FEB 10 - 16, 2025
This week, a black rectangle...kinda like the 2020 instagram black squares because this week I kinda #diedinside when the DEI programs were cut.
Look, I know they were not perfect but it felt as though we were working toward something important. But now I am left with the inevitable question: if not DEI, then what?
If we cannot institutionalize communities of people with a shared identity, how do you knowledge share, build trust, and work towards empowerment? I guess you have to go back to what the purpose of these programs are...Equity right? I want to work towards creating equity in my workplace.
That happens on an individual level. I can work towards that by respecting others, mitigating my own biases, stopping disrespectful or discriminatory behavior, learning, and simply operating as a human with others.
But what do you do on an institutional level? attack policy? ways of working? operate underground? I don't know.
FEB 3 - 9, 2025
Today we talk about gifts and more specifically, Foebel's, Maria's, Lovevery's and mine.
After the research on building blocks following the visit to the Cooper Hewitt, I started learning about Mr. Froebel and his path to creating not just educational toys, but a new system. Froebel invented kindergarten: a place meant to nurture children and have them learn and grow with the aide of his gifts. I became completely enamored by the idea more as a designer than an educator because of its meticulous attention to form, exploration, and creation. Its no wonder that so many Bauhaus and Modern architects were inspired by or went to kindergarten - its all grids, simple shapes, and abstraction. I mean a gridded table that you build and draw on?!? Cobussy's dream.
But more than anything I loved how linear it was. And truth be told, I'm not a professional educator and I don't know if its fair to say that learning should be linear...but my design brain loves it. It feels so intentional and in a world where kids have a million toys to choose from, I love the idea that you have to extrapolate ways to play with this one thing you are given.
Its exactly why I love Lovevery - It's curated, thoughtful, beautiful, and beautifully made but not all beige. This modern version is a lot more vast in the kind of learning that it offers the child, but it doesn't feel like a gift. Its mass produced, rented, and doesn't hold the same value as an object as the Froebel gifts.
So. What do my gifts become? The gifts must:
* imbued with knowledge. The purpose of the gift is to teach. About the world, about their family, about themselves. It is a tool for exploration and growth.
* build upon each other. If they are anything they are a set (lol bc of last week). They are in conversation with each other and will all be in my child's space, so they will inevitably played with together, contrasted, and compared. The learning from one gift is elevated by the presence of the next, and they build upon the knowledge created in the past.
* from me. Unlike Froebel, these gifts are from me. They are meant to offer my love to them, and build connection. They cannot be clinical or unbiased, because they are from me.
JAN 27 - FEB 2, 2025
I went to the Cooper Hewitt. And I found a cool book. But they are too horizontal and 4 don't fit...so you only get 3 this week.
Anyway these pages were from some architecture & toys book that showed a bunch of different sets to build houses, castles, mosques, cabins, etc. I absolutely loved seeing how different each set was. The blocks in the set were so determinant of the kind of forms you could make. If you were given the Frank Loyd Wright set, you were never going to be able to make a dome ceiling. It was just to interesting to see entire aesthetic & architectural languages distilled into their literal building blocks.
These sets give you a visual language to use. They kind of trap you in a design system...but I guess all building toys do. and Even Lego, that distilled every kind of shape into modules, kind of gets stuck in the same visual language time after time. So I guess whats really tripping me up right now is that idea of a "set". The set's literal purpose IS simplification, so I guess I cannot get angry at it for trapping me.
What I do think is interesting is the process of distilling the form language into modules...like any good designer I love a module. But once you think about the process of distilling someone else's cultural architecture into modules it gets funky. The french making a set inspired by African architecture is a little wonky. Its giving Emilia Perez.
Maybe reflecting on these has worsened my relationship with building blocks. The idea of a building set as a toy has always been difficult for me. I always felt like the purpose was so narrow and it was so clear what the intended outcome is. Your goal as a play-er is to build within the confines of the system given to you. But the benefits of creating things that model and explore the world around you are pretty worth it.
JAN 20 - 26, 2025
Rando ppl & Cool Scarves
In a city of millions of people its easy to see a captivating stranger, but in the last week there were 2 that were picture worthy. One was an older man at Ground Central enjoying his coffee and reading the news...with 1000 books holding up his ipad so he could read it. I Think I like it so much because it is such an old-school, tactical way to solve his problem. In the second, like the first there is a man who made himself very much at home. The dog, just like the books just had to be elevated a foot or two in order for everyone to be comfortable. Very simple scenes with one wrench thrown in.
The scarves were simply eye candy. It was so lovely how well-woven it is and the color and other formal choices. It is as if bauhaus was making fancy museum scarves.
JAN 13 - 19, 2025
I feel more connected to my mother every day.
It’s easy to idolize moms for their incredible hard work tirelessly raising children every single day. And it’s even easier to put my single-mom, immigrant, cancer patient, marathoner that I call my mother on a f-ing pedestal. But it’s realizing how human she is that makes me feel closer to her.
I grew up wanting to be exactly like my mother: draw like her, write like her, have her favorite color, everything. She raised me as an extension of herself. I was to represent her and not myself. Then like most daughters, I started seeing how flawed she is. I wanted to be nothing like her and wanted nothing to do with her, and yet throughout it I still saw her as the metric that I had to achieve. My sense of self was so wrapped up in trying to be her that when I started seeing her has anything less than perfect, and she started saying that I was less than perfect, it was as if my entire world came crashing down. I no longer had something I could try to aspire to be, and I felt entirely worthless.
Until I realized this is her first time on this planet as well. She is navigating things just as much as I am. And she may be a mom, but that doesn’t meant mean she isn’t a girl. My mom also makes mistakes and struggles, and hurts, and I have to see her as complex as I see myself. I have to forgive her. Because I love her.
And now I am starting to rediscover all the reasons why I thought she was the coolest person on the entire planet.
My mom draws the loveliest little people. She is the best gift giver. She always keeps up the fantasy of the reyes Magos with the swirliest of writing. She has impeccable taste and the highest craftsmanship. She will never do something half-assed, and will put her all into everything she does. Mi Mama is curious, creative and ever so silly. She never takes anything too seriously and is always willing to do a goofy voice or song. Mi mama es la persona mas fuerte que conozco. Puede correr un marathon y hacer como si nada cuando se siente como my muñeca de Madeleine. Pero mas que nada porque es Mi mama. Y por todo lo que ha hecho para mi.
JAN 6 - JAN 12, 2025
First off, I know I'm cheating with a drawing from the week before but it is pertinent to this week's discussion.
1. It's 2025! So its only fair to do a little reflection and intention-setting.
Maya asked us what we want this year to be. EX: the year of the KISS or of the POLAROID or of MODERATION. And I have no F-ing clue. I want to work on my relationships with others, I want to make more things, I want to read more in Spanish, I want to catch myself being correction-y, I want to look like my best self, I want to explore. Its almost as if all the things I want are for myself, but in a non-selfish way. I want to just do it...Sin miedo. Y así lo haré. El año de hacerlo sin miedo.
DEC 30 - JAN 5, 2025
This week is in two parts: kids' drawing and my drawing
Maya and I were Rex drinking coffee and reading the New York times on a Sunday when these two adorable little French boys sat next to us. They quickly became our best friends and wanted to do what we were doing: drawing. We spent maybe an hour or two picking pictures of animals to put onto a grid (image 2) and they had so much fun. The amount of careful thinking that went into this image is honestly outstanding. I have no clue how they didn't get bored. But then the little boy who had been asking for pictures of Sea Monsters started drawing sea monsters. Drawing silently and diligently he would make one at a time and then pause to look at it, giggle, and growl (like the sea monsters). He could have drawn sea monsters for the rest of the day. At surface level all the monsters looked the same; all sort of fuzzy with two eyes and an open mouth. Upon closer inspection however they become a little more complex as he drew them. Almost like a form study.
The difference between his sea monsters and my form studies (image 3 &4) is his all-consuming curiosity and JOY that came from drawing. I think he and I have very similar reasons and ways of drawing but his passion is something I lack. All I want is to be the happiest person in the world because I have a crayon in my hand. Exactly how I felt watching my mom draw. It just felt like she was transforming a white piece of paper into whole new worlds that I could explore. This little kid's sea monsters were uncovering new aspects of these sea monsters that unlocked whole worlds of imagination. One extra eye or a tongue meant opening the door into a place where creatures are no longer limited to two eyes.
I need the spark. The little glow in his eyes that kept him drawing for hours.
DEC 23 - DEC 29, 2024
This week is abridged because to tell you the truth I was not very inspired by 2 weeks on a beach.
1. Did you know about earring jackets!?! Because I did not. I have only ever seen a much less successful version of a two-part earring. (The ones where the cats tail or something is connected to the earring back) I think what I liked about this was that its modular (yes ID Bro, mOdULaR) and that is such a simple way to add onto an existing design in an effective way.
2. Okay so I know Karel Martens was the subject of a previous musing, but now I follow him on instagram…so I now have new content from his & his wife’s(?) studio. I think I like these towels bc of how simple & smart they are. They achieve what Martens does in print in a functional object through its usage, and storage…which for a towel is half of its life.
I want them all. Thats all.
I want them all. Thats all.
3&4 Ngl don’t remember how this came up, I think Gün asked me about Yerba Mate, BUT I did not know nearly as much about Yerba Mate as I should have.
First off, the cute little stainless steel cup I see all the time (obv) si not traditional. It’s supposed to be a Gourd thats hollowed out and cured to keep the Yerba taste. And second I Just thought it was a straw. NO it’s a bombilla which actually has a little filter so you dont soak up all the leaves because…Third, there is no filter. I swore that little aluminum rim was to put the filter but NO it’s just free floating leaves and a bombilla. Wack.
DEC 16 - DEC 22, 2024
1. So I found this little Display. Safe to say I really like it. It feels personal and like someone specifically placed all the pieces where they go, unlike a cabinet or an art piece hanging on a wall. It’s also just a really good composition BUT…I want to think about how I can use this in my nicho.
What this little display has going for it is that it’s PERSONAL. It is built with objects the person owns, and it feels like there is a designated spot for each little Item.
What it has going against it, is it does not feel self contained. But maybe I can use elements of it like breaking the grid, using multiple connected elements, hanging objects, and using the wall as part of the composition.
What this little display has going for it is that it’s PERSONAL. It is built with objects the person owns, and it feels like there is a designated spot for each little Item.
What it has going against it, is it does not feel self contained. But maybe I can use elements of it like breaking the grid, using multiple connected elements, hanging objects, and using the wall as part of the composition.
2. This little artesanía that I found Maude by a French(?) woman. I think I like it because it is clearly playing with the visual language of an ex-voto heart, but is still compelling, does not feel too out of place, or like it is “trying to say something”. What I hope are found objects that are surrounding the sacred heart look like toys that most of us would recognize as daily-life objects…contrasted with the hand-made quality of the rest of the heart. The readymades are a distinct different color from the rest of the heart, but whats interesting is that the top mary depiction that is made in the same style as the heart, has the colors of the toys painted into it. It almost feels like the religious iconography is separated from the rest of the heart, and should be treated like the dinosaurs and cats.
I think this object does a lot of the things I want to do. It’s clear that it is subverting the religiosity of the original object, it is playful but still retains the aesthetic value I love. However, a diferencia de lo que quiero hacer yo, it does not feel personal. It is almost a little bit too cohesive.
I think this object does a lot of the things I want to do. It’s clear that it is subverting the religiosity of the original object, it is playful but still retains the aesthetic value I love. However, a diferencia de lo que quiero hacer yo, it does not feel personal. It is almost a little bit too cohesive.
3. Okay so I know Karel Martens was the subject of a previous musing, but now I follow him on instagram…so I now have new content from his & his wife’s(?) studio. I think I like these towels bc of how simple & smart they are. They achieve what Martens does in print in a functional object through its usage, and storage…which for a towel is half of its life.
I want them all. Thats all.
I want them all. Thats all.
DEC 9 - DEC 15, 2024
Nichos, ofrendas, and altars were tools of colonization for the spread of catholicism. They create a space in your home for worship, and teach others about a catholic story or saint. But through Latin America’s adoption, immigration, and commercialization, it became much less of a votive object, using less religious aesthetics like rasquachismo, and portraying anything from pop-culture moments to day to day scenes with some religious iconography thrown in. I would argue they transformed into an aesthetic object and it lost a lot of the ritual and intent that it had in its original (although colonizing) form.
So if an altar is something in your home that's purpose is to make space for God, give penance, and pray to a saint to give you something….But if you take god out of it…what you're really doing is making space for those who are important to you, reflecting on your shortcomings and setting an intention for a better future.
I want my nicho to create a space where I can reflect on myself, reconnect with my family and values, and set an intention for a future that I want.
In order to reflect on myself and set an intention for the future: I want to create space for a ritual where I can be critical and grateful. The altar should be a reminder of bettering myself by looking back in order to look forward. I want to set an intention by vocalizing what I want and how I want to change things both in and out of my control. Kind of like a wish.
The key difference between my nicho and the original is that I am not using an existing belief system and measuring myself to it. I am not repenting my sins and asking San Judas or the Virgencita for a miracle. Instead, I am using my own values and asking myself to set the intention. This shift transforms the religious iconography in an altar into an aesthetic language that is a part of my familial and cultural capital, rather than a value system. By removing the nicho’s religious aspect and intended purpose of conversion, I am decolonizing the object.
In order to reconnect with family I want to use objects given to me by my family, and narrative depiction to build my connection to them even if they are far away…Although I do hope that a secondary effect is that I try to be more actively involved in their lives. The altar can simultaneously be nostalgic, tell stories about the past, and remind me to do something about it right now. I want to use a visual language that uses both Latin American, Italian catholic, and American aesthetics to arrive at something that is uniquely my own, influenced by the cultures around me and my family.
DEC 2 - DEC 8, 2024
Today is split into two themes: Things that hang and things that dance.
1. Okay so turns out I can't find anything on the history of baby mobiles...so I will dissect it myself.
If they are to hang on top of your baby it only makes sense that it would protect your baby and its dreams. Its almost like the baby's companion while you aren't there. Then, I mean if you take into account the developmental benefits, then its about colors, shapes, movements, etc. And at that point the function could turn into helping the baby sleep/comfort-type toy.
So what would I want my children to have above them as a protector and companion?
2. There was this art piece in the Met that was made by a formerly incarcerated artist. A series of rocks wrapped in prison-issued needle and thread are suck on a pinboard at different heights.
Subject matter aside, I loved how human it was. I could tell how it was made and it feels so fragile. The pinned rocks were
3. I went to see the George Balanchine version of the nutcracker at the New York City Ballet. It was nothing less than magical. I think it was the combination of the music that I am so emotionally attached to, my love of ballet, and the overwhelming showmanship of it all.
But I must admit that despite my love of the art, I found myself nit picking their lines, how synched or on beat they were, or if their formations were off. I tried to let it go and enjoy it, and I learned that I was watching at the wrong scale. When I was watching two or three dancers at a time it was easy to see the mistakes, but if I watched the stage as a whole, I was much more likely to get the affect of the entire performance. I started seeing the movement of the dancers as a whole and the scenery and the accumulation of their movements...which was a million times more powerful and beautiful.
SIDENOTE: I didn't realize there were multiple types of nutcracker stories. Apppparrrrentlyyyyy there is a version (Gorsky) where Clara and the Prince are adults, and Clara and the Sugar plum fairy's roles are combined. In the original/Balanchine version, Marie is a kid and the ending pas de deux is done by the sugar plum fairy's cavalier.
4. I went to the Met on Saturday, and I was of course pulled into the degas dancers room. I felt bad for Gün because its not really his thing, but I just love them too much. I've decided a third of the appeal is the subject matter, a third is the impressionist style (bc I'm a sucker for the colors), and a third is the GLOW. His handle of stage light gives it warmth and a human quality that I love. Upon further reflection I don't think its simply the subject matter, because if they were perfectly drawn elongated figures i would like it less. Degas' ballerinas are not tall and skinny and in the perfect pose...they are weirdly human. We find them either stretching, between dance moves, or even if they are in the perfect pose we see a couple of them yapping in the background.
NOV 25 - DEC 1, 2024
1. Brothers going home from school. Matching scooters, matching backpacks.
Okay do I have done my research on backpacks, rucksacks, knapsacks, and book belts. I have been reminded that where a design comes from and its evolution says a lot about the user of the design.
The schulranzen shape (the german bag the kids were wearing) came from the original design that was made with wood and stretched leather. BTW I find it funny that men really be designing soft goods with hard materials first and replicating the shape even though its a soft material. The issue with this shape that stretches horizontally is that its horribly non-ergonomic because the weight is on the shoulders and not hips (like a hiking bag). I think its also undeniable that the shape looks exactly like the belt straps on books, so again hilarious that the soft design was just trying to replicate the shape of something so rigid.
Its telling that designers really didn't care about ergonomics of the bag because kids were the users. The designers aren't the ones lugging books everyday so they wouldn't know the design errors...classic
Side-note that its CRAZY how contemporary a backpack as we know it is. Like they were for hikers...forget kids that need it everyday, lets design for the once-in-a-while hiker.
2. I saw this little bunny and I just couldn't help but think of rabbity being dragged everywhere. The thing is the backpack looks rather big, so I wouldn't think its an adult, but the helmet looks small...so maybe its the parent carrying the kids things. But then why would it be out? I would've wanted it to be safe and secure. It all just seemed like a beautiful little scene that I I could relate to so emotionally.
3. I was a little afraid the beauty of the german nativity pyramid would get lost once I came back to the US...not at all. They are so lovely and christmas-y. I think I like them so much because I don't think of light wood when I think of Christmas decoration, but it fits so well.
4. These little wooden toys were just soooooo cute. I got my own little set of animals and I saw the people next to me doing the same. Their grouping is much less farm-y and more winter-y but they were still assembling their set with the same love and care I was.
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NOV 18- 24, 2024
1. Dear Inspo journal, I have cheated. I found a way to include more than one image and I am really trying my best...I just wanted all the pictures. So the first grid is of Tia Cibani's instagram where you find the most marvelous assortment of children's clothes, colors, textures, and patterns. This brand is all my favorite things put together because the form of the clothing is very classic and sad little medieval toddler-esque, BUT When you add colors and fun prints it changes everything. I love a knit, I love a quilt, I love a fun pattern. Whats not to like?
2. Karel Martens. I totally recognized one of his prints in Dashwood books and I had to find him. I am officially a fan. As previously mentioned I love a bold colorful print, but I think what makes his so special is the process. He is experimenting with shape: through process by using things like stencils and standardized shapes he finds to print with. He is Experimenting with concept: using systems as his guiding tool for exploration and visualizing theory. And then there is the documents he prints on...I think I love them so much because ironically the words and obect-made-for-process makes it feel more human, which can very quickly fade away with his kind of visual language.
3. Bricks. I love them and had no clue that the process was this complex and artful, but I guess thats why masons have a union.
4. Crazing! I had no clue what it was called when the glaze gets into the cracks like that, but now I do!
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NOV 11- 17, 2024
1. On a very terrible date at printed matter. Didn't like him but Loooooveeddddd some books. This one was all logos and symbols and fonts, and I'm a sucker for an ethnic floral motif. I will have to sketch these later in my brand new sketchbook :)
2. Also from printed matter. I loved the nonchalant-ness of the drawing-as-list. No context, has a use, several levels of detail, color when wanted. The carrots and the face got me initially but the more I look at it the more I like the lettuce. Its almost as if the terrible drawing by itself wasn't enough, he need to add the descriptor "iceberg," so that it would be understandable.
3. At this lovely little book store in the lower east side filled to the brim with only cookbooks, i saw this bookmark on the wall. At first i just liked the little piggie drawing, but then it had a nice little poem. It kinda reminds me of the Amelie intro where she says things she likes. i liked that all the things she likes are because of societal/things in relation to other people, but books...just make her happy. And she just likes to be happy. Sofia likes: riding an eBike down the west side highway, eating at a restaurant bar all alone, sketching things around her when there is paraphernalia about the place that can be placed in her sketchbook.
4. cool candles. I think they are dipped in various layers, cut into, and then folder the layers onto itself in artful ways.
5. This is what I wish my sketchbook looked like when I test out pens. Kinda feels like what I was writing about last week with organized strokes. Except I have no clue what the middle part is. I wonder why this became the motif.
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NOV 4 - 10, 2024
1. I went to the loveliest little Italian bistrôt full of Italian staff and Italian children's books. It was, in sum, the perfect thing for me to do all alone. So while eating my uova in purgatorio, I read this book about worms. Using the form of an encyclopedic children's book that dives deep into a specific topic, it started to make stuff up. Like haircuts, vampire worms, their daily whereabouts and why they make oddly shaped houses. It almost reminded me of the Codex Seraphinianus with its whimsical drawings and made up worlds.
2. Truth is I was probably extrapolating a little too much inspo from this one. But I do think it would be interesting to see what kinds of marks people make in an orderly way. Usually we see them mixed up and on top of each other, but we aren't really creating a composition...So what would it look like if you remove the dis-orderliness and make it into a grid???
3. SCHLÜMPFE.
4. A guy was selling these in the subway tunnels. I wonder if he used all the original wiring. I wonder if they sell.
5. I stumbled upon this enormous wall with post it notes on each subway tile with the prompt, "what's on your mind?". I cried. It was so lovely, especially post election, to see people come together and talk about things at all scales and emotions....SIDENOTE: I've been trying to create a back story for the cake story all week. ANOTHER SIDENOTE: the subway tiles really make this what it is. If it were done anywhere else, it wouldn't have the same effect #grid.