#authentic-production

#authentic-production

Silk farming sits at a rare intersection of biology, precision, and business. It didn't feel like I was leaving science, it felt like I was applying it differently.

The exhibition, entitled Forget Me Not: South Lebanon in Memory and Motion, took place earlier this month, as this largely rural part of the Levant became a front in the US and Israeli war against Iran.

The money was supposed to feel like something. You work your whole life thinking about the payoff. The day you can finally relax. The moment you don't have to worry about making payroll or whether that big invoice will come through.

H-E-B is America's best grocery chain, with a loyal following and a super-long list of must-buy products, including freshly baked tortillas and store-brand ice cream.

Aera, founded in 2018, released its first two watches in 2022, showcasing modern tool watches with design codes from the mid-20th century.

Throughout its history, Spain has been shaped by a wide range of cultures and civilizations, including Muslim, Phoenician, Roman, Greek, Carthaginian, and Visigothic influences, which are reflected in its architecture and design.

Craft is often defined as skill in making things by hand, but this interpretation is being challenged by AI. Craft transcends physical interaction; historical figures like Mozart and Beethoven exemplify mastery without traditional methods.

"We met with linen and wool weavers and were blown away by the exceptional quality and beauty of the cloth they produced, as well as the depth of [textile] history in Ireland. We were in equal measure concerned by the decline in the number of weavers. They mentioned that they were losing out to cheaper cloth from abroad and that Irish buyers were few and far between."

Textiles are a window into the communities that created them, with every motif and line signalling a different memory, tradition or identity. Often seen as folk art, these pieces of embroidery and weaving bring together dozens of narrative threads, from Japan to South America. But nowhere is it more fraught with meaning than in Palestine.

Each piece begins with used coffee pods collected from my community, materials that were never meant to last beyond a single use. Before any design work begins, the pods must be cleaned, sanitized, flattened, cut, folded, and shaped entirely by hand. They arrive dented, stained, and inconsistent, carrying the marks of their previous life. Learning how to work with those imperfections, rather than erasing them, was one of my first challenges.

I thought retirement would be about slowing down, but this gives me more energy than my teaching job ever did.

Tons upon tons of these single-use plastics end up in landfills or even floating in the ocean. Spanish design firm PET Lamp set out give another purpose to these otherwise short-lived materials. Partnering with artisans in communities from Chile to Ethiopia to Australia, the company celebrates both Indigeneity and sustainability, drawing upon time-honored global craft traditions while supporting local economies and recycling discarded materials.

The advertising industry has always been in the business of making things, such as the OOH billboard, the 30-second spot, the snappy social post, the standard website: final, finite assets polished and pushed into the world. Agencies were paid, often by the hour, for producing final versions of these things and then moved on to the next project. Even with generative AI entering the picture, much of the conversation remains focused on making those same things faster or cheaper.

It is not about reproducing the past but about engaging in dialogue with it. We apply the same level of care and rigor to all pieces. Many of our utilitarian pieces have a strong sculptural quality, and several of the more artistic works originate from everyday forms and functions. We do not establish rigid boundaries between these categories; all are part of the same vision.

What if I took my design lens and built out my essentials capsule for the Everlane customer? I felt like that would be a really amazing opportunity for me to introduce myself as a designer to an audience outside of EB Denim.