Synchronicity: Maisie Williams
Interview with Maisie Williams for Office MagzineOffice Magazine — 7.11.24
My first impression of Maisie Williams is her presence of mind. Video calls are often a less-than-ideal setup for authentic conversation, but the actor’s energy immediately struck me as calm and perceptive as we dove into a back-and-forth on our central theme of issue 21: revelation.
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Soft Debris in Vogue Netherlands
Editorial WritingVogue Netherlands — 6.5.24
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Radical Design Culture
Editorial Writing for 2nd Issue of Family Style MagazineFamily Style — 6.3.24
Pink Essay creates exhibitions and online experiences that examine the weird and wonderful ways design manifests. From London to Seoul, these six up-and-coming makers from its international community are at the vanguard of our built environments.
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8 Lighting Hacks That Take 15 Minutes or Less
Editorial WritingArchitectural Digest — 5.17.24
Bad lighting? There are few decor faux pas more immediately noticeable than the unfriendly glow of a poorly placed lamp or harsh white bulb. Tough both on the space and those who inhabit it, bad lighting is one decorating obstacle that is (thankfully) easy to rectify with a range of lighting hacks, even for those of us with little money or time to spend on updating our space. From new shades to better bulbs, here are eight quick lighting hacks for taking your space from stark to stunning (or simply cozy).
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Designheads: The Print Issue
Print release from my magazine, Designheads, featuring Teezo TouchdownDesignheads — 5.7.24
It feels right that we’re releasing our first physical iteration of Designheads about one year since the publication was born. Originally a humble profile series on the Pink Essay website, Designheads has grown into a full-fledged, truly alive thing. The magazine has introduced a different vision for writing about design, as we work to infuse a more liberated joy and curiosity into this world of design … and not take it too seriously.
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“TECTONICS” Exhibition Text
Exhibition text for SAW design show at NOMIA in BrooklynNOMIA — 4.4.24
It’s in convergence that we find insight: ideas, material epiphanies — sums greater than their parts that illuminate what we’ve only seen the outlines of. This kind of joinery, whether physical or conceptual, creates new opportunities for understanding the work we produce.
“Tectonics”, the first solo exhibition by designer and architect Drew Seskunas, explores the material representation of joinery through a collection of sculptural domestic furniture created for indoor and outdoor use alike. Here, joinery manifests itself in the cornered meetings of flat planes, the contrast between disparate materials, action posed against stasis, and, perhaps most importantly, synthesis of ideas.
In deceptively straightforward pieces that reveal fine detail upon closer inspection, “Tectonics” presents an exploration of relationships themselves: how the meeting of multiples can lead to something altogether more complex and delightfully mystical in its own right.
At the core is the power of relationship: the collection incorporates designs born from Seskunas’ ongoing creative collaboration with partner Yara Flinn, whose own ideas have found their way into many of the collection’s details. “Tectonics” is a fully realized vignette born from seeds sown in conversation with Flinn and others — talks that have fledged into a realized portrait of his vision for design.
In the exhibition, metal facets, punctured surfaces, and contrasting forms come together to create a subtly anachronous exploration of design, informed by a deep knowledge and wonder in history combined with a proposition for the future.
Visible hardware is presented directly: small constellations of exposed rivets or paper-like perforations along the edges of folded metal. Sconces curved from a single piece of steel, cut out to reveal circular windows of light, dangle their power sources revealed without pretense.
Seskunas’ work is the history of materiality and people: riveted metal forms evoke early supersonic aircraft, while Seskunas’ ever-present awareness of use and function nods to the humanist modernism of Luigi Snozzi, Mario Botta or Aurelio Galfetti.
Ultimately, the pieces presented in “Tectonics” are meant for humans. Their sharp lines and dense metals bely an inherent ergonomics and durability that speaks to their destiny as pieces to be loved. Functioning both indoors and out, the collection invites joinery — of materials, ideas, and people to one other.