Oh those times...

Veronika Miller of Modenus is a Twitter friend (instigator) that has founded a series of “blog-offs”, in which several of us tackle a topic in our own inimitable manner and let the chips fall where they may. Crash. This is round two on the latest topic “Living Small”. Links to other posts are listed at the end of my humble contribution.

When I was an earnest young grasshopper, seeking knowledge at the universe’s knee, I wrote a column for a number of local weeklies entitled “Walking Softly”. This was in the late seventies – I was a late-blooming environmentalist and back-to-the-lander, enraptured by the discounted Sierra Club coffee table books from the Ballantine Press – lovely photographic journeys through our wild heritage interspersed with jeweled quotes from John Muir, David Brower, among others, and especially the Great Seer: Henry David Thoreau. I am still enraptured with H.D. Looking back at those days, I see the seeds of what I have become… pale shoots, striving for life-giving sustenance, stretching toward Something/Anything (oh yes, Todd Rundgren in Woodstock, NY), searching for the light. Those early roots are still there, bolstered by the accretions of time and experience, tempered and reinforced by exposure to “life” and its weathering forces. The essence of the plant remains true to its germination; the subsequent realization is a product of its environment and its innate strength of purpose.

The Book

I worked in a campaign for a candidate for US Congress from the state of Vermont in the late 1980’s; my back-to-the-land yearnings had led me here and I have never left this wonderful land of total acceptance and equally harsh realities. The hopeful’s name was Morris Earle and he was running on the Small is Beautiful ticket, derived from the writings of E. F. Schumacher. I still subscribe to that socio-political philosopher’s amazing pronouncements, on some deep gut level which occasionally rises to the fore and overwhelms my everyday preoccupations, even now. It just doesn’t go away. It is still relevant – perhaps even more so in these post-boom recidivist years.

What I am evolving toward (and yes, it is all about me, because I [the collective we] can only speak from what I personally know inside my own head) is a balance of views, perhaps heavily slanted in the “small” direction, and accepting the plentitude of humanity – a measure of encompassing grace – but landing unforgivingly inside the circle of our mother Gaia, the planet which gives all of us life and forgives so many grievances by her “most prescient” inhabitants. Basically: I can accept whatever you might choose to do, but don’t make a mess in your own bed.

in the sand, only...

I see it this way – and I am turning this homily on its head, which is my tendency if you know me: live LARGE and dwell SMALL Stretch yourself, go for the gusto, feel the beauty of all things bright and beautiful. Use only what you need, leave only footprints. Appreciate the fleeting, savor the gifts that drift your way. Quality over quantity. Remember to dance. Forget whoever may be watching. Let this be your guide: will you leave a flourish or a scar on the breast of mother Earth? This is not to say you cannot enjoy yourself while journeying through this expression of being – just have some respect. A lot of respect. Who do you think you are, anyway? You are a god, we are all gods – gods of small things and awesomely immense things – act like it.

Read more on the topic as my Twitter friends opine on the “Living Small” assignment:

Veronica Miller at Modenus, A Small Life is Good, but Slow Down to enjoy it!

Nick Lovelady at Cupboards Kitchen and Bath, Is Small Really Realistic?

Paul Anater at Kitchen and Residential Design, Is Living Smaller the new Living Large?

Rufus Dogg at Dogwalkblog, How Much Does It Cost You to Exist For One Hour? Size Matters

Saxon Henry at Chair Chick, Living Small (and Getting Shagged!)

Becky Shankle at EcoModernism,Is Living Smaller the New Living Large?

Sean Lintow Sr. at SLS Construction, Building Smaller- Is It the Next Big Thing?

The evil time sucking SM bird

A couple of weeks ago on Twitter, where I spend an inordinate amount of time absorbing the wit and wisdom dispensed in 140 characters or less and trying valiantly to throw the odd riposte back into the milieu, Veronika Miller (known to the Twitterati as @Modenus) brought up the idea of a mini-blog-off (no, no, not a diminutive Russian). She had posted an entry on her own blog about quirky design moments and objects, provoking the question: what is successful design?

A few of us took the bait she proffered and verbally batted it around a little until the joint blogging idea was suggested. So here we are, drawn like flies to –(oh never mind…): please check out Paul Anater, Veronika Miller, and the DogWalkBlog and their respective perspectives.

Wise interweb pundits

Being a researcher and the cautious type – not to mention a “wordie” – I started with looking at where the actual word “design” comes from. When you check it out in the dictionary the definition is a bit of a let-down; it comes across as rather technical, as a construct or an assembly approach e.g. if you do this and this and this, you will have a “design” – as if it can be taught or practiced. Which is often as far as it progresses, or rather, as far as it allowed to progress – becoming a sort of manipulated topiary of function; it has a certain basic appeal but it lacks oomph . And this is where the divergence begins, where the good, the bad, and the fugly begin to shake out…

The operative word would be “successful”. I would suggest that, whereas it is good and even desirable to have a basic foundation:  the brick by brick approach of knowing fundamentals such as color theory, pleasing proportion, ergonomics, and the rest of the Design 101 syllabus – excellent design cannot be taught or learnt from an instructional video, lecture, or reference book. It is absorbed, it is earned, it is basically intangible. It requires experience, sensitivity, and willingness to think outside the box of required reading materials. Design that is derived from that limiting set of approved tools might provoke the observation “… and that’s all she rote”.  It comes up short and does not satisfy.

Island by Fu Tung Cheng

I am a concrete artisan. I work with an amazingly versatile material, unrestricted in dimensional expression, as well as nearly all other physical attributes. I am privileged to be able to express myself through this medium by integrating my clients with their environments, creating functional art with cast concrete usually in the form of custom countertops, sinks, and other architectural surfaces. I came to this craft from a carpentry background, bringing the requisite manual skills, a good work ethic, and a familiarity with kitchens and bathrooms. That was it. My adopted material of choice was foreign to me – at least the high performance, high capability variety with which I fulfill my commissions. I had to learn how to “be with it”. I taught myself the basics and grew into a comfort with this very complex material we know as “concrete”. I am also completely untrained in design and have had (am continuing) to develop a “feel” and a style of expression, a design sensibility which is manifest when experienced by the user  and/or an onlooker. I have found this process to be very rewarding and am beginning to have it validated by the feedback and comments coming from my clients and other people who have seen my work. And this brings me to my very simple but very encompassing postulate concerning successful design: I know it when I see it.  I will leave it to the other, more learned practitioners to tell me exactly why this or that pushes my buttons (I bow before your wisdom) – I am learning as fast as I can, dammit! – in the meantime, I will trust my gut and the seat of my pants. How proletariat.