Firstly, thank you to everyone who wrote back in various places to the last newsletter; all the notes made me think a little deeper about subjects in the last newsletter. I turned some of them into a letters page on the blog, which you can find over here.
Maybe this is something we should do every time with the longer missives? You gotta love a letters page, no?
I usually remember to mark 4th May somehow, because it is one of our official birthdays. I resigned on that date twelve years ago to start Smithery, and of course not long afterwards made the first Artefact Cards for some client workshops.
Twelve years. It's not just the longest job I've had, it's nearly longer than all my other previous jobs put together.
I'm sitting in the stillness of the penultimate day of the Innovation and Future Thinking course here at IED Barcelona. My work, beyond supporting students as they create their final projects, is all but done.
I'm still not quite sure I believe the course has been happening, given, you know, everything. So perhaps I'm documenting this as a reality check for myself, more than anything else. Let's just say it's a postcard, from me to you. With more images, and less about the weather. A fast, informal collection of what's happened these past two weeks.
It's the first year I've taught since working on the seeing information as light, not liquid thesis. It's really given a new emphasis to this first week. Making people consider all the information they'll gather as individual particles and pixels that add up to many, many different possible pictures has given the way we capture and share things new purpose and emphasis.
We creep out of the home-comfort hovels we cocooned ourselves in. And we were the lucky ones. Now, we stumble punch-drunk through our weeks, simultaneously dazed by the half-formed memories of our enforced retreat, and our disbeliveing reengagement with the strange working practices we once submissively accepted...
And so on and so forth. In short; it's all still a bit weird, and the weirdness isn't going anywhere. The weirdness has moved in, it's occupying the spare room, but at least it makes a mean chilli and empties the dishwasher from time-to-time.
Meanwhile, the summer seems to be giving me some much needed space to enjoy the act of making things again.
Well, I didn't think I'd ever start a newsletter with a reference to The Bluetones, but there you go. Anyway, welcome back, it's been seven months since the last newsletter, and this one is fittingly about returns...
Return to work
I've been in London three times in the last two weeks. Which is probably as often as I was there in the whole year prior to that, for obvious reasons.
A short missive today, collecting a few things together before we close down for the summer break. Not that the rain and wind outside conveys summer in any meaningful way. But if the weather here wasn't so unreliable, what would British people write newsletters about, eh?
This one is the 227th. I thought it was the 121st.
Unbeknownst to me, down the bottom of the last newsletter was a wee number that told you ‘This was issue #226 of Artefacts’. Which is what happens if you roll up three newsletters into one on a new platform.
More so than any other spring, I've found myself fascinated by the small signs that change is here. The apple blossom is out in the garden, and I'm keeping a wary eye on the overnight temperatures in case the frost returns. The bluebells in the local woods are on the verge of erupting. Swifts and martins are playing overhead, as we stretch out past the edgelands on dog walks with the inevitable lockdown puppy.
And of course, as the metaphor klaxon brays loudly in the background, there are signs here in the UK which give hints to what the after might look like (not that we're out of the woods yet, when you look at the global picture). What will work look like in the next few years? Where will it be? Who with? How often? Using what?
Analogue phones and digital sketches…life is changing - go play!
http://oliveremberton.com/2014/life-is-a-game-this-is-your-strategy-guide/?_ke=aHV3bGx5d2VseW50aG9tYXNAaG90bWFpbC5jb20%3D
Maybe 2017 is going to be the year of generosity - it certainly feels that way, here at Artefact HQ. We are offering 10% off our refill packs so you can grab them on the shop for just NINE POUNDS! (https://artefactshop.com/products/refill-packs)
If last week was about the sekrit discount code for Black Friday then this week has been all about our secret Christmas project. That is all that we are giving away this week but we promise there is more to follow soon. Plenty of good links below for now.
If you go down to the beach this month, you’re sure of a big surprise…
Hello |FNAME|
Silicon Beach (http://siliconbeach.eu/) is back and we are rather excited that everyone attending will be receiving a custom Field Kit which we, at Artefact HQ, managed to get our hands on earlier this week.
Well now, here’s a few new things we think you’ll love this summer, starting with the picture you’ll see above here, the Artefact Traveller kit. Designed alongside our friends from Formation London (http://www.formationlondon.com/) , it’s a series of assignments for you to complete on a journey, whether it’s business or pleasure.
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This week's collection comes to you from a family day out at The Science Museum in London, where we mostly wandered amongst the stars...
