Matthew Granfield is an Australian writer and business person. He is founder and chair of homelessness charity Spare Keys.
Education
Granfield was educated at
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
, the
University of Queensland
, mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work
, established =
, endowment = A$224.3 million
, budget = A$2.1 billion
, type = Public research university
, chancellor = Peter Varghese
, vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry
, city = B ...
and
Trinity Lutheran College.
Career
Journalism
After graduating university Granfield was accepted into the
News Limited
News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,0 ...
cadet reporter program where he worked as a journalist for several newspapers.
He writes for the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
's ''The Drum'' website,
was an editor of Marketing Magazine
and regularly contributes to numerous other publications,
including
Maxim
Maxim or Maksim may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine
** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition
** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition
*Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Sir ...
,
Crikey
Crikey is an Australian electronic magazine comprising a website and email newsletter available to subscribers. Crikey was described by the former Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham as the "most popular website in Parliament House" in ''The ...
,
and
The Courier Mail
''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...
's Q Weekend Magazine.
Charity Work
Granfield is the founder of homelessness charity Spare Keys and a TEDx presenter on the topic of domestic and family violence.
Music
Granfield was a founding member and songwriter for Q Song Award nominated
Queensland rock group
The Black Market Rhythm Co.
Writing and Impact on the Hipster Movement
In October 2011
Allen & Unwin
George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...
released Granfield's first book,
a satirical look at popular culture titled ''HipsterMattic''.
The Weekend Australian called it "enjoyable" with "moments of brilliance ... convincingly exposing the true absurdity" of the hipster movement.
Granfield's explanation of hipster culture has been broadly cited and recognised as one of the most eloquent definitions of the movement:
"While mainstream society of the 2000s (decade) had been busying itself with reality television, dance music, and locating the whereabouts of Britney Spears's underpants, an uprising was quietly and conscientiously taking place behind the scenes. Long-forgotten styles of clothing, beer, cigarettes and music were becoming popular again. Retro
Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...
was cool, the environment was precious, and old was the new 'new'. Kids wanted to wear Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, ''The ...
's cardigans and Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...
's glasses—they revelled in the irony of making something so nerdy
A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly tech ...
so cool. They wanted to live sustainably and eat organic gluten-free grains. Above all, they wanted to be recognised for being different—to diverge from the mainstream and carve a cultural niche all for themselves. For this new generation, style wasn't something you could buy in a department store, it became something you found in a thrift shop, or, ideally, made yourself. The way to be cool wasn't to look like a television star: it was to look like as though you'd never seen television."
Bibliography
Non fiction
*''HipsterMattic'', Allen and Unwin, 2011
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References
External links
Personal Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Granfield, Matt
Living people
Australian male bloggers
Chief digital officers
University of Queensland alumni
Harvard Business School alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)