ARE YOU A SLOW DESIGNER?
Dear Slow Soul
This is an open invitation to those of you who are looking to define what productivity means to you, and how to create a meaningful life, in natural balanse with nature and your hearts desire.
There are other paths to a rich life. To balance your time and live more mindful might be a good one. More and more people are discovering that they have allowed themselves to be caught in a carousel that makes them neither rich nor happy.
In the future, people will want to create more themselves, live off what we have around us, reuse, repair, cultivate and take care of the things they already have invested in.
THE VALUE OF SLOWNESS
Slowness is a counter-force in a world where everything seems to be about the highest possible profit in the shortest possible time.
Nine years ago I read Carolyn F. Strauss and Alastair Fuad-Luke Slow Design Principles, and felt how their thoughts resonated with mine. It had been building up for a while; the need to use my communication skills better, and more meaningfully. It resulted in a vision to contribute, with inspiration, knowledge and design that would in various ways increase the collective awareness of ecology in the consumer carousel. How all our choices affect the environment, and have consequences for more people than ourselves. It has been a mantra for me these years. So how do you base a business idea on a promise of less profitability and slower results?
THE FUTURE IS VALUABLE
Our view of profitability is not realistic from a higher perspective. When someone earns an awful lot of money, it is almost always at the expense of others, whether it is people, nature or the future resources who gets exploited. In order to create real and lasting profitability, one must look for values other than the financial profit in the last stage. There are other paths to a rich life, and I think more and more people are discovering that they have allowed themselves to be caught in a carousel that makes them neither rich nor happy.
The Western way of life is in decline, and the world is changing. I have spent nine years establishing myself as a slow designer, designing and producing for others, but in the future I think it will be absolutely necessary to be self-reliant. to become our own slow designers.
Going forward, I will use more resources to show what opportunities and joys there are in the alternative value perspective. Nature, time and creativity are infinitely more valuable than money. I believe that many more will discover how enriching and meaningful it is to create more of what they need in life even in the time to come.
Vintage and rustic ceramic tableware bought at a flea market, some of it broken, but just as good as it got glued back together.
Old wood furniture got a new and beautiful expression in the meeting with fire and wax.
Using what you already have at hand, creating the expression you want from sustainable, natural materials gives great pleasure. This kitchen is made from recycled materials, the clothes are handknitted from different “left over” yarns.
ARE YOU A SLOW DESIGNER?
If you don't feel like one today, I would really like to see you become one. I would like to contribute to that and will be happy to share my knowledge and sources of inspiration. There will be many opportunities through courses, workshops and gatherings in the future, in addition to the free stuff I share on my own website.
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