Concept, Logo Design, Site Design, Product Design, Copy, Curation, Sales, Marketing
To our animal, some things are mere sustenance. But we’ve evolved. As global consumers, we now respond to fashion, availability, and cost to determine the value of things. And as post-industrialists, our fetish objects have little intrinsic worth and are mainly gateways to an ever-expanding load of ethereal stuff. It’s difficult to reckon how we’ll physically and psychologically adapt to the exponential developments spawned by our own intellect. But we can be certain that our relationship to objects and people will continue to be redefined.
Fortunately, we’re sentient and instinctive. From our very beginnings, we’ve created artifacts to help us cope with the uncanny. The venerable human fingerprint continues to coalesce our intellect and emotional temperament into objects of self-reflection. And we’ve seen reciprocity and the human bond transmute the crafted thing from ordinary commodity to myth making tool. Despite their elusive quantifiability, we maintain that physical skill and artfulness are keystones to cultural identity. This is a marvelous mystery: that we would be modern and still wittingly cherish the transformative power of objects, as if to say, “A thing is not always just a thing”.
THIS IS THE BEAST IN THE ROOM. THIS IS OLIPHAUNT.
Mechanically, Oliphaunt is an object quarterly by creative collective OCCULTER. Metaphysically, it’s an exchange experience enveloped in secrecy and anticipation.
Oliphaunt intends to encourage the conscientious manner in which you relate to the things you own. We believe that intelligent design, artfulness, and craftsmanship are your expectations, while respect, community, and culture can be our mutual rewards.
Membership Programme
There are three parts to an Oliphaunt membership: an induction package, a monthly print newsletter, and four quarterly objects or “Oliphaunts”.
INDUCTION PACKAGE
Induction packages ship soon after enrollment. These consist of an exclusive member badge with your Member ID (enumerating your position in the sequence of subscribers) and a welcome letter.
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
Every month following, a printed newsletter will be mailed to you. This newsletter will be filled with clues and dates relevant to the content of each upcoming quarterly object.
QUARTERLY OBJECTS
Four member exclusive objects will ship, one every three months, on or near equinoxes and solstices. Each will be signed by the corresponding artist and numbered with your Member ID. Four artists will participate each year, each making one object.
Roster 2013
The 2013 artist roster for Oliphaunt is made up of our senior most members: Derrick Cruz, founder and Creative Director of Occulter and Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons, instructor at Parsons The New School; artist and photographer, Jeremy Dyer; jewelry designer and sculptor, Jonathan Goldstein of Bevel; and artist Gabriel J. Shuldiner.
Induction Package contents are designed and crafted by Derrick Cruz. Newsletters are designed and crafted by Derrick Cruz in collaboration with Jeremy Dyer.
JOINING
To request a membership, email us at... Memberships are limited.
Schedule
December 15, 2012 - Induction Packages begin shipping and continue as new members join
March 20, 2013 - Oliphaunt No.1
June 21, 2013 - Oliphaunt No.2
September 22, 2013 - Oliphaunt No.3
December 15, 2013 - Oliphaunt No.4
Though winter solstice 2013 is on December 21st, we’d like your parcel to arrive by Christmas, so it will ship on the 15th. Newsletters will ship on the first of every month.
Dues
A one-year membership is twelve hundred dollars. You may pay the full amount at once or choose to divide it into four payments. If you opt for installments, three-hundred dollars will be due when you enroll and then again every three months following, for a total of four three-hundred dollar payments. Billing will occur approximately four weeks before each quarterly ships. Membership includes domestic and international shipping.
Delivery
Induction Packages, Newsletters, and Oliphaunts may be shipped directly to you or the person of your choice. All emails, receipts, and book-keeping communications will be sent directly to the paying subscriber. Contact us to make special delivery and addressing arrangements.
Clues
The monthly newsletters will be replete with hints into the content of Oliphaunts. A season’s parcel may contain a sculptural design object reflecting an artist’s current obsession; an exclusive precursor to an upcoming body of work could be the culprit, or you may find yourself loosely participating in a long distance ritual with tools made by a seasoned craftsman. The possibilities of imagination are truly endless, as Oliphaunt seeks to be, not blur, the line that intersects art, craft and the common; for we believe this is where wonder lives.
Every item leaving our studios will reflect the attention to concept, craftsmanship, and quality you know from Occulter. Our artists are so excited about this project that Oliphaunt is bound to exceed expectations. To see current works by OCCULTER, please visit Occulter.org.