Designer Things

I used to think De Stijl was just about paintings—you know, Mondrian’s grids, primary colors, that whole thing. Turns out the movement had photographers

I used to think apprenticeship certificates were just fancy pieces of paper—until I held a 15th-century guild document from Nuremberg and realized my hands were shaking.

I used to think weaving was just… weaving. Then I spent an afternoon in a wharenui—a Maori meeting house—in Rotorua, watching an elderly woman named

I used to think indenture contracts were just boring legal documents until I saw a 1640s Barbados agreement where the master promised ‘

I used to think observational photography was just people with expensive cameras lurking at weddings. Turns out, the whole tradition goes back further

I used to think surrealism was just about melting clocks and lobster telephones. Turns out—and this hit me somewhere around my third rewatch of that Skittles

I used to think lowbrow art was just, you know, kitschy hot rod paintings and tattoo flash. Then I spent three months interviewing designers who’

I used to think death certificates were just boring bureaucratic forms—the kind of thing you’d shuffle through in a dusty county office, squinting at faded ink.

I used to think adaptive sports equipment was just regular gear painted a different color. Turns out, there’s an entire visual language embedded

I used to think ethical fashion brands all looked the same—you know, that earthy beige aesthetic with sans-serif fonts that whisper “