make this moment matter

The theme of this year’s 3daysofdesign in Copenhagen was Make This Moment Matter. I’m not sure I thought that much about it during our planning, if I’m honest, yet when I reflect on the past week, I find that I experienced a whole lot of moments that did indeed matter. In both small ways and large.

Starting with the small, I had an unplanned opportunity to get my nails done. I almost never do that, but I was walking past a nail salon near Kongens Nytorv late Sunday afternoon and saw the lights on. On impulse, I went in and asked if they could do my nails. And indeed they could. So I chose a nice mocha color that matched the new kitchen we were showing. An unexpected moment of self care.

This moment, I knew would matter to me — the chance to display my handwoven tea towels in one of our drawers. It started in April as a casual conversation about the cool drawer insert that we had that our salespeople weren’t really that aware of. 88 hours, 41 minutes and 18 seconds later, my tea towels were in a drawer with that drawer insert at 3daysofdesign. Every bit of spare time I had for 6 weeks went into these. I’m very thankful for all those spring holidays in Denmark, or I’d never have gotten them finished. All those hours were moments that mattered, as I planned and wove and imagined them in the drawer. It was a different experience to weave tea towels from the standpoint of how they would look, folded in a drawer.

Another moment that mattered was another intersection between my personal interests (e.g. weaving) and my work. We had one of our Horizon Chairs covered in cloth woven by Danish weaver Astrid Skibsted. We hung it together with one of her weavings which was made from the same warp. It was truly a showpiece that everyone loved during 3daysofdesign. I have this feeling that it’s a story chair now, as when you sit down in it, you feel yourself wanting to tell stories.

Up on the penthouse floor of The Conary, I encountered another moment that mattered. Devon Leidtke’s Portraits of Self project. She invited visitors to fill out a blank card with their answer to the question, “There is so much beauty in….” After filling out one, I wanted to do a second one, as did Astrid, who was with me. I had gone into The Conary because another friend had been project manager of the site, and it felt like such a pleasant surprise to encounter an unexpected moment of delight while visiting.

I have one last moment that mattered to share this evening. It was in the File under Pop special exhibition inside of the Marble Church. It was quite the experience - more art than design - a cross between music, light, artworks and color experiments. But most striking was the moment when a man offered some scented hand lotion. He took my left hand, put a pump of lotion on it and gently massaged it in for just a moment. It smelled heavenly and it was a lovely act of kindness that was enhanced by the music and light and atmosphere of the round dome of the church. It most definitely felt like a moment that mattered. 

It’s funny how I felt like I forgot all about the theme of the festival, but yet it was there the whole time, underlying everything I did and experienced.

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this is another one of those things i wrote over on substack.

just want to save it here.

weaving rainbows

in just over a month, i turned this warp into these:

i love everything about the process of weaving, from picking the colors to work with, to making the warp, to dressing the loom, to actually weaving. the relationship you form with each and every individual thread is mind-boggling. the way the loom just reveals any mistakes you might have made, serving them up to you in full honest disclosure and patiently waiting for you to fix them (see the lower right corner below).

a loom is such a patient thing — solid, sturdy. it hold the threads so steadily as you slowly, but surely weave the cloth, developing a back and forth rhythm, watching it form. it feels magical — laying those threads over one another to create something useful.

my loom has created hundreds, maybe even thousands of meters of cloth. emmy had it for more than 50 years before giving it to me. and she got it from cis fink, one of denmark’s great weaving teachers, who likely had it for 50 years herself. i sit at it and feel that experience guiding me. it knows so much more than i do.

i keep one of every tea towel i’ve woven on it since acquiring it in mid-2024. i’ve come a long way in those two years and i’ve woven 125 tea towels on it since it came home to me. here are the ones i've kept from each warp:

we don’t even use store-bought tea towels anymore, these handmade ones just get better with use. i’m off to 3daysofdesign in copenhagen this week. my latest rainbow of tea towels will be in a drawer at store kongensgade 108 if you want to stop by and see them.