frank lloyd wright…the original-original gang’sta!
he was commissioned to redesign the Imperial Hotel in japan in 1916. the emperor had him sign a non-compete so he couldn’t work on anything else for the duration.
the thing ended up taking years, keeping him in tokyo to 1922.
the contract was for “commercial” work, and said nothing about “residential”…so, he would take mtgs at his hotel room from richies in the private sector.
in most instances, the dignitary would arrive at his room, frank would ask a few pointed questions about their lifestyle, what was important to them, etc, etc…all the while sitting at his drafting table sketching all thru the consultation.
after 20 mins or so, he would roll up the sketch, shove it in a tube, hand it to the client and ask for the $XXX,000’s in payment.
often the response was along the lines of; “…what? wait? you’re finished? that’s it, you’re done? that took 20 mins?!?! what am i paying for?”
to which his answer was always along the lines of; “you didn’t pay for 20 mins, you paid for the 30 yrs it took me to draw that for you in 20 mins.”
(*re-told poorly by me from my 2 favorite art-history instructors; Andy Cruz & Rich Roat)
