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Lawrence should have a Haystack
Photo: Bill SteeleOne afternoon in the summer of 2014, while visiting modernist architect Carol A. Wilson’s home studio in Falmouth, Maine, I mentioned that my wife and I were planning to take a trip up to Acadia National Park the next day. Knowing that I had an interest in modern architecture, Carol said, “You should go check out Haystack while you’re up there.”
Haystack?
Although born and raised in the state of Maine, it was the first time I’d ever heard about the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Located on Deer Isle, an off-the-beaten path tourist destination south of Bar Harbor, the small arts and crafts school offers short-term summer residencies and workshops in fiber, ceramics, glass, metals, graphics, jewelry, and printmaking, in one of the most inspired settings for arts and architecture in the world.
Built in 1961, the school’s seaside campus is situated on a remote, steeply sloped, and conifer-wooded site studded with huge granite boulders and one of the rockiest stretches of coastline in the state. Nestled among the trees and rocks are a collection of dormitories and studio buildings that are shaped like salt boxes and built out of cedar and pine. Various sculptures and other art objects (many created at the school) adorn the landscape. It’s high art in the woods—the kind of arts school in the wild that Mary Oliver might have built if she had been an architect instead of a poet.
The fiber-graphics deck in the 1970s. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME.After making brief visits to the campus in 2014 and 2024, where I became enchanted by the beauty of the place, I spent a week there in July after being accepted into the school’s new “Square ONE” program for beginners. (I took a workshop in blacksmithing, something I’d always wanted to do since watching Gunsmoke on TV as a kid.) Besides an interest in making art, I was keen to have a lived experience at the school and explore its hidden wonders. I wanted to move past consumer-grade architectural tourism and experience something deeper, something more hands-on.
Much has been written about Haystack—it is on the National Register of Historic Places and frequently cited as one of the most important works of postwar architecture—but its influence has been primarily in architectural philosophy, education, and the crafts, rather than ways of living. I was curious to find out: are there lessons from Haystack that can be applied to our urban and environmental design, and to the preservation of historic buildings, including those under the watchful eye of Lawrence Modern and the Lawrence Preservation Alliance?
Haystack is a worthwhile case study because not only has it stood the test of time, but it is also still well ahead of its time. Long before “sustainability” became a buzzword, it demonstrated an ecological awareness and sensitivity that continues to be a model for architects and urban planners. The school’s non-hierarchical, communal way of living and working together—where ideas flow freely and experimentation is encouraged—is something other schools and even corporations have tried to replicate but rarely succeed in doing. It’s not easy to get right.
One of the things that Dennis Domer, Tom Harper and I noted during our extensive survey of Lawrence’s midcentury modern architecture more than 15 years ago is that, like one of Newton’s laws of motion, when a building is designed right from the beginning, it tends to stay that way. It resists change. If you visit Haystack today, you’ll find it remarkably close to what it looked like 65 years ago.
To understand why, I spoke with a range of people connected to the school—former directors, administrators, caretakers, students, and faculty, including several artists from KU who have taught there over the years—about what makes Haystack, and its architecture, so compelling and enduring.
The Fiber Studio today. Photo: Bill SteeleA community of artists living and working deep within nature was not a new idea when Mary Bishop, a wealthy modern art collector from Flint, Michigan, funded the inception of Haystack in 1949. The Cranbrook Academy of Art and Black Mountain College were already well established by then, but they operated within a familiar hierarchy—conventional, top-down schools where fine art stood above applied art, which the establishment still viewed as secondary. Bishop saw craft as a serious art form and championed the belief that craftspeople should have a dedicated place to work, teach, and exchange ideas, not just be sidelined as hobbyists.
Her patronage came at a moment when leading avant-garde artists were exploring modernist ideas in arts and crafts. One of them was a Cranbrook teacher, Francis Merritt, who Bishop recruited to run Haystack when it opened in 1950, in rural Montville, Maine. Like Bishop, Merritt embraced modernism and saw an opportunity to upend traditional arts and crafts pedagogy that still clung to a master-apprentice structure. It was under his charismatic and energetic leadership that Haystack quickly became recognized worldwide as a vital new space to pursue innovation in craft.
The parallels to the Bauhaus are more than coincidental. Both Bishop and Merritt admired the radical curriculum of the German school, eventually leading them to commission modernist Ed Barnes in 1957 to design Haystack’s new campus on Deer Isle. (The Montville campus was forced to move because of I-95 encroachment.) The convergence of progressive ideas and raw nature forged a new inflection point in modern architecture.
Born in Chicago, Edward Larrabee Barnes (1915-2004) graduated in 1942 from Harvard, where he studied under the well-known Marcel Breuer, and Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus. Both taught students that they needed to get in touch with their primitive instincts and understand basic form ideas. They also taught the importance of vernacular architecture. These teachings formed much of the design language Barnes would later use at Haystack.
In 1949, Barnes opened his own firm in New York and over his career distinguished himself by his architectural restraint. His prodigious output included everything from private houses, camps and university projects to large-scale works such as the Walker Museum of Art in Minneapolis and I.B.M.’s sleek flagship office tower on Madison Avenue. Common with all of his work is a ruthless simplicity and geometrical purity that to some architecture critics could verge into blandness, though most admired his compositions and refinement. But Barnes also was acutely concerned with context and sensitivity to local differences, which makes his work far more interesting than would first appear.My initial impression of Haystack was that it was some kind of architectural pose, meant to convey something. The shingled cottages and studios look so simple, so basic, that even a child could do them. They reminded me of those funky looking condos built in the 70s and 80s—no doubt cribbed from Haystack—that seemed awkwardly out of place in their suburban settings. But here they feel just right—honest, weathered, and exactly where they belong.
Program participants cabin. Photo: Bill SteeleThe geometrical shape of the buildings is striking not only because of their contrast with the forest but also because their scale and elevation from the ground humanize them. Set against the mossy, lichen-covered forest, the spare shed forms engage and shape the surrounding atmosphere in unexpected ways. Shrouded in early morning fog, they conjure the treehouses of the Ewok village in Return of the Jedi; in the middle of a well-lit afternoon, they might evoke an Italian hill town; in the evening, the buildings appear as relaxed and comfortable as Japanese tea houses on a mountainside. They have an extraordinary presence that allows them to take on the character of their surroundings.
Most of these effects are incidental. At Haystack, aesthetics were a secondary concern for Barnes, who was a reductivist. How to build an eight-acre campus on a steep wooded bluff without disturbing it was a greater concern and a monumental problem to solve. Most architects would have probably clustered the buildings along the top of the bluff and called it a day, but Barnes had other ideas, some of them he’d already tried out at a couple of children’s summer camps he designed in Fishkill, New York (Camp Bliss and Camp Anita, 1953-1955) that were also composed of simple wood structures set lightly into a forested landscape. But nothing like this. This was a magnitude greater difficulty.
Wandering the campus, I was struck by the thought that, of all the possible solutions to the problem of what and how to build on this rugged lot, Barnes seems to have come up with the most sensible. Rather than imposing a design onto the site, he simply elevates the structures above ground, so that they practically float above the earth. (Jack Lenor Larsen, a giant in the field of commercially produced textiles who taught at Haystack for many years, likened them to a network of docks and lobster boats that float over land instead of water.)
Of course, cost constraints were a significant factor. The founders of the school spent most of what they had on the land: $3,500 for 42 acres of breathtaking oceanfront property in the late 1950s. (This seems like an impossible bargain today but in those days the land was considered unbuildable.) According to Barnes’ own personal accounts of the project, the construction budget was a mere $5 per square foot. The owners couldn’t afford much else, forcing Barnes to think creatively how to meet their many requirements.
To minimize costs, Barnes relied on local labor and materials as much as possible. The buildings are mostly made of pine, cedar and plywood, with a foundation of treated wooden posts set on concrete footings and piers. They also were relatively easy to build because they didn’t have complex plans or sections. Here is a preliminary structural section drawing of a “luxury cabin”:
Cabin section. Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library at Harvard University.Aside from some steel and concrete, most of the material is standard 2x4s, 2X6s, 2X10s, and inexpensive rough-sawn cedar shingles. Since Haystack is operational only in summer, the buildings are uninsulated and unheated, which also helped keep costs down. (Where there is plumbing, the pipes are all run above ground.) The only processed materials in the buildings are the concrete, plate glass, metal doors, some galvanized metal and copper flashing, and synthetic rubber EPDM for the roofs, which wasn’t originally spec’d by Barnes but became necessary because Maine’s winter freeze-and-thaw cycles caused leaks.
Here’s a peek inside:
Photo: Dan Rajter. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME.Hardly luxurious, but their rustic quality is in keeping with traditional Maine summer cottages.
According to Stu Kestenbaum, a former Haystack artistic and executive director, there wasn’t much of a construction industry on Deer Isle in those days, so the carpenter crew was made up of people who most likely lobster fished and did other odd jobs.
“It was a hand-made, people-pitching-in kind of project,” Kestenbaum said. “I think they were figuring it out as they went along.”
Maybe because it was built by local carpenters, Haystack has the feel of a place where people build for themselves. The respect for Maine vernacular tradition—local materials, local influences, local technology—adds to the spirit of unity with the environment, even though the aesthetic is unapologetically industrial modern.
Apart from the mandate to keep costs down, by far Barnes’ toughest assignment was fulfilling the functional imperatives. He wrote that Haystack’s board wanted a clustered, communal layout that would foster “a cross-fertilization of thought and ideas between the crafts.” This prerequisite was at the heart of the founders’ vision.
Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library at Harvard University.His solution is elegant and straightforward. Looking at his early concept drawings, the main organizing principle is a central staircase that cuts through the middle of the property, descending from the parking lot to the ocean. (The elevation change is nearly 130 feet.) Knowing just how powerful drawings in architecture can be, I asked Dennis Domer, Lawrence Modern’s observateur des structures, what he thought about Barnes’ design. (Before I showed it to him, he had never heard of Haystack or seen any photographs of it.)
“Just by looking at the plan you can really see how he [Barnes] made it work,” Domer said. “All the buildings feed off horizontally from the main spine, which pulls all the buildings together. It is a camp that is tied together through these corridors. Everything is right on them. It’s a very utilitarian approach, very practical, and at the same time quite delicate.”
Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library at Harvard University.As a camp-goer, I was surprised how easy it was to get around campus, and how rhythmic and deliberate it all felt. In the morning, I would catch a breath of cool ocean air while climbing the stairs to the dining hall to eat. After breakfast, I would collect my thoughts as I walked farther up campus to the hot shop to work, return to the dining hall for lunch and dinner, then head all the way down to the sleeping cabins after finishing up work when I was usually exhausted. The quality in the pattern is the difference between if the architect put all the dorms at the top of the hill, to maximize views, and put the workspaces and dining hall at the bottom. This would have meant descending the stairs in the morning when fresh and trudging up them after a long day of work—a not-so-subtle drain on one’s energy.
(Despite my admiration, some critics have pointed out that Haystack’s top-down layout, while functional, can feel rigid or imposing in terms of circulation—a labyrinth of stairs, deck connections—especially for those with mobility issues.)
Expanding on Barnes’s functional concept, Domer observed that the hierarchy of structures mirrors the social order: the communal spaces are the most generous, while the private quarters grow progressively smaller. Even the faculty accommodations are spartan, he noted, conveying “a feeling of equality that helps make the camp work.
“There’s a real hierarchy in the disposition of all the most important places to the less important places, but none of them are unimportant,” Domer said.
One of the most important places is the dining hall, which affords a spectacular view of Isle au Haut and the sparkling blue water of Jericho Bay. The entire campus eats there together like the old evening meals in the college dormitory, and it is fundamental to the Haystack experience. Indeed, it was during the sharing of meals with fellow students and faculty that I made the most connections and felt the greatest sense of community. It dawned on me that our culture has largely forfeited this ritual, but the fact that it persists at institutions like Haystack gives me hope that someday it might be revived in high schools and college campuses. Today’s mall-style food courts, with their diverse seating and flexible food options to meet student preferences, is anathema to community building.
Dining Hall. Photo: Bill SteeleThinking I could be wrong about that, I spoke with KU industrial design professor May Tveit, who attended Haystack in 2021, right after the pandemic lockdown. She also emphasized the importance of the food during her two-week artist residency. “That communal dining experience facilitated conversation and relationships and nourishment on so many levels,” Tveit said. “You’re reminded of the power of these very basic elemental essences.”
At every level, Barnes reaches out to the archetypes of human experience: community, sharing, cohabitation, ritual, solitude. This knowledge requires a deeper understanding of architecture that “transcends the program,” as the late KU professor of architecture Steve Grabow used to tell students. It’s what separates architecture that is timeless and alive—to borrow a concept from Berkeley theorist Christopher Alexander—from architecture that is lifeless and dead. Artists seem to intuitively understand this, which is why their sensibilities—rooted in observation, empathy, and material honesty—remain indispensable to the evolution of architecture.
Dining Hall patio at dusk. The Clay Studio is in the background. Photo: Bill Steele“It just made so much sense to me,” Tveit said of her two weeks at the school. “I didn’t want it to end. As I navigated my time there, I thought, every city should have a Haystack. Every town should have a Haystack where there’s this incredible architecture as well as an incredible program to facilitate creativity.”
Reflecting on my own all-too-brief visit, I also felt a mix of awe and envy and that all-too-insistent urge to broadcast my privilege—‘OMG!!! you’ve got to see this place!!’—but I stopped myself, as did, I think, many of the other artists in Square ONE. I noticed that hardly anyone at Haystack was on their phone. The remoteness of the location and lack of cell service in parts of Deer Isle certainly factored, but more than that, you don’t reach for your phone because you’re so immersed in what you’re doing, so present in the moment, that doing so would only interrupt the flow state. At Haystack, navel-gazing is a waste of time: the air insists on focus.
“People there work like hell,” said Cynthia Schira, a renowned textile artist who taught weaving at KU for more than 20 years and is an honorary board member of Haystack. “It’s beautiful, but it’s also a place for you to work, and your work is more important in the sense.”
Schira was first invited to teach at Haystack in the mid-1970s, after she graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and got her M.F.A. at KU. I asked her if she thought the architecture influenced the intensity of students’ work, which often goes into the wee hours.
“Yes, I think the architecture really does,” said Schira, who continues to practice weaving in upstate New York at age 92. “Something I love about it is the openness—there are big doors on every studio. You have to slide them open. And there’s all the windows so, you know, you see. The walls are thin—you hear what’s going on. It keeps your curiosity going. Why not just poke into the studio next to yours?”
Schira didn’t mention the studio lighting, but it is worth highlighting. (Pun intended.) The placement of the windows, which are located on opposite sides, north and south, result in a consistent, diffused light throughout the daylight hours. They are ideal spaces in which to work. Most of the campus dorms also have windows on two sides, east- and west-facing. This would seem like a minor detail but many rooms in contemporary buildings have light from one side only.
Another textile artist from Kansas, Jennifer Morrow, remembers being transformed by the campus architecture when she first went to Haystack in 1982, both by its expressed structure and site repair.
“One of the things that influenced me was that sense of repair, like visible repair, what we now call visible mending,” said Morrow, who taught at KU in the early 1990s and now lives on Deer Isle. “It [Haystack] was the first place that I think I saw where people were just honestly repairing something and keeping and maintaining it and not trying to, like, paint it to look like it had always been.”
Indeed, a big part of Haystack’s timeless feel is the near monastic devotion of its caretakers, who maintain its wooden structures like shipbuilders in drydock. Incessant exposure to salt air, wind, snow, ice, lichens, moss, and water takes its toll.
Walter Kumiega, Haystack’s buildings and grounds manager, said that one of the difficulties maintaining the architectural integrity of the historic property is figuring out what was the intended design 65 years ago.
“There’s little details that you kind of have to worry about but there’s no documentation for,” Kumiega said.
Concrete footing under the Fiber Studio. Photo: Bill SteeleAccording to Ginger Aldrich, the school’s development director, nearly everything on structure has been replaced at least once as part of the school’s rigorous maintenance regimen.
“It’s expensive and yet at the same time the idea was continuous repair and renewal so that we wouldn’t have to close for a season while we transformed a building,” Aldrich said. “There’s a lot of thought that goes into the maintenance and stewardship of the buildings and the grounds so it’s not a huge cost all at once.”
We are now in a period where midcentury modern buildings are increasingly being preserved and seen as worthy of conservation. Haystack offers us a time-tested model for preserving not just those buildings, but any building. The school’s approach to maintenance as incremental preservation—small, thoughtful repairs rather than one-off acts of restoration—is sustainable, economical, and avoids the sweeping overhauls that so often lead to regrettable changes. It is the surest way to maintain architectural integrity.
As I think about it, my lasting memory of Haystack may end up being not the architecture, the food, or the people I met but the reassuring sound of hammers reverberating across the campus, which had the surprisingly soothing effect of reminding me that, thankfully, not all aspects of American building culture have been thoughtlessly discarded. Not once did I hear the pop-pop-pop of a nail gun.
Not unrelatedly, perhaps Haystack’s greatest act of preservation has been its resistance to growth, expansion, and endless upgrading. While the school has added a few buildings (notably, a seamless library addition designed by Carol Wilson) and made numerous sustainability and infrastructure upgrades over the years, the gestalt remains unchanged. Critically, the school has capped the number of students it can accommodate to 100. (It originally accommodated about 65.) During my stay, around 75 students (mostly women) were enrolled in Square ONE, and by the time I left I felt like I knew many of them. “More than a hundred, you’re going to lose that sense of community and connection,” Aldrich said. “It really keeps our values honest.”
Ultimately, it is those shared values that accounts for Haystack’s greatness. From the beginning, the school has been governed by a board and director working closely together, with artists and craftspeople actively shaping the program rather than having decisions imposed by outsiders. (The school has remained fiercely independent, deliberately avoiding entanglement with commerce.) And while the campus architecture is the work of an outside architect, its essential goodness and beauty is not solely attributable to him, but the arts community as a whole—the founders, builders, caretakers, invited faculty, administrators, and students—who have been able to cultivate such a profound connection between architecture and people, sustaining a dialogue between design and use that remains as vital today as it was the day Haystack opened.
—Bill
Addison de Lisle Jill McDonald Sierra Iturrino Ellie Patten Oona Baker Emily Summers Will Steele
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Lawrence should have a Haystack
Photo: Bill SteeleOne afternoon in the summer of 2014, while visiting modernist architect Carol A. Wilson’s home studio in Falmouth, Maine, I mentioned that my wife and I were planning to take a trip up to Acadia National Park the next day. Knowing that I had an interest in modern architecture, Carol said, “You should go check out Haystack while you’re up there.”
Haystack?
Although born and raised in the state of Maine, it was the first time I’d ever heard about the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Located on Deer Isle, an off-the-beaten path tourist destination south of Bar Harbor, the small arts and crafts school offers short-term summer residencies and workshops in fiber, ceramics, glass, metals, graphics, jewelry, and printmaking, in one of the most inspired settings for arts and architecture in the world.
Built in 1961, the school’s seaside campus is situated on a remote, steeply sloped, and conifer-wooded site studded with huge granite boulders and one of the rockiest stretches of coastline in the state. Nestled among the trees and rocks are a collection of dormitories and studio buildings that are shaped like salt boxes and built out of cedar and pine. Various sculptures and other art objects (many created at the school) adorn the landscape. It’s high art in the woods—the kind of arts school in the wild that Mary Oliver might have built if she had been an architect instead of a poet.
The fiber-graphics deck in the 1970s. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME.After making brief visits to the campus in 2014 and 2024, where I became enchanted by the beauty of the place, I spent a week there in July after being accepted into the school’s new “Square ONE” program for beginners. (I took a workshop in blacksmithing, something I’d always wanted to do since watching Gunsmoke on TV as a kid.) Besides an interest in making art, I was keen to have a lived experience at the school and explore its hidden wonders. I wanted to move past consumer-grade architectural tourism and experience something deeper, something more hands-on.
Much has been written about Haystack—it is on the National Register of Historic Places and frequently cited as one of the most important works of postwar architecture—but its influence has been primarily in architectural philosophy, education, and the crafts, rather than ways of living. I was curious to find out: are there lessons from Haystack that can be applied to our urban and environmental design, and to the preservation of historic buildings, including those under the watchful eye of Lawrence Modern and the Lawrence Preservation Alliance?
Haystack is a worthwhile case study because not only has it stood the test of time, but it is also still well ahead of its time. Long before “sustainability” became a buzzword, it demonstrated an ecological awareness and sensitivity that continues to be a model for architects and urban planners. The school’s non-hierarchical, communal way of living and working together—where ideas flow freely and experimentation is encouraged—is something other schools and even corporations have tried to replicate but rarely succeed in doing. It’s not easy to get right.
One of the things that Dennis Domer, Tom Harper and I noted during our extensive survey of Lawrence’s midcentury modern architecture more than 15 years ago is that, like one of Newton’s laws of motion, when a building is designed right from the beginning, it tends to stay that way. It resists change. If you visit Haystack today, you’ll find it remarkably close to what it looked like 65 years ago.
To understand why, I spoke with a range of people connected to the school—former directors, administrators, caretakers, students, and faculty, including several artists from KU who have taught there over the years—about what makes Haystack, and its architecture, so compelling and enduring.
The Fiber Studio today. Photo: Bill SteeleA community of artists living and working deep within nature was not a new idea when Mary Bishop, a wealthy modern art collector from Flint, Michigan, funded the inception of Haystack in 1949. The Cranbrook Academy of Art and Black Mountain College were already well established by then, but they operated within a familiar hierarchy—conventional, top-down schools where fine art stood above applied art, which the establishment still viewed as secondary. Bishop saw craft as a serious art form and championed the belief that craftspeople should have a dedicated place to work, teach, and exchange ideas, not just be sidelined as hobbyists.
Her patronage came at a moment when leading avant-garde artists were exploring modernist ideas in arts and crafts. One of them was a Cranbrook teacher, Francis Merritt, who Bishop recruited to run Haystack when it opened in 1950, in rural Montville, Maine. Like Bishop, Merritt embraced modernism and saw an opportunity to upend traditional arts and crafts pedagogy that still clung to a master-apprentice structure. It was under his charismatic and energetic leadership that Haystack quickly became recognized worldwide as a vital new space to pursue innovation in craft.
The parallels to the Bauhaus are more than coincidental. Both Bishop and Merritt admired the radical curriculum of the German school, eventually leading them to commission modernist Ed Barnes in 1957 to design Haystack’s new campus on Deer Isle. (The Montville campus was forced to move because of I-95 encroachment.) The convergence of progressive ideas and raw nature forged a new inflection point in modern architecture.
Born in Chicago, Edward Larrabee Barnes (1915-2004) graduated in 1942 from Harvard, where he studied under the well-known Marcel Breuer, and Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus. Both taught students that they needed to get in touch with their primitive instincts and understand basic form ideas. They also taught the importance of vernacular architecture. These teachings formed much of the design language Barnes would later use at Haystack.
In 1949, Barnes opened his own firm in New York and over his career distinguished himself by his architectural restraint. His prodigious output included everything from private houses, camps and university projects to large-scale works such as the Walker Museum of Art in Minneapolis and I.B.M.’s sleek flagship office tower on Madison Avenue. Common with all of his work is a ruthless simplicity and geometrical purity that to some architecture critics could verge into blandness, though most admired his compositions and refinement. But Barnes also was acutely concerned with context and sensitivity to local differences, which makes his work far more interesting than would first appear.My initial impression of Haystack was that it was some kind of architectural pose, meant to convey something. The shingled cottages and studios look so simple, so basic, that even a child could do them. They reminded me of those funky looking condos built in the 70s and 80s—no doubt cribbed from Haystack—that seemed awkwardly out of place in their suburban settings. But here they feel just right—honest, weathered, and exactly where they belong.
Program participants cabin. Photo: Bill SteeleThe geometrical shape of the buildings is striking not only because of their contrast with the forest but also because their scale and elevation from the ground humanize them. Set against the mossy, lichen-covered forest, the spare shed forms engage and shape the surrounding atmosphere in unexpected ways. Shrouded in early morning fog, they conjure the treehouses of the Ewok village in Return of the Jedi; in the middle of a well-lit afternoon, they might evoke an Italian hill town; in the evening, the buildings appear as relaxed and comfortable as Japanese tea houses on a mountainside. They have an extraordinary presence that allows them to take on the character of their surroundings.
Most of these effects are incidental. At Haystack, aesthetics were a secondary concern for Barnes, who was a reductivist. How to build an eight-acre campus on a steep wooded bluff without disturbing it was a greater concern and a monumental problem to solve. Most architects would have probably clustered the buildings along the top of the bluff and called it a day, but Barnes had other ideas, some of them he’d already tried out at a couple of children’s summer camps he designed in Fishkill, New York (Camp Bliss and Camp Anita, 1953-1955) that were also composed of simple wood structures set lightly into a forested landscape. But nothing like this. This was a magnitude greater difficulty.
Wandering the campus, I was struck by the thought that, of all the possible solutions to the problem of what and how to build on this rugged lot, Barnes seems to have come up with the most sensible. Rather than imposing a design onto the site, he simply elevates the structures above ground, so that they practically float above the earth. (Jack Lenor Larsen, a giant in the field of commercially produced textiles who taught at Haystack for many years, likened them to a network of docks and lobster boats that float over land instead of water.)
Of course, cost constraints were a significant factor. The founders of the school spent most of what they had on the land: $3,500 for 42 acres of breathtaking oceanfront property in the late 1950s. (This seems like an impossible bargain today but in those days the land was considered unbuildable.) According to Barnes’ own personal accounts of the project, the construction budget was a mere $5 per square foot. The owners couldn’t afford much else, forcing Barnes to think creatively how to meet their many requirements.
To minimize costs, Barnes relied on local labor and materials as much as possible. The buildings are mostly made of pine, cedar and plywood, with a foundation of treated wooden posts set on concrete footings and piers. They also were relatively easy to build because they didn’t have complex plans or sections. Here is a preliminary structural section drawing of a “luxury cabin”:
Cabin section. Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library at Harvard University.Aside from some steel and concrete, most of the material is standard 2x4s, 2X6s, 2X10s, and inexpensive rough-sawn cedar shingles. Since Haystack is operational only in summer, the buildings are uninsulated and unheated, which also helped keep costs down. (Where there is plumbing, the pipes are all run above ground.) The only processed materials in the buildings are the concrete, plate glass, metal doors, some galvanized metal and copper flashing, and synthetic rubber EPDM for the roofs, which wasn’t originally spec’d by Barnes but became necessary because Maine’s winter freeze-and-thaw cycles caused leaks.
Here’s a peek inside:
Photo: Dan Rajter. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME.Hardly luxurious, but their rustic quality is in keeping with traditional Maine summer cottages.
According to Stu Kestenbaum, a former Haystack artistic and executive director, there wasn’t much of a construction industry on Deer Isle in those days, so the carpenter crew was made up of people who most likely lobster fished and did other odd jobs.
“It was a hand-made, people-pitching-in kind of project,” Kestenbaum said. “I think they were figuring it out as they went along.”
Maybe because it was built by local carpenters, Haystack has the feel of a place where people build for themselves. The respect for Maine vernacular tradition—local materials, local influences, local technology—adds to the spirit of unity with the environment, even though the aesthetic is unapologetically industrial modern.
Apart from the mandate to keep costs down, by far Barnes’ toughest assignment was fulfilling the functional imperatives. He wrote that Haystack’s board wanted a clustered, communal layout that would foster “a cross-fertilization of thought and ideas between the crafts.” This prerequisite was at the heart of the founders’ vision.
Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library at Harvard University.His solution is elegant and straightforward. Looking at his early concept drawings, the main organizing principle is a central staircase that cuts through the middle of the property, descending from the parking lot to the ocean. (The elevation change is nearly 130 feet.) Knowing just how powerful drawings in architecture can be, I asked Dennis Domer, Lawrence Modern’s observateur des structures, what he thought about Barnes’ design. (Before I showed it to him, he had never heard of Haystack or seen any photographs of it.)
“Just by looking at the plan you can really see how he [Barnes] made it work,” Domer said. “All the buildings feed off horizontally from the main spine, which pulls all the buildings together. It is a camp that is tied together through these corridors. Everything is right on them. It’s a very utilitarian approach, very practical, and at the same time quite delicate.”
Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library at Harvard University.As a camp-goer, I was surprised how easy it was to get around campus, and how rhythmic and deliberate it all felt. In the morning, I would catch a breath of cool ocean air while climbing the stairs to the dining hall to eat. After breakfast, I would collect my thoughts as I walked farther up campus to the hot shop to work, return to the dining hall for lunch and dinner, then head all the way down to the sleeping cabins after finishing up work when I was usually exhausted. The quality in the pattern is the difference between if the architect put all the dorms at the top of the hill, to maximize views, and put the workspaces and dining hall at the bottom. This would have meant descending the stairs in the morning when fresh and trudging up them after a long day of work—a not-so-subtle drain on one’s energy.
(Despite my admiration, some critics have pointed out that Haystack’s top-down layout, while functional, can feel rigid or imposing in terms of circulation—a labyrinth of stairs, deck connections—especially for those with mobility issues.)
Expanding on Barnes’s functional concept, Domer observed that the hierarchy of structures mirrors the social order: the communal spaces are the most generous, while the private quarters grow progressively smaller. Even the faculty accommodations are spartan, he noted, conveying “a feeling of equality that helps make the camp work.
“There’s a real hierarchy in the disposition of all the most important places to the less important places, but none of them are unimportant,” Domer said.
One of the most important places is the dining hall, which affords a spectacular view of Isle au Haut and the sparkling blue water of Jericho Bay. The entire campus eats there together like the old evening meals in the college dormitory, and it is fundamental to the Haystack experience. Indeed, it was during the sharing of meals with fellow students and faculty that I made the most connections and felt the greatest sense of community. It dawned on me that our culture has largely forfeited this ritual, but the fact that it persists at institutions like Haystack gives me hope that someday it might be revived in high schools and college campuses. Today’s mall-style food courts, with their diverse seating and flexible food options to meet student preferences, is anathema to community building.
Dining Hall. Photo: Bill SteeleThinking I could be wrong about that, I spoke with KU industrial design professor May Tveit, who attended Haystack in 2021, right after the pandemic lockdown. She also emphasized the importance of the food during her two-week artist residency. “That communal dining experience facilitated conversation and relationships and nourishment on so many levels,” Tveit said. “You’re reminded of the power of these very basic elemental essences.”
At every level, Barnes reaches out to the archetypes of human experience: community, sharing, cohabitation, ritual, solitude. This knowledge requires a deeper understanding of architecture that “transcends the program,” as the late KU professor of architecture Steve Grabow used to tell students. It’s what separates architecture that is timeless and alive—to borrow a concept from Berkeley theorist Christopher Alexander—from architecture that is lifeless and dead. Artists seem to intuitively understand this, which is why their sensibilities—rooted in observation, empathy, and material honesty—remain indispensable to the evolution of architecture.
Dining Hall patio at dusk. The Clay Studio is in the background. Photo: Bill Steele“It just made so much sense to me,” Tveit said of her two weeks at the school. “I didn’t want it to end. As I navigated my time there, I thought, every city should have a Haystack. Every town should have a Haystack where there’s this incredible architecture as well as an incredible program to facilitate creativity.”
Reflecting on my own all-too-brief visit, I also felt a mix of awe and envy and that all-too-insistent urge to broadcast my privilege—‘OMG!!! you’ve got to see this place!!’—but I stopped myself, as did, I think, many of the other artists in Square ONE. I noticed that hardly anyone at Haystack was on their phone. The remoteness of the location and lack of cell service in parts of Deer Isle certainly factored, but more than that, you don’t reach for your phone because you’re so immersed in what you’re doing, so present in the moment, that doing so would only interrupt the flow state. At Haystack, navel-gazing is a waste of time: the air insists on focus.
“People there work like hell,” said Cynthia Schira, a renowned textile artist who taught weaving at KU for more than 20 years and is an honorary board member of Haystack. “It’s beautiful, but it’s also a place for you to work, and your work is more important in the sense.”
Schira was first invited to teach at Haystack in the mid-1970s, after she graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and got her M.F.A. at KU. I asked her if she thought the architecture influenced the intensity of students’ work, which often goes into the wee hours.
“Yes, I think the architecture really does,” said Schira, who continues to practice weaving in upstate New York at age 92. “Something I love about it is the openness—there are big doors on every studio. You have to slide them open. And there’s all the windows so, you know, you see. The walls are thin—you hear what’s going on. It keeps your curiosity going. Why not just poke into the studio next to yours?”
Schira didn’t mention the studio lighting, but it is worth highlighting. (Pun intended.) The placement of the windows, which are located on opposite sides, north and south, result in a consistent, diffused light throughout the daylight hours. They are ideal spaces in which to work. Most of the campus dorms also have windows on two sides, east- and west-facing. This would seem like a minor detail but many rooms in contemporary buildings have light from one side only.
Another textile artist from Kansas, Jennifer Morrow, remembers being transformed by the campus architecture when she first went to Haystack in 1982, both by its expressed structure and site repair.
“One of the things that influenced me was that sense of repair, like visible repair, what we now call visible mending,” said Morrow, who taught at KU in the early 1990s and now lives on Deer Isle. “It [Haystack] was the first place that I think I saw where people were just honestly repairing something and keeping and maintaining it and not trying to, like, paint it to look like it had always been.”
Indeed, a big part of Haystack’s timeless feel is the near monastic devotion of its caretakers, who maintain its wooden structures like shipbuilders in drydock. Incessant exposure to salt air, wind, snow, ice, lichens, moss, and water takes its toll.
Walter Kumiega, Haystack’s buildings and grounds manager, said that one of the difficulties maintaining the architectural integrity of the historic property is figuring out what was the intended design 65 years ago.
“There’s little details that you kind of have to worry about but there’s no documentation for,” Kumiega said.
Concrete footing under the Fiber Studio. Photo: Bill SteeleAccording to Ginger Aldrich, the school’s development director, nearly everything on structure has been replaced at least once as part of the school’s rigorous maintenance regimen.
“It’s expensive and yet at the same time the idea was continuous repair and renewal so that we wouldn’t have to close for a season while we transformed a building,” Aldrich said. “There’s a lot of thought that goes into the maintenance and stewardship of the buildings and the grounds so it’s not a huge cost all at once.”
We are now in a period where midcentury modern buildings are increasingly being preserved and seen as worthy of conservation. Haystack offers us a time-tested model for preserving not just those buildings, but any building. The school’s approach to maintenance as incremental preservation—small, thoughtful repairs rather than one-off acts of restoration—is sustainable, economical, and avoids the sweeping overhauls that so often lead to regrettable changes. It is the surest way to maintain architectural integrity.
As I think about it, my lasting memory of Haystack may end up being not the architecture, the food, or the people I met but the reassuring sound of hammers reverberating across the campus, which had the surprisingly soothing effect of reminding me that, thankfully, not all aspects of American building culture have been thoughtlessly discarded. Not once did I hear the pop-pop-pop of a nail gun.
Not unrelatedly, perhaps Haystack’s greatest act of preservation has been its resistance to growth, expansion, and endless upgrading. While the school has added a few buildings (notably, a seamless library addition designed by Carol Wilson) and made numerous sustainability and infrastructure upgrades over the years, the gestalt remains unchanged. Critically, the school has capped the number of students it can accommodate to 100. (It originally accommodated about 65.) During my stay, around 75 students (mostly women) were enrolled in Square ONE, and by the time I left I felt like I knew many of them. “More than a hundred, you’re going to lose that sense of community and connection,” Aldrich said. “It really keeps our values honest.”
Ultimately, it is those shared values that accounts for Haystack’s greatness. From the beginning, the school has been governed by a board and director working closely together, with artists and craftspeople actively shaping the program rather than having decisions imposed by outsiders. (The school has remained fiercely independent, deliberately avoiding entanglement with commerce.) And while the campus architecture is the work of an outside architect, its essential goodness and beauty is not solely attributable to him, but the arts community as a whole—the founders, builders, caretakers, invited faculty, administrators, and students—who have been able to cultivate such a profound connection between architecture and people, sustaining a dialogue between design and use that remains as vital today as it was the day Haystack opened.
—Bill
Addison de Lisle Jill McDonald Sierra Iturrino Ellie Patten Oona Baker Emily Summers Will Steele
#architecture #art #artsCrafts #bauhaus #blacksmithing #cabinsInTheWoods #design #ecological #europe #FrankPitcher #harvard #maine #maineCoast #MarcelBreuer #midcentury #modernism #offTheGrid #seaside #Stonington #summerCottages #sustainability #travel #WalterGropius -
Lawrence should have a Haystack
Photo: Bill SteeleOne afternoon in the summer of 2014, while visiting modernist architect Carol A. Wilson’s home studio in Falmouth, Maine, I mentioned that my wife and I were planning to take a trip up to Acadia National Park the next day. Knowing that I had an interest in modern architecture, Carol said, “You should go check out Haystack while you’re up there.”
Haystack?
Although born and raised in the state of Maine, it was the first time I’d ever heard about the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Located on Deer Isle, an off-the-beaten path tourist destination south of Bar Harbor, the small arts and crafts school offers short-term summer residencies and workshops in fiber, ceramics, glass, metals, graphics, jewelry, and printmaking, in one of the most inspired settings for arts and architecture in the world.
Built in 1961, the school’s seaside campus is situated on a remote, steeply sloped, and conifer-wooded site studded with huge granite boulders and one of the rockiest stretches of coastline in the state. Nestled among the trees and rocks are a collection of dormitories and studio buildings that are shaped like salt boxes and built out of cedar and pine. Various sculptures and other art objects (many created at the school) adorn the landscape. It’s high art in the woods—the kind of arts school in the wild that Mary Oliver might have built if she had been an architect instead of a poet.
The fiber-graphics deck in the 1970s. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME.After making brief visits to the campus in 2014 and 2024, where I became enchanted by the beauty of the place, I spent a week there in July after being accepted into the school’s new “Square ONE” program for beginners. (I took a workshop in blacksmithing, something I’d always wanted to do since watching Gunsmoke on TV as a kid.) Besides an interest in making art, I was keen to have a lived experience at the school and explore its hidden wonders. I wanted to move past consumer-grade architectural tourism and experience something deeper, something more hands-on.
Much has been written about Haystack—it is on the National Register of Historic Places and frequently cited as one of the most important works of postwar architecture—but its influence has been primarily in architectural philosophy, education, and the crafts, rather than ways of living. I was curious to find out: are there lessons from Haystack that can be applied to our urban and environmental design, and to the preservation of historic buildings, including those under the watchful eye of Lawrence Modern and the Lawrence Preservation Alliance?
Haystack is a worthwhile case study because not only has it stood the test of time, but it is also still well ahead of its time. Long before “sustainability” became a buzzword, it demonstrated an ecological awareness and sensitivity that continues to be a model for architects and urban planners. The school’s non-hierarchical, communal way of living and working together—where ideas flow freely and experimentation is encouraged—is something other schools and even corporations have tried to replicate but rarely succeed in doing. It’s not easy to get right.
One of the things that Dennis Domer, Tom Harper and I noted during our extensive survey of Lawrence’s midcentury modern architecture more than 15 years ago is that, like one of Newton’s laws of motion, when a building is designed right from the beginning, it tends to stay that way. It resists change. If you visit Haystack today, you’ll find it remarkably close to what it looked like 65 years ago.
To understand why, I spoke with a range of people connected to the school—former directors, administrators, caretakers, students, and faculty, including several artists from KU who have taught there over the years—about what makes Haystack, and its architecture, so compelling and enduring.
The Fiber Studio today. Photo: Bill SteeleA community of artists living and working deep within nature was not a new idea when Mary Bishop, a wealthy modern art collector from Flint, Michigan, funded the inception of Haystack in 1949. The Cranbrook Academy of Art and Black Mountain College were already well established by then, but they operated within a familiar hierarchy—conventional, top-down schools where fine art stood above applied art, which the establishment still viewed as secondary. Bishop saw craft as a serious art form and championed the belief that craftspeople should have a dedicated place to work, teach, and exchange ideas, not just be sidelined as hobbyists.
Her patronage came at a moment when leading avant-garde artists were exploring modernist ideas in arts and crafts. One of them was a Cranbrook teacher, Francis Merritt, who Bishop recruited to run Haystack when it opened in 1950, in rural Montville, Maine. Like Bishop, Merritt embraced modernism and saw an opportunity to upend traditional arts and crafts pedagogy that still clung to a master-apprentice structure. It was under his charismatic and energetic leadership that Haystack quickly became recognized worldwide as a vital new space to pursue innovation in craft.
The parallels to the Bauhaus are more than coincidental. Both Bishop and Merritt admired the radical curriculum of the German school, eventually leading them to commission modernist Ed Barnes in 1957 to design Haystack’s new campus on Deer Isle. (The Montville campus was forced to move because of I-95 encroachment.) The convergence of progressive ideas and raw nature forged a new inflection point in modern architecture.
Born in Chicago, Edward Larrabee Barnes (1915-2004) graduated in 1942 from Harvard, where he studied under the well-known Marcel Breuer, and Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus. Both taught students that they needed to get in touch with their primitive instincts and understand basic form ideas. They also taught the importance of vernacular architecture. These teachings formed much of the design language Barnes would later use at Haystack.
In 1949, Barnes opened his own firm in New York and over his career distinguished himself by his architectural restraint. His prodigious output included everything from private houses, camps and university projects to large-scale works such as the Walker Museum of Art in Minneapolis and I.B.M.’s sleek flagship office tower on Madison Avenue. Common with all of his work is a ruthless simplicity and geometrical purity that to some architecture critics could verge into blandness, though most admired his compositions and refinement. But Barnes also was acutely concerned with context and sensitivity to local differences, which makes his work far more interesting than would first appear.My initial impression of Haystack was that it was some kind of architectural pose, meant to convey something. The shingled cottages and studios look so simple, so basic, that even a child could do them. They reminded me of those funky looking condos built in the 70s and 80s—no doubt cribbed from Haystack—that seemed awkwardly out of place in their suburban settings. But here they feel just right—honest, weathered, and exactly where they belong.
Program participants cabin. Photo: Bill SteeleThe geometrical shape of the buildings is striking not only because of their contrast with the forest but also because their scale and elevation from the ground humanize them. Set against the mossy, lichen-covered forest, the spare shed forms engage and shape the surrounding atmosphere in unexpected ways. Shrouded in early morning fog, they conjure the treehouses of the Ewok village in Return of the Jedi; in the middle of a well-lit afternoon, they might evoke an Italian hill town; in the evening, the buildings appear as relaxed and comfortable as Japanese tea houses on a mountainside. They have an extraordinary presence that allows them to take on the character of their surroundings.
Most of these effects are incidental. At Haystack, aesthetics were a secondary concern for Barnes, who was a reductivist. How to build an eight-acre campus on a steep wooded bluff without disturbing it was a greater concern and a monumental problem to solve. Most architects would have probably clustered the buildings along the top of the bluff and called it a day, but Barnes had other ideas, some of them he’d already tried out at a couple of children’s summer camps he designed in Fishkill, New York (Camp Bliss and Camp Anita, 1953-1955) that were also composed of simple wood structures set lightly into a forested landscape. But nothing like this. This was a magnitude greater difficulty.
Wandering the campus, I was struck by the thought that, of all the possible solutions to the problem of what and how to build on this rugged lot, Barnes seems to have come up with the most sensible. Rather than imposing a design onto the site, he simply elevates the structures above ground, so that they practically float above the earth. (Jack Lenor Larsen, a giant in the field of commercially produced textiles who taught at Haystack for many years, likened them to a network of docks and lobster boats that float over land instead of water.)
Of course, cost constraints were a significant factor. The founders of the school spent most of what they had on the land: $3,500 for 42 acres of breathtaking oceanfront property in the late 1950s. (This seems like an impossible bargain today but in those days the land was considered unbuildable.) According to Barnes’ own personal accounts of the project, the construction budget was a mere $5 per square foot. The owners couldn’t afford much else, forcing Barnes to think creatively how to meet their many requirements.
To minimize costs, Barnes relied on local labor and materials as much as possible. The buildings are mostly made of pine, cedar and plywood, with a foundation of treated wooden posts set on concrete footings and piers. They also were relatively easy to build because they didn’t have complex plans or sections. Here is a preliminary structural section drawing of a “luxury cabin”:
Cabin section. Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library at Harvard University.Aside from some steel and concrete, most of the material is standard 2x4s, 2X6s, 2X10s, and inexpensive rough-sawn cedar shingles. Since Haystack is operational only in summer, the buildings are uninsulated and unheated, which also helped keep costs down. (Where there is plumbing, the pipes are all run above ground.) The only processed materials in the buildings are the concrete, plate glass, metal doors, some galvanized metal and copper flashing, and synthetic rubber EPDM for the roofs, which wasn’t originally spec’d by Barnes but became necessary because Maine’s winter freeze-and-thaw cycles caused leaks.
Here’s a peek inside:
Photo: Dan Rajter. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME.Hardly luxurious, but their rustic quality is in keeping with traditional Maine summer cottages.
According to Stu Kestenbaum, a former Haystack artistic and executive director, there wasn’t much of a construction industry on Deer Isle in those days, so the carpenter crew was made up of people who most likely lobster fished and did other odd jobs.
“It was a hand-made, people-pitching-in kind of project,” Kestenbaum said. “I think they were figuring it out as they went along.”
Maybe because it was built by local carpenters, Haystack has the feel of a place where people build for themselves. The respect for Maine vernacular tradition—local materials, local influences, local technology—adds to the spirit of unity with the environment, even though the aesthetic is unapologetically industrial modern.
Apart from the mandate to keep costs down, by far Barnes’ toughest assignment was fulfilling the functional imperatives. He wrote that Haystack’s board wanted a clustered, communal layout that would foster “a cross-fertilization of thought and ideas between the crafts.” This prerequisite was at the heart of the founders’ vision.
Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library at Harvard University.His solution is elegant and straightforward. Looking at his early concept drawings, the main organizing principle is a central staircase that cuts through the middle of the property, descending from the parking lot to the ocean. (The elevation change is nearly 130 feet.) Knowing just how powerful drawings in architecture can be, I asked Dennis Domer, Lawrence Modern’s observateur des structures, what he thought about Barnes’ design. (Before I showed it to him, he had never heard of Haystack or seen any photographs of it.)
“Just by looking at the plan you can really see how he [Barnes] made it work,” Domer said. “All the buildings feed off horizontally from the main spine, which pulls all the buildings together. It is a camp that is tied together through these corridors. Everything is right on them. It’s a very utilitarian approach, very practical, and at the same time quite delicate.”
Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library at Harvard University.As a camp-goer, I was surprised how easy it was to get around campus, and how rhythmic and deliberate it all felt. In the morning, I would catch a breath of cool ocean air while climbing the stairs to the dining hall to eat. After breakfast, I would collect my thoughts as I walked farther up campus to the hot shop to work, return to the dining hall for lunch and dinner, then head all the way down to the sleeping cabins after finishing up work when I was usually exhausted. The quality in the pattern is the difference between if the architect put all the dorms at the top of the hill, to maximize views, and put the workspaces and dining hall at the bottom. This would have meant descending the stairs in the morning when fresh and trudging up them after a long day of work—a not-so-subtle drain on one’s energy.
(Despite my admiration, some critics have pointed out that Haystack’s top-down layout, while functional, can feel rigid or imposing in terms of circulation—a labyrinth of stairs, deck connections—especially for those with mobility issues.)
Expanding on Barnes’s functional concept, Domer observed that the hierarchy of structures mirrors the social order: the communal spaces are the most generous, while the private quarters grow progressively smaller. Even the faculty accommodations are spartan, he noted, conveying “a feeling of equality that helps make the camp work.
“There’s a real hierarchy in the disposition of all the most important places to the less important places, but none of them are unimportant,” Domer said.
One of the most important places is the dining hall, which affords a spectacular view of Isle au Haut and the sparkling blue water of Jericho Bay. The entire campus eats there together like the old evening meals in the college dormitory, and it is fundamental to the Haystack experience. Indeed, it was during the sharing of meals with fellow students and faculty that I made the most connections and felt the greatest sense of community. It dawned on me that our culture has largely forfeited this ritual, but the fact that it persists at institutions like Haystack gives me hope that someday it might be revived in high schools and college campuses. Today’s mall-style food courts, with their diverse seating and flexible food options to meet student preferences, is anathema to community building.
Dining Hall. Photo: Bill SteeleThinking I could be wrong about that, I spoke with KU industrial design professor May Tveit, who attended Haystack in 2021, right after the pandemic lockdown. She also emphasized the importance of the food during her two-week artist residency. “That communal dining experience facilitated conversation and relationships and nourishment on so many levels,” Tveit said. “You’re reminded of the power of these very basic elemental essences.”
At every level, Barnes reaches out to the archetypes of human experience: community, sharing, cohabitation, ritual, solitude. This knowledge requires a deeper understanding of architecture that “transcends the program,” as the late KU professor of architecture Steve Grabow used to tell students. It’s what separates architecture that is timeless and alive—to borrow a concept from Berkeley theorist Christopher Alexander—from architecture that is lifeless and dead. Artists seem to intuitively understand this, which is why their sensibilities—rooted in observation, empathy, and material honesty—remain indispensable to the evolution of architecture.
Dining Hall patio at dusk. The Clay Studio is in the background. Photo: Bill Steele“It just made so much sense to me,” Tveit said of her two weeks at the school. “I didn’t want it to end. As I navigated my time there, I thought, every city should have a Haystack. Every town should have a Haystack where there’s this incredible architecture as well as an incredible program to facilitate creativity.”
Reflecting on my own all-too-brief visit, I also felt a mix of awe and envy and that all-too-insistent urge to broadcast my privilege—‘OMG!!! you’ve got to see this place!!’—but I stopped myself, as did, I think, many of the other artists in Square ONE. I noticed that hardly anyone at Haystack was on their phone. The remoteness of the location and lack of cell service in parts of Deer Isle certainly factored, but more than that, you don’t reach for your phone because you’re so immersed in what you’re doing, so present in the moment, that doing so would only interrupt the flow state. At Haystack, navel-gazing is a waste of time: the air insists on focus.
“People there work like hell,” said Cynthia Schira, a renowned textile artist who taught weaving at KU for more than 20 years and is an honorary board member of Haystack. “It’s beautiful, but it’s also a place for you to work, and your work is more important in the sense.”
Schira was first invited to teach at Haystack in the mid-1970s, after she graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and got her M.F.A. at KU. I asked her if she thought the architecture influenced the intensity of students’ work, which often goes into the wee hours.
“Yes, I think the architecture really does,” said Schira, who continues to practice weaving in upstate New York at age 92. “Something I love about it is the openness—there are big doors on every studio. You have to slide them open. And there’s all the windows so, you know, you see. The walls are thin—you hear what’s going on. It keeps your curiosity going. Why not just poke into the studio next to yours?”
Schira didn’t mention the studio lighting, but it is worth highlighting. (Pun intended.) The placement of the windows, which are located on opposite sides, north and south, result in a consistent, diffused light throughout the daylight hours. They are ideal spaces in which to work. Most of the campus dorms also have windows on two sides, east- and west-facing. This would seem like a minor detail but many rooms in contemporary buildings have light from one side only.
Another textile artist from Kansas, Jennifer Morrow, remembers being transformed by the campus architecture when she first went to Haystack in 1982, both by its expressed structure and site repair.
“One of the things that influenced me was that sense of repair, like visible repair, what we now call visible mending,” said Morrow, who taught at KU in the early 1990s and now lives on Deer Isle. “It [Haystack] was the first place that I think I saw where people were just honestly repairing something and keeping and maintaining it and not trying to, like, paint it to look like it had always been.”
Indeed, a big part of Haystack’s timeless feel is the near monastic devotion of its caretakers, who maintain its wooden structures like shipbuilders in drydock. Incessant exposure to salt air, wind, snow, ice, lichens, moss, and water takes its toll.
Walter Kumiega, Haystack’s buildings and grounds manager, said that one of the difficulties maintaining the architectural integrity of the historic property is figuring out what was the intended design 65 years ago.
“There’s little details that you kind of have to worry about but there’s no documentation for,” Kumiega said.
Concrete footing under the Fiber Studio. Photo: Bill SteeleAccording to Ginger Aldrich, the school’s development director, nearly everything on structure has been replaced at least once as part of the school’s rigorous maintenance regimen.
“It’s expensive and yet at the same time the idea was continuous repair and renewal so that we wouldn’t have to close for a season while we transformed a building,” Aldrich said. “There’s a lot of thought that goes into the maintenance and stewardship of the buildings and the grounds so it’s not a huge cost all at once.”
We are now in a period where midcentury modern buildings are increasingly being preserved and seen as worthy of conservation. Haystack offers us a time-tested model for preserving not just those buildings, but any building. The school’s approach to maintenance as incremental preservation—small, thoughtful repairs rather than one-off acts of restoration—is sustainable, economical, and avoids the sweeping overhauls that so often lead to regrettable changes. It is the surest way to maintain architectural integrity.
As I think about it, my lasting memory of Haystack may end up being not the architecture, the food, or the people I met but the reassuring sound of hammers reverberating across the campus, which had the surprisingly soothing effect of reminding me that, thankfully, not all aspects of American building culture have been thoughtlessly discarded. Not once did I hear the pop-pop-pop of a nail gun.
Not unrelatedly, perhaps Haystack’s greatest act of preservation has been its resistance to growth, expansion, and endless upgrading. While the school has added a few buildings (notably, a seamless library addition designed by Carol Wilson) and made numerous sustainability and infrastructure upgrades over the years, the gestalt remains unchanged. Critically, the school has capped the number of students it can accommodate to 100. (It originally accommodated about 65.) During my stay, around 75 students (mostly women) were enrolled in Square ONE, and by the time I left I felt like I knew many of them. “More than a hundred, you’re going to lose that sense of community and connection,” Aldrich said. “It really keeps our values honest.”
Ultimately, it is those shared values that accounts for Haystack’s greatness. From the beginning, the school has been governed by a board and director working closely together, with artists and craftspeople actively shaping the program rather than having decisions imposed by outsiders. (The school has remained fiercely independent, deliberately avoiding entanglement with commerce.) And while the campus architecture is the work of an outside architect, its essential goodness and beauty is not solely attributable to him, but the arts community as a whole—the founders, builders, caretakers, invited faculty, administrators, and students—who have been able to cultivate such a profound connection between architecture and people, sustaining a dialogue between design and use that remains as vital today as it was the day Haystack opened.
—Bill
Addison de Lisle Jill McDonald Sierra Iturrino Ellie Patten Oona Baker Emily Summers Will Steele
#architecture #art #artsCrafts #bauhaus #blacksmithing #cabinsInTheWoods #design #ecological #europe #FrankPitcher #harvard #maine #maineCoast #MarcelBreuer #midcentury #modernism #offTheGrid #seaside #Stonington #summerCottages #sustainability #travel #WalterGropius -
10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet 188
How the ancient Egyptians made dazzling faience amulets
Archaeologist and sculptor Zahed Taj-Eddin shows how to make this ancient and mysterious form of art, it’s incredible!
https://youtu.be/V1D8DhCdIx4?si=zaX-CHwpW_JDpHBD
Orbital – Halcyon On and on (Faster Horses Edit) [1993]
I shared this one ages and ages ago but I just heard it again and it chilled me to the core with its intensity! Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/QPCODZTzXe0?si=GdW8dKVo3C6EDTxE
Hillarious Japanese pranks that are OTT and unexpected
https://youtu.be/N0c9heWCyZM?si=6jx7a5epa-RIE8Y2
Wild big cats can recognise familiar human voices
Researchers from Oakland University have uncovered a surprising ability in wild felines: recognising and responding differently to familiar human voices. This study challenges previous assumptions about animal cognitive capabilities.
Photo by Jean Gc on Pexels.comUnveiling feline vocal recognition
A research team led by Professor Jennifer Vonk and graduate student Taylor Crews investigated the vocal recognition abilities of Felidae, the cat family that includes lions, tigers, cheetahs, and exotic cat breeds. The study examined 25 individuals across 10 non-domesticated felid species living under human care.
Key scientific insights
The study yielded three primary findings that challenge existing understanding of animal cognition:
- Beyond domestication: Cats’ ability to distinguish human voices stems from close human contact, not exclusively from domestication. This contradicts previous theories about animal social cognitive development.
- Social cognitive complexity: The research challenges stereotypes about non-social species, demonstrating complex socio-cognitive skills in animals typically considered solitary.
- Human-animal connection: The findings provide evidence of emotional responsiveness in non-domestic cats, challenging perceptions of feline behavior.
Research context
“There has been insufficient examination of vocal recognition in exotic cats, despite their prevalence in human care,” the researchers noted. The study focused on 25 individuals from 10 non-domesticated Felidae species, providing a comprehensive look at inter-species vocal recognition.
Implications for understanding animal cognition
The research carries serious implications for our understanding of animal social intelligence. The authors emphasized that social adaptation and human interaction are not the sole predictors of cognitive abilities. Close human contact may facilitate skill development that is not immediately observable in wild settings.
Looking forward
The researchers suggest further investigation is needed to understand how cats might respond to familiar voices articulating unfamiliar phrases. This opens exciting avenues for future research in animal cognition and communication.
The full study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Greek Stuffed Grape Leaves: Dolmadakia by Dimitra
Greek Stuffed Grape Leaves: Dolmadakia by DimitraIngredients
- 8 ounces grape leaves from a jar, rinsed, drained, and stems removed
- 1/2 cup long grain rice
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup water
- 2 lemons, juiced (1/2 cup or more)
- 3-4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- 1 teaspoon dried dill or 1/4 cup fresh dill
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Sauté onions with 1/3 of the olive oil over medium low heat about 10 minutes or until very soft and lightly golden. Do not brown the onions.
- Add rice and mix to combine.
- Pour 1 cup water, half of the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 6-7 minutes or until the rice absorbs all of the liquid. At this point the rice is only par boiled.
- Add all the herbs and mix well. Cool completely.
- Rinse and dry the grape leaves. Cut the hard stem from each leaf. Reserve the smallest and the torn leaves to lay on bottom of pot.
- Lay a grape leaf shiny side down and place a tablespoon of rice filling on the bottom end of the leaf, near the stem.
- Fold the stem end of leaf over the filling. Fold the sides over and roll up snugly but not too tight. The rice will expand a bit more while cooking.
- Repeat with all of the remaining grape leaves until your filling is done.
- Layer half of the small and torn grape leaves to create a bed for the dolmades in a pot.
- Place the dolmades seam side down and very close together over the bed of leaves.
- Pour the remaining olive oil and lemon juice over the dolmades.
- Place the remaining reserved small leaves over the dolmades.
- Pour enough water to just cover the dolmades.
- Place an inverted plate over the dolmades to weigh them down and to prevent them from moving around and opening while cooking.
- Cover with lid and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to simmer and cook (covered) for 35-40 minutes.
- There will still be some liquid in the pot. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes and the juices will be absorbed.
- Transfer them to a platter and drizzle some olive oil over them. Serve with delicious tzatziki sauce and lemon wedges.
- Enjoy! Kali Orexi!
Notes
When working with store-bought grape leaves in the jar, sometimes the leaves will be small and torn so always start with double the amount than what the recipe calls for. You can always make a quick batch of extra filling to use up extra grape leaves. The torn and small leaves can be used to line the bottom of the pot.
Try not to overstuff the grape leaves. The rice will expand during cooking.
If using fresh grape leaves, blanch them in boiling water and drain.
The cooked dolmadakia will keep fresh in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Irish Folklore: The Sídhe
Some Irish folklore: the Sídhe, the Aos sí, the fair folk, the good people, or the people of the shee from Irish folklore, who live underground. You may know the banshee, or Bean sídhe or woman of the sídhe. In fact the very word Sídhe is the term for earthen mounds like the one in my #linocut and the Aos sí are “the people of mounds.”
The Sidhe evolved from a mythological people known as the Tuatha De Danaan, powerful, magical semi-divine beings, who feature in many early Irish tales. When the ancestors of the Irish, the Gaels arrived they battled over the Emerald Isle. The way the story was told to me was that neither force could conquer the other and they decided to divide Ireland evenly between them. If you look at Ireland it’s quite an irregular shape and the only way to split it evenly was top and bottom with the Gaels occupying the upper world and the Tuatha De Danaan taking the lower world.
They’re known as the daoine sí or daoine sìth in Scots Gaelic and we get the the idea of fairies from the fair folk, but our inherited Victorian ideas and images of fairies are much gentler, sweeter and cuter than these fierce beings who are benevolent if treated with respect but are known to react cruelly if mistreated.
The dinosaurs too big to be dinosaurs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATxQnJc_VIs
A wonder-filled interactive by ABC Australia visit via the website.
Console murale Bayreuth by Elisabeth Garouste and Mattia Bonetti, c. 1983.
Jungle legend LTJ Bukem’s live set ‘Love of Life’ from 1995The cover of this cassette rip is so evocative and interesting and the mix is driving and uplifting 90’s jungle.
https://youtu.be/WkB0-0h1m8g?si=S1oNToKTDe2NMBuC
A 400-year-old boxwood garden maze at the Pazo de San Lorenzo de Trasouto in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Did you enjoy this collection? let me know what you think of it below. Thank you for reading my dear friends!
Content Catnip
Follow me on Mastodon Watch my videos Donate to my Ko Fi #animalIntelligence #animals #art #bigCat #creativity #dinosaurs #DrumAndBass #Egyptian #History #indigenous #interiorDesign #Japanese #Music #nature #Philosophy #storytelling #techno #vegan -
10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet 188
How the ancient Egyptians made dazzling faience amulets
Archaeologist and sculptor Zahed Taj-Eddin shows how to make this ancient and mysterious form of art, it’s incredible!
https://youtu.be/V1D8DhCdIx4?si=zaX-CHwpW_JDpHBD
Orbital – Halcyon On and on (Faster Horses Edit) [1993]
I shared this one ages and ages ago but I just heard it again and it chilled me to the core with its intensity! Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/QPCODZTzXe0?si=GdW8dKVo3C6EDTxE
Hillarious Japanese pranks that are OTT and unexpected
https://youtu.be/N0c9heWCyZM?si=6jx7a5epa-RIE8Y2
Wild big cats can recognise familiar human voices
Researchers from Oakland University have uncovered a surprising ability in wild felines: recognising and responding differently to familiar human voices. This study challenges previous assumptions about animal cognitive capabilities.
Photo by Jean Gc on Pexels.comUnveiling feline vocal recognition
A research team led by Professor Jennifer Vonk and graduate student Taylor Crews investigated the vocal recognition abilities of Felidae, the cat family that includes lions, tigers, cheetahs, and exotic cat breeds. The study examined 25 individuals across 10 non-domesticated felid species living under human care.
Key scientific insights
The study yielded three primary findings that challenge existing understanding of animal cognition:
- Beyond domestication: Cats’ ability to distinguish human voices stems from close human contact, not exclusively from domestication. This contradicts previous theories about animal social cognitive development.
- Social cognitive complexity: The research challenges stereotypes about non-social species, demonstrating complex socio-cognitive skills in animals typically considered solitary.
- Human-animal connection: The findings provide evidence of emotional responsiveness in non-domestic cats, challenging perceptions of feline behavior.
Research context
“There has been insufficient examination of vocal recognition in exotic cats, despite their prevalence in human care,” the researchers noted. The study focused on 25 individuals from 10 non-domesticated Felidae species, providing a comprehensive look at inter-species vocal recognition.
Implications for understanding animal cognition
The research carries serious implications for our understanding of animal social intelligence. The authors emphasized that social adaptation and human interaction are not the sole predictors of cognitive abilities. Close human contact may facilitate skill development that is not immediately observable in wild settings.
Looking forward
The researchers suggest further investigation is needed to understand how cats might respond to familiar voices articulating unfamiliar phrases. This opens exciting avenues for future research in animal cognition and communication.
The full study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Greek Stuffed Grape Leaves: Dolmadakia by Dimitra
Greek Stuffed Grape Leaves: Dolmadakia by DimitraIngredients
- 8 ounces grape leaves from a jar, rinsed, drained, and stems removed
- 1/2 cup long grain rice
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup water
- 2 lemons, juiced (1/2 cup or more)
- 3-4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- 1 teaspoon dried dill or 1/4 cup fresh dill
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Sauté onions with 1/3 of the olive oil over medium low heat about 10 minutes or until very soft and lightly golden. Do not brown the onions.
- Add rice and mix to combine.
- Pour 1 cup water, half of the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 6-7 minutes or until the rice absorbs all of the liquid. At this point the rice is only par boiled.
- Add all the herbs and mix well. Cool completely.
- Rinse and dry the grape leaves. Cut the hard stem from each leaf. Reserve the smallest and the torn leaves to lay on bottom of pot.
- Lay a grape leaf shiny side down and place a tablespoon of rice filling on the bottom end of the leaf, near the stem.
- Fold the stem end of leaf over the filling. Fold the sides over and roll up snugly but not too tight. The rice will expand a bit more while cooking.
- Repeat with all of the remaining grape leaves until your filling is done.
- Layer half of the small and torn grape leaves to create a bed for the dolmades in a pot.
- Place the dolmades seam side down and very close together over the bed of leaves.
- Pour the remaining olive oil and lemon juice over the dolmades.
- Place the remaining reserved small leaves over the dolmades.
- Pour enough water to just cover the dolmades.
- Place an inverted plate over the dolmades to weigh them down and to prevent them from moving around and opening while cooking.
- Cover with lid and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to simmer and cook (covered) for 35-40 minutes.
- There will still be some liquid in the pot. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes and the juices will be absorbed.
- Transfer them to a platter and drizzle some olive oil over them. Serve with delicious tzatziki sauce and lemon wedges.
- Enjoy! Kali Orexi!
Notes
When working with store-bought grape leaves in the jar, sometimes the leaves will be small and torn so always start with double the amount than what the recipe calls for. You can always make a quick batch of extra filling to use up extra grape leaves. The torn and small leaves can be used to line the bottom of the pot.
Try not to overstuff the grape leaves. The rice will expand during cooking.
If using fresh grape leaves, blanch them in boiling water and drain.
The cooked dolmadakia will keep fresh in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Irish Folklore: The Sídhe
Some Irish folklore: the Sídhe, the Aos sí, the fair folk, the good people, or the people of the shee from Irish folklore, who live underground. You may know the banshee, or Bean sídhe or woman of the sídhe. In fact the very word Sídhe is the term for earthen mounds like the one in my #linocut and the Aos sí are “the people of mounds.”
The Sidhe evolved from a mythological people known as the Tuatha De Danaan, powerful, magical semi-divine beings, who feature in many early Irish tales. When the ancestors of the Irish, the Gaels arrived they battled over the Emerald Isle. The way the story was told to me was that neither force could conquer the other and they decided to divide Ireland evenly between them. If you look at Ireland it’s quite an irregular shape and the only way to split it evenly was top and bottom with the Gaels occupying the upper world and the Tuatha De Danaan taking the lower world.
They’re known as the daoine sí or daoine sìth in Scots Gaelic and we get the the idea of fairies from the fair folk, but our inherited Victorian ideas and images of fairies are much gentler, sweeter and cuter than these fierce beings who are benevolent if treated with respect but are known to react cruelly if mistreated.
The dinosaurs too big to be dinosaurs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATxQnJc_VIs
A wonder-filled interactive by ABC Australia visit via the website.
Console murale Bayreuth by Elisabeth Garouste and Mattia Bonetti, c. 1983.
Jungle legend LTJ Bukem’s live set ‘Love of Life’ from 1995The cover of this cassette rip is so evocative and interesting and the mix is driving and uplifting 90’s jungle.
https://youtu.be/WkB0-0h1m8g?si=S1oNToKTDe2NMBuC
A 400-year-old boxwood garden maze at the Pazo de San Lorenzo de Trasouto in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Did you enjoy this collection? let me know what you think of it below. Thank you for reading my dear friends!
Content Catnip
Follow me on Mastodon Watch my videos Donate to my Ko Fi #animalIntelligence #animals #art #bigCat #creativity #dinosaurs #DrumAndBass #Egyptian #History #indigenous #interiorDesign #Japanese #Music #nature #Philosophy #storytelling #techno #vegan -
10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet 188
How the ancient Egyptians made dazzling faience amulets
Archaeologist and sculptor Zahed Taj-Eddin shows how to make this ancient and mysterious form of art, it’s incredible!
https://youtu.be/V1D8DhCdIx4?si=zaX-CHwpW_JDpHBD
Orbital – Halcyon On and on (Faster Horses Edit) [1993]
I shared this one ages and ages ago but I just heard it again and it chilled me to the core with its intensity! Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/QPCODZTzXe0?si=GdW8dKVo3C6EDTxE
Hillarious Japanese pranks that are OTT and unexpected
https://youtu.be/N0c9heWCyZM?si=6jx7a5epa-RIE8Y2
Wild big cats can recognise familiar human voices
Researchers from Oakland University have uncovered a surprising ability in wild felines: recognising and responding differently to familiar human voices. This study challenges previous assumptions about animal cognitive capabilities.
Photo by Jean Gc on Pexels.comUnveiling feline vocal recognition
A research team led by Professor Jennifer Vonk and graduate student Taylor Crews investigated the vocal recognition abilities of Felidae, the cat family that includes lions, tigers, cheetahs, and exotic cat breeds. The study examined 25 individuals across 10 non-domesticated felid species living under human care.
Key scientific insights
The study yielded three primary findings that challenge existing understanding of animal cognition:
- Beyond domestication: Cats’ ability to distinguish human voices stems from close human contact, not exclusively from domestication. This contradicts previous theories about animal social cognitive development.
- Social cognitive complexity: The research challenges stereotypes about non-social species, demonstrating complex socio-cognitive skills in animals typically considered solitary.
- Human-animal connection: The findings provide evidence of emotional responsiveness in non-domestic cats, challenging perceptions of feline behavior.
Research context
“There has been insufficient examination of vocal recognition in exotic cats, despite their prevalence in human care,” the researchers noted. The study focused on 25 individuals from 10 non-domesticated Felidae species, providing a comprehensive look at inter-species vocal recognition.
Implications for understanding animal cognition
The research carries serious implications for our understanding of animal social intelligence. The authors emphasized that social adaptation and human interaction are not the sole predictors of cognitive abilities. Close human contact may facilitate skill development that is not immediately observable in wild settings.
Looking forward
The researchers suggest further investigation is needed to understand how cats might respond to familiar voices articulating unfamiliar phrases. This opens exciting avenues for future research in animal cognition and communication.
The full study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Greek Stuffed Grape Leaves: Dolmadakia by Dimitra
Greek Stuffed Grape Leaves: Dolmadakia by DimitraIngredients
- 8 ounces grape leaves from a jar, rinsed, drained, and stems removed
- 1/2 cup long grain rice
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup water
- 2 lemons, juiced (1/2 cup or more)
- 3-4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- 1 teaspoon dried dill or 1/4 cup fresh dill
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Sauté onions with 1/3 of the olive oil over medium low heat about 10 minutes or until very soft and lightly golden. Do not brown the onions.
- Add rice and mix to combine.
- Pour 1 cup water, half of the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 6-7 minutes or until the rice absorbs all of the liquid. At this point the rice is only par boiled.
- Add all the herbs and mix well. Cool completely.
- Rinse and dry the grape leaves. Cut the hard stem from each leaf. Reserve the smallest and the torn leaves to lay on bottom of pot.
- Lay a grape leaf shiny side down and place a tablespoon of rice filling on the bottom end of the leaf, near the stem.
- Fold the stem end of leaf over the filling. Fold the sides over and roll up snugly but not too tight. The rice will expand a bit more while cooking.
- Repeat with all of the remaining grape leaves until your filling is done.
- Layer half of the small and torn grape leaves to create a bed for the dolmades in a pot.
- Place the dolmades seam side down and very close together over the bed of leaves.
- Pour the remaining olive oil and lemon juice over the dolmades.
- Place the remaining reserved small leaves over the dolmades.
- Pour enough water to just cover the dolmades.
- Place an inverted plate over the dolmades to weigh them down and to prevent them from moving around and opening while cooking.
- Cover with lid and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to simmer and cook (covered) for 35-40 minutes.
- There will still be some liquid in the pot. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes and the juices will be absorbed.
- Transfer them to a platter and drizzle some olive oil over them. Serve with delicious tzatziki sauce and lemon wedges.
- Enjoy! Kali Orexi!
Notes
When working with store-bought grape leaves in the jar, sometimes the leaves will be small and torn so always start with double the amount than what the recipe calls for. You can always make a quick batch of extra filling to use up extra grape leaves. The torn and small leaves can be used to line the bottom of the pot.
Try not to overstuff the grape leaves. The rice will expand during cooking.
If using fresh grape leaves, blanch them in boiling water and drain.
The cooked dolmadakia will keep fresh in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Irish Folklore: The Sídhe
Some Irish folklore: the Sídhe, the Aos sí, the fair folk, the good people, or the people of the shee from Irish folklore, who live underground. You may know the banshee, or Bean sídhe or woman of the sídhe. In fact the very word Sídhe is the term for earthen mounds like the one in my #linocut and the Aos sí are “the people of mounds.”
The Sidhe evolved from a mythological people known as the Tuatha De Danaan, powerful, magical semi-divine beings, who feature in many early Irish tales. When the ancestors of the Irish, the Gaels arrived they battled over the Emerald Isle. The way the story was told to me was that neither force could conquer the other and they decided to divide Ireland evenly between them. If you look at Ireland it’s quite an irregular shape and the only way to split it evenly was top and bottom with the Gaels occupying the upper world and the Tuatha De Danaan taking the lower world.
They’re known as the daoine sí or daoine sìth in Scots Gaelic and we get the the idea of fairies from the fair folk, but our inherited Victorian ideas and images of fairies are much gentler, sweeter and cuter than these fierce beings who are benevolent if treated with respect but are known to react cruelly if mistreated.
The dinosaurs too big to be dinosaurs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATxQnJc_VIs
A wonder-filled interactive by ABC Australia visit via the website.
Console murale Bayreuth by Elisabeth Garouste and Mattia Bonetti, c. 1983.
Jungle legend LTJ Bukem’s live set ‘Love of Life’ from 1995The cover of this cassette rip is so evocative and interesting and the mix is driving and uplifting 90’s jungle.
https://youtu.be/WkB0-0h1m8g?si=S1oNToKTDe2NMBuC
A 400-year-old boxwood garden maze at the Pazo de San Lorenzo de Trasouto in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Did you enjoy this collection? let me know what you think of it below. Thank you for reading my dear friends!
Content Catnip
Follow me on Mastodon Watch my videos Donate to my Ko Fi #animalIntelligence #animals #art #bigCat #creativity #dinosaurs #DrumAndBass #Egyptian #History #indigenous #interiorDesign #Japanese #Music #nature #Philosophy #storytelling #techno #vegan -
10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet 188
How the ancient Egyptians made dazzling faience amulets
Archaeologist and sculptor Zahed Taj-Eddin shows how to make this ancient and mysterious form of art, it’s incredible!
https://youtu.be/V1D8DhCdIx4?si=zaX-CHwpW_JDpHBD
Orbital – Halcyon On and on (Faster Horses Edit) [1993]
I shared this one ages and ages ago but I just heard it again and it chilled me to the core with its intensity! Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/QPCODZTzXe0?si=GdW8dKVo3C6EDTxE
Hillarious Japanese pranks that are OTT and unexpected
https://youtu.be/N0c9heWCyZM?si=6jx7a5epa-RIE8Y2
Wild big cats can recognise familiar human voices
Researchers from Oakland University have uncovered a surprising ability in wild felines: recognising and responding differently to familiar human voices. This study challenges previous assumptions about animal cognitive capabilities.
Photo by Jean Gc on Pexels.comUnveiling feline vocal recognition
A research team led by Professor Jennifer Vonk and graduate student Taylor Crews investigated the vocal recognition abilities of Felidae, the cat family that includes lions, tigers, cheetahs, and exotic cat breeds. The study examined 25 individuals across 10 non-domesticated felid species living under human care.
Key scientific insights
The study yielded three primary findings that challenge existing understanding of animal cognition:
- Beyond domestication: Cats’ ability to distinguish human voices stems from close human contact, not exclusively from domestication. This contradicts previous theories about animal social cognitive development.
- Social cognitive complexity: The research challenges stereotypes about non-social species, demonstrating complex socio-cognitive skills in animals typically considered solitary.
- Human-animal connection: The findings provide evidence of emotional responsiveness in non-domestic cats, challenging perceptions of feline behavior.
Research context
“There has been insufficient examination of vocal recognition in exotic cats, despite their prevalence in human care,” the researchers noted. The study focused on 25 individuals from 10 non-domesticated Felidae species, providing a comprehensive look at inter-species vocal recognition.
Implications for understanding animal cognition
The research carries serious implications for our understanding of animal social intelligence. The authors emphasized that social adaptation and human interaction are not the sole predictors of cognitive abilities. Close human contact may facilitate skill development that is not immediately observable in wild settings.
Looking forward
The researchers suggest further investigation is needed to understand how cats might respond to familiar voices articulating unfamiliar phrases. This opens exciting avenues for future research in animal cognition and communication.
The full study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Greek Stuffed Grape Leaves: Dolmadakia by Dimitra
Greek Stuffed Grape Leaves: Dolmadakia by DimitraIngredients
- 8 ounces grape leaves from a jar, rinsed, drained, and stems removed
- 1/2 cup long grain rice
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup water
- 2 lemons, juiced (1/2 cup or more)
- 3-4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- 1 teaspoon dried dill or 1/4 cup fresh dill
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Sauté onions with 1/3 of the olive oil over medium low heat about 10 minutes or until very soft and lightly golden. Do not brown the onions.
- Add rice and mix to combine.
- Pour 1 cup water, half of the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 6-7 minutes or until the rice absorbs all of the liquid. At this point the rice is only par boiled.
- Add all the herbs and mix well. Cool completely.
- Rinse and dry the grape leaves. Cut the hard stem from each leaf. Reserve the smallest and the torn leaves to lay on bottom of pot.
- Lay a grape leaf shiny side down and place a tablespoon of rice filling on the bottom end of the leaf, near the stem.
- Fold the stem end of leaf over the filling. Fold the sides over and roll up snugly but not too tight. The rice will expand a bit more while cooking.
- Repeat with all of the remaining grape leaves until your filling is done.
- Layer half of the small and torn grape leaves to create a bed for the dolmades in a pot.
- Place the dolmades seam side down and very close together over the bed of leaves.
- Pour the remaining olive oil and lemon juice over the dolmades.
- Place the remaining reserved small leaves over the dolmades.
- Pour enough water to just cover the dolmades.
- Place an inverted plate over the dolmades to weigh them down and to prevent them from moving around and opening while cooking.
- Cover with lid and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to simmer and cook (covered) for 35-40 minutes.
- There will still be some liquid in the pot. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes and the juices will be absorbed.
- Transfer them to a platter and drizzle some olive oil over them. Serve with delicious tzatziki sauce and lemon wedges.
- Enjoy! Kali Orexi!
Notes
When working with store-bought grape leaves in the jar, sometimes the leaves will be small and torn so always start with double the amount than what the recipe calls for. You can always make a quick batch of extra filling to use up extra grape leaves. The torn and small leaves can be used to line the bottom of the pot.
Try not to overstuff the grape leaves. The rice will expand during cooking.
If using fresh grape leaves, blanch them in boiling water and drain.
The cooked dolmadakia will keep fresh in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Irish Folklore: The Sídhe
Some Irish folklore: the Sídhe, the Aos sí, the fair folk, the good people, or the people of the shee from Irish folklore, who live underground. You may know the banshee, or Bean sídhe or woman of the sídhe. In fact the very word Sídhe is the term for earthen mounds like the one in my #linocut and the Aos sí are “the people of mounds.”
The Sidhe evolved from a mythological people known as the Tuatha De Danaan, powerful, magical semi-divine beings, who feature in many early Irish tales. When the ancestors of the Irish, the Gaels arrived they battled over the Emerald Isle. The way the story was told to me was that neither force could conquer the other and they decided to divide Ireland evenly between them. If you look at Ireland it’s quite an irregular shape and the only way to split it evenly was top and bottom with the Gaels occupying the upper world and the Tuatha De Danaan taking the lower world.
They’re known as the daoine sí or daoine sìth in Scots Gaelic and we get the the idea of fairies from the fair folk, but our inherited Victorian ideas and images of fairies are much gentler, sweeter and cuter than these fierce beings who are benevolent if treated with respect but are known to react cruelly if mistreated.
The dinosaurs too big to be dinosaurs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATxQnJc_VIs
A wonder-filled interactive by ABC Australia visit via the website.
Console murale Bayreuth by Elisabeth Garouste and Mattia Bonetti, c. 1983.
Jungle legend LTJ Bukem’s live set ‘Love of Life’ from 1995The cover of this cassette rip is so evocative and interesting and the mix is driving and uplifting 90’s jungle.
https://youtu.be/WkB0-0h1m8g?si=S1oNToKTDe2NMBuC
A 400-year-old boxwood garden maze at the Pazo de San Lorenzo de Trasouto in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Did you enjoy this collection? let me know what you think of it below. Thank you for reading my dear friends!
Content Catnip
Follow me on Mastodon Watch my videos Donate to my Ko Fi #animalIntelligence #animals #art #bigCat #creativity #dinosaurs #DrumAndBass #Egyptian #History #indigenous #interiorDesign #Japanese #Music #nature #Philosophy #storytelling #techno #vegan -
10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet 188
How the ancient Egyptians made dazzling faience amulets
Archaeologist and sculptor Zahed Taj-Eddin shows how to make this ancient and mysterious form of art, it’s incredible!
https://youtu.be/V1D8DhCdIx4?si=zaX-CHwpW_JDpHBD
Orbital – Halcyon On and on (Faster Horses Edit) [1993]
I shared this one ages and ages ago but I just heard it again and it chilled me to the core with its intensity! Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/QPCODZTzXe0?si=GdW8dKVo3C6EDTxE
Hillarious Japanese pranks that are OTT and unexpected
https://youtu.be/N0c9heWCyZM?si=6jx7a5epa-RIE8Y2
Wild big cats can recognise familiar human voices
Researchers from Oakland University have uncovered a surprising ability in wild felines: recognising and responding differently to familiar human voices. This study challenges previous assumptions about animal cognitive capabilities.
Photo by Jean Gc on Pexels.comUnveiling feline vocal recognition
A research team led by Professor Jennifer Vonk and graduate student Taylor Crews investigated the vocal recognition abilities of Felidae, the cat family that includes lions, tigers, cheetahs, and exotic cat breeds. The study examined 25 individuals across 10 non-domesticated felid species living under human care.
Key scientific insights
The study yielded three primary findings that challenge existing understanding of animal cognition:
- Beyond domestication: Cats’ ability to distinguish human voices stems from close human contact, not exclusively from domestication. This contradicts previous theories about animal social cognitive development.
- Social cognitive complexity: The research challenges stereotypes about non-social species, demonstrating complex socio-cognitive skills in animals typically considered solitary.
- Human-animal connection: The findings provide evidence of emotional responsiveness in non-domestic cats, challenging perceptions of feline behavior.
Research context
“There has been insufficient examination of vocal recognition in exotic cats, despite their prevalence in human care,” the researchers noted. The study focused on 25 individuals from 10 non-domesticated Felidae species, providing a comprehensive look at inter-species vocal recognition.
Implications for understanding animal cognition
The research carries serious implications for our understanding of animal social intelligence. The authors emphasized that social adaptation and human interaction are not the sole predictors of cognitive abilities. Close human contact may facilitate skill development that is not immediately observable in wild settings.
Looking forward
The researchers suggest further investigation is needed to understand how cats might respond to familiar voices articulating unfamiliar phrases. This opens exciting avenues for future research in animal cognition and communication.
The full study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Greek Stuffed Grape Leaves: Dolmadakia by Dimitra
Greek Stuffed Grape Leaves: Dolmadakia by DimitraIngredients
- 8 ounces grape leaves from a jar, rinsed, drained, and stems removed
- 1/2 cup long grain rice
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup water
- 2 lemons, juiced (1/2 cup or more)
- 3-4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- 1 teaspoon dried dill or 1/4 cup fresh dill
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Sauté onions with 1/3 of the olive oil over medium low heat about 10 minutes or until very soft and lightly golden. Do not brown the onions.
- Add rice and mix to combine.
- Pour 1 cup water, half of the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 6-7 minutes or until the rice absorbs all of the liquid. At this point the rice is only par boiled.
- Add all the herbs and mix well. Cool completely.
- Rinse and dry the grape leaves. Cut the hard stem from each leaf. Reserve the smallest and the torn leaves to lay on bottom of pot.
- Lay a grape leaf shiny side down and place a tablespoon of rice filling on the bottom end of the leaf, near the stem.
- Fold the stem end of leaf over the filling. Fold the sides over and roll up snugly but not too tight. The rice will expand a bit more while cooking.
- Repeat with all of the remaining grape leaves until your filling is done.
- Layer half of the small and torn grape leaves to create a bed for the dolmades in a pot.
- Place the dolmades seam side down and very close together over the bed of leaves.
- Pour the remaining olive oil and lemon juice over the dolmades.
- Place the remaining reserved small leaves over the dolmades.
- Pour enough water to just cover the dolmades.
- Place an inverted plate over the dolmades to weigh them down and to prevent them from moving around and opening while cooking.
- Cover with lid and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to simmer and cook (covered) for 35-40 minutes.
- There will still be some liquid in the pot. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes and the juices will be absorbed.
- Transfer them to a platter and drizzle some olive oil over them. Serve with delicious tzatziki sauce and lemon wedges.
- Enjoy! Kali Orexi!
Notes
When working with store-bought grape leaves in the jar, sometimes the leaves will be small and torn so always start with double the amount than what the recipe calls for. You can always make a quick batch of extra filling to use up extra grape leaves. The torn and small leaves can be used to line the bottom of the pot.
Try not to overstuff the grape leaves. The rice will expand during cooking.
If using fresh grape leaves, blanch them in boiling water and drain.
The cooked dolmadakia will keep fresh in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Irish Folklore: The Sídhe
Some Irish folklore: the Sídhe, the Aos sí, the fair folk, the good people, or the people of the shee from Irish folklore, who live underground. You may know the banshee, or Bean sídhe or woman of the sídhe. In fact the very word Sídhe is the term for earthen mounds like the one in my #linocut and the Aos sí are “the people of mounds.”
The Sidhe evolved from a mythological people known as the Tuatha De Danaan, powerful, magical semi-divine beings, who feature in many early Irish tales. When the ancestors of the Irish, the Gaels arrived they battled over the Emerald Isle. The way the story was told to me was that neither force could conquer the other and they decided to divide Ireland evenly between them. If you look at Ireland it’s quite an irregular shape and the only way to split it evenly was top and bottom with the Gaels occupying the upper world and the Tuatha De Danaan taking the lower world.
They’re known as the daoine sí or daoine sìth in Scots Gaelic and we get the the idea of fairies from the fair folk, but our inherited Victorian ideas and images of fairies are much gentler, sweeter and cuter than these fierce beings who are benevolent if treated with respect but are known to react cruelly if mistreated.
The dinosaurs too big to be dinosaurs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATxQnJc_VIs
A wonder-filled interactive by ABC Australia visit via the website.
Console murale Bayreuth by Elisabeth Garouste and Mattia Bonetti, c. 1983.
Jungle legend LTJ Bukem’s live set ‘Love of Life’ from 1995The cover of this cassette rip is so evocative and interesting and the mix is driving and uplifting 90’s jungle.
https://youtu.be/WkB0-0h1m8g?si=S1oNToKTDe2NMBuC
A 400-year-old boxwood garden maze at the Pazo de San Lorenzo de Trasouto in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Did you enjoy this collection? let me know what you think of it below. Thank you for reading my dear friends!
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Najat Makki (b.1956)
Najat Makki (born Aug 5, 1956) is an Emirati visual artist. She is a member of the Dubai Cultural Council. and one of the pioneers in Emirati contemporary art scene. Makki was the first Emirati woman to earn a government scholarship to study art abroad in 1977. She obtained her bachelor's and master's degrees in relief sculpture and metal from the College of Fine Arts in Cairo, where she also received her doctorate in the philosophy of art in 2001. via W Photo: Najat Makki Dr. Najat […] -
Japan’s 72 gossamer-light and poetic microseasons
The traditional seasons in Japan are marked out by impercetibly small changes in nature across 72 miniature seasons in a year, each lasting 5 days and reflecting the fleeting, impermanent and diaphanous beauty of nature and all of its wonders.
There are 24 divisions or sekki in the calendar that are split into 72 kō that last around five days each. Originating from China, the calendar was brought to Japan in 1685 by court astronomer Shibukawa Shunkai.
I think this is a far more comprehensive, meaningful and meditative way to understand the world. I don’t know how this calendar isn’t more widely used throughout the world. The calendar gives you a way to cultivate mindfulness by giving you a focal point for attention during each of the five day spans and mini seasons. I can see the clear complement to the practice of Zen Buddhism and all of zen philosophy.
I only wish that the dates were around the other way to represent what goes on in the southern hemisphere where I am! I guess I will need to do that then!
These lyrical and grounding mini-seasons takes me out of my own head and into the blooming and subsiding of life throughout the year. It’s here to remind us of the fragility and beautiful impermanence of all life. If you would like to keep the 72 seasons with you all the time, you can get this app for your phone or tablet – or you could go outside, that also works 🙂
立春 Risshun (Beginning of spring)
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.comFebruary 4–8 東風解凍
Harukaze kōri o toku East wind melts the iceFebruary 9–13 黄鶯睍睆
Kōō kenkan su Bush warblers start singing in the mountainsFebruary 14–18 魚上氷
Uo kōri o izuru Fish emerge from the ice雨水 Usui (Rainwater)
Across the water looking forwards Dunvegan castle from Borerraig at the north western tip of the Isle of Skye. Copyright Content Catnip 2010February 19–23 土脉潤起
Tsuchi no shō uruoi okoru Rain moistens the soilFebruary 24–28 霞始靆
Kasumi hajimete tanabiku Mist starts to lingerMarch 1–5 草木萌動
Sōmoku mebae izuru Grass sprouts, trees bud啓蟄 Keichitsu (Insects awaken)
March 6–10 蟄虫啓戸
Sugomori mushito o hiraku Hibernating insects surfaceMarch 11–15 桃始笑
Momo hajimete saku First peach blossomsMarch 16–20 菜虫化蝶
Namushi chō to naru Caterpillars become butterflies春分 Shunbun (Spring equinox)
Mount Shuksan from Picture Lake – Washington Source: RedditMarch 21–25 雀始巣
Suzume hajimete sukū Sparrows start to nestMarch 26–30 櫻始開
Sakura hajimete saku First cherry blossomsMarch 31–April 4 雷乃発声
Kaminari sunawachi koe o hassu Distant thunder清明 Seimei (Pure and clear)
The night sky above Mt Ranier on a clear night. Source: RedditApril 5–9 玄鳥至
Tsubame kitaru Swallows returnApril 10–14 鴻雁北
Kōgan kaeru Wild geese fly northApril 15–19 虹始見
Niji hajimete arawaru First rainbows穀雨 Kokuu (Grain rainsApril 20–24 葭始生
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.comAshi hajimete shōzu First reeds sprout
April 25–29 霜止出苗
Shimo yamite nae izuru Last frost, rice seedlings growApril 30–May 4 牡丹華
Botan hana saku Peonies bloom立夏 Rikka (Beginning of summer)
The Pacific ocean after a summer storm, Okinawa, Japan. Source: RedditMay 5–9 蛙始鳴
Kawazu hajimete naku Frogs start singingMay 10–14 蚯蚓出
Mimizu izuru Worms surfaceMay 15–20 竹笋生
Takenoko shōzu Bamboo shoots sprout小満 Shōman (Lesser ripening)
Photo by Roman Biernacki on Pexels.comMay 21–25 蚕起食桑
Kaiko okite kuwa o hamu Silkworms start feasting on mulberry leavesMay 26–30 紅花栄
Benibana sakau Safflowers bloomMay 31–June 5 麦秋至
Mugi no toki itaru Wheat ripens and is harvested芒種 Bōshu (Grain beards and seeds)
Photo by Ashutosh Sonwani on Pexels.comJune 6–10 蟷螂生
Kamakiri shōzu Praying mantises hatchJune 11–15 腐草為螢
Kusaretaru kusa hotaru to naru Rotten grass becomes firefliesJune 16–20 梅子黄
Ume no mi kibamu Plums turn yellow夏至 Geshi (Summer solstice)
High summer, Yosemite National Park, California. Source: RedditJune 21–26 乃東枯
Natsukarekusa karuru Self-heal withersJune 27–July 1 菖蒲華
Ayame hana saku Irises bloomJuly 2–6 半夏生
Hange shōzu Crow-dipper sprouts小暑 Shōsho (Lesser heat)
A blue lagoon in Iceland during summer. Source: RedditJuly 7–11 温風至
Atsukaze itaru Warm winds blowJuly 12–16 蓮始開
Hasu hajimete hiraku First lotus blossomsJuly 17–22 鷹乃学習
Taka sunawachi waza o narau Hawks learn to fly大暑 Taisho (Greater heat)
The interior of Alaska at the end of summer. Source: RedditJuly 23–28 桐始結花
Kiri hajimete hana o musubu Paulownia trees produce seedsJuly 29–August 2 土潤溽暑
Tsuchi uruōte mushi atsushi Earth is damp, air is humidAugust 3–7 大雨時行
Taiu tokidoki furu Great rains sometimes fall立秋 Risshū (Beginning of autumn)
The remote Hebridean Island of St Kilda. Source: UnknownAugust 8–12 涼風至
Suzukaze itaru Cool winds blowAugust 13–17 寒蝉鳴
Higurashi naku Evening cicadas singAugust 18–22 蒙霧升降
Fukaki kiri matō Thick fog descends処暑 Shosho (Manageable heat)
A gigantic strawberry moon rises on Midsummer’s Eve 2016 in Krakow, as seen from inside Wawel Castle. Copyright Content Catnip 2015August 23–27 綿柎開
Wata no hana shibe hiraku Cotton flowers bloomAugust 28–September 1 天地始粛
Tenchi hajimete samushi Heat starts to die downSeptember 2–7 禾乃登
Kokumono sunawachi minoru Rice ripens白露 Hakuro (White dew)
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.comSeptember 8–12 草露白
Kusa no tsuyu shiroshi Dew glistens white on grassSeptember 13–17 鶺鴒鳴
Sekirei naku Wagtails singSeptember 18–22 玄鳥去
Tsubame saru Swallows leave秋分 Shūbun (Autumn equinox)
The city of Prague in late autumn. Copyright Content Catnip 2010September 23–27 雷乃収声
Kaminari sunawachi koe o osamu Thunder ceasesSeptember 28–October 2 蟄虫坏戸
Mushi kakurete to o fusagu Insects hole up undergroundOctober 3–7 水始涸
Mizu hajimete karuru Farmers drain fields寒露 Kanro (Cold dew)
Lenticular Cloud, Lake Ohau, Otago, New Zealand. Source: UnknownOctober 8–12 鴻雁来
Kōgan kitaru Wild geese returnOctober 13–17 菊花開
Kiku no hana hiraku Chrysanthemums bloomOctober 18–22 蟋蟀在戸
Kirigirisu to ni ari Crickets chirp around the door霜降 Sōkō (Frost falls)
A geothermal pool during late autumn in Taupo, New Zealand. Copyright Content Catnip 2017October 23–27 霜始降
Shimo hajimete furu First frostOctober 28–November 1 霎時施
Kosame tokidoki furu Light rains sometimes fallNovember 2–6 楓蔦黄
Momiji tsuta kibamu Maple leaves and ivy turn yellow立冬 Rittō (Beginning of winter)
The mountains above Otago, New Zealand. Copyright Content Catnip 2015November 7–11 山茶始開
Tsubaki hajimete hiraku Camellias bloomNovember 12–16 地始凍
Chi hajimete kōru Land starts to freezeNovember 17–21 金盞香
Kinsenka saku Daffodils bloom小雪 Shōsetsu (Lesser snow)
Frozen Lake Menteith in Scotland during mid-winter. Copyright Content Catnip 2011November 22–26 虹蔵不見
Niji kakurete miezu Rainbows hideNovember 27–December 1 朔風払葉
Kitakaze konoha o harau North wind blows the leaves from the treesDecember 2–6 橘始黄
Tachibana hajimete kibamu Tachibana citrus tree leaves start to turn yellow大雪 Taisetsu (Greater snow)
Source: Vintage Photos OnlineDecember 7–11 閉塞成冬
Sora samuku fuyu to naru Cold sets in, winter beginsDecember 12–16 熊蟄穴
Kuma ana ni komoru Bears start hibernating in their densDecember 17–21 鱖魚群
Sake no uo muragaru Salmons gather and swim upstream冬至 Tōji (Winter solstice)
A lonely church at Grytviken, Norway. Source: WikipediaDecember 22–26 乃東生
Natsukarekusa shōzu Self-heal sproutsDecember 27–31 麋角解
Sawashika no tsuno otsuru Deer shed antlersJanuary 1–4 雪下出麦
Yuki watarite mugi nobiru Wheat sprouts under snow小寒 Shōkan (Lesser cold)
January 5–9 芹乃栄
Seri sunawachi sakau Parsley flourishesJanuary 10–14 水泉動
Shimizu atataka o fukumu Springs thawJanuary 15–19 雉始雊
Kiji hajimete naku Pheasants start to call大寒 Daikan (Greater cold)
Every Picture Tells A Story: Stout Dogs on Antarctic Expedition (1911). Source: Flickr Creative CommonsJanuary 20–24 款冬華
Fuki no hana saku Butterburs budJanuary 25–29 水沢腹堅
Kiwamizu kōri tsumeru Ice thickens on streamsJanuary 30–February 3 鶏始乳
Niwatori hajimete toya ni tsuku Hens start laying eggsContent Catnip
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“I want to see people freaking out!”
Rock’n’roll spirit combined with social consciousness – that’s how you could describe Sanhedrin’s bassist and lead singer Erica Stoltz. A conversation about community organising, surviving in an age of misinformation, family – and the New York-based rock trio’s new offering: a “Heat Lightning” in every sense of the word.
«An album that sounds a bit more aggressive this time»: New York City Rock-/Metal-Trio «Sanhedrin» released their LP «Heat Lightning» on March 14. (photo: Suzanne E. Abramson)
woxx: You are going on tour in Europe in May. Unfortunately you will not play in Luxembourg. Have you ever had a show here?
Erica Stoltz: No, I never played there, but culturally I am Luxembourgeois.
Ah, really? I thought your father was from France.
Yes, but his family, generations ago, was partly from Luxembourg. My father’s mother’s side is from Flanders. And my grandfather’s side is from Luxembourg.
But he was raised in France?
He was raised in Nanterre, which is outside Paris. That’s where the university is, where they had the riots in ’68. My family had been displaced by World War II. They built some housing after the war to bring people back, and the place they lived was like an HLM (“habitation à loyer modéré”, social housing; ed.). He emigrated to the United States in 1963, when he was 17. He didn’t want to go into active combat with the French army in Algeria. So he went to the US and joined the army there, which was quite a trip, because he didn’t speak any English at the time. I think he wanted to get away from his family. He was stationed in Germany, he learned how to speak English, how to drive, how to handle early computer technology, and things like that. I wonder if today it would even be possible to join the army without speaking English.
And he was able to avoid active combat?
Yeah, it was right before Vietnam. He did his four years and he got lucky.
Do you still have any connection to France?
I still do have family in France that I’m very close with, and I try to visit them as often as possible. Since Sanhedrin has been active, most of the travelling I’ve done has been with the band. So I haven’t been to France that much, but I was able to go last summer.
Your new album “Heat Lightning” has already received some fantastic reviews. Can you enjoy this success now?
That’s a good question. I’m actually allowing myself to enjoy it very much. When “Lights On” (the previous album; ed.) came out, I was ending a 16-year marriage pretty much at the same time. So I was very distracted at the time, and I couldn’t really enjoy the fruits of my labour. This time it’s different: We worked really hard on this record, and we made sure it was produced differently. The people that were involved, Matt Brown and Jerry Farley, did such a careful job. They handled it so lovingly that I am just so proud of how the album turned out.
So you’re not the kind of person who tends to be consumed by self-doubt right after you’ve achieved something?
There was a time in my life when I was like that. The more accolades I got, the worse I felt about myself. But I was able to sift through it and come out on the other side.
Do you have any advice on how to overcome this negative attitude towards one’s own work?
Well, I have a friend who’s a harpist. One day she was really nervous because she had an audition. And I remember telling her: “Look, don’t play for anybody but yourself and your muse. Whatever you do, just remember that that’s at the core of your effort.”
Is this also a way of describing the philosophy of Sanhedrin? The three of you have been together since the beginning, without any line-up changes.
Absolutely, and we’ve been lucky. Initially we decided to stay a three-piece because, logistically, it’s a lot easier to work that way. But also, sonically, we were able to create something that we felt really good about presenting as a band. When we write songs we write them more or less for ourselves. We don’t really think about the reaction of an audience.
On the other hand, you once said that it was difficult during the pandemic, because you couldn’t test the songs from your previous album in front of a live audience.
Yeah, I typically like to be able to play songs to an audience first, because it helps to identify the parts of a song that might not be working. I’d like to adjust them, but that’s mainly from the perspective of the vocal delivery. And also the physicality of playing in front of an audience and delivering a performance as opposed to composing.
Do you really think it made a big difference this time around that you were able to play the songs in front of an audience before recording “Heat Lightning”?
No, honestly no! (laughs) I think we got really good at writing Sanhedrin songs.
I already had the chance to listen to the new album, and I think it is at least as good as the last one, which was fantastic. From my perspective, you didn’t change an awful lot – maybe you’ve trimmed the fat a bit. I wouldn’t say the album as a whole is tighter, but the songs have a bit more punch.
I think so, definitely, yeah. That was potentially intentional. I remember saying to Jeremy (Sosville; guitar; ed.) that I wanted to make an album that sounded a bit more aggressive this time. And I think that that’s how we interpreted that.
In an interview Jeremy said that you take a lot of inspiration from bands from the ’70s and ’80s, especially when it comes to their willingness to mix styles and experiment in their compositions. He mentioned bands like Thin Lizzy or Ufo and described their albums as colourful journeys, adding that he would love to see Sanhedrin to get there one day. Would you agree with him on this mission statement?
Yeah, I think a colourful journey sounds like a lot of fun (laughs). I’ve been in a lot of bands and I’ve recorded a lot of records and they weren’t all really in the metal scene. One thing I’ve learnt is that you don’t easily find writing partners that are as effective as the Sanhedrin writing and composition universe. It’s a unique thing.
You never experienced this before?
I did! I’ve had the pleasure of having some really great collaborations, and I’ve also, gratefully, had the presence of mind to realize: wow, this is pretty cool! So I have had fruitful collaborations before Sanhedrin, but that enabled me to realize what I have with Sanhedrin.
In an earlier interview you said that if you could go back in time you’d like to hang out with the MC5 and the Stooges in Ann Arbor in the early 70s. It’s been a while since you said that, but what made that thought so appealing to you?
I still feel that way. The MC5 are my favourite band ever. I’ve been into them for a long time and I find their brand of upstart very appealing.
Are they a musical influence on Sanhedrin?
They’re definitely a musical influence on me, all the time. I really love the vocal harmonies and the urgent sound.
Which also had to do with their political attitude, right? The sense of urgency that they had politically was translated into music.
I don’t know if that part is necessarily what Sanhedrin has adopted, because the three of us… I mean, it’s not like we’re in different places politically, we’re pretty much on the same page, but we have decided together as artists that the politics will come out at some point, but they don’t need to be at the forefront of the idea of the band.
So you don’t think that music as an act of rebellion is necessarily an important part of…
Of Sanhedrin? I think that it is inherent. I don’t think you can separate that. It’s an act of rebellion, sure. Absolutely. Especially in this day and age in America – and it’s probably the same in Europe – when a bunch of kids who don’t have a lot of money want to start a band and come together, then it’s only sheer will that makes it happen. And that is an act of rebellion.
«Being able to discuss and listen to other people’s ideas and have a discourse about them is something that is like a dying art»: Erica Stoltz on the importance of critical thinking. (photo: Suzanne E. Abramson)
How important is the aspect of processing rather unpleasant aspects of life in your music, be it politically or personally?
Well, I think that is my modus operandi lyrically – whether it is obvious or not. “Lights On” probably had more obvious processing moments (laughs). That album was written when we were witnessing a lot of brutality in terms of the treatment of Black and Brown people in America, and there was an awakening during the pandemic about that. A discussion began, so I was reacting to that. As time went on, I found that the thing that really gets me right now, is Christo-fascism.
The conservative backlash and the return of religion as a political force…
Exactly, yeah, all of that. I want to burn that to the ground.
Do you think that this played a big role in the re-election of Trump in the US?
Oh yeah. These Christian fundamentalists propped him up. There’s this whole convoluted philosophy in America, that if you get rich, it’s because God loves you. So there’s that in the different Christian philosophical camps. There’s a lot of bullshit. A lot of stuff that’s designed to justify bad behaviour.
Your mother was a social activist and a community organiser in Brooklyn. Did she influence you a lot?
Oh, yeah. I actually had the opportunity to make a little documentary about her work. So I definitely took after her. I’ve had a lot of enjoyment doing things like creating an after-school programme, crowdfunding it and then implementing it in different community centres and different spaces in Brooklyn. I’m a sound engineer by trade, I’m a union stagehand, you know. One of the things I really like to do is teach and pass on that practice, because in New York, music is a big sub-economy, and there’s a lot of work here that does that. Now I’m a professor in the Entertainment Technology Department at the City University of New York (CUNY). I’ve been there for ten years and I see my students becoming my colleagues.
So you have a busy schedule.
Yeah, it’s not cheap to live here. But that’s not why I teach. I teach because I really enjoy it.
You were involved in community organising yourself.
Yeah, it’s a long story. My mum died suddenly in 2015 and I took over her non-profit. It was called the South Brooklyn Local Development Corporation. It was community development, but not real estate. It was really about job creation, helping small businesses, doing after-school programmes for the local schools. She put a kitchen in one of the schools and created a culinary arts program. I did that from 2015 to 2019. When Sanhedrin started touring, I decided to stop doing that because part of the work was producing these really big street fairs and I couldn’t put in the time any more. And also the neighbourhood had become really bourgeois: The small businesses were not as community minded as they were when my mum started.
Enabling people to think critically is among the most important tasks for you. Why is that so?
Because I think that miseducation is the reason why we’re in the mess we’re in. Critical thinking is part of being educated. That doesn’t actually require formal education. Being able to discuss and listen to other people’s ideas and have a discourse about them is something that is like a dying art. I think it is really important to keep those lines of communication open and also to be able to question everything you see.
Which is probably even more important at a time when politicians are really trying to bend facts and reality to their own ends.
Absolutely. Right now in the American media climate, the only way I’ve found to fully grasp what’s happening is to look at those media that examine both sides, the intentions, the stories and the narratives of both sides, because there’s one side, there’s the other side, and there’s the truth.
That’s what journalism is supposed to do, really not just see one side, but compare both sides‘ arguments.
Absolutely. But in order to do that, it really helps to be able to think critically through everything you’re hearing. I think in America we’ve downgraded public education over the last couple of generations to the point where the life of the mind is not important, it’s not a priority.
What are the aspects of Trump’s politics that you are most afraid of so far, looking at what has happened in the last few weeks?
I have to be honest with you, I’m not afraid. I’m not scared because this has happened to so many other people in other countries. There’s nothing special about America that says it can’t happen here. But I’m also in a really lucky position because I could just high-tail it to France. I’m a dual citizen.
But you’re not actually thinking about leaving the States right now?
No. But I feel like if the press starts getting arrested, then I will probably get a little afraid.
The album title “Heat Lightning” refers to climate change and its effects. When I read the lyrics of the title track, I immediately thought of the LA wildfires. Do you think that the fact that the effects of climate change are becoming more visible in Western industrialised countries can raise awareness of the problem?
I don’t think America will really be hit by climate change until it hits our pocketbooks. The LA fires could hit our pocketbooks, because the insurance industry cannot support what has been lost. But I wrote that song two years prior to that. There were fires in Quebec, coming south, and the sky was red all day, fires that were thousands of miles away.
What about the lyrics of “Blind Wolf”? I’ve read that it’s a song inspired by the band’s shared fascination with religious cults. What is this fascination about?
Well, when you have to write a press release, everybody just latches onto something for interpretation. So that was a pretty powerful phrase or whatever. It was an eye-catcher. But for me the song is more about a couple of things. Full disclosure: sometimes when I write lyrics they’re not necessarily about anything, but then they become about something. So that happens and that happened here.
So you just follow an idea or a fantasy…
Exactly. In the end, when the song was finished, I realised that the one thing that all the mixed words had in common was that you lose your animal instincts when you adopt someone else’s belief system.
Founded in 2015, the New York-based rock band Sanhedrin has just released its fourth album “Heat Lightning” on Metal Blade Records. Stylistically, Erica Stoltz (vocals/bass), Jeremy Sosville (guitar/backing vocals) and Nathan Honor (drums) combine hard rock with melodic, sometimes doomy metal elements. While it’s great fun to listen to their records, the band is clearly designed to unleash its full potential on stage. They will be touring Europe in May and June 2025. (Foto: Marc Braner)
So it’s not a return to the animal instinct, but you lose it? One could also imagine that some cults try to exploit some animal instincts, like fear or aggressiveness and so on.
Interesting. I feel like fear has been manufactured globally since 9/11, to an extent that I… I don’t know. I just feel like, especially over here, we have just been sort of… You’re literally taught or expected to be afraid of the weather or whatever it is.
Fear plays a big role in politics, I would agree with you there. From my point of view it plays a big role in paralysing people because you can’t think rationally any more. I think you have to stop fear by analysing things and getting to the bottom of them, and then you can act against it and change it for the better.
Indeed. I live in an apartment in an old building, built in the 1940s. It has a German social housing feel to it. It used to be workers’ housing, but totally decent, totally functional, nice even, with green space in the middle and all that shit. But I’m really starting to focus on getting to know my neighbours here, because I feel like they’re going to be my best allies in whatever life has to offer. That’s the way for me to alleviate fear, to align myself with the people around me. I’m a little bit older than most metalheads, like 54, and I grew up in the ‘70s. So … it was a bit of a rosy window, post-civil rights era, pre-backlash, pre-Reagan, all of that. In that upbringing, my neighbours were my friends. So I really thought that’s where I felt comfortable, knowing who was around me and who I could relate to. And not all the kids I grew up with had the same background as me.
And yet you got along because you found out what you had in common on a social level.
Yeah, that’s how I want to live my life, even if it’s not necessarily the norm. But I think it still is, I think people still want to know their neighbours, wherever they are in the world.
Do you think that things like your mother did, working on a community level, could become even more important because the big media only emphasize cultural differences and not things like the common interests of, say, the working class?
In terms of the working class and class consciousness and delineations and all that, in America right now, there kind of is no middle class. You’re either rich or you aspire to be rich, or you live in relatively precarious situations. I say relatively because there’s still a “7-Eleven” that’s open 24 hours every day on the corner of my street. Convenience is still available, but most of us are one health crisis away from financial ruin. One more pandemic, or, God forbid, you get cancer, or you have to take a week off work, or you get long covid – whatever it is, most of us are one crisis away from being fucked.
Because people don’t have the savings and the social system is not good enough to cover the costs.
Yeah, exactly. And that makes people more dependent on each other.
How much do you think you were influenced by the fact that your father was from Europe and from France?
I think having the opportunity to go over there all the time as a child and being bilingual is something that really helps you blossom. I was a traveller, a backpacker. One of my most formative experiences was not in France. When I was 19, I backpacked from Aalborg, Denmark, basically through Germany to Greece. My travelling partner and I had been given a ride by these German people. And then we arrived in Berlin on the 8th of November 1989. And we thought, “Damn, there’s a lot of people here. What the hell is going on?” So we call our friends and they’re like, “Dude, this is the biggest party ever!” (the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989; ed.). So we were there on the 10th of November 1989. Before everything really opened, I got to go to East Berlin. I bought batteries in a store where there was a bread line. And as a 19-year-old American kid, I was like, oh, hell …
Although I imagine you’ve seen your share of poverty in New York.
Yeah, I mean, crack really fucked up New York City. Crack and cocaine, it was really fucked up in the ‘80s, for sure. But this was different. This was institutional. Somehow, for me, watching people come out of East Berlin into West Berlin for the first time and just seeing the looks on their faces, I don’t even know. I wrote an essay about it at one point because I thought, I have to get this out of my head. But it was definitely a formative experience for me and it made me realise that nobody is immune to this shit. And it can happen, it can happen anywhere, and we’re all subject to the forces of human nature in that way. We’re all capable of great good and great evil.
Back to music. I imagine you really put a lot of energy into presenting a live show that’s really tight and intense, and that people don’t just tap along to, but really freak out, if possible. Is this what you are about?
Yes (laughs). What you just said is all… Yeah, I want to see people freaking out.
In an interview you mentioned that you’d like to go on tour with “Molasses” from the Netherlands. Unfortunately they just split up. What was it that made them so special to you?
Did I say that? – Oh, because I was a really big “The Devil’s Blood” fan, and I love Farida’s vocals (Farida Lemouchi, singer of “The Devil’s Blood” and “Molasses”; ed.), and I found the “Molasses” album very soothing. So those are the reasons.
What did you like particularly about “The Devil’s Blood”?
My favourite band is the MC5, as I said. I really enjoy the part of their career where they were a garage band. I like simple, ignorant garage music. When you pair that with powerful guitars, that’s something – you don’t hear that very often. That was what I heard with “The Devils Blood”.
They became quite a cult band as well.
Yeah, sure. I mean, I never saw them, but I could imagine because the aesthetic is pretty consistent. They have a pop sensibility. That means that somewhere in the songwriting there is a verse chorus. There are some real kernels of what I consider – whether it’s a reggae song, a country song, whatever it is – good songwriting. For me, because I’m influenced a lot by blues, garage, the Ramones, soul, girl groups, that kind of shit, that’s what pop sensibility means to me. They are not dismantling that structure.
How would you describe your own journey from your previous bands like „Lost Goats“ and all the other bands you played in to what you are doing now with Sanhedrin?
Well, I think for me it’s always been about finding those sweet collaborative relationships. The musical genre is not as important as the collaborative relationship. So when Nathan (Honor, drums; ed.) and Jeremy proposed the band, I thought to myself: “Wow, I have never played in a traditional metal band. Let me try this!” At first my bass playing wasn’t up to snuff because I couldn’t play with a pick and my fingers weren’t fast enough. It took practice, but I got it.
You’ll be playing a good dozen shows in Europe in May. What’s the best thing about playing live?
Looking out at the crowd and going: there’s a bunch of different souls in this room – let’s all get together and have some fucking fun.
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Finding Strength in Life’s Challenges
Our lives are rife with choices, missteps, trauma, and other issues that can make life seem daunting and sometimes even hopeless. But what if all of these perceived bad things are actually steps on your specific path of growth? Each choice, each setback, is actually a gift, a life lesson pushing you towards your own authenticity. These experiences, though challenging, provide us with the tools to develop resilience and cultivate a deeper understanding of ourselves. They offer valuable insights into our values, desires, and capabilities. By recognizing these moments as essential to our journey, we can transform our perspective and embrace the notion that every hardship and struggle is an opportunity for profound personal evolution. In this light, the tapestry of our lives, woven with both triumphs and trials, reveals a rich narrative of strength and self-discovery, guiding us ever closer to the individuals we are meant to become.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.comTo understand how growth emerges, we must look closely at the struggles themselves and how they shape us.
The Nature of Struggle
Life’s challenges often appear as obstacles; yet, they are the very conditions that shape our growth and development. Struggle causes pain, heartache, and emotional distress; it challenges the very nature of our being and pushes us to confront our limitations. From experiences such as the anxiety of needing to pass a test to further a career or the loss of a job, or even deeper, the loss of a loved one. Think about some of the struggles in your life; how did they affect you emotionally and physically? At the time, did you think there could be a lesson in the midst of hardship? While struggle can cause intense anxiety and feelings of despair, being within these struggles offers unexpected lessons that reveal our strength and guide us to our true authenticity.
Lessons Hidden in Setbacks
Every step back carries within it a valuable lesson, teaching us resilience, self-awareness, and authenticity. These moments of reflection allow us to reassess our paths, acknowledging our vulnerabilities while embracing the opportunity to grow stronger. In facing setbacks, we learn to navigate through challenges, gaining insight into our true selves and discovering the depths of our capabilities. The journey is not just about moving forward; it is also about understanding the importance of patience and the power of perseverance in achieving our goals. Recognizing these lessons invites a shift in perspective, allowing us to view hardship not as a punishment but as a possibility.
Photo by Lukas on Pexels.comThe Transformative Perspective
By shifting our perspective, we begin to see hardships not as burdens, but as opportunities for transformation. Hardship forces us to generate novel ideas and explore alternative perspectives, allowing creativity to blossom in ways we never imagined possible. When we embrace challenges with an open mind, we unlock the potential to learn and grow, discovering strengths we never knew we had. This process encourages us to think outside the box, pushing the boundaries of our conventional thinking and enabling us to approach problems with renewed vigor and innovation. Ultimately, it is through these trials that we forge a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us, transforming adversity into a powerful catalyst for personal and collective growth. This new lens illuminates the larger picture; life is a tapestry where both trials and triumphs are essential threads.
The Tapestry Metaphor Expanded
Like threads in a tapestry, both triumph and trials are essential to the richness of our life narrative. When we apply this metaphor to our daily lives, it becomes more than a philosophy; it evolves into a profound practice of resilience and compassion that we embody in our interactions and experiences. Each challenge we face adds depth and color to our story, creating a vibrant picture of our journey. Successes, on the other hand, serve to illuminate our path, providing motivation and hope. As we weave together these contrasting elements, we not only develop a greater understanding of ourselves but also cultivate empathy for others, recognizing that everyone is engaged in their own intricate tapestry of struggles and victories. In embracing both the light and the dark, we find the strength to rise and the wisdom to support those around us in their respective journeys.
Practical Implications
When we embrace the challenges that are integral to our journey, we cultivate not only personal strength but also a deep sense of collective resilience that connects us with others on similar paths. The insights we gain from navigating these hurdles remind us that our struggles are not detours; rather, they are the very path itself, leading us ever closer to who we are meant to be. Each challenge presents an opportunity to learn and evolve, helping us to shed old beliefs and adopt new perspectives. Together, as we move through these shared trials, we not only discover our individual capabilities but also forge stronger bonds with one another, reinforcing the idea that no one has to face their battles alone. In this way, our collective journey becomes a tapestry of experiences, woven together by the lessons we’ve learned and the strength we’ve gained along the way.
Photo by Elina Fairytale on Pexels.comWalking The Path
In the end, our lives are not defined by the absence of struggle, but by the way we rise through it. Each hardship, each mess-up, is a thread that deepens the fabric of our existence, adding texture and meaning to the story we are weaving. When we choose to see challenges as gifts, we reclaim our power and transform pain into wisdom, and setbacks into the stepping stones of our journey, rich with both light and shadow. This reveals not only who we are, but who we are becoming, and it is through this continual unfolding, this dance of trial and triumph, that we discover the profound truth: we are shaped, strengthened, and guided by the very struggles we once feared, becoming ever closer to the authentic selves we were meant to embody.
Practical Tips for Viewing Challenges as Teaching Moments
- Shift Your Mindset
Start with a conscious effort to change how you perceive challenges. Instead of seeing them as obstacles, view them as opportunities for growth. Remind yourself that every difficulty holds a lesson. - Practice Reflection
Take time to reflect on past challenges. Journal about what you learned from difficult experiences and how they contributed to your personal development. This can help reinforce the idea that struggles lead to growth. - Embrace Problem-Solving
Focus on finding solutions rather than dwelling on the problems. When faced with a challenge, brainstorm potential ways to overcome it. This proactive approach fosters resilience and strengthens your ability to cope. - Seek Support
Share your experiences with friends, family, or a support group. Talking about your challenges can provide new perspectives and remind you that you’re not alone in facing hardships. - Cultivate Gratitude
Practice gratitude by identifying three things you appreciate in your life, especially when facing adversity. Focusing on the positives can help shift your perception of challenges into learning experiences. - Set Realistic Goals
Break down larger challenges into smaller, manageable goals. Celebrate your achievements along the way, no matter how small. Each step forward reinforces your ability to navigate difficulties. - Reframe Your Self-Talk
Pay attention to your internal dialogue. Replace negative or self-defeating thoughts with positive affirmations, encouraging phrases, and constructive criticism to foster a more supportive and empowering mindset.
How have you shifted your perspective to view challenges as lessons or gifts? Please feel free to share your story, as our experiences can aid others on their path.
Embrace the present moment and accept reality without judgment or resistance with this talk and guided meditation. Practicing radical acceptance can help us reduce suffering and increase emotional resilience by letting go of our attachment to how things “should” be. The philosophy of Taoism teaches us to live in harmony with nature and emphasizes the importance of balance and finding harmony in all aspects of life.
By contemplating the watercourse way, we can practice radical, gracious acceptance and flow like water through life’s obstacles. Embracing softness and flexibility allows us to navigate challenges gracefully and approach life with a gentle strength that is both resilient and calming. Let us cultivate inner peace, wisdom, and longevity by living in alignment with nature and flowing with acceptance and loving kindness.
Namaste.
#acceptance #anxiety #authenticity #awareness #balance #emotionalDistress #experience #flow #healing #heartache #lifePath #limitations #meditation #mentalHealth #mentalWellbeing #mindful #mindfulness #moments #pain #practice #reflection #resilience #selfAwareness #strength #stress #struggle #tao #taoism #transformative #watercourseWay
- Shift Your Mindset
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Luxury Home Design Doesn’t Need More Rooms. It Needs Less Noise.
After thirty years in practice, design studio ARRCC has watched luxury home design move away from size and accumulation and toward ease. Clients no longer ask for more rooms. They ask for homes that feel simple to live in, and that change says more about where design is headed than any trend forecast.
Quintin Gilman has a front-row seat to a change that most homeowners feel before they can name it. As Senior Associate at ARRCC, he’s spent three decades watching client briefs evolve, and the pattern he describes isn’t subtle. People used to walk in with wish lists. Bigger kitchens. More bedrooms. A wine room, a gym, and a cinema, sometimes all three. Now they walk in asking for something much harder to sketch: a home that doesn’t fight them.
That’s not a small preference. It’s a full reversal of what luxury home design used to promise. And because ARRCC just marked its 30th year as a studio, the firm has the kind of long view most practices never get. Three decades of projects across different continents and client generations give you data that a five-year trend report simply can’t match.
For ARRCC Senior Associate Quintin Gilman, true luxury is no longer about having more—it’s about removing the small frictions of everyday life.What Does “Quiet Luxury” Actually Mean in Home Design?
Quiet luxury in home design means creating spaces that feel effortless to live in rather than spaces built to impress a visitor. It prioritizes ease, function, and restraint over scale, ornamentation, and accumulation. The term gets thrown around a lot right now, usually attached to a beige sweater or a minimalist logo. But in residential design, it has a sharper meaning.
Gilman put it plainly in ARRCC’s anniversary statement: “Luxury is less about spaces that are overly designed or subdued. It’s about creating environments that feel effortless, spaces that support the rituals of everyday life. Spaces that feel calm, intuitive, layered, and deeply personal.”
Notice what’s missing from that sentence. No mention of square footage. No mention of finishes or brand names. The definition is behavioral, not material. That’s the part most coverage of “quiet luxury” misses entirely. It’s not a look. It’s a relationship between a person and the space they live in every single day.
Thirty Years Is a Long Time to Watch People Change Their Minds
Design trends come and go every few seasons. What ARRCC is describing isn’t that. It’s a slower, structural change in what clients actually value, tracked across a career long enough to separate real change from a passing fad.
Where clients once arrived chasing abundance, more possessions, more square meters, and more rooms to fill, many now arrive asking for something that reduces friction instead of adding to it. Gilman describes the studio’s clients placing less value on accumulation and more on homes that feel intuitive to inhabit.
This isn’t just an ARRCC observation, either. The American Society of Interior Designers’ 2025 Trends Outlook points to a broader movement toward interiors built around well-being, sustainability, and durable craftsmanship. Design, according to that report, is increasingly judged by how it affects the way people live and feel over time, not by how it photographs on day one.
Two independent sources landing on the same conclusion is worth pausing on. When a 30-year design practice and a national trends body describe the same change using different language, that’s usually a sign the change is real, not seasonal.
The Effort Ratio: My Framework for What Luxury Home Design Is Really Selling
Here’s a way to think about this that I haven’t seen named elsewhere, so let’s call it the Effort Ratio. It’s a simple idea: measure luxury not by what a home contains, but by how much daily effort it removes from the person living in it.
Under the old model, luxury home design added visible things. A bigger closet. A second staircase. A media room nobody used past year one. Effort went up because more space meant more to maintain, more to organize, more decisions made every day just to keep the house running.
Under the model ARRCC describes, the goal flips. Effort gets designed out before the homeowner ever moves in. A well-placed pantry beats a bigger kitchen. A single, well-lit reading chair beats a rarely used library. The luxury isn’t the object. It’s the absence of friction around it.
This is why “less effort for the client” and “more effort for the designer” aren’t contradictory. They’re the same trade. ARRCC’s own language backs this up directly: “What’s changed isn’t the importance of these principles,” Gilman says. “It’s how little effort clients now want between themselves and the experience of home.”
ARRCC’s Four Pillars That Never Went Out of Style
Trends shift, but according to Gilman, four principles have anchored every ARRCC project across all thirty years: the client, the location, the function, and the materials. None of these are new ideas in architecture. What’s notable is that they’ve survived three decades of changing taste without needing a rewrite.
The Client Comes Before the Concept
Every project starts with behavior, not aesthetics. Daily routines, family dynamics, entertaining habits, and how a household actually moves through a day come first. Templates don’t work here. A floor plan that ignores how a family lives will always feel wrong, no matter how good it looks in photos.
Location Beats Trend, Every Time
Climate, culture, and pace of life shape a brief more than whatever aesthetic is dominating design media that year. A coastal home in Cape Town and an urban penthouse in Madrid can’t follow the same rulebook, regardless of what’s trending on a mood board.
Function Is the Part Nobody Photographs
Circulation, storage, acoustics, and lighting rarely make it into a magazine spread. But they’re usually the difference between a home that looks impressive and one that actually works. Good function, like good architecture, tends to go unnoticed right up until it’s missing.
Materials Do the Emotional Work
Materials haven’t lost importance. They’ve become more restrained in how they’re used. Honest finishes and natural textures create atmosphere and a sense of permanence without shouting for attention. That’s a harder trick to pull off than piling on expensive surfaces, and it’s a lot more durable.
DimensionOld Model of Luxury Home DesignEffortless Luxury Home DesignSpaceMore rooms, larger footprintRight-sized rooms matched to actual useClient briefWish lists built around possessionsWish lists built around daily routinesMaterialsVisible, layered, and abundantRestrained, durable, and honestFunctionSecondary to visual impactCentral, though rarely visibleSuccess metricHow impressive it photographsHow little effort it takes to live inUnderlying valueAccumulationEaseThree Houses, One Argument
Theory is easy. Built projects are where a philosophy either holds up or falls apart. ARRCC points to three recent projects that make the same argument in three very different settings.
At Winelands Villa in South Africa’s Cape Winelands, the brief centered on family life and the intentional use of space. A restrained material palette runs through the home, letting character build up through layering instead of excess. Nothing is fighting for attention.
La Moraleja, a family residence in Spain, follows a similar logic through a resort-minimalist approach: simple forms, clean lines, and a limited material palette. Different country, different climate, same underlying instinct toward homes that feel considered rather than complicated.
North Bay Villa, a waterfront home in Miami, shows how far this thinking can go even inside a highly customized project. A bespoke wine cellar there uses a concealed rear-access system, so the collection gets replenished without disrupting the room’s atmosphere. That’s the Effort Ratio in physical form. The complexity is real; it’s just hidden from the person actually living there.
The Editing Economy: Why Luxury Homeowners Are Buying Less, Not More
Call this the Editing Economy: a market condition where clients pay a premium not to add things, but to have things skillfully removed on their behalf. It sounds counterintuitive. Why would anyone pay more for less?
Because editing takes expertise. Anyone can fill a house. Deciding what a house doesn’t need, and doing that without making it feel empty, takes real judgment. Gilman frames this directly: “Sometimes we think good design comes from adding more. But often, the strongest spaces come from refining. Editing. Simplifying.”
This tracks with a broader pattern across design and consumer behavior right now. People with the means to buy anything are increasingly choosing to buy less, but better. The scarcity that signals status has moved from “how much do you own” to “how little do you need to manage.”
That’s a genuinely new luxury home design proposition. It didn’t exist in the same form twenty years ago, when a bigger house was simply a better house by default.
How to Borrow This Thinking Even Without a $10 Million Budget
You don’t need an ARRCC-sized project to apply the Effort Ratio to your own home. The principles scale down fine.
Start with routines, not rooms. Before buying furniture or picking paint, track how you actually move through your home for a week. Most wasted space comes from designing around a fantasy version of your life instead of the real one.
Edit before you shop. A homeowner who removes three underused items usually gains more livable comfort than one who adds three new ones. This is the cheapest version of the Effort Ratio available to anyone.
Hide the maintenance, not the personality. ARRCC’s projects stay warm and personal because the discipline goes into function, not into stripping out character. Restraint applies to clutter and complexity, not to color, texture, or the things you actually love.
Pick materials for the next decade, not the next photo. Honest, durable materials age well and reduce upkeep, which is exactly the kind of invisible effort reduction this whole conversation is really about.
Where Luxury Home Design Goes From Here
I’d bet the shift ARRCC is describing keeps accelerating, and not because of aesthetics. It’s an economic and generational change as much as a design one. Younger clients inheriting wealth or building it themselves have grown up skeptical of accumulation as a status marker. They’ve watched their parents manage houses full of things they rarely use. The firms that will define luxury home design over the next decade won’t be the ones with the biggest square footage numbers. They’ll be the ones who can prove, project after project, that they know how to remove friction without removing character. That’s a harder skill to market than “more,” but it’s the one clients are actually paying for now.
Expect this to show up in language before it shows up everywhere else. Watch how design studios start describing “restraint” and “editing” as selling points rather than compromises. That vocabulary change usually arrives right before the market catches up to it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is quiet luxury in home design?
Quiet luxury in home design refers to spaces built around ease and function rather than visible expense or scale. The focus sits on how a home feels to live in daily, not how it photographs.
Why are luxury homeowners buying less instead of more?
Many high-end clients now see accumulation as a burden rather than a status marker. They increasingly value homes that reduce daily decisions and upkeep, which often means owning fewer, better-chosen things.
What are ARRCC’s four core design principles?
ARRCC builds every project around the client, the location, the function, and the materials. According to Senior Associate Quintin Gilman, these four principles have stayed consistent across the studio’s thirty years in practice.
How has luxury interior design changed over the past thirty years?
Client briefs have moved from requests for more rooms and possessions toward requests for homes that feel intuitive and low-effort to maintain. The core design principles haven’t changed, but how they get expressed has become far more restrained.
What makes a home feel effortless?
A home feels effortless when its function, such as storage, lighting, and circulation, has been carefully planned so the homeowner rarely has to think about it. The visible design usually looks simple precisely because the hidden planning is not.
Is quiet luxury the same as minimalism?
No. Minimalism often means owning very little by design. Quiet luxury home design can still include layered materials, warmth, and personal character. It’s restrained in complexity, not necessarily sparse in feeling.
All images © ARRCC. Don’t hesitate to browse WE AND THE COLOR’s Architecture and Interior Design categories for more.
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#architecture #ARRCC #interiorDesign #LuxuryHomeDesign #luxuryHomes #QuintinGilman -
Luxury Home Design Doesn’t Need More Rooms. It Needs Less Noise.
After thirty years in practice, design studio ARRCC has watched luxury home design move away from size and accumulation and toward ease. Clients no longer ask for more rooms. They ask for homes that feel simple to live in, and that change says more about where design is headed than any trend forecast.
Quintin Gilman has a front-row seat to a change that most homeowners feel before they can name it. As Senior Associate at ARRCC, he’s spent three decades watching client briefs evolve, and the pattern he describes isn’t subtle. People used to walk in with wish lists. Bigger kitchens. More bedrooms. A wine room, a gym, and a cinema, sometimes all three. Now they walk in asking for something much harder to sketch: a home that doesn’t fight them.
That’s not a small preference. It’s a full reversal of what luxury home design used to promise. And because ARRCC just marked its 30th year as a studio, the firm has the kind of long view most practices never get. Three decades of projects across different continents and client generations give you data that a five-year trend report simply can’t match.
For ARRCC Senior Associate Quintin Gilman, true luxury is no longer about having more—it’s about removing the small frictions of everyday life.What Does “Quiet Luxury” Actually Mean in Home Design?
Quiet luxury in home design means creating spaces that feel effortless to live in rather than spaces built to impress a visitor. It prioritizes ease, function, and restraint over scale, ornamentation, and accumulation. The term gets thrown around a lot right now, usually attached to a beige sweater or a minimalist logo. But in residential design, it has a sharper meaning.
Gilman put it plainly in ARRCC’s anniversary statement: “Luxury is less about spaces that are overly designed or subdued. It’s about creating environments that feel effortless, spaces that support the rituals of everyday life. Spaces that feel calm, intuitive, layered, and deeply personal.”
Notice what’s missing from that sentence. No mention of square footage. No mention of finishes or brand names. The definition is behavioral, not material. That’s the part most coverage of “quiet luxury” misses entirely. It’s not a look. It’s a relationship between a person and the space they live in every single day.
Thirty Years Is a Long Time to Watch People Change Their Minds
Design trends come and go every few seasons. What ARRCC is describing isn’t that. It’s a slower, structural change in what clients actually value, tracked across a career long enough to separate real change from a passing fad.
Where clients once arrived chasing abundance, more possessions, more square meters, and more rooms to fill, many now arrive asking for something that reduces friction instead of adding to it. Gilman describes the studio’s clients placing less value on accumulation and more on homes that feel intuitive to inhabit.
This isn’t just an ARRCC observation, either. The American Society of Interior Designers’ 2025 Trends Outlook points to a broader movement toward interiors built around well-being, sustainability, and durable craftsmanship. Design, according to that report, is increasingly judged by how it affects the way people live and feel over time, not by how it photographs on day one.
Two independent sources landing on the same conclusion is worth pausing on. When a 30-year design practice and a national trends body describe the same change using different language, that’s usually a sign the change is real, not seasonal.
The Effort Ratio: My Framework for What Luxury Home Design Is Really Selling
Here’s a way to think about this that I haven’t seen named elsewhere, so let’s call it the Effort Ratio. It’s a simple idea: measure luxury not by what a home contains, but by how much daily effort it removes from the person living in it.
Under the old model, luxury home design added visible things. A bigger closet. A second staircase. A media room nobody used past year one. Effort went up because more space meant more to maintain, more to organize, more decisions made every day just to keep the house running.
Under the model ARRCC describes, the goal flips. Effort gets designed out before the homeowner ever moves in. A well-placed pantry beats a bigger kitchen. A single, well-lit reading chair beats a rarely used library. The luxury isn’t the object. It’s the absence of friction around it.
This is why “less effort for the client” and “more effort for the designer” aren’t contradictory. They’re the same trade. ARRCC’s own language backs this up directly: “What’s changed isn’t the importance of these principles,” Gilman says. “It’s how little effort clients now want between themselves and the experience of home.”
ARRCC’s Four Pillars That Never Went Out of Style
Trends shift, but according to Gilman, four principles have anchored every ARRCC project across all thirty years: the client, the location, the function, and the materials. None of these are new ideas in architecture. What’s notable is that they’ve survived three decades of changing taste without needing a rewrite.
The Client Comes Before the Concept
Every project starts with behavior, not aesthetics. Daily routines, family dynamics, entertaining habits, and how a household actually moves through a day come first. Templates don’t work here. A floor plan that ignores how a family lives will always feel wrong, no matter how good it looks in photos.
Location Beats Trend, Every Time
Climate, culture, and pace of life shape a brief more than whatever aesthetic is dominating design media that year. A coastal home in Cape Town and an urban penthouse in Madrid can’t follow the same rulebook, regardless of what’s trending on a mood board.
Function Is the Part Nobody Photographs
Circulation, storage, acoustics, and lighting rarely make it into a magazine spread. But they’re usually the difference between a home that looks impressive and one that actually works. Good function, like good architecture, tends to go unnoticed right up until it’s missing.
Materials Do the Emotional Work
Materials haven’t lost importance. They’ve become more restrained in how they’re used. Honest finishes and natural textures create atmosphere and a sense of permanence without shouting for attention. That’s a harder trick to pull off than piling on expensive surfaces, and it’s a lot more durable.
DimensionOld Model of Luxury Home DesignEffortless Luxury Home DesignSpaceMore rooms, larger footprintRight-sized rooms matched to actual useClient briefWish lists built around possessionsWish lists built around daily routinesMaterialsVisible, layered, and abundantRestrained, durable, and honestFunctionSecondary to visual impactCentral, though rarely visibleSuccess metricHow impressive it photographsHow little effort it takes to live inUnderlying valueAccumulationEaseThree Houses, One Argument
Theory is easy. Built projects are where a philosophy either holds up or falls apart. ARRCC points to three recent projects that make the same argument in three very different settings.
At Winelands Villa in South Africa’s Cape Winelands, the brief centered on family life and the intentional use of space. A restrained material palette runs through the home, letting character build up through layering instead of excess. Nothing is fighting for attention.
La Moraleja, a family residence in Spain, follows a similar logic through a resort-minimalist approach: simple forms, clean lines, and a limited material palette. Different country, different climate, same underlying instinct toward homes that feel considered rather than complicated.
North Bay Villa, a waterfront home in Miami, shows how far this thinking can go even inside a highly customized project. A bespoke wine cellar there uses a concealed rear-access system, so the collection gets replenished without disrupting the room’s atmosphere. That’s the Effort Ratio in physical form. The complexity is real; it’s just hidden from the person actually living there.
The Editing Economy: Why Luxury Homeowners Are Buying Less, Not More
Call this the Editing Economy: a market condition where clients pay a premium not to add things, but to have things skillfully removed on their behalf. It sounds counterintuitive. Why would anyone pay more for less?
Because editing takes expertise. Anyone can fill a house. Deciding what a house doesn’t need, and doing that without making it feel empty, takes real judgment. Gilman frames this directly: “Sometimes we think good design comes from adding more. But often, the strongest spaces come from refining. Editing. Simplifying.”
This tracks with a broader pattern across design and consumer behavior right now. People with the means to buy anything are increasingly choosing to buy less, but better. The scarcity that signals status has moved from “how much do you own” to “how little do you need to manage.”
That’s a genuinely new luxury home design proposition. It didn’t exist in the same form twenty years ago, when a bigger house was simply a better house by default.
How to Borrow This Thinking Even Without a $10 Million Budget
You don’t need an ARRCC-sized project to apply the Effort Ratio to your own home. The principles scale down fine.
Start with routines, not rooms. Before buying furniture or picking paint, track how you actually move through your home for a week. Most wasted space comes from designing around a fantasy version of your life instead of the real one.
Edit before you shop. A homeowner who removes three underused items usually gains more livable comfort than one who adds three new ones. This is the cheapest version of the Effort Ratio available to anyone.
Hide the maintenance, not the personality. ARRCC’s projects stay warm and personal because the discipline goes into function, not into stripping out character. Restraint applies to clutter and complexity, not to color, texture, or the things you actually love.
Pick materials for the next decade, not the next photo. Honest, durable materials age well and reduce upkeep, which is exactly the kind of invisible effort reduction this whole conversation is really about.
Where Luxury Home Design Goes From Here
I’d bet the shift ARRCC is describing keeps accelerating, and not because of aesthetics. It’s an economic and generational change as much as a design one. Younger clients inheriting wealth or building it themselves have grown up skeptical of accumulation as a status marker. They’ve watched their parents manage houses full of things they rarely use. The firms that will define luxury home design over the next decade won’t be the ones with the biggest square footage numbers. They’ll be the ones who can prove, project after project, that they know how to remove friction without removing character. That’s a harder skill to market than “more,” but it’s the one clients are actually paying for now.
Expect this to show up in language before it shows up everywhere else. Watch how design studios start describing “restraint” and “editing” as selling points rather than compromises. That vocabulary change usually arrives right before the market catches up to it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is quiet luxury in home design?
Quiet luxury in home design refers to spaces built around ease and function rather than visible expense or scale. The focus sits on how a home feels to live in daily, not how it photographs.
Why are luxury homeowners buying less instead of more?
Many high-end clients now see accumulation as a burden rather than a status marker. They increasingly value homes that reduce daily decisions and upkeep, which often means owning fewer, better-chosen things.
What are ARRCC’s four core design principles?
ARRCC builds every project around the client, the location, the function, and the materials. According to Senior Associate Quintin Gilman, these four principles have stayed consistent across the studio’s thirty years in practice.
How has luxury interior design changed over the past thirty years?
Client briefs have moved from requests for more rooms and possessions toward requests for homes that feel intuitive and low-effort to maintain. The core design principles haven’t changed, but how they get expressed has become far more restrained.
What makes a home feel effortless?
A home feels effortless when its function, such as storage, lighting, and circulation, has been carefully planned so the homeowner rarely has to think about it. The visible design usually looks simple precisely because the hidden planning is not.
Is quiet luxury the same as minimalism?
No. Minimalism often means owning very little by design. Quiet luxury home design can still include layered materials, warmth, and personal character. It’s restrained in complexity, not necessarily sparse in feeling.
All images © ARRCC. Don’t hesitate to browse WE AND THE COLOR’s Architecture and Interior Design categories for more.
Subscribe to our newsletter!
#architecture #ARRCC #interiorDesign #LuxuryHomeDesign #luxuryHomes #QuintinGilman -
Luxury Home Design Doesn’t Need More Rooms. It Needs Less Noise.
After thirty years in practice, design studio ARRCC has watched luxury home design move away from size and accumulation and toward ease. Clients no longer ask for more rooms. They ask for homes that feel simple to live in, and that change says more about where design is headed than any trend forecast.
Quintin Gilman has a front-row seat to a change that most homeowners feel before they can name it. As Senior Associate at ARRCC, he’s spent three decades watching client briefs evolve, and the pattern he describes isn’t subtle. People used to walk in with wish lists. Bigger kitchens. More bedrooms. A wine room, a gym, and a cinema, sometimes all three. Now they walk in asking for something much harder to sketch: a home that doesn’t fight them.
That’s not a small preference. It’s a full reversal of what luxury home design used to promise. And because ARRCC just marked its 30th year as a studio, the firm has the kind of long view most practices never get. Three decades of projects across different continents and client generations give you data that a five-year trend report simply can’t match.
For ARRCC Senior Associate Quintin Gilman, true luxury is no longer about having more—it’s about removing the small frictions of everyday life.What Does “Quiet Luxury” Actually Mean in Home Design?
Quiet luxury in home design means creating spaces that feel effortless to live in rather than spaces built to impress a visitor. It prioritizes ease, function, and restraint over scale, ornamentation, and accumulation. The term gets thrown around a lot right now, usually attached to a beige sweater or a minimalist logo. But in residential design, it has a sharper meaning.
Gilman put it plainly in ARRCC’s anniversary statement: “Luxury is less about spaces that are overly designed or subdued. It’s about creating environments that feel effortless, spaces that support the rituals of everyday life. Spaces that feel calm, intuitive, layered, and deeply personal.”
Notice what’s missing from that sentence. No mention of square footage. No mention of finishes or brand names. The definition is behavioral, not material. That’s the part most coverage of “quiet luxury” misses entirely. It’s not a look. It’s a relationship between a person and the space they live in every single day.
Thirty Years Is a Long Time to Watch People Change Their Minds
Design trends come and go every few seasons. What ARRCC is describing isn’t that. It’s a slower, structural change in what clients actually value, tracked across a career long enough to separate real change from a passing fad.
Where clients once arrived chasing abundance, more possessions, more square meters, and more rooms to fill, many now arrive asking for something that reduces friction instead of adding to it. Gilman describes the studio’s clients placing less value on accumulation and more on homes that feel intuitive to inhabit.
This isn’t just an ARRCC observation, either. The American Society of Interior Designers’ 2025 Trends Outlook points to a broader movement toward interiors built around well-being, sustainability, and durable craftsmanship. Design, according to that report, is increasingly judged by how it affects the way people live and feel over time, not by how it photographs on day one.
Two independent sources landing on the same conclusion is worth pausing on. When a 30-year design practice and a national trends body describe the same change using different language, that’s usually a sign the change is real, not seasonal.
The Effort Ratio: My Framework for What Luxury Home Design Is Really Selling
Here’s a way to think about this that I haven’t seen named elsewhere, so let’s call it the Effort Ratio. It’s a simple idea: measure luxury not by what a home contains, but by how much daily effort it removes from the person living in it.
Under the old model, luxury home design added visible things. A bigger closet. A second staircase. A media room nobody used past year one. Effort went up because more space meant more to maintain, more to organize, more decisions made every day just to keep the house running.
Under the model ARRCC describes, the goal flips. Effort gets designed out before the homeowner ever moves in. A well-placed pantry beats a bigger kitchen. A single, well-lit reading chair beats a rarely used library. The luxury isn’t the object. It’s the absence of friction around it.
This is why “less effort for the client” and “more effort for the designer” aren’t contradictory. They’re the same trade. ARRCC’s own language backs this up directly: “What’s changed isn’t the importance of these principles,” Gilman says. “It’s how little effort clients now want between themselves and the experience of home.”
ARRCC’s Four Pillars That Never Went Out of Style
Trends shift, but according to Gilman, four principles have anchored every ARRCC project across all thirty years: the client, the location, the function, and the materials. None of these are new ideas in architecture. What’s notable is that they’ve survived three decades of changing taste without needing a rewrite.
The Client Comes Before the Concept
Every project starts with behavior, not aesthetics. Daily routines, family dynamics, entertaining habits, and how a household actually moves through a day come first. Templates don’t work here. A floor plan that ignores how a family lives will always feel wrong, no matter how good it looks in photos.
Location Beats Trend, Every Time
Climate, culture, and pace of life shape a brief more than whatever aesthetic is dominating design media that year. A coastal home in Cape Town and an urban penthouse in Madrid can’t follow the same rulebook, regardless of what’s trending on a mood board.
Function Is the Part Nobody Photographs
Circulation, storage, acoustics, and lighting rarely make it into a magazine spread. But they’re usually the difference between a home that looks impressive and one that actually works. Good function, like good architecture, tends to go unnoticed right up until it’s missing.
Materials Do the Emotional Work
Materials haven’t lost importance. They’ve become more restrained in how they’re used. Honest finishes and natural textures create atmosphere and a sense of permanence without shouting for attention. That’s a harder trick to pull off than piling on expensive surfaces, and it’s a lot more durable.
DimensionOld Model of Luxury Home DesignEffortless Luxury Home DesignSpaceMore rooms, larger footprintRight-sized rooms matched to actual useClient briefWish lists built around possessionsWish lists built around daily routinesMaterialsVisible, layered, and abundantRestrained, durable, and honestFunctionSecondary to visual impactCentral, though rarely visibleSuccess metricHow impressive it photographsHow little effort it takes to live inUnderlying valueAccumulationEaseThree Houses, One Argument
Theory is easy. Built projects are where a philosophy either holds up or falls apart. ARRCC points to three recent projects that make the same argument in three very different settings.
At Winelands Villa in South Africa’s Cape Winelands, the brief centered on family life and the intentional use of space. A restrained material palette runs through the home, letting character build up through layering instead of excess. Nothing is fighting for attention.
La Moraleja, a family residence in Spain, follows a similar logic through a resort-minimalist approach: simple forms, clean lines, and a limited material palette. Different country, different climate, same underlying instinct toward homes that feel considered rather than complicated.
North Bay Villa, a waterfront home in Miami, shows how far this thinking can go even inside a highly customized project. A bespoke wine cellar there uses a concealed rear-access system, so the collection gets replenished without disrupting the room’s atmosphere. That’s the Effort Ratio in physical form. The complexity is real; it’s just hidden from the person actually living there.
The Editing Economy: Why Luxury Homeowners Are Buying Less, Not More
Call this the Editing Economy: a market condition where clients pay a premium not to add things, but to have things skillfully removed on their behalf. It sounds counterintuitive. Why would anyone pay more for less?
Because editing takes expertise. Anyone can fill a house. Deciding what a house doesn’t need, and doing that without making it feel empty, takes real judgment. Gilman frames this directly: “Sometimes we think good design comes from adding more. But often, the strongest spaces come from refining. Editing. Simplifying.”
This tracks with a broader pattern across design and consumer behavior right now. People with the means to buy anything are increasingly choosing to buy less, but better. The scarcity that signals status has moved from “how much do you own” to “how little do you need to manage.”
That’s a genuinely new luxury home design proposition. It didn’t exist in the same form twenty years ago, when a bigger house was simply a better house by default.
How to Borrow This Thinking Even Without a $10 Million Budget
You don’t need an ARRCC-sized project to apply the Effort Ratio to your own home. The principles scale down fine.
Start with routines, not rooms. Before buying furniture or picking paint, track how you actually move through your home for a week. Most wasted space comes from designing around a fantasy version of your life instead of the real one.
Edit before you shop. A homeowner who removes three underused items usually gains more livable comfort than one who adds three new ones. This is the cheapest version of the Effort Ratio available to anyone.
Hide the maintenance, not the personality. ARRCC’s projects stay warm and personal because the discipline goes into function, not into stripping out character. Restraint applies to clutter and complexity, not to color, texture, or the things you actually love.
Pick materials for the next decade, not the next photo. Honest, durable materials age well and reduce upkeep, which is exactly the kind of invisible effort reduction this whole conversation is really about.
Where Luxury Home Design Goes From Here
I’d bet the shift ARRCC is describing keeps accelerating, and not because of aesthetics. It’s an economic and generational change as much as a design one. Younger clients inheriting wealth or building it themselves have grown up skeptical of accumulation as a status marker. They’ve watched their parents manage houses full of things they rarely use. The firms that will define luxury home design over the next decade won’t be the ones with the biggest square footage numbers. They’ll be the ones who can prove, project after project, that they know how to remove friction without removing character. That’s a harder skill to market than “more,” but it’s the one clients are actually paying for now.
Expect this to show up in language before it shows up everywhere else. Watch how design studios start describing “restraint” and “editing” as selling points rather than compromises. That vocabulary change usually arrives right before the market catches up to it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is quiet luxury in home design?
Quiet luxury in home design refers to spaces built around ease and function rather than visible expense or scale. The focus sits on how a home feels to live in daily, not how it photographs.
Why are luxury homeowners buying less instead of more?
Many high-end clients now see accumulation as a burden rather than a status marker. They increasingly value homes that reduce daily decisions and upkeep, which often means owning fewer, better-chosen things.
What are ARRCC’s four core design principles?
ARRCC builds every project around the client, the location, the function, and the materials. According to Senior Associate Quintin Gilman, these four principles have stayed consistent across the studio’s thirty years in practice.
How has luxury interior design changed over the past thirty years?
Client briefs have moved from requests for more rooms and possessions toward requests for homes that feel intuitive and low-effort to maintain. The core design principles haven’t changed, but how they get expressed has become far more restrained.
What makes a home feel effortless?
A home feels effortless when its function, such as storage, lighting, and circulation, has been carefully planned so the homeowner rarely has to think about it. The visible design usually looks simple precisely because the hidden planning is not.
Is quiet luxury the same as minimalism?
No. Minimalism often means owning very little by design. Quiet luxury home design can still include layered materials, warmth, and personal character. It’s restrained in complexity, not necessarily sparse in feeling.
All images © ARRCC. Don’t hesitate to browse WE AND THE COLOR’s Architecture and Interior Design categories for more.
Subscribe to our newsletter!
#architecture #ARRCC #interiorDesign #LuxuryHomeDesign #luxuryHomes #QuintinGilman -
Luxury Home Design Doesn’t Need More Rooms. It Needs Less Noise.
After thirty years in practice, design studio ARRCC has watched luxury home design move away from size and accumulation and toward ease. Clients no longer ask for more rooms. They ask for homes that feel simple to live in, and that change says more about where design is headed than any trend forecast.
Quintin Gilman has a front-row seat to a change that most homeowners feel before they can name it. As Senior Associate at ARRCC, he’s spent three decades watching client briefs evolve, and the pattern he describes isn’t subtle. People used to walk in with wish lists. Bigger kitchens. More bedrooms. A wine room, a gym, and a cinema, sometimes all three. Now they walk in asking for something much harder to sketch: a home that doesn’t fight them.
That’s not a small preference. It’s a full reversal of what luxury home design used to promise. And because ARRCC just marked its 30th year as a studio, the firm has the kind of long view most practices never get. Three decades of projects across different continents and client generations give you data that a five-year trend report simply can’t match.
For ARRCC Senior Associate Quintin Gilman, true luxury is no longer about having more—it’s about removing the small frictions of everyday life.What Does “Quiet Luxury” Actually Mean in Home Design?
Quiet luxury in home design means creating spaces that feel effortless to live in rather than spaces built to impress a visitor. It prioritizes ease, function, and restraint over scale, ornamentation, and accumulation. The term gets thrown around a lot right now, usually attached to a beige sweater or a minimalist logo. But in residential design, it has a sharper meaning.
Gilman put it plainly in ARRCC’s anniversary statement: “Luxury is less about spaces that are overly designed or subdued. It’s about creating environments that feel effortless, spaces that support the rituals of everyday life. Spaces that feel calm, intuitive, layered, and deeply personal.”
Notice what’s missing from that sentence. No mention of square footage. No mention of finishes or brand names. The definition is behavioral, not material. That’s the part most coverage of “quiet luxury” misses entirely. It’s not a look. It’s a relationship between a person and the space they live in every single day.
Thirty Years Is a Long Time to Watch People Change Their Minds
Design trends come and go every few seasons. What ARRCC is describing isn’t that. It’s a slower, structural change in what clients actually value, tracked across a career long enough to separate real change from a passing fad.
Where clients once arrived chasing abundance, more possessions, more square meters, and more rooms to fill, many now arrive asking for something that reduces friction instead of adding to it. Gilman describes the studio’s clients placing less value on accumulation and more on homes that feel intuitive to inhabit.
This isn’t just an ARRCC observation, either. The American Society of Interior Designers’ 2025 Trends Outlook points to a broader movement toward interiors built around well-being, sustainability, and durable craftsmanship. Design, according to that report, is increasingly judged by how it affects the way people live and feel over time, not by how it photographs on day one.
Two independent sources landing on the same conclusion is worth pausing on. When a 30-year design practice and a national trends body describe the same change using different language, that’s usually a sign the change is real, not seasonal.
The Effort Ratio: My Framework for What Luxury Home Design Is Really Selling
Here’s a way to think about this that I haven’t seen named elsewhere, so let’s call it the Effort Ratio. It’s a simple idea: measure luxury not by what a home contains, but by how much daily effort it removes from the person living in it.
Under the old model, luxury home design added visible things. A bigger closet. A second staircase. A media room nobody used past year one. Effort went up because more space meant more to maintain, more to organize, more decisions made every day just to keep the house running.
Under the model ARRCC describes, the goal flips. Effort gets designed out before the homeowner ever moves in. A well-placed pantry beats a bigger kitchen. A single, well-lit reading chair beats a rarely used library. The luxury isn’t the object. It’s the absence of friction around it.
This is why “less effort for the client” and “more effort for the designer” aren’t contradictory. They’re the same trade. ARRCC’s own language backs this up directly: “What’s changed isn’t the importance of these principles,” Gilman says. “It’s how little effort clients now want between themselves and the experience of home.”
ARRCC’s Four Pillars That Never Went Out of Style
Trends shift, but according to Gilman, four principles have anchored every ARRCC project across all thirty years: the client, the location, the function, and the materials. None of these are new ideas in architecture. What’s notable is that they’ve survived three decades of changing taste without needing a rewrite.
The Client Comes Before the Concept
Every project starts with behavior, not aesthetics. Daily routines, family dynamics, entertaining habits, and how a household actually moves through a day come first. Templates don’t work here. A floor plan that ignores how a family lives will always feel wrong, no matter how good it looks in photos.
Location Beats Trend, Every Time
Climate, culture, and pace of life shape a brief more than whatever aesthetic is dominating design media that year. A coastal home in Cape Town and an urban penthouse in Madrid can’t follow the same rulebook, regardless of what’s trending on a mood board.
Function Is the Part Nobody Photographs
Circulation, storage, acoustics, and lighting rarely make it into a magazine spread. But they’re usually the difference between a home that looks impressive and one that actually works. Good function, like good architecture, tends to go unnoticed right up until it’s missing.
Materials Do the Emotional Work
Materials haven’t lost importance. They’ve become more restrained in how they’re used. Honest finishes and natural textures create atmosphere and a sense of permanence without shouting for attention. That’s a harder trick to pull off than piling on expensive surfaces, and it’s a lot more durable.
DimensionOld Model of Luxury Home DesignEffortless Luxury Home DesignSpaceMore rooms, larger footprintRight-sized rooms matched to actual useClient briefWish lists built around possessionsWish lists built around daily routinesMaterialsVisible, layered, and abundantRestrained, durable, and honestFunctionSecondary to visual impactCentral, though rarely visibleSuccess metricHow impressive it photographsHow little effort it takes to live inUnderlying valueAccumulationEaseThree Houses, One Argument
Theory is easy. Built projects are where a philosophy either holds up or falls apart. ARRCC points to three recent projects that make the same argument in three very different settings.
At Winelands Villa in South Africa’s Cape Winelands, the brief centered on family life and the intentional use of space. A restrained material palette runs through the home, letting character build up through layering instead of excess. Nothing is fighting for attention.
La Moraleja, a family residence in Spain, follows a similar logic through a resort-minimalist approach: simple forms, clean lines, and a limited material palette. Different country, different climate, same underlying instinct toward homes that feel considered rather than complicated.
North Bay Villa, a waterfront home in Miami, shows how far this thinking can go even inside a highly customized project. A bespoke wine cellar there uses a concealed rear-access system, so the collection gets replenished without disrupting the room’s atmosphere. That’s the Effort Ratio in physical form. The complexity is real; it’s just hidden from the person actually living there.
The Editing Economy: Why Luxury Homeowners Are Buying Less, Not More
Call this the Editing Economy: a market condition where clients pay a premium not to add things, but to have things skillfully removed on their behalf. It sounds counterintuitive. Why would anyone pay more for less?
Because editing takes expertise. Anyone can fill a house. Deciding what a house doesn’t need, and doing that without making it feel empty, takes real judgment. Gilman frames this directly: “Sometimes we think good design comes from adding more. But often, the strongest spaces come from refining. Editing. Simplifying.”
This tracks with a broader pattern across design and consumer behavior right now. People with the means to buy anything are increasingly choosing to buy less, but better. The scarcity that signals status has moved from “how much do you own” to “how little do you need to manage.”
That’s a genuinely new luxury home design proposition. It didn’t exist in the same form twenty years ago, when a bigger house was simply a better house by default.
How to Borrow This Thinking Even Without a $10 Million Budget
You don’t need an ARRCC-sized project to apply the Effort Ratio to your own home. The principles scale down fine.
Start with routines, not rooms. Before buying furniture or picking paint, track how you actually move through your home for a week. Most wasted space comes from designing around a fantasy version of your life instead of the real one.
Edit before you shop. A homeowner who removes three underused items usually gains more livable comfort than one who adds three new ones. This is the cheapest version of the Effort Ratio available to anyone.
Hide the maintenance, not the personality. ARRCC’s projects stay warm and personal because the discipline goes into function, not into stripping out character. Restraint applies to clutter and complexity, not to color, texture, or the things you actually love.
Pick materials for the next decade, not the next photo. Honest, durable materials age well and reduce upkeep, which is exactly the kind of invisible effort reduction this whole conversation is really about.
Where Luxury Home Design Goes From Here
I’d bet the shift ARRCC is describing keeps accelerating, and not because of aesthetics. It’s an economic and generational change as much as a design one. Younger clients inheriting wealth or building it themselves have grown up skeptical of accumulation as a status marker. They’ve watched their parents manage houses full of things they rarely use. The firms that will define luxury home design over the next decade won’t be the ones with the biggest square footage numbers. They’ll be the ones who can prove, project after project, that they know how to remove friction without removing character. That’s a harder skill to market than “more,” but it’s the one clients are actually paying for now.
Expect this to show up in language before it shows up everywhere else. Watch how design studios start describing “restraint” and “editing” as selling points rather than compromises. That vocabulary change usually arrives right before the market catches up to it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is quiet luxury in home design?
Quiet luxury in home design refers to spaces built around ease and function rather than visible expense or scale. The focus sits on how a home feels to live in daily, not how it photographs.
Why are luxury homeowners buying less instead of more?
Many high-end clients now see accumulation as a burden rather than a status marker. They increasingly value homes that reduce daily decisions and upkeep, which often means owning fewer, better-chosen things.
What are ARRCC’s four core design principles?
ARRCC builds every project around the client, the location, the function, and the materials. According to Senior Associate Quintin Gilman, these four principles have stayed consistent across the studio’s thirty years in practice.
How has luxury interior design changed over the past thirty years?
Client briefs have moved from requests for more rooms and possessions toward requests for homes that feel intuitive and low-effort to maintain. The core design principles haven’t changed, but how they get expressed has become far more restrained.
What makes a home feel effortless?
A home feels effortless when its function, such as storage, lighting, and circulation, has been carefully planned so the homeowner rarely has to think about it. The visible design usually looks simple precisely because the hidden planning is not.
Is quiet luxury the same as minimalism?
No. Minimalism often means owning very little by design. Quiet luxury home design can still include layered materials, warmth, and personal character. It’s restrained in complexity, not necessarily sparse in feeling.
All images © ARRCC. Don’t hesitate to browse WE AND THE COLOR’s Architecture and Interior Design categories for more.
Subscribe to our newsletter!
#architecture #ARRCC #interiorDesign #LuxuryHomeDesign #luxuryHomes #QuintinGilman -
Luxury Home Design Doesn’t Need More Rooms. It Needs Less Noise.
After thirty years in practice, design studio ARRCC has watched luxury home design move away from size and accumulation and toward ease. Clients no longer ask for more rooms. They ask for homes that feel simple to live in, and that change says more about where design is headed than any trend forecast.
Quintin Gilman has a front-row seat to a change that most homeowners feel before they can name it. As Senior Associate at ARRCC, he’s spent three decades watching client briefs evolve, and the pattern he describes isn’t subtle. People used to walk in with wish lists. Bigger kitchens. More bedrooms. A wine room, a gym, and a cinema, sometimes all three. Now they walk in asking for something much harder to sketch: a home that doesn’t fight them.
That’s not a small preference. It’s a full reversal of what luxury home design used to promise. And because ARRCC just marked its 30th year as a studio, the firm has the kind of long view most practices never get. Three decades of projects across different continents and client generations give you data that a five-year trend report simply can’t match.
For ARRCC Senior Associate Quintin Gilman, true luxury is no longer about having more—it’s about removing the small frictions of everyday life.What Does “Quiet Luxury” Actually Mean in Home Design?
Quiet luxury in home design means creating spaces that feel effortless to live in rather than spaces built to impress a visitor. It prioritizes ease, function, and restraint over scale, ornamentation, and accumulation. The term gets thrown around a lot right now, usually attached to a beige sweater or a minimalist logo. But in residential design, it has a sharper meaning.
Gilman put it plainly in ARRCC’s anniversary statement: “Luxury is less about spaces that are overly designed or subdued. It’s about creating environments that feel effortless, spaces that support the rituals of everyday life. Spaces that feel calm, intuitive, layered, and deeply personal.”
Notice what’s missing from that sentence. No mention of square footage. No mention of finishes or brand names. The definition is behavioral, not material. That’s the part most coverage of “quiet luxury” misses entirely. It’s not a look. It’s a relationship between a person and the space they live in every single day.
Thirty Years Is a Long Time to Watch People Change Their Minds
Design trends come and go every few seasons. What ARRCC is describing isn’t that. It’s a slower, structural change in what clients actually value, tracked across a career long enough to separate real change from a passing fad.
Where clients once arrived chasing abundance, more possessions, more square meters, and more rooms to fill, many now arrive asking for something that reduces friction instead of adding to it. Gilman describes the studio’s clients placing less value on accumulation and more on homes that feel intuitive to inhabit.
This isn’t just an ARRCC observation, either. The American Society of Interior Designers’ 2025 Trends Outlook points to a broader movement toward interiors built around well-being, sustainability, and durable craftsmanship. Design, according to that report, is increasingly judged by how it affects the way people live and feel over time, not by how it photographs on day one.
Two independent sources landing on the same conclusion is worth pausing on. When a 30-year design practice and a national trends body describe the same change using different language, that’s usually a sign the change is real, not seasonal.
The Effort Ratio: My Framework for What Luxury Home Design Is Really Selling
Here’s a way to think about this that I haven’t seen named elsewhere, so let’s call it the Effort Ratio. It’s a simple idea: measure luxury not by what a home contains, but by how much daily effort it removes from the person living in it.
Under the old model, luxury home design added visible things. A bigger closet. A second staircase. A media room nobody used past year one. Effort went up because more space meant more to maintain, more to organize, more decisions made every day just to keep the house running.
Under the model ARRCC describes, the goal flips. Effort gets designed out before the homeowner ever moves in. A well-placed pantry beats a bigger kitchen. A single, well-lit reading chair beats a rarely used library. The luxury isn’t the object. It’s the absence of friction around it.
This is why “less effort for the client” and “more effort for the designer” aren’t contradictory. They’re the same trade. ARRCC’s own language backs this up directly: “What’s changed isn’t the importance of these principles,” Gilman says. “It’s how little effort clients now want between themselves and the experience of home.”
ARRCC’s Four Pillars That Never Went Out of Style
Trends shift, but according to Gilman, four principles have anchored every ARRCC project across all thirty years: the client, the location, the function, and the materials. None of these are new ideas in architecture. What’s notable is that they’ve survived three decades of changing taste without needing a rewrite.
The Client Comes Before the Concept
Every project starts with behavior, not aesthetics. Daily routines, family dynamics, entertaining habits, and how a household actually moves through a day come first. Templates don’t work here. A floor plan that ignores how a family lives will always feel wrong, no matter how good it looks in photos.
Location Beats Trend, Every Time
Climate, culture, and pace of life shape a brief more than whatever aesthetic is dominating design media that year. A coastal home in Cape Town and an urban penthouse in Madrid can’t follow the same rulebook, regardless of what’s trending on a mood board.
Function Is the Part Nobody Photographs
Circulation, storage, acoustics, and lighting rarely make it into a magazine spread. But they’re usually the difference between a home that looks impressive and one that actually works. Good function, like good architecture, tends to go unnoticed right up until it’s missing.
Materials Do the Emotional Work
Materials haven’t lost importance. They’ve become more restrained in how they’re used. Honest finishes and natural textures create atmosphere and a sense of permanence without shouting for attention. That’s a harder trick to pull off than piling on expensive surfaces, and it’s a lot more durable.
DimensionOld Model of Luxury Home DesignEffortless Luxury Home DesignSpaceMore rooms, larger footprintRight-sized rooms matched to actual useClient briefWish lists built around possessionsWish lists built around daily routinesMaterialsVisible, layered, and abundantRestrained, durable, and honestFunctionSecondary to visual impactCentral, though rarely visibleSuccess metricHow impressive it photographsHow little effort it takes to live inUnderlying valueAccumulationEaseThree Houses, One Argument
Theory is easy. Built projects are where a philosophy either holds up or falls apart. ARRCC points to three recent projects that make the same argument in three very different settings.
At Winelands Villa in South Africa’s Cape Winelands, the brief centered on family life and the intentional use of space. A restrained material palette runs through the home, letting character build up through layering instead of excess. Nothing is fighting for attention.
La Moraleja, a family residence in Spain, follows a similar logic through a resort-minimalist approach: simple forms, clean lines, and a limited material palette. Different country, different climate, same underlying instinct toward homes that feel considered rather than complicated.
North Bay Villa, a waterfront home in Miami, shows how far this thinking can go even inside a highly customized project. A bespoke wine cellar there uses a concealed rear-access system, so the collection gets replenished without disrupting the room’s atmosphere. That’s the Effort Ratio in physical form. The complexity is real; it’s just hidden from the person actually living there.
The Editing Economy: Why Luxury Homeowners Are Buying Less, Not More
Call this the Editing Economy: a market condition where clients pay a premium not to add things, but to have things skillfully removed on their behalf. It sounds counterintuitive. Why would anyone pay more for less?
Because editing takes expertise. Anyone can fill a house. Deciding what a house doesn’t need, and doing that without making it feel empty, takes real judgment. Gilman frames this directly: “Sometimes we think good design comes from adding more. But often, the strongest spaces come from refining. Editing. Simplifying.”
This tracks with a broader pattern across design and consumer behavior right now. People with the means to buy anything are increasingly choosing to buy less, but better. The scarcity that signals status has moved from “how much do you own” to “how little do you need to manage.”
That’s a genuinely new luxury home design proposition. It didn’t exist in the same form twenty years ago, when a bigger house was simply a better house by default.
How to Borrow This Thinking Even Without a $10 Million Budget
You don’t need an ARRCC-sized project to apply the Effort Ratio to your own home. The principles scale down fine.
Start with routines, not rooms. Before buying furniture or picking paint, track how you actually move through your home for a week. Most wasted space comes from designing around a fantasy version of your life instead of the real one.
Edit before you shop. A homeowner who removes three underused items usually gains more livable comfort than one who adds three new ones. This is the cheapest version of the Effort Ratio available to anyone.
Hide the maintenance, not the personality. ARRCC’s projects stay warm and personal because the discipline goes into function, not into stripping out character. Restraint applies to clutter and complexity, not to color, texture, or the things you actually love.
Pick materials for the next decade, not the next photo. Honest, durable materials age well and reduce upkeep, which is exactly the kind of invisible effort reduction this whole conversation is really about.
Where Luxury Home Design Goes From Here
I’d bet the shift ARRCC is describing keeps accelerating, and not because of aesthetics. It’s an economic and generational change as much as a design one. Younger clients inheriting wealth or building it themselves have grown up skeptical of accumulation as a status marker. They’ve watched their parents manage houses full of things they rarely use. The firms that will define luxury home design over the next decade won’t be the ones with the biggest square footage numbers. They’ll be the ones who can prove, project after project, that they know how to remove friction without removing character. That’s a harder skill to market than “more,” but it’s the one clients are actually paying for now.
Expect this to show up in language before it shows up everywhere else. Watch how design studios start describing “restraint” and “editing” as selling points rather than compromises. That vocabulary change usually arrives right before the market catches up to it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is quiet luxury in home design?
Quiet luxury in home design refers to spaces built around ease and function rather than visible expense or scale. The focus sits on how a home feels to live in daily, not how it photographs.
Why are luxury homeowners buying less instead of more?
Many high-end clients now see accumulation as a burden rather than a status marker. They increasingly value homes that reduce daily decisions and upkeep, which often means owning fewer, better-chosen things.
What are ARRCC’s four core design principles?
ARRCC builds every project around the client, the location, the function, and the materials. According to Senior Associate Quintin Gilman, these four principles have stayed consistent across the studio’s thirty years in practice.
How has luxury interior design changed over the past thirty years?
Client briefs have moved from requests for more rooms and possessions toward requests for homes that feel intuitive and low-effort to maintain. The core design principles haven’t changed, but how they get expressed has become far more restrained.
What makes a home feel effortless?
A home feels effortless when its function, such as storage, lighting, and circulation, has been carefully planned so the homeowner rarely has to think about it. The visible design usually looks simple precisely because the hidden planning is not.
Is quiet luxury the same as minimalism?
No. Minimalism often means owning very little by design. Quiet luxury home design can still include layered materials, warmth, and personal character. It’s restrained in complexity, not necessarily sparse in feeling.
All images © ARRCC. Don’t hesitate to browse WE AND THE COLOR’s Architecture and Interior Design categories for more.
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this artist' worx is #digital #dada #collage #photo #composite #art
it's about #perception and #meaning, includes #philosopy and #psychology and #esotericism plus #poetic and #absurd or #zen aspects ...i started the public part of my artistic journey on IG [ @esotopia ] but am occasionally tired of fighting the almighty "Gods of Algorithm"
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Moin, Moin,
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How this L.A. suburb fell in love with Craftsman homes – Los Angeles Times
Editor’s Note: May be behind a paywall. All photos from LA Times.
How this L.A. suburb fell in love with Craftsman homes
A Craftsman style home in Bungalow Heaven. Common features of a Craftsman home include low-pitched roofs with deep overhanging eaves and large front porches supported by sturdy columns. (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)By Sam Lubell, Oct. 8, 2025 3 AM PT
- For over a century, Craftsman homes have been beloved across Southern California, but they are most prevalent in Pasadena.
- Pasadena Heritage’s Craftsman Week runs Oct. 12-19 with events and tours.
- The style’s authentic craftsmanship is key to its popularity.
When Annette Yasin and her husband, Tom, moved to Pasadena from Michigan more than a decade ago, they purchased a condo near Bungalow Heaven, a 16-block area northeast of Old Town known for its substantial collection of Craftsman bungalows. After regular walks in the neighborhood, the couple came across a home on Mar Vista Avenue and quickly fell in love.
The residence, known as the Dr. Robert H. Sutton Bungalow, is a great example of what makes Craftsman architecture so seductive to so many. Outside, its low-sloped roof, wide eaves, textured wood and brick surfaces, and its shaded porch set behind broad overhangs are welcoming and human scaled. Inside, chocolate brown wood is everywhere: walls, beams, window sills, paneling, wainscoting, furniture, not to mention built-in cabinets, benches and window seats. A large bank of windows lets in lots of light, but is protected by all those overhangs, so you don’t feel exposed — or overheated. Everything fits and flows together — spaces, furnishings, lighting fixtures, artworks.
“It’s cozy. It’s warm,” says Yasin, standing in her dining room, which is filled with Craftsman-style furniture either purchased or built by her now-late husband — a G.E. engineer who retired early and leaned into his passion for woodworking.
For over a century, Craftsman homes have been beloved across Southern California, from Orange and Long Beach to West Adams and Santa Barbara. But nowhere are they as prevalent as Pasadena. And in recent years, popularity has soared, as people crave its well-made, no-nonsense, and nature-embracing ethos. So much so, Pasadena Heritage’s Craftsman Week, taking place Oct. 12-19, has expanded from a weekend to a weeklong event this year.
“It’s the rusticity of it,” adds Juan Dela Cruz, a Bungalow Heaven resident and Craftsman homeowner who is guiding me on a tour of the neighborhood along with John G. Ripley, another local Craftsman owner and co-author of the book “Pasadena’s Bungalow Heaven,” ahead of Craftsman Week. “You notice the timbers overhanging. Sometimes you’ll see the roughness in the wood, or you’ll see a three-dimensional relief in the grain. It gives you that connection with nature; that connection with the source from which it came — the tree,” says Dela Cruz.
Annette Yasin, left, stands in the doorway of her kitchen in her Craftsman home, which includes a tiled fireplace. (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)Craftsman had its heyday from around 1900 to the early 1920s. It grew out of the British Arts and Crafts Movement, a design philosophy reacting to the Industrial Revolution, with its mass produced goods and fast-paced lifestyle, and the Victorian era, with its frivolous excesses and formal, boxy spaces. It promoted, among other things, handcraft, honesty, unified design, natural materials and design simplicity.
Continue/Read Original Article Here: How this L.A. suburb fell in love with Craftsman homes – Los Angeles Times
#2025 #America #Bungalows #California #History #Homes #Libraries #Library #LosAngeles #Neighborhoods #Opinion #Pasadena #TheLosAngelesTimes #Travel #UnitedStates
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The Physics of Presence
Linking Physics and Meditation
Continued research in quantum physics bridges the gap between science and meditation, showing in deeper ways the interconnectedness of all things. As scientists explore the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics, they uncover insights that challenge our traditional understanding of reality and resonate with ancient philosophies, emphasizing unity and consciousness. This ongoing exploration highlights how every particle is not just a separate entity but a part of a vast, intricate web of existence, deepening our awareness of the profound relationship between the observer and the observed. By integrating these findings with mindfulness practices, we cultivate a richer understanding of our place within the universe, encouraging a holistic perspective that fosters personal growth and collective harmony.
Observation
For some time scientists have known about the significance of the observer and their impact on outcomes, demonstrating that the physical world is not all there is. A deep, unseen field of energy responds to our thoughts and actions, influencing our personal experiences and the collective consciousness that binds us. This interplay between observation and reality suggests that our perceptions shape the very fabric of existence, opening doors to possibilities beyond physical matter’s limitations. By recognizing this profound connection, we empower ourselves to tap into more significant potential, harnessing the energy around us to create positive change in our lives and those of others. Understanding this dynamic relationship encourages us to reflect on our intentions and the reality we wish to manifest.
“In all my research I have never come across matter. To me the term matter implies a bundle of energy which is given form by an intelligent spirit.”
Max Planck
Quantum Concepts Related to Meditation
- The Observer Effect: In quantum mechanics, the act of observation can influence the behavior of particles. Mindfulness teaches us to observe our thoughts and feelings without judgment, which, in turn, can alter our perceptions and experiences.
- Quantum Entanglement: the mysterious phenomenon where two particles remain connected no matter the distance, symbolizing the interconnectedness we feel through mindfulness and meditation, emphasizing the unity of all things.
- Uncertainty Principle: This principle states that we cannot know a particle’s position and momentum with absolute certainty simultaneously. It parallels how mindfulness encourages us to embrace uncertainty and flow with life’s unpredictability.
Practice
Engaging in mindful exercises and gently opening ourselves to the wonders of the quantum realm can cultivate a deeper understanding of ourselves and the natural world around us.
Meditation as a Practice of Presence
Here are some simple practices that unite the quantum with meditation:
- Observing Thoughts: Compare the mind to a quantum field where thoughts, like particles, appear and disappear in an ever-changing dance of consciousness. Meditation allows us to observe these “particles” without attachment or judgment, much like a quantum physicist observes an experiment with keen awareness and neutrality. This practice fosters a deeper understanding of the nature of reality and the transient qualities of our mental processes, enabling us to cultivate mindfulness and presence in our daily lives.
- Connecting with the Universe: A mindfulness practice could evoke the feeling of entanglement, reminding us of our profound connection to others and the vast cosmos around us. Engaging in this practice invites moments of reflection where we can consider our place within the universe, nurturing a sense of unity with all beings and affirming the interconnectedness of existence. Through such awareness, we cultivate deeper relationships with ourselves and those we encounter, ultimately fostering a greater sense of peace and understanding.
- Embracing Impermanence: The uncertainty principle can be a metaphor for the transient nature of emotions and experiences, aligning with meditation’s focus on acceptance. By recognizing that emotions are fleeting and continually evolving, we can cultivate a more profound sense of mindfulness that encourages us to live in the moment. This awareness allows us to fully experience our emotions without becoming attached to them, fostering a more profound understanding of the interconnectedness of all experiences in our lives.
Scientific Validation
Recent studies* have shown how mindfulness rewires the brain and reduces age-related degeneration, highlighting its profound impact on cognitive health. By practicing mindfulness regularly, individuals can enhance their focus and emotional well-being and promote neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to adapt and reorganize itself. This form of mental training has been linked to slowing cognitive decline associated with aging**, helping to maintain memory retention and cognitive functions. Furthermore, incorporating mindfulness techniques into daily routines can improve quality of life as people become more aware of their thoughts and feelings, ultimately fostering a greater sense of peace and stability in an increasingly chaotic world.
Read more on *PubMed and **Nature
Practical Mindfulness
Photo by Vishva Patel on Pexels.comClearly, you don’t need to be a physicist to practice mindfulness. The point is to awaken curiosity and awe for the universe and to find stillness amid its vast complexity. By embracing mindfulness, anyone can tap into the profound beauty surrounding them, fostering a deeper connection with the world and themselves. This practice invites us to explore our thoughts and feelings with an open heart, cultivating a sense of wonder that encourages us to appreciate the intricate details of life. In this way, mindfulness becomes a bridge to understanding the cosmos and the richness of our inner landscapes, helping us navigate challenges while remaining grounded in the present moment.
Begin Gently
This practice can be as simple as taking a moment to notice and become aware of yourself and your surroundings, including all the sensory experiences around you, such as the subtle sounds in the background, the textures of objects you touch, and the scents that float through the air. Engaging fully with your environment can enhance your appreciation for the present. If your mind begins to wander, gently guide it back to the present moment, allowing yourself a brief pause to reconnect with the act of noticing, perhaps by taking a deep breath or observing the rhythm of your thoughts with curiosity instead of judgment. This intentional shift can foster a greater sense of calm, clarity, and connection to the world around you.
Only on InsightTimer
Once you’ve explored the additional resources, consider taking a moment for a quantum meditation; it can be a wonderful way to connect with the infinite potential within your mind and spirit.
*Lardone A, Liparoti M, Sorrentino P, Rucco R, Jacini F, Polverino A, Minino R, Pesoli M, Baselice F, Sorriso A, Ferraioli G, Sorrentino G, Mandolesi L. Mindfulness Meditation Is Related to Long-Lasting Changes in Hippocampal Functional Topology during Resting State: A Magnetoencephalography Study. Neural Plast. 2018 Dec 18;2018:5340717. doi: 10.1155/2018/5340717. PMID: 30662457; PMCID: PMC6312586.
**Yue, W.L., Ng, K.K., Koh, A.J. et al. Mindfulness-based therapy improves brain functional network reconfiguration efficiency. Transl Psychiatry 13, 345 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02642-9
#awareness #balance #experience #healing #infinite #meditation #mentalHealth #mentalWellbeing #mindBodySpirit #mindful #mindfulness #moments #physics #physicsOfPresence #potential #practice #quantum #quantumPhysics #science #scienceAndPhilosophy #uncertainty #wellbeing
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Sam Altman currently runs OpenAI, the leading startup in generative artificial intelligence.
And Apple, racing to catch up in that area, has forged a partnership to integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT into the iPhone’s operating system.
Though the controversial Altman is unlikely to take the stage at the event, the agreement will be a key focus of Apple’s 🔸Worldwide Developers Conference🔸 next week
— and it shows just how much the power in Silicon Valley has shifted over the past few years.👉The deal gives OpenAI access to hundreds of millions of Apple users, including ones that might have been hesitant to try ChatGPT otherwise.
For Apple, the arrangement brings the company the hottest technology of the AI era — a chatbot with eerily powerful abilities — that it can pair with its own services.
Apple has been developing a host of AI features, including ones that run on its devices and others that require cloud computing.
It’s also infusing its Siri digital assistant with AI. But the company’s own chatbot isn’t yet up to snuff.Apple kept its AI ambitions quiet until now. Cook said last year that the company would tread carefully in the new space and only add AI technology on a “very thoughtful basis.”
More recently, he’s argued that Apple will have an edge in AI because of its “unique combination of seamless hardware, software and services integration.”
Behind the scenes, Apple employees have been working furiously to back up that promise.
Around the time of the ChatGPT launch, small teams within the company’s AI and software engineering divisions began working on a competitor to ChatGPT, using a framework dubbed #Ajax.
Software chief #Craig #Federighi pushed managers to pack the latest version of the iPhone and iPad operating system
— known internally as “Crystal”
— with as much AI as possible.#Eddy #Cue’s services division got to work on new data center infrastructure for powering online AI services.
Staffers also began investigating how AI could come to Apple Music and the company’s office-productivity apps.
Apple found that its AI is capable enough to power features like voice memo transcriptions and photo editing, as well as new search capabilities in the Safari web browser and auto replies in apps like Messages.
But it determined early on that OpenAI and Google were far ahead in chatbots and on-the-fly assistance.
That put Apple in a difficult spot. The company’s own technology wasn’t ready, and executives were concerned about reputational damage from a rogue chatbot.
Some people within Apple even have a philosophical aversion to having a chatbot at all, people familiar with the situation have said.
But it was clear by then that consumers would expect Apple to offer such a service, and that set the company on the path to its deal with OpenAI.
Several months ago, the company began meeting with the startup
— along with Google and other chatbot providers
— about integrating the technology into its iOS software.By outsourcing the chatbot function, Apple can distance itself from the technology itself, including its occasional inaccuracies and hallucinations, the people said.
But it also links Apple to a startup beset by upheaval and controversy.
Altman, now 39, was briefly ousted last year for reasons that remain murky, and he recently drew the ire of movie star Scarlett Johansson for a soundalike AI voice.
Though Apple remains in talks with Google about using #Gemini in its devices, the iPhone maker reached an agreement with OpenAI first.
In the end, Apple may offer a number of third-party chatbots, but it’s negotiating the deals on a case-by-case basis, according to the people with knowledge of the situation.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/05/apple-made-once-unlikely-deal-with-sam-altman-to-catch-up-in-ai/ -
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #5 Temptation, assault and curse
After the choice Adam and Eve made to go against the Will of God, eating of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil, God came to deal with three parties in the fall of mankind: Adam, Eve and the serpent. An alleged fourth – the devil – is not mentioned in Genesis narrative. This for the simple reason the symbolic tempter (satan), the serpent, or the evil thoughts in Eve’s mind are the evil itself.
Book of Genesis, Fall of Man. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)The most common presentation of Adam and Eve does not reflect clearly enough their theological significance, at least as seen in the New Testament. Too many people forget where the trouble started and do not come to see the essence of our suffering today being the cause of man its own choice. Eve decided herself, by her own choice to go against the wishes of God. She herself wanted to be like God. The apostle Paul, being a Jewish scholar knew very well the problem of evil and suffering. For him it was also clear what choice Adam and Eve had made and why.
For Paul the wrath on mankind was caused by the anger of God (Romans 5:9) It does not have to mean we are enemies of God, but Eve her action showed God how man doubted His position. For the opposing attitude of Eve God reckoned against the sinner. In the story of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, we hear God giving a first commandment: not eating of the fruit of the tree of conscience (the Tree of knowledge of good and evil). He is aware that they could see death reigning in the world form Adam’s time to the time of Moses (Knox).
Romans 5: 14 1But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over 2them also that sinned not after the like 3manner of the transgression of Adam, 4which was the figure of him that was to come.
In his letter to the Romans we get to hear that Adam foreshadows another person who had to come. The first Adam or the first man, corresponds in some degree to the man who was to come, and whose birth 2020 years ago we remember this year. That man being born was a gift to mankind, from God, which more powerfully affected mankind.
Romans 5: 15 1But yet the gift is not so as is the offense: for if through the offense of 2that one, many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Adam and Eve committed an offence on which God had to react. He could directly destroy them and start all over again by creating some new living beings in his likeness which would keep to His commandment. Moreover, the boon of God exceeds the fruit of Adam and Eve’s sin. On that contrast between the gift and the results of that one sin, we shall come back in later chapters.
By their act, going against God’s Will, and by wanting to be like God, their Maker gave them the opportunity to show how much they themselves could make of it all. God’s right to govern was doubted, so know they could come to govern themselves and could come to make something of the world. Because all the children of Adam and Eve came after their choice of adversary they all fell under the spell or curse God came to bring over them. Adam and Eve after eating of the Tree of knowledge came to know the difference between good and evil and became weaker than before, because they now had knowledge. We can not escape the relationship from the first human beings. For just because of their relation to Adam and Eve all men fall under the spell of God and have to bear the consequences of that rebellion of the first carnal man. Being the descendants of Adam and Eve we all became members of a sinful race and we all shall have to face death.
1 Corinthians 15: 21 1For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be 1made alive.In the letter to the Corinthians we are also told there is a solution. In those Greek Writings we find another confirmation of the same consequent: for Christ is to be considered as opposite to Adam, that as from one man Adam, sin came over all, so from one man Christ, life comes unto all: that is to say, that all the faithful, as they die, because by nature they were born of Adam, so because in Christ they are made the children of God by grace, they are quickened and restored to life by him. {annotation of the 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition}
The way the apostle Paul looks at the 1° and the 2° Adam places the Adam-story within a royal context, because the essence of the matter were Adam and Eve impeaching the Divine Creator. Them to query God His Most High position, is the biggest issue. This way a battle over kingship and its relation to the universe was initiated. The position of the one sent from God as a solution is too often missed by the majority of people, even by those who call themselves Christian.
In the Garden of Eden sin entered in the world of man. In a royal garden or orchard Jeshua (Jesus Christ) accepted the fact he must follow not his will but the Will of the Most High God, and should go to the stake. (Matthew 26:36-46)
In the Holy Scriptures a garden is used to express joy, peace and satisfaction.
Adam and Eve by Peter Paul Rubens (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Jeremiah 31: 12 Therefore they shall come, and rejoice in the height of Zion, and shall run to the bountifulness
of the Lord, even for the 1wheat and for the wine, and for the oil, and for the increase of sheep and bullocks: and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall have no more sorrow.Adam and Eve had no sorrow in the Garden of Eden. They had everything they needed. But God did wanted to teach them a lesson and did not want them in His Garden any more. Since Adam listened to his wife and ate from the tree whose fruit Jehovah God commanded him not to eat, the ground is cursed because of him. So his deed became the cause of the earth coming in problems by man. It is often by the wrong actions of men that something bad happens in the world, for example mudslides because men took away all the trees.
All our life now we will have to struggle to scratch a living from it. God told man that it will grow thorns and thistles for us, though man will eat of its grains. This time not for nothing any more, like it was in the Royal Garden. From then onwards man had to make his own garden and work with his own hands for it. By the sweat of our brow, will we have food to eat until we die, i.e. return to the ground from which man were made. Because we shall have to be reminded that we were made from dust, and to dust we will return.
But woman certainly could not escape. For him and her there was first no pain, but knowing now good and bad they also came to know pain and sorrow. The pain of woman’s pregnancy was going to be sharpened, and in pain she will give birth. She still was going to be able to give children, but concerning having control over things it would be more difficult. God warned her that though she still will desire to control her husband, it will be him who is going to rule over her.Genesis 3: 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy 1sorrows, and thy conceptions. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be subject to thine husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 Also to Adam he said, Because thou hast obeyed the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, (whereof I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it) cursed is the earth for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth: for out of it wast thou taken, because thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return.
20 (And the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living)
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God 1make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 And the Lord God said, 1Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand, and 2take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the earth, whence he was taken.
24 Thus he cast out the man, and at the East side of the garden of Eden he set the Cherubims, and the blade of a sword shaken, to keep the way of the tree of life.Adam, Eve, but also we should see that the transgression of God’s commandment was the cause that both mankind and all other creatures were subject to the curse God spoke in that Kingdom of God, the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, fell from the estate of integrity in which God had created them and now had to build their own kingdom (a kingdom of man) in their own world.
Temptation was the occasion; it was not the cause. To be subjected to temptation is not sinful for the tempted. Embrace and acquiescence constitute sin, i.e. going in against the Will of God.
Eve succumbed to the ideas in her head. Her heart wanted to have so much as God. She herself made the choice to take the fruit and to eat it. She came to the point of overt disobedience to the divine prohibition. Adam trusted his partner and with her in the adventure, hoping also to get the knowledge of good and evil and wanting to become wise (Genesis 3:6 ASV)The tempter had gained the trust of the first human beings. Eve had accepted as true what was a blasphemous assault upon the veracity of Good and came to regard the tree as desirable in the direction that contravened the divine prohibition. Eve served herself as carnal creature rather than the Divine Creator.
The mannin her failure to recoil with revulsion from the temptation and the idea that she would not die (Genesis 3:4) is evidence that defection had already taken place and that she exemplified the invariable psychology of sin that overt action proceeds from the inward disposition of heart.
Proverbs 23: 7 For as though he thought it in his heart: so will he say unto thee, Eat and drink: but his heart is not
with thee.Man loves to give the fault of their wrong doing to others or say it is not from them. But In the Messianic Scriptures the sent one from God clearly warns man that there is nothing outside man. Summoning the multitude rabbi Jeshua (Jesus Christ) addressed the crowd close to him and told them that we should worry about what comes out of man. It is that what is inside and comes outside that pollutes or defiles man. It is from inside, out of man’s heart that come evil thoughts and actions, like self-seeking, pride, jealousy or envying, slander, malice, double-dealing, lying, deceiving, misleading, betraying, sexual vice, adultery, fornication, theft or stealing, wickedness, murder, all things that make a person unclean.
Mark 7: 21 For from within, even out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, uncleanness, a wicked eye, backbiting, pride, foolishness.
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile a man.We may not be mistaken, it is all from within ourselves. The satan or adversary comes from our inner thoughts which we allow to go wrong and where we give in. We can choose not to follow certain ideas, but when we chose to follow the wrong path then we sin. There may be manyfold temptation but it is how we react on them.Whenever you find yourself surrounded by various temptations do know that it all depends on your choice and on your faith which shall demand action (works of faith), leading to steadfastness, developing endurance. But to withstand such temptation man shall need now the courage to choose the right path and let patience finish its work that you may become fully developed and perfectly equipped, lacking in nothing or in no respect deficient. So when you are drawn away, enticed and baited by your own evil desire, like Eve was, let yourself not be beguiled and allured by your own evil desire and enticed by a bait. Remember that when passion or desire conceives and gives birth to sin, than when the bad act or sin runs its course and get fully matured it shall give birth to death. We may not be mislead and make no mistake about this.
James 1: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own concupiscence, and is enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth 1sin, and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
16 1Err not my dear brethren.+
* Bible quotes from 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition
Preceding articles
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #1 Beginning of everything
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #2 Beginning of mankind
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #3 With his partner
The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #4 The Fall
Jesus begotten Son of God #10 Coming down spirit or flesh seed of Eve
Sayings of Jesus, what to believe and being or not of the devil
Not about personal salvation but about a bigger Plan
A book of life and a man born more than two thousand years ago
When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
Next: The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #6 Curse and solution
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Additional reading
- Looking for a primary cause and a goal that can not offer philosophers existing beliefs
- A multifold of elements in creation and a bad choice made
- First mention of a solution against death 1 To divine, serpent, opposition, satan and adversary
- First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth
- First mention of a solution against death 3 Tempter Satan and man’s problems
- First mention of a solution against death 4 A seed for mankind
- First mention of a solution against death 5 Evil its law of death
- Necessity of a revelation of creation 1 Works of God and works of man
- A promise given in the Garden of Eden
- Set free from any form of mental torment or self-condemnation
- No curtain placed over tomorrow
- Around pre-existence of Christ
- Satan the evil within
- Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans
- Luther’s misunderstanding
- Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts
- Redemption #2 Biblical solution
- When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
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Further reading of interest
- Images of God 1: Big and Close
- Genesis 3
- Day 7: Adam and Eve’s Relationship
- Creation and The Fall – A Dramatic Reading
- Did He Really Say That?
- What Happened in the Garden… Doesn’t Stay in the Garden
- There’s a Serpent in Your Bible.
- When Everything Went to Smash
- What Satan Offered Adam And Eve…
- Me-Centered More
- Adam and Eve and Us: Part Two
- Eve as a symbol for the Church
- Where is your Garden of Eden?
- Puzzling over Genesis and the Fall
- Wednesday-(Created & Fallen) Devotion
- The Existence Of The Snake
- Friday-(Created & Fallen) Devotion
- Recap: What Every Christian Should Know About Genesis 1-4
- Gospel Theology (Pt. 3) – Original Sin
- Adversary. Accuser. (Zechariah 3:1)
- Occasions of sin
- Watching Ourselves
- The Life of a 21st Century Prophet: Introspection
- Scripture for Thursday, October 13 (10/13)
- Temptation, Treadmills & Grace
- Temptations
- I Have a Confession To Make…
- Hell
- Believing Is Not Seeing
- 1 Corinthians 9-16: I Struggle With These Chapters
- Why Did God Flood The Earth If He Later Allowed The Same Thing To Happen Again?
- A Deceitful Trick that Leads to Less
- JES31 – He Comes Loking For Us
- living in a messy world
- The Apple of Discord — Thomas Hart Benton
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Related articles
- No Glasses for Moses
- Our Father’s House
- The Atonement of God by J.D. Myers
- Is Tim Kaine right about Genesis endorsing homosexual acts?
- Faith or Fear
- Questioning God
- Tim Kaine’s butchering of Genesis to justify the LGBT agenda is . . . quite something
- 10/3/16 OT
- VBS asks members ‘where are you?’
- Faith online
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#1Adam #2Adam #ActionsToBeTaken #AdamAndEve #Adversary #AngerOfGod #ApostlePaul #BelieversInChrist #BookOfGenesis #BornOfAdam #CarnalCreature #CarnalMan #CauseOfBeing #ChildrenOfGod #Choice #Christ #ComingOutOfMan #CommandmentsOfGod #Conception #ConditionOfTheHeart #Curse #CurseOfDeath #CurseOfGod #Death #DescendantsOfAdamAndEve #DesireToControl #Devil #Disobedience #DispositionOfHeart #DivineCreator #DoingWrong #DominionOfMan #Downfall #Dust #Dying #Endurance #Enticement #EpistleToTheCorinthians #Evil #EvilDeeds #EvilThought #Faith #FallOfMan #FallenWoman #FrameOfMind #Garden #GardenOfEden #GardenOfGod #GiftOfGrace #GivingBirth #Good #HavingControl #HeartOfMan #HumanMind #Humankind #InnerThoughts #KingdomOfGod #KingdomOfMan #Kingship #Knowledge #LettersToCorinthians #LettersToRomans #Maker #MakerGodAlmighty #MakingChoices #ManJesus #ManOfGod #Mankind #ManninOr1Woman #MessianicScriptures #Mind #MostHigh #Offence #OppositionAgainstGod #Orchard #OurAction #OwnChoice #Pregnancy #Prohibition #RabbiJeshua #ReactionFromGod #RebellionAgainstGod #Relationship #RepentingOfWrongDoing #RightPath #RightsOfGod #RoyalGarden #Ruling #RulingOverSomeone #Satan #SentFromGod #SentOneFromGod #Serpent #Sin #SinfulRace #Sinner #Sinning #Solution #Sorrow #SpellOfGod #Steadfastness #Struggle #StruggleForLife #Suffering #TakingAction #Temptation #Tempter #Thought #ThoughtsOfMan #toBeWise #toTakeAction #toWork #Transgression #TreeOfKnowledge #TreeOfKnowledgeOfGoodAndEvil #Uncleanness #Universe #WantingToBeLikeGod #Weakness #Wickedness #WillOfGod #WishOfGod #WorksOfFaith #WrathOnMankink #Wrong #WrongDoing #WrongPath
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Whispers on Stone: Why Paleolithic Rock Art Still Speaks to Us Today
(And why I’m moving halfway across the world to listen)
In the Glow of Firelight
Night in the Paleolithic. Firelight flickers along the limestone walls of a shelter, casting movement across the contours of a horse etched in stone, its musculature defined by the shifting interplay of shadow and flame. Beside it, an aurochs emerges, its horn arcing like a crescent moon across the rock face. These are not merely pictures — they are echoes. Echoes of the earliest human voices, carved into stone, suspended in time yet pulsing with presence.
Soon, I’ll be in Portugal’s Côa Valley, where these voices still speak. I’m not going to analyze them from behind glass — I’m going to listen. To stand among the engravings not as a distant observer, but as a human being among ancestors.
Photo by Stijn Nuttin on Pexels.com1. The Meaning Behind the Marks
Paleolithic rock art represents one of the earliest and most profound expressions of symbolic thought — a leap in human cognition. With engraved ochre from South Africa’s Blombos Cave dating back over 70,000 years (Henshilwood et al., 2002), we know that abstract expression emerged long before the rise of cities, agriculture, or writing.
These are not decorative flourishes. They are tools of memory, myth, and meaning. They express a need to communicate not only information but emotion, connection, and transformation. The subjects — animals, births, shamanic figures — appear across continents, hinting at a shared symbolic heritage stretching deep into our past.
For me, as someone rooted in anthropology, humanism, Stoic practice, and Nordic animism, these works are not static. They are alive — like songs or rituals — recalled, repeated, and reinterpreted. In an animistic worldview, these are not merely depictions of animals; they are animals. Beings. Spirits. Ancestors. Teachers.
This isn’t a metaphor. It’s a relationship — and one we are called to reawaken.
2. Why Portugal Matters
Portugal is home to one of the richest yet least globally recognized concentrations of Paleolithic rock art. The Côa Valley Archaeological Park contains over a thousand open-air engraved panels dating to the Upper Paleolithic. Unlike the cave paintings of Lascaux or Chauvet, these works are exposed to sun, wind, and rain — and still endure.
The Iberian Peninsula served as a glacial refugium during the Last Glacial Maximum (Carvalho, 2010), making it a stronghold for both human populations and artistic traditions. This continuity created a remarkably layered archive of expression.
Portuguese engravings differ in form and technique. They are etched, pecked, or abraded — their visibility shaped by natural light, weather, and time of day. Panels from sites like Mazouco and Fariseu often show overlapping generations of carvings, creating palimpsests that reflect a dialogue across centuries. The art isn’t only about what was carved — it’s about where, when, and how it was meant to be experienced.
In Côa, the land remembers.
Photo by Symeon Ekizoglou on Pexels.com3. My Path to Deep History
I grew up in California, captivated not by the landscapes around me, but by what lay across the Atlantic — the caves and shelters of Europe adorned with ancient marks. My first experiences with rock art were through books and digital reconstructions of sites like Chauvet and Altamira. Over time, I also gained exposure to Native American petroglyphs, developing a respectful and ongoing appreciation for their cultural significance.
Today, I’m pursuing my degree in anthropology at Arizona State University’s online program, with a focus on human origins and cognition. This academic path is deeply intertwined with personal philosophies — Stoic resilience, animistic reverence, and a humanistic commitment to empathy and understanding.
For me, studying Paleolithic art is not just academic. It’s personal. These marks challenge how I see the human story — not as a linear march of progress, but as a branching, spiraling chorus of memory, meaning, and imagination.
Moving to Portugal is a commitment. It’s a pilgrimage to the places where the first artists spoke, not in words, but in form and gesture. I want to be there — to learn not just with my mind, but with my whole being.
4. New Tools for Old Stories
The study of rock art has evolved beyond field sketches and measuring tapes. We now use digital tools and interdisciplinary techniques to uncover layers once invisible:
- 3D scanning and photogrammetry capture high-resolution digital models of rock surfaces, preserving them and allowing detailed study without physical contact (Domingo et al., 2015).
- AI and machine learning help identify stylistic groupings, iconographic themes, and even possible artist signatures by comparing motifs across thousands of images.
- Portable XRF (X-ray fluorescence) offers non-invasive chemical analysis, revealing what tools or pigments were used — even where color is no longer visible.
- GIS mapping places rock art in spatial context, revealing patterns in site placement, resource proximity, and astronomical alignments.
These technologies are not replacements for wonder — they are tools for amplifying it. They let us see what previous generations could only guess, and connect sites across time and space in new ways.
5. Why This Still Matters
We live in an era of distraction, where meaning is often commodified or fleeting. Paleolithic art reminds us of something deeper: that the urge to create, to symbolize, to remember, is foundational to being human.
These engravings are not idle doodles. They are necessities. They anchored social bonds, encoded cosmologies, trained memory, and marked place. They testify that survival alone is not enough — we need connection, story, and a sense of the sacred.
In our own time of ecological and existential crisis, these ancient marks offer a mirror. They invite us to slow down, observe, and listen. They show us that humanity has always sought to navigate uncertainty through imagination and shared symbols.
Interpretation requires humility. As Conkey (1997) reminds us, we may never truly know the minds behind these images. But listening itself is an act of reverence.
Listening to the Stones
When I arrive in Portugal, I won’t walk into a sterile lab or academic echo chamber. I’ll step into a valley sculpted by wind and river, by time and memory. I’ll stand where ancient artists once stood, tracing forms they carved by firelight.
They did not carve for us. But they carved with the hope, perhaps, that someone would follow. That someone would see. That someone would remember.
So that is what I intend to do: not to speak for them, but to listen.
ScreenshotReferences
Aubry, T., & Sampaio, J. D. (2008). Antiquity, 82(315), 1024–1037. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00097802
Carvalho, A. F. (2010). Quaternary International, 223–224, 254–272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2010.02.011
Conkey, M. W. (1997). In L. Hager (Ed.), Women in Human Evolution (pp. 172–207). Routledge.
Domingo, I., Villaverde, V., López-Montalvo, E., de la Cruz, M., & Martínez-Vidal, A. (2015). Journal of Archaeological Science, 55, 53–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.12.010
Henshilwood, C. S., d’Errico, F., Yates, R., Jacobs, Z., Tribolo, C., Duller, G. A. T., Mercier, N., Sealy, J. C., Valladas, H., Watts, I., & Wintle, A. G. (2002). Science, 295(5558), 1278–1280. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1067575
Lewis-Williams, D. (2002). The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art. Thames & Hudson.
#AncientArt #Animism #Anthropology #ArchaeologicalResearch #Archaeology #CaveArt #CoaValley #CulturalHeritage #DeepHistory #HumanOrigins #OpenAirRockArt #PaleolithicArt #Pleistocene #PortugalArchaeology #PrehistoricArt #RockArt #ScienceCommunication #Stoicism #SymbolicThought
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After receiving Papa’s permission, I believed I’d be able to fly to Carmel without any fears, but painful trials were still to prove my vocation. It was with trembling I confided my resolution to Uncle. He showed me great tenderness but did not grant me his permission to leave. He forbade me to speak about my vocation to him until I was seventeen. It was contrary to human prudence, he said, to have a child of fifteen enter Carmel.
This Carmelite life was, in the eyes of many, a life of mature reflection, and it would be doing a great wrong to the religious life to allow an inexperienced child to embrace it. Everybody would be talking about it, etc., etc. He even said that for him to decide to allow me to leave would require a miracle.
I saw all reasoning with him was useless and so I left, my heart plunged into the most profound bitterness. My only consolation was prayer. I begged Jesus to perform the miracle demanded, since at this price only I’d be able to answer His call.
A long time passed by before I dared speak to him again [in reality, it was only two weeks]. It was very difficult for me to go to his home, and he himself seemed to be no longer considering my vocation. I learned later on that my great sadness influenced him very much.
Before allowing any ray of hope to shine in my soul, God willed to send me a painful martyrdom lasting three days. Oh! never had I understood so well as during this trial, the sorrow of Mary and Joseph during their three-day search for the divine Child Jesus. I was in a sad desert, or rather my soul was like a fragile boat delivered up to the mercy of the waves and having no pilot. I knew Jesus was there sleeping in my boat, but the night was so black it was impossible to see Him; nothing gave me any light, not a single flash came to break the dark clouds. No doubt, lightning is a dismal light, but at least if the storm had broken out in earnest I would have been able to see Jesus for one passing moment.
But it was night! The dark night of the soul! I felt I was all alone in the garden of Gethsemane like Jesus, and I found no consolation on earth or from heaven; God Himself seemed to have abandoned me. Nature seemed to share in my bitter sadness, for during these three days the sun did not shine and the rain poured down in torrents. (I have noticed in all the serious circumstances of my life that nature always reflected the image of my soul. On days filled with tears, the heavens cried along with me; on days of joy the sun sent forth its joyful rays in profusion, and the blue skies were not obscured by a single cloud.)
Finally, on the fourth day, which happened to be a Saturday, the day consecrated to the sweet Queen of heaven, I went to see Uncle. What was my surprise when I saw him looking at me, and, without expressing any desire to speak to him, he had me come into his study!
He began by making some gentle reproaches because I appeared to be afraid of him, and then he said it wasn’t necessary to beg for a miracle, that he had only asked God to give him “a simple change of heart” and that he had been answered.
Ah! I was not tempted to beg for a miracle because the miracle had been granted; Uncle was no longer the same. Without making any allusion whatsoever to “human prudence,” he told me I was a little flower God wanted to gather, and he would no longer oppose it!
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
Note: On 8 October 1887, St. Thérèse approached her uncle, St. Zélie’s brother Isidore Guérin to ask his permission to enter the Carmel of Lisieux. Thérèsian expert Bishop Guy Gaucher, O.C.D., describes this scene in his benchmark biography, Story of a Life:
All these plans came up against a major obstacle: Uncle Isidore. The Martin girls’ guardian put his veto on his niece’s desire. On Saturday, 8 October, six months after she had spoken to her father, Thérèse in trepidation entered the chemist’s study. Kindly but uncompromisingly he countered Thérèse’s tears with prudent reasoning: she was far too young for ‘that philosopher’s life.’ The whole town would be talking about it. A well-known person in Lisieux must avoid scandal. Let his niece—who undoubtedly did have a vocation—not mention it to him until she was seventeen. It would take a miracle to make him change his mind.
On the same day, Thérèse wrote to Sister Agnès [her sister, Pauline] (who had advised her to speak to him) to tell her about the failure of the interview. They had again become very close to each other. Pray for your Thérèsita. You know how much she loves you. You are her confidante. Pauline once again came to the fore and guided her young sister’s struggles. The postulant felt full of confidence, certain that God would not abandon her.
Nevertheless, for three days (from 19 to 22 October), for the first time, she experienced inner dryness, the silence of God. Night, the dark night of the soul like Jesus in his agony in the garden. I felt that I was alone, finding no consolation either on earth or from heaven. God seemed to have forsaken me!!! This was a new and bewildering experience for one who had known so much light since Christmas. She could no longer understand. Seeing her in this sad state in the parlour on Thursday, the 21st, Sister Agnès no longer held back: she wrote to her uncle. Naturally, she did not wish to argue with him, but to explain to him the situation as she saw it. In her opinion, it was much ‘more than childish fretting.’
[Uncle Isidore] Guérin had always had a high regard for his godchild. From that Saturday he changed his opinion. Let Thérèse enter Carmel!
Gaucher, G 1993, The story of a life: St. Thérèse of Lisieux, HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco, CA.
of Lisieux, T 1996, Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, 3rd edn, translated from the French by Clarke J, ICS Publications, Washington, DC.
We always refer to the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux for the vast majority of our quotes concerning Saint Thérèse, Saint Zélie, and Saint Louis Martin. If you would like to purchase English translations for the collected works of St. Thérèse, please visit the website of our Discalced Carmelite friars at ICS Publications.
Featured image: This photo of the hands of St. Thérèse resting on her lap is a detailed image of a photographic portrait that was taken at the age of 15 in April 1888. The photo was taken in the studio of Madame Besnier, a photographer in Lisieux, not long before Thérèse entered the Carmel of Lisieux on April 9. Image credit: Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux (Fair use)
https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/06/22/tej-msa51r/
#calm #CarmelOfLisieux #darkNight #godfather #IsidoreGuérin #Jesus #miracle #permission #StThérèseOfLisieux #storm #vocation
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The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #2 Beginning of mankind
Monyash Well Dressing 2009, In the Beginning God Created Man. Clay tablet decorated with coloured petals and stones.After the fifth period in creation the sixth session brought forth ‘living souls‘ or ‘living things’ or ‘living beings’ which could multiply, making the earth having more of their sort. They were not in the image of God, but on the ‘sixth day‘ the Divine Creator decided to make some living being after His image.
This image and likeness of God in man is expounded, Ephesians 4:24, where it is written that man was created after God in righteousness and true holiness, meaning by these two words, all perfection, as wisdom, truth, innocence, power, etc. (Annotations in the 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition)
24 And put on the new man, which 1after God is created unto 2righteousness, and 3true holiness.
1 After the image of God.
2 The effect and end of the new creation.
3 Not fained nor counterfeit. (Annotations in the 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition)Man had received everything in him to be happy living for always. Though he was not immortal. The first living being, “a soul” that would be called “man”, was receiving a higher status than the previous created living beings. Man was made in the image of God, indicating that Adam had some similar elements of God and being in the likeness of the Most High Elohim he received in this way a sort of “royal authority” to govern over God’s creation.
All over the world we can find creation myths, showing that the “being” of it makes only sense when there is a reason for “being”. It is that sense of life so many people are looking for. Genesis uses a similar approach found in other ancient documents: Existence depends on function.
Jackson Wu looks at creation and John H. Walton’s view in this way
Genesis indeed explains the origins of the world but it tells a particular kind of story. It provides a “functional” (rather than a “material”) account of the world origins.
and continues with a good example
If I move beds and dressers out of a “bedroom” and replace it with a desk and file cabinets, what would we say? A “bedroom” no longer exists. I have now “created” a office or study.
Similarly, Genesis 1 explains how God created the world to be a sacred space, a Temple where He would dwell with his people. This view of Genesis helps us to see who God is, who we are, and God’s design for the world. {When Did God Make China?}
That original manly being was “to be red” (=Adam). Adam occurs approximately 500 times with the meaning of mankind. In the opening chapters of the Bereshith (the Book of the Beginnings or Genesis), with three exceptions (1:26; 2:5,20) it has the definite article indicating “man” or “the man” rather than “Adam”.
The first undisputed occurrence of the name of Adam is in the genealogy of Genesis 5:1-5.Adam and Eve with Cain and Abel – Catacomb of the Via Latina
1 This is the 1book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created Adam, in the 2likeness of God made he him,
2 Male and female created he them, and blessed them, and called their name 1Adam in the day that they were created.
3 Now Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a child in his own 1likeness after his image, and called his name Seth.
4 aAnd the days of Adam, after he had begotten Seth, were eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.
5 So all the days that Adam lived, were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.The 1st Adam indicates to be the first living creature of “red blood” (hence red blooded or adam), flesh and bones. Of necessity that first fleshly creature out of which mankind would grow could be called the first created man or “the man” and the designation is equivalent to a proper name: Adam.
This first soul or living being, came from the earth, and by receiving the Breath of God came to live. Animated by the divine breath created in the image of God was allowed to have dominion over all other life, animate and inanimate. He is other than God, with no actual physical descent from the Supreme Being or from any inferior deity. Notice also how only by the creation of this human being is mentioned that God “breathed … the breath of life”
Genesis 2:
7 The Lord God also 1made the man 2of the dust of the ground, and breathed in his face breath of life, band the man was a living soul.
8 And the Lord God planted a garden Eastward in 1Eden, and there he put the man whom he had made.
9 (For out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree pleasant to the sight, and good for meat: the 1tree of life also in the midst of the garden, 2and the tree of knowledge of good and of evil.Genesis 1:
Satan Watching the Caresses of Adam and Eve — William Blake (1757-1827); William Blake’s illustrations of “Paradise Lost”, 1808.
27 Thus God created the man in his image: in the image of God created he him: he created them imale and female.
28 And God 1blessed them, and God said to them, jBring forth fruit, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heaven, and over every beast that moveth upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given unto you 1every herb bearing seed, which is upon all the earth, and every tree, wherein is the fruit of a tree bearing seed: kthat shall be to you for meat.
30 Likewise to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the heaven, and to everything that moveth upon the earth, which hath life in itself, every green herb shall be for meat, and it was so.
31 lAnd God saw all that he had made, and lo, it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.Genesis 2:
Man Made in the Image of God, as in Genesis 1:26 to 2:3, illustration from a Bible card published 1906 by the Providence Lithograph Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia)18 Also the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be himself alone: I will make him an help 1meet for him.
19 So the Lord God formed of the earth every beast of the field, and every fowl of the heaven, and brought them unto the 1man to see how he would call them: for howsoever the man named the living creature, so was the name thereof.
20 The man therefore gave names unto all cattle, and to the fowl of the heaven, and to every beast of the field: but for Adam found he not an helper meet for him.
21 Therefore the Lord God caused an heavy sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in stead thereof.
22 And the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man, 1made he a 2woman, and brought her to the man.
23 Then the man said, cThis now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called 1woman, because she was taken out of the man.
24 dTherefore shall man leave 1his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not 1ashamed.The Divine Creator had out of nothing or out of the blackness created elements which became ordered and received a function. As such the Most High Elohim Jehovah is the One God Who brings order out of (primordial) chaos and as such also being the God of order. [Chaos representing “non-order,” not “disorder.”]
Man being set in God’s Garden, the Garden of Eden, got the allowance to name the other things but also got the obligation of obedience to the divine Will, in connection with the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
When you follow the storytelling of creation you shall find God speaking or bringing out words, and then matter came into being. Every time it was God’s Word that brought action and life. Each stage of creation is also approved with the words
“And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1: 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, cf. 31),
and the inference is that the creation of man was its consummation and climax.
God wanted to have His Kingdom full of plants, animals and human beings in his likeness. He wanted to see a beautiful world where all of His creatures could live in peace with each other.
The first Adam wanted a partner and God made him one. This person taken out of man, the mannin became the first woman and was to be Adam’s partner giving him children as part of God’s family.
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* Bible quotes from 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition
Preceding article: The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #1 Beginning of everything
Next: The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #3 With his partner
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Additional reading:
- Looking for a primary cause and a goal that can not offer philosophers existing beliefs
- The World framed by the Word of God
- God’s Word Framing universe
- Creation Creator and Creation
- Creation of the earth out of something
- From waste and void coming into being by God’s Word
- The very very beginning 1 Creating Gods
- The very very beginning 2 The Word and words
- Genesis 1:26 God said “Let us make”
- The very very beginning 1 Creating Gods
- Scripture about Creation and Creator Deity
- The very very beginning 2 The Word and words
- Something from nothing
- Means of creations
- Coming to the creation of human beings in the image of God
- Creation of the earth out of something
- Creation of the earth and man #1 Planet for living beings in a pre-Adamic world
- Creation of the earth and man #10 Formation of man #2 Mortal bodies and Tartarian habitation
- Creation of the earth and man #11 Formation of man #3 Infant salvation and non-elect infant damnation
- Creation of the earth and man #12 Formation of man #4 Constitution of man
- Genesis 1 story does not take away an evolution
- Means of creations
- Creator and Blogger God 1 Emptiness and mouvement
- Creator and Blogger God 2 Image and likeness
- Creator and Blogger God 5 Things to tellCreation purpose and warranty
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #1 Creator and His Prophets
- We all are changed into the same image from glory to glory
- Genesis – Story of creation 1 Genesis 1:1-25 Creation of things
- Creation of the earth and man #2 Evil Angels and moments of creation
- Genesis – Story of creation 3 Genesis 2:1-15 Story of Adam and Eve
- Creation purpose and warranty
- Divine Plan and an Imperfect creation
- Between Alpha and Omega – The plan of creation
- Necessity of a revelation of creation 2 Organisation of a system of things
- Story of Jesus’ birth begins long before the New Testament
- Man his beginnings or emerging, continuation, evolution and anthropology
- Old Earth creationists and other conservative Christians denying any evolution
- Al-Fatiha [The Opening] Süra 1: 4-7 Merciful Lord of the Creation to show us the right path
- Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 1
- Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 2
- Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 3
- Why God permits evil
- An anarchistic reading of the Bible (2)—Creation and what follows
- Divine Plan and an Imperfect creation
- A look at the Failing man
- God’s Plan, Purpose and teachings
- Not about personal salvation but about a bigger Plan
- Because men choose to go their own way
- A Must Know Truth
- Men as God
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Further reading of interest
- A Unification of Creation and Evolution
- We Are Only Complete In Him
- An anarchistic reading of the Bible (2) – Creation and what follows
- Evolution is God’s creation!!!!
- Stop Listening to the story!!!Facts on God’s true creation!!!!!!!
- The Documentary Hypothesis
- The Genesis Sermon Series
- Simple Wisdom for Tuesday
- Cookie a day: Topic-God The Creator
- Breathing In With Adam, Breathing Out to God
- A Holy day…
- All creation speaks of God’s goodness: Psalm 19
- Did You Ever Wonder
- N T Wright, Historicity of Adam
- Adam: Something is Missing
- Two new lessons made October 10, 2016
- Were Adam and Eve Historical Figures?
- What is the big mistake of Adam and Eve? (part 1)
- What is the big mistake of Adam and Eve? (part 2)
- Eve as a symbol for the Church
- Why people suffer
- Be Skeptical of the One Who Offers You Power
- Adamned
- Sleep
- Hope Thou in GOD
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Related articles
- Marriage, Relationships, and Love – The Salty Trail
- New Kingdom, New vision
- Adam and the Genesis Road
- Old Earth creationists and other conservative Christians denying any evolution
- Does Philippians 2:5-11 mean that Jesus had the nature of God?
- Wanting to know more about basic teachings of Christadelphianism
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