Hello and welcome! Please graze upon this cheese and salumi board of clickables~
1. Furniture Music
Do you even know what a Sounding Good is? Well, you’re about to!
A research project from artist and musician Chris Kallmyer, Furniture Music is a serialized project exploring sound in space (and, you know, the human relation therein). The Summer 2023 edition is “based on the circle of fifths, a system of organizing harmony favored by musicians like Pythagoras and John Coltrane, visionaries like Donna Summer and Erik Satie, and degenerates from Ancient Mesopotamia to Contemporary Los Angeles.” What was heretofore called “windchime” is elevated! transformed! into music, into performance, into self-exploration. They are also really, really beautiful. You can buy one here.
2. CARI
There’s a folder that lives in my Dropbox, which I have had and maintained for—oof—maybe a decade or more, called IMAGE HOARDING. There are subcategories so I can find the things. When I had to do a lot of moodboarding, it was really helpful. Now, it is just a weird little tick that I have.
So! You can imagine my utter joy, when a friend sent me CARI recently. CARI is a nonprofit that actually hoards images, but, for a point. The Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute collects and categorizes consumer imagery—”aesthetics that have broken into ‘mainstream’ culture by way of corporate appropriation”—from the midcentury until now. I really like this folder called “Gen X Home.” Anyway—it’s searchable! Have fun! Don’t get lost!
3. “An undertow of poignancy” via The Imperfectionist
OK well, no surprise here that I’m a fan of Oliver Burkeman—I like his writing, I like the way he thinks. If your book on productivity talks about Being-Towards-Death, you’re getting an automatic cosign from Ms. Edmundson.
Burkeman’s newsletter is great and worth subscribing to, that’s point A. Point B is that the latest installment was a real perspective shift and, frankly, inspiring. It uses parenthood as a lens (but don’t let that deter you!) to talk about about actually doing what you set out to do. Sounds so simple, and yet… As my uncle’s pilates instructor (for another time) plainly and wisely advised: ‘It only works if you do it.’
4. Swedish Cast Iron Stoves
Just really excited about these early 20th Century cast iron woodstoves from Sweden. Are we driving out to Provo, Utah to get one?
Really loved Burkeman’s newsletter you shared -- it can be so hard to commit to something you really want to do, and he made a great point that “committing” might be the problem itself! So many problems are solved by taking things one step at a time, funny that the solution can be so simple here too.