Ravenstone

This relates my history with ravens, likely—10 years old. Six and more decades later, I still think about it—that day. It goes like this: I was dropped off by my parents at a summer place at that was a boat-in-only location on Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. No roads to it, only by water. With them gone—Mom and Dad—I was immediately bored—and, too, I had an idea that I could walk home. I asked the people there, “where the road was, back to Spokane?” And they said that "it was back that way, over...

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Fondazione Prada | Milano

The Design of Prada You might know something about Miucci. Then, too, you might know about Luxottica. Of course, I’ve studied these things pretty closely. I’m very interested in design and art, and how Design can make Art more powerful. So when Miucci Prada was thinking about taking over a compound of industrial buildings in Milan to rethink their presence as a significant array of art-filled buildings, who do you think she chose? For everything? them. Well, him. Rem: What you’ll see are...

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BRAND CENTERING | THE NEXUS OF CREATIVITY: WANDERING, GATHERING & RECOLLECTION

AS A DESIGNER, A BRAND PERSON — A CREATIVE, A STRATEGIST, A MARKETER — YOU WORK IN THREADING ALIGNMENTS OF CREATIVITY. THAT COMES TO THIS PARALLELISM: THE SYNCHRONY OF HOW YOU THINK, WHAT YOU’VE WORKED ON AND WITH, AS WELL AS WHERE YOU’VE BEEN. IT COMES DOWN TO: WHAT YOU ACTUALLY KNOW, AND WHAT YOU UNDERSTAND — which I’d play as two different things. WHEN IT COMES BACK TO YOU — THINKING JOURNEY, what comes to mind? WHERE WERE YOU? Where did you go? What did you see? Why was any of that...

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Brand patterning | The spirit of marks / patterning and the code of the brand

As designers, we stand to create ideas, impressions, messages and visualizations. And they are patterns — patterning of recognition, patterning pathways, patterning constructions. We create code, don’t we? You might ask, just what is a pattern? It’s an ancient phrasing to the notion of a modeling —something right, as a portrayal, an outline, a plan, a modeling — to that of principle, and yes, a principal. Could be true as a patron, as in the Latin “patronus” — that would be a 14th century...

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Tipoteca

Sure, we all love type. We love letters that we can relate to — whether handrawn, clean fonts, old-style work or hyper-modernist future fontography. I go old, deep, dark, pre-Christian. Really old. And really new. I like both. Really old. Moderately old. Recent. Now. Future. I go where the story is, and needs to be told. But we forget about how it actually works — the alphabet is a mystery of markings that reach back thousands of years yet in the last 500 years, there has been a wide dispersal...

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Venezia: The MYST

As many know, I have a deep and abiding love of the Fog. I seek it out, look for it, shoot it. Everyday. And to that, we created [Michael & I] @TheFogSociety. You should join us on Facebook if you haven’t, or use our handle. Seattle + Fog go together. It’s what you can’t see, or what you can imagine, through the fog, that’s interesting. I found it fascinating to experience that selfsame and happy precipitation in Venice, along with our AluFriends. Comune de Venizia is an astonishing city....

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You Shall Be Death | Viola Installations

[1 — the first of the series of Italian notations.] You Shall Be Death | Viola Installations Given that today is the day for the celebration of Death, the hallowed eve — I offer this meditation: and what was, and what shall be — for all of us; it’s that one inescapable truth. In my return from Europe, I’d referenced an exhibit and video installation that was in a crypt. It wasn’t planned as a discovery, a known entity, but rather it appeared on a late night walk-through the labyrinths of...

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What I have learned in one day

What I have learned in one day is t h a t : ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– E V E R Y D A Y i s a J O U R N E Y [SMALL OR LARGE] ––– That: however long, difficult or winding these stairs might be -- their point is to take you to another point of view, another way to see o u t. That: the green light doesn't only mean GO. It could mean STOP. Sometimes there are signs -- that, in their simplicity -- convey the most obvious wisdom. Read them, and contemplate their direction. And: p a y a t t...

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100 years | The Eagle Scout

The Legacy of the Eagle Scout Award This year, the badge and legacy of the Eagle Scout reaches back a century. In the Girvin family, this is a potent tradition. All of the Girvin brothers are Eagles. And the tradition of scouting runs passionately deep in our experience. Every season -- we'd pack up our gear and head out, the hiking path, pitching camp, wandering and explorations wild. 50 mile hikes were set as consistently as the turning of summer. The Eagle Award isn't easy, it's a lot of...

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The Watch

The Focus of Watch Fullness, Studying the Terrain Around You. I was hiking and, to every horizon line, path, water-lined and sanded beach and I studied the wind, the insects' movement, the course of birds, the turning light and colour of green-cast tree-light. And -- who was near by? I watch the pace of the other -- out there, far -- the forest, deep -- the long line of the beach. I measure the stride -- and see what progress is made. The watch is the guard, the sentinel, the synchronizer of...

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