Topic

aesthetics

A collection of 110 issues

Letters from Paris: Montmartre and the Digital Cabaret.

It was on the northern slope of the Butte Montmartre on a cobbled street that this enchanted house became a place for sing-alongs and folk songs around the year 1850. In 1875 a painter and caricaturist called Andre Gill painted a sign that had a rabbit jumping out of a

Letters from Paris: On cities as museums.

It’s springtime in Paris and I have something to confess (although the fact that I feel the need to dub it a confession makes me sad). I’ve been in Paris for almost 10 days and have only been to one museum (no, it wasn’t the Louvre). And,

Letters from Paris: Things Parisians Like.

The thing I love about Parisians is they just don’t give a damn. And that, contrary to popular belief, they aren’t rude. In fact, they’re wonderfully polite. I think people don’t understand that there are a number of things that are said and that have to

On maps, storytelling, and us.

I love maps, for they are portraits of places. Maps of the Puget Sound, the Chesapeake Bay, the eastern shores of Maryland, the San Juan and Rocky Mountain National Forests, and the Four Corners region evoke memory and emotion at our house. Maps are reflections of who we are and

On what software designers can learn from Japanese knife makers.

From Kinfolk, Volume Eight: The Cutting Edge, by Ethan Kawasaki. The knife is unequivocally the most important tool in the kitchen: It is an icon in the culinary arts. Cooks get them tattooed on their bodies. You don’t touch another cook’s knives. A knife is one of the

House love.

Dear 129, It’s only been four hours since I last woke up in your arms. Those strong, vaulted arms, magic of plaster and light. I’ll never forget the first time we met. When I took you by the marble stair and you took me by the heart, leading

On good design and skipping hearts.

While I love the beauty of my Apple products as much as you do, it’s encouraging to note – very encouraging – that there are many companies in the world that produce products equally as beautiful in form and function. I’m going to start showcasing my own personal favorites every

Words are sensuous. Words are beautiful.

The historical B&O rail station. Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. I need a sandbox full of consonants and vowels. Full, crisp, contrasty ones. Like the ones found in “Camden Yards”. Camden Yards is one of my favorite things to say. From the first time I ever

On the long, hard, smart way.

My latest Camper acquisition, the Peu Nara. Made of partially recycled materials. You should listen to this Do Things the Long, Hard, Stupid Way Lecture by Frank Chimero. No, really. You should. Then, I want you to go out and buy yourself a pair of Camper shoes for Christmas. Then

On artisanal food and artisanal technology.

I don’t know what it is about the Pacific Northwest and food, but I’m really glad to be going back to it (I’m seriously considering writing a book about it someday, though – what do you think?). One of the things I’ve missed the most while living