlauzak gure pieza txikiarentzat
14:14
for our little piece.
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lauki-sare bezela erabili genituen.
14:17
We got 250,000 coins from the central bank,
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Banku Zentraleko 250.000. txanpon lortu genituen,
14:21
at different darknesses.
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tonu ezberdinekin.
14:23
So we got brand new ones, shiny ones,
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Bagenituen batzuk oso berriak, dizdiratsuak,
14:25
medium ones, and very old, dark ones.
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ertainak, eta oso zaharrak, ilunak.
14:29
And with the help of 100 volunteers, over a week,
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Eta 100 bolondresen laguntzarekin, astebetez,
14:33
created this fairly floral typography
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lore-tipografia hau sortu genuen
14:38
that spelled, "Obsessions make my life worse
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eta hau zion " Obsesioek nire bizitza okerragoa egiten dute
14:40
and my work better."
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eta nire lana hobea."
14:42
And the idea of course was to
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Eta noski, ideia zen
14:44
make the type so precious
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emaitza oso ederra lortzea
14:47
that as an audience
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eta audientziarengan
14:49
you would be in between,
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zalantza sortzea.
14:51
"Should I really take as much money as I can?
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"Ahal bezainbeste diru hartu beharko nuke?"
14:53
Or should I leave the piece intact as it is right now?"
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Edo pieza bere hortan ukitu gabe utzi beharko nuke?"
14:58
While we built all this up
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Lanean ari ginela
15:00
during that week, with the 100 volunteers,
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aste hortan, ehun bolondresak han ari zirela
15:02
a good number of the neighbors surrounding the plaza
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plazan bueltaka zebilen bizilagun askok
15:06
got very close to it and quite loved it.
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piezarekiko atxikimendua sentitu zuen, gustoko zuten.
15:08
So when it was finally done,
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Lana amaitu eta
15:10
and in the first night
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lehenengo gauean
15:12
a guy came with big plastic bags
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tipo bat azaldu zen plastikozko poltsa handiekin,
15:14
and scooped up as many coins as he could possibly carry,
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eta garraia zitzakeen adina txanpon hartu zituen,
15:19
one of the neighbors called the police.
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bizilagunetako batek poliziari deitu zion.
15:21
And the Amsterdam police
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Eta Amsterdamenko poliziak
15:23
in all their wisdom,
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bere zuhurtzia osoz,
15:26
came, saw,
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bertara joan, ikusi
15:28
and they wanted to protect the artwork.
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eta arte lana babestu nahi izan zuen.
15:30
And they swept it all up and put it into custody
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Beraz dena erratzarekin bildu eta zainpean ipini zuten
15:33
at police headquarters.
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poliziaren kuartelean.
15:35
(Laughter)
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(Barreak)
15:37
I think you see, you see them sweeping. You see them sweeping right here.
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Usten dut ikusi ditzakezuela, erratza pasatzen ari dira.
15:40
That's the police, getting rid of it all.
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Hau polizia da, dena paretik kentzen.
15:44
So after eight hours
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Beraz, zortzi ordu beranduago
15:46
that's pretty much all that was left
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lan guztia desagertu zen
15:48
of the whole thing.
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eta hau zen geratzen zen guztia.
15:50
(Laughter)
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(Barreak)
15:52
We are also working on the start of a bigger project in Bali.
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Balin proiektu handiago baten hastapenetan ari gara lanean.
15:55
It's a movie about happiness.
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Zorionari buruzko filma bat da.
15:57
And here we asked some nearby pigs
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Eta bertako txerri batzuei eskatu diegu
16:00
to do the titles for us.
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izenburuak egin ditzaten.
16:02
They weren't quite slick enough.
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Ez ziren behar bezain trebeak.
16:04
So we asked the goose to do it again,
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Beraz antzarrari eskatu genion berriro egin zitzan,
16:06
and hoped she would do somehow,
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eta nolabait espero genuen
16:08
a more elegant or pretty job.
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lan dotoreago edo politagoa egingo zuela.
16:11
And I think she overdid it.
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Eta uste dut gehiegikerian erori zela.
16:13
Just a bit too ornamental.
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Gehiegi apaindu zuen.
16:16
And my studio is very close to the monkey forest.
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Nire estudioa tximuak dituen baso batetatik oso gertu dago.
16:20
And the monkeys in that monkey forest
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eta tximu-baso hartako tximuek
16:22
looked, actually, fairly happy.
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nahiko zoriontsu dirudite.
16:24
So we asked those guys to do it again.
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Beraz tipo hauei berriro egiteko eskatu genien.
16:29
They did a fine job, but had
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Lan ona egin zuten baina
16:31
a couple of readability problems.
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irakurgarritasun problema pare bat izan zituzten.
16:36
So of course whatever you don't really do yourself
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Eta noski, zuk zeuk egiten ez baduzu
16:39
doesn't really get done properly.
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sekula ez da ondo eginda geldituko.
16:43
That film we'll be working on for the next two years.
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Filma hontan lanean jardungo dugu datozen bi urteotan.
16:47
So it's going to be a while.
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Beraz, bada puskatxo bat.
16:50
And of course you might think that
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Eta noski, pentsa dezakezue
16:52
doing a film on happiness
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zorionari buruzko filma bat egiteak
16:55
might not really be worthwhile.
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ez duela benetan penarik merezi,
16:57
Then you can of course always
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orduan noski beti joan zaitezkete
16:59
go and see this guy.
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tipo hau ikustera.
17:01
Video: (Laughter)
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Bideoa: (Barreak)
17:16
And I'm happy I'm alive.
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Zoriontsu nago bizirik nagoelako
17:18
I'm happy I'm alive. I'm happy I'm alive.
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Zoriontsu nago bizirik nagoelako. Zoriontsu nago bizirik nagoelako
17:25
Stefan Sagmeister: Thank you.
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Eskerrikasko
17:27
(Applause)
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Txaloak
Translated by olatz mercader
Reviewed by Manex artola

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Stefan Sagmeister - Graphic designer
Renowned for album covers, posters and his recent book of life lessons, designer Stefan Sagmeister invariably has a slightly different way of looking at things.

Why you should listen

Stefan Sagmeister is no mere commercial gun for hire. Sure, he's created eye-catching graphics for clients including the Rolling Stones and Lou Reed, but he pours his heart and soul into every piece of work. His design work is at once timeless and of the moment, and his painstaking attention to the smallest details creates work that offers something new every time you look at it.

While a sense of humor invariably surfaces in his designs, Sagmeister is nonetheless very serious about his work; his intimate approach and sincere thoughtfulness elevate his design. A genuine maverick, Sagmeister achieved notoriety in the 1990s as the designer who self-harmed in the name of craft: He created a poster advertising a speaking engagement by carving the salient details onto his torso.

More profile about the speaker
Stefan Sagmeister | Speaker | TED.com