Improvised Life

Hidden Wonders in ‘Dullness’

In a video about the Dull Men’s Club, an online community of men wishing to just be ordinary, and novelist Nicholson Baker’s wise writing about dullness, we discovered the thread that runs through both is gratitude and curiosity.

Why You Should Do Whatever You Want to Your Hair (Mira Keras + Solonge)

Hair has been both a prison and a means to empowerment for women since the beginning of time. Empowerment is at the fore —going blue proved a deeply expressive statement for me—and Solange’s ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’ nails it.

Clever Textile Ideas to DIY from a Restored Tuscan Convent

We found a number of simple ideas for textiles in photos of a former Tuscan convent restored by designer Holly Lueders and her daughter. Our favorites are this very do-able paneled bedskirt and a pillow cover fashioned like a gift.

Meditation 101: Failure is Actually Success

This 2-minute video is the perfect guide to meditation for beginners and the meditation-averse. It gives a simple method and the science of why meditating for five minutes daily will change your life. And unlike anything else in your life, in meditation, ‘failure’ is actually success.

Leaping in Poetry, Art and Life (Robert Bly + Maria Robledo)

Leaping In Poetry, Art And Life (Robert Bly + Maria Robledo)

10.17.16 | 2:38am
Maria Robledo, from the Schneider Collection
Maria Robledo, from the Schneider Collection
While we were researching how we often don’t know just how big the leaps we take are, we came across poet Robert Bly’s theory of leaping poetry. He says that leaps are inherent in many works of art

Never-Fail Roasted Fish + Five Quick Sauces

When jittery cooks confess their fear of cooking fish, I recommend a foolproof, tried-and-true method I perfected decades ago. It renders fish tender, succulent and evenly cooked. It works fine for a variety of fish, and is perfect paired with of these five favorite simple sauces.

Annals of Healing: 30 Ways NOT to Say ‘Pussy’ + Tweeting REAL

Among the best responses to Donald Trump’s now infamous “Grab them by the pussy” are Samantha Bee’s brilliant riff on improvisional pussy slang and Kelly Oxford’s powerful twitter question. Both antidote shame.

DIY or Buy: Kitchen Knife Holder

We saw this knife holder in a friend’s kitchen and thought: seriously clever. It’s simply a tall, narrow box filled with vertically-standing wooden skewers. The skewers hold the knives in place without dulling the blade. Although we tracked down where you can buy one, the formula for making it yourself is simple…

Repair Strategy: Fierce Intention

After I did a sloppy job trying to disguise a torn seam in a prized sweater, I realized that seriously bold stitching would be a better solution. Turning a repair into a fierce intention works on all sorts of flawed and broken things…and people.

John Cage’s Transformative “Question of Taste”

You can open John Cage’s A Year from Monday anywhere and find a snippet that will turn your head around. Like this clarifying view of TASTE, and the opinions about style that are so much a part of modern life:

The ‘Ah’ of Seeing (H is for Hawk)

This perfect, luminous passage from H is for Hawk reminds us to SEE miracles hiding in plain sight.

Kitchen Gold: Red Wine Essence

One of the most extraordinarily extravagant and extraordinarily delicious sauces in my repertoire is Red Wine Essence. Because it will keep for months in the fridge, the powerful sauce is my secret weapon to call upon at any time I want to transform simple foods into complex dishes.

A Few Tools for Getting Unstuck + Amy Friend

Getting STUCK, whether in a relationship, decision-making process, or career path, is very much part of being human. In our productivity-obsessed society, it is an especially big concern. Here are some approaches we’ve found that work.

Useful Analog Method for Visualizing Designs + Patterns

We’ve long been enamored of quilter Denise Schmidt. Her minimalist work is rich with color, geometry, presence, and tends to be hung on wall as art works rather than put on beds. In her workshops, she teaches an analog method for laying out pattern that can be applied to home design as well.

Leap (William Wegman) with Haiku

One of the best titled leaps we’ve seen (in our vast collection): William Wegman’s For a Moment He Forgot Where He Was a Jumped into the Ocean. THAT is how we would love to live our life:

Artful DIY Minimalist Aprons

This startlingly simple apron by Maison Martin Margiela suddenly made us SEE aprons for what they really are: a piece of cloth with ties to hold it snugly against the torso. And it gave us lots of ideas for making them, some done on-the-fly.

Johanna Under the Ice: With One Breath, We Are Part of It

Hoping to recover from a serious biking accident, free diver Johanna Norblad tried an extreme and challenging therapy: diving under the frozen Arctic ice. The astonishing world she found led to her discovery of a new field of exploration and changed her life. I

Pasta Fries (French Fry Meets Mac+Cheese)

Inspired by the crispy satisfaction of oven fries, I baked leftover tube pasta with grated Parmesan to make something like the chewy-crisp noodles on the top of baked pasta casseroles. Pasta fries make a fine midnight snacks, side dish or hors d’oeuvre, and especially lone-dog supper.

Martin Margiela’s Philosophy of Art, Creative Process, Life

In this very interesting interview, purportedly with famously reclusive designer Martin Margiela, are some seriously insightful views of art, the creative process, and what’s REALLY important. Together they make a rather wonderful poem.

Vintage Bathtub with Found Stone Feet + Russel Wright’s Credenza

In a recent New York Times T Magazine, we loved the a former Tuscan convent restored by designer Holly Lueders and her daughter, the photographer Venetia Sacret Young, largely by their own hands. There are MANY doable details and solutions we thought to steal down the line. One of our favorites: a vintage bathtub with a…

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