Useful objects. Thoughtful makers.
Stories worth keeping.
We look beyond the finished thing: at the choices, tools and people that give it character. A good story makes those details visible without polishing away the human work.
A surface, a mark, a useful imperfection.
Follow the details before writing the story.
Distinct materials.
A shared attention to use.
Ceramics / Form and touch
Print / Process and repetition
Furniture / Structure and use
Small variations can show how an object was made. Ask which marks are intentional, which are accepted, and which are changed.
Describe what the material does, not only how it looks.
Find out what was gained and what was left behind.
Connect the making decision to the life of the object.
Good design gives us
something to use.
A good story gives us
a reason to look again.
A belief that guides what we choose,
how we ask, and what we publish.
Three possible essays for the first edition.
What becomes clearer when an object has fewer parts?
A small gesture can carry the evidence of a whole process.
Follow the changes between an early idea and the finished form.
A conversation should leave room for the maker to be more than a polished origin story.
A proposed conversation about tools, grain and small decisions.
A proposed conversation about pressure, paper and variation.
Find distinct objects and a clear question for each.
Commission photographs, interview carefully and edit together.
Check facts, sequence, captions and the space between stories.
Bring a useful thing and the question it raises.
That is enough to begin a good story.