monday thoughts: rethinking

Christopher Bucklow

Erin of Design for Mankind just wrote a really interesting post about the place of design in a thoughtful life. How, she asks, do we justify our desire for new and cool and beautiful things? Why do we always crave art or clothing or great food or travel or stuff for our houses? How can she reconcile her career as a stylist and successful design blogger—and recommender of expensive items—with her distaste for all the consumerism she participates in?

Ross Bleckner

That was some wordy prose I just threw at you, and I don't have any answers. As much as I crave what's new and pretty, I get grossed out by my own cravings. I get sick of the sameness of all the fashion blogs (especially when I realize I've copied them unconsciously) but I'm compelled to check them anyway. It's really difficult not to get caught up in it. I tell myself that my goal for Blue Locket is making art affordable and attainable, which is admirable and useful. But it's still just stuff.

From this gorgeous book

Then again, I always say that stuff (or money) can't make you happy, but it can help. I really do believe in taking the time to appreciate beauty and to surround yourself with as much of it as possible. And corny as it sounds, that can take many forms—from admiring a flower in your backyard or the way the light slants across a city street at dusk, to a new pair of shoes or a pretty print for your wall.