Helmar Nielsen was a lawyer-tinkerer who invented the metal picture frame in the back of his wife’s frame shop on Newbury Street in Boston. He hired us to give the company an image because he wanted to sell it. He gave us carte blanche to make it happen.We worked with a number of great people, from Ed Koren to Arnold Newman to Sammy Kahn. The whole idea of framing an idea, a person, a space is an idea with endless possibilities. In this case, we gave the concept to a number of photographers. They loved the assignment. This is one of the print ads, shot by Jim Matusik. In about two years somebody came along and wrote Helmar a check for $50 million. End of story.

We think computers would be a lot more exciting if they were called “thinking machines.” The word computer is just so cold and so dumb. David Byrne says that what computers are missing is “Africa.” That feeling of a wraparound, all-senses-in-gear, full-body experience does not quite describe how we interact with these devices we sit in front of all day. Partly to combat this dreadful lack of imagination, we have always tried to introduce new life forms into this world. Usually they are greeted with open arms.