Jerry Helling

Job Description
I’m the president and creative director of Bernhardt Design.

Current projects
As of today, most of them are centered around getting ready for ICFF. We have a great edition of ICFF Studio, which is in its sixth year. It’s also the seventh year of the program we started with Art Center College of Design, and we’re having a retrospective featuring all the students’ work that we’ve produced. And the last one is something that’s pretty exciting and cool: we’re presenting a design-as-curriculum project called Tools for Schools with 45 eighth graders who are going to be at ICFF.

First step on a project
It’s a random thought that turns into an idea, and then that usually turns into a discussion with somebody about what might be possible.

Last step on a project
I’m not sure there really is one. I always want to go back and do something better or different. I guess I’m lucky there’s a calendar that prevents that from happening most of the time.

How do you break a creative block?
I usually go talk to somebody who isn’t close to the situation, and that confirms the nagging doubts I’ve been having or validates that I’m on the right path.

Education
I have a master’s in motion-picture marketing. As you can see, I didn’t intend to go into this field when I was 22 years old.

Mentors
That one’s easy: Anne Bernhardt. She took a chance on me many years ago when I didn’t have any apparent qualifications or experience, and she has done everything in her power to help me be successful. I’m so lucky. I don’t think everybody gets an Anne Bernhardt in their lives.

First act as “Design Czar”
It would be to create a venue in this country where more people became familiar with industrial designers. We don’t have an infrastructure to allow the individual designers to be presented and introduced. So much of our coverage is about style, interiors, decorating. The industrial designers, the ones creating all of our products, don’t really get the exposure they need.

Dream team
In addition to the people I work with now, it’d
be people like Bob Weinstein, Richard Branson, Mike Krzyzewski, Madonna, Giorgio Armani. I really respect people who are able to do great work and also achieve a certain level of commercial success for an extended period of time.

Office chair
Well, it’s a Bernhardt Design chair, of course.

Office sound track
I’m a bit of a music addict, so it changes daily. This week it’s Teddy Thompson and Lucia Evans.

Favorite tchotchke
I don’t really have one. If I had to choose things to save in a fire, I would only take photographs.

Most useful tool
My address book

Bookmarks
Financial Times, Variety, ESPN, Rotten Tomatoes, Fast Company, Monocle

Best place to think
In my car. I have sticky notes all over
my dashboard.

Current Read
I’m reading a great book right now, a novel called Night Train to Lisbon, by Pascal Mercier.

Something new
I just got a great Muji pen.

Something old
Rome

Favorite space
Hôtel Costes, in Paris. Without a doubt. Even Jacques Garcia, who designed the hotel with Jean-Louis Costes, has tried to re-create it,
and it’s not reproducible. It’s an amazing feeling.

Guilty Pleasure
I eat great quantities of fake whipped cream out of the spray can, much to my wife’s dismay.

Underrated
I don’t know if they’re underrated, but I think laughing and breathing are pretty important. If you’ve got a sense of humor about almost anything and you remember to just stop and breathe—which is more difficult than
it sounds—I think everything’s OK.

Overrated
Apple. I know it’s all shiny and wonderful, and we’re all in awe, but there’s a dark side there, from the ridiculous planned obsolescence of their products to the way they control the music industry, to how they control our purchased content. I don’t think it’s all so wonderful.

Learned the hard way
Hire the person, not the résumé.

COMMAND-Z (UNDO)
I would like to undo 24-hour news, if I could. This constant, relentless blabbering. I think it desensitizes us and makes it difficult to
prioritize what’s really important. We don’t know if we should be interested in Libya or Charlie Sheen.

Dream Job
Music producer