š Many things in this ā30 values, beliefs, and other ideasā by Jackson resonated: Things to Remember.
It all comes down to love and gratitude. Happiness is love, full stop.
š§š¦ Mathilde insisted I read that one and itās a must-read indeed. Freya dug into āour broken homesā and how it affected -more than we might think- an entire generation. The subtitle itself is powerful: āwe simply donāt believe anyone will stayā -it gives me goosebumps. As a young father of two who grew up in a very broken home -no father and a hard-working mum who didnāt have any bandwidth most of the time- that post feels quite special. The Age of Abandonment.
Throughout history our ancestors built customs and institutions to bind us together and then, one by one, we kicked them down. We killed God, we mocked marriage, we attacked the family, we uprooted neighbourhoods, we debunked every last myth and story. And we kept going and going, until we got here, with our sad little divorce parties. Until we got here, with a generation huddled, heartbroken, fearful of love, fearful of life, kicking away at anything that reaches out to help. We lifted the burden from adults, told parents to do what makes them happy, forgetting that those structures werenāt just limits on adult freedom; they were foundations for children to stand on, to step off from, on which they depended. We shattered them and now we wonder why a generation is falling apart. Welcome to the age of abandonment.
šŖ” š Last week was special with Objet -we threw our second soirĆ©e in SF on Friday and got lucky to see some great folks share the love.
What Saumya and Colt are building is so important. Check their work out: Build IRL Newsletter #22. And especially if youāre living in SF, they always share some cool events you can join. Thatās how I knew about the new IRL Movie Club for instance and got to watch the Join or Die documentary.
I canāt agree more with Caitlin and really liked her invitation to move from volume to value: Less Volume, More Value. I also agree with her āmedium-hot takeā: āvolume-based growth lacks imaginationā.
š š Dirt also introduced their new column -Objet- in collaboration with us. Theyāve asked five writers to write about a single object that is significant to them and will be publishing these essays in the coming months. For its first: Marlowe Granados on the cathartic potential of a second-hand bag: The Bakelite Bag.
I like to think of them [old things] as talismans of the past. I donāt just put them on display but use them as they were made to be used.
Thereās also a sense that whatever it witnessed through my ownership is just a minor chapter in the bagās life. It holds my secrets but also the mysteries of those that came before me. I can only hope to pass it on as the common thread between me and generations of stylish women.
San Francisco is great on all fronts but my personal writing. Objet nĀ°2 is coming on Oct. 4th. If you want to embed memories into your clothing, RSVP here.
ā³ Since weāre talking about memories, handle them with care. Julia delivered a banger on Reboot: A Strange Kind of Memory.
Our brains canāt store every observation, thought or perception that passes through and that isnāt a bad thing. Constraints and selections are what allow us to stay sane in a world of complete sensory overload.
ā³ Real long-term thinking is so underrated. Iād love to find a way to teach this skill to both our kids. Bill Gates framed it quite perfectly a while ago: āmost people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.ā. Kyle delivered a banger here. I felt invited to reflect on my own life while reading the piece: Decades.
Long-term thinking suddenly makes short-term thinking appear incredibly silly.
š¹ Iāve always loved a good brand story so when I received Waqas's deep dive on Teenage Engineering, I felt excited right away. Why Teenage Engineering is so Cool. This is exactly the type of opinionated company and brand we'd like to see more of. Which makes me wonder: why are there so few in the world? How can we empower more people to launch weirder and cooler things?
First and foremost, it's time to celebrate. I'm on my longest streak re: writing on this blog. I've been publishing every month since Sept. 2024, reaching a 13-month streak. The 2nd-longest was 'only' 11-month -I reached that mark twice in the past though. The best news still: I've no intention to stop. So I expect this 'record' to be beaten on a regular basis going forward -every month literally. What did trigger it?
šØ We let disposable stuff put us -humans- in a state of disconnection and lack of meaning. Objects are evidence of human existence. This is why Benās piece Marks of Making resonated so much:
Objects that expose their āmarks of makingā, or artifacts of how they were constructed, are a reminder that everything is made. Nothing simply appears. In a time when most people are wholly detached from making anything they consume, itās easy to lose sight of that fact. Iām not necessarily lamenting this disconnect, but I appreciate any design which reminds us (whether intentionally or not) that it was made.
šØ Henrik struck again. Look at that opener š I was hooked right there. The whole thing looks like a great -and wise- ālessonā to pass on kids: everything that turned out well in my like followed the same design process.
If I look at things that have turned out well in my life (my marriage, some of my essays, my current career) the ādesign processā has been the same in each case. It has been what Christopher Alexander called an unfolding. Put simply:
I paid attention to things I liked to do, and found ways to do more of that. I made it easy for interesting people to find me, and then I hung out with them. We did projects together.
I kept iteratingāpaying attention to the context, removing things that frustrated me, and expanding things that made me feel alive.
Eventually, I looked up and noticed that my life was nothing like I imagined it would be. But it fit me.
It took Mathilde, Max and I, 4 weeks in San Francisco to gather 35 people to get a uniquely designed label with a chip inside sewn on their denim by local tailors; generating 200 taps during the night -playing a ātap them allā game- which triggered 1,300 notifications total. Letās unpack Objet's first soirĆ©e: La PremiĆØre.
