process space

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Now that I'm in month four of working in The Shed, I've finally figured out what the space is (beyond the obvious, a Shed in which I work and figure out the right heater-solar panel-grid balance, especially in today's brutal wind): it's a space where process – not result – reigns supreme, the spatial equivalent of my "Working" folder. Over the last few weeks, I've been removing anything finished or completed from the space, be it Weldo Quixote or Miggy the Shovel Creature or comics or finished drawings or scripts or anything so that, with the exception of a few pieces from CW&T and odd antiques and entertainments, The Shed's filled with nothing but the tools I use to make things and the limbs and sinew of various works in progress, a space of freedom from result in which I can alternate between planing a drawer built by my great-grandfather and writing another tale of REDACTED for mi hermano's musical inspirations.

CW&T - Solid State Watch

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Received my CW&T Solid State watch (one of ten from their latest batch drop) and I’m transfixed, intrigued, and in love:

Solid State Watch is a Casio F-91W movement permanently cast into a transparent resin case. It's in there forever. No buttons, no functions, no light, fully waterproof and no changing that 10 year battery.

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We’re casting each and every Solid State Watches in our Brooklyn Studio. The process involves a series of steps, beginning with a 3D print of the main body printed on a Form 3 printer. Then we cast, heat, vacuum and UV cure a movement set to your timezone into the body. This casting process is done in multiple steps to achieve our desired finish. All of these steps are done by hand, and we embrace the slight imperfections of the process that make each watch unique.

Already decided that this one is going to become my everyday watch – at least until the next time change, upon which my Dick Tracy yellow GShock will assume the mantel (unless I decide I need two Solid States); either way, I will remain hypnotized by the shifting globule of resin encased within. Head over to CW&T’s site to learn more about the Solid State Watch and its creation and to check out more of the wonderful things Chei-Wei and Taylor are building - like the “where were you all my life?” Superlocal.

“Hard work doesn’t always pay off”

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Fantastic episode of the CLEVER podcast featuring Taylor Levy, one half of CW&T, the (oft-mentioned here) design studio behind beloved essentials such as the Superlocal and the Pen Type-C. Great interview, with this bit, “Buy lots of lottery tickets,” from their Principles page, really speaking to me:

We’re not suggesting you should gamble, but launching a project often feels like rolling dice. Hard work doesn’t always pay off. There’s no correlation between how much time is spent working on a project and the ultimate payoff. That’s why we try lots of things. We make tons of stuff. And once in a while we get lucky.

While how, precisely, that will manifest in my own work remains TBD, I’m definitely looking to what Taylor and Chei-Wei are doing and using that as a basis for reconceptualizing my practice and how I think about the processes within. You can check out the whole interview here:

superlocal

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Week of indulging my passion for unique timepieces continues: CW&T's Superlocal, their 24-hour magnet-and-steel daily ritual sculpture (inspired, in part, by Mason Curry’s DAILY RITUALS book), had been on my radar since I fell in love with their Pen Type-C (at first use on the day it arrived) and I finally let myself take the plunge: a hefty, stunning work of art and function that’s already giving me notions of how to reshape my day.