Partizan's Warren Fu on Nostalgia's Potent Role in Capturing Hearts

While the new – whether that's an idea, a technology or a trend – always captures people's attention, Partizan director Warren Fu believes that capturing hearts is equally as important. Nostalgia, he believes, can play a big part in making that happen, whether by design or by accident.

There's a scene from Mad Men that nails something that's been on my subconscious mind my entire career.

“Well, technology is a glittering lure, but there is the rare occasion when the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash if they have a sentimental bond with the product… Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising is ‘new.’ It creates an itch, and you simply put your product in there as a kind of calamine lotion. But he also talked about a deeper bond with the product: nostalgia. It’s delicate…but potent.” - Don Draper, Mad Men Season 1 Episode 13

The 'new' may instantly catch our attention, but what really drives it home is something that touches our heart. Nostalgia is ephemeral and hard to pin down, but when you capture it in the right way, it’s like a warm ray of light. It softens the edges with a hazy glow and makes us long for something just out of reach.

The Portuguese have a word for nostalgia: saudade. A bittersweet yearning for what’s passed. Sometimes that ache in your chest actually feels good. You might not even have lived the thing you’re missing, but you still understand it. That’s the beauty of it, it connects us as humans through shared emotion.

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