Calculated Risks / Pragmatic Leaps

Holy crap: the plan is working.

My decision to leave the Most Stable Job in the World in order to pursue ‘the untenured life’ as Ann Cline calls it has been a topic of almost continuous contemplation over the past year. Nagging thoughts (surely I have the tools and skills, I know Rod does, surely we can build this… / I simply can’t know what I’m going to be doing twenty years from now / if she can do it / how can this not be possible?) gave way to some incredible conversations and stories about left turn decisions that friends made. Strangely, Rod, close friends and family, all were supportive- so here we are, creating a multidisciplinary studio, probably with multiple addresses, an uncounted number of characters involved.

Now it’s here, and despite going over and over every possible angle, the outcomes of years of strategizing and one year of focused planning are revealing themselves as total surprises. Forward motion, steps happening in rich, unexpected ways, even things we initiated and had an inkling were coming down the pipeline stop us in our tracks in amazement and wonder. This really makes me question the design process. I suspect we are missing an entire spectrum of information, data, experience.

In New York City for DesignInquiry meetings. Also, little gem avocados the size of a strawberry.