Whew... What a Summer!
It has certainly taken something for me to get this newsletter out. I have attempted to carve out time for it at several points... the beginning of the summer (when I got rear ended and lost a weeks worth of ceramic work), and in the middle of the summer (when I did some traveling, and then finally caught covid... not from travels, but a wrestling match with my 6 year old niece. I lost ;)
Finally here I am at the end of summer and what a perfect time to do a little summer recap: work I did, fun I had, news about TreeBed Design, and some things to look forward to!
I had just about given up on a long planned trip to the midwest to attend a little folk music festival (Storyhill Fest) that my buddy Chad Elliott was playing. However, it felt important to make this trip happen, and with some loving support and nudging... I did it! Storyhill's music was often the soundtrack to my college years (and beyond), as well as one of the big inspirations for me picking up a guitar myself. It was a beautiful gift to listen to good music at the edge of a Minnesota lake, and rebalance. To weave who I was when I heard many of those songs for the first time, with who I am now. Chad and I reminisced about the conversations we had back in my Vallejo kitchen in 2005, about trying to make a living off of art and music... wondering how that was going to work, and getting to savor that now we are both doing just that (with plenty of challenges, but doing it)! What a gift (and extreme privilege) to sit around a fire and have my creative soul recharged.
I returned from that trip, and it has been one sign after another that something has shifted. Work things that have fallen into place with new motivation/energy, and new opportunities to be in service/community using my skills. As I come up on five years since loosing everything in the fire, and the giant reset that experience was... I feel that chapter of recovery ending and a new one beginning.
I look forward to the transition into Fall, and using the energy in motion to be more intentional about where I'm headed (along with what is next for TBD). I am excited to share all of that with you!
Quixote Project
One of the fun projects I finished up this summer was for Quixote Winery in Napa Valley. I got the opportunity to design a plate-setting for their new food & wine pairing experience. It was an exciting process to play off of the unique architecture of the place, and blend it with my own style (which was a natural fit in many ways).
Designing Outside the Straight Lines
From the moment you drive up to Quixote, located in the Stags Leap district of the Napa Valley... you know there is something unique about this winery. As stated on the Quixote website, "In 1989, Carl Doumani discovered the work of Friedensreich Hundertwasser, an Austrian painter, architect, ecologist and philosopher. Believing that the wine society had transformed a beverage of consummate pleasure into an absurdly serious pursuit, Doumani commissioned Hundertwasser to design a winery that combats these notions."
With bold/playful colors, organic lines, and a whimsical connection to the natural landscape... I wanted the plates to reference the mosaic tiles seen around the property. Each small bite that chef Aaron LeRoi makes for this tasting experience gets its own little "tile" to be placed on a larger platter. What a beautiful (delicious) result!
Website Updates!
With that said... There are NEW ITEMS up on the website!!! I will also be adding/refreshing more in the coming weeks.
I am going to try a more "made to order" approach for some of these items, and see how that goes. What does that mean? I will have some of the website pieces ready to go, but more that can be made quickly to be shipped when finished (maybe a week or so).
With heaps of gratitude, - Micah/TreeBed Design
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