Ink Thoughts: Montblanc Dragon Red
I’m fond of Montblanc inks - they often hit the sweet spot for me with the combination of great ink quality, shading and saturated colors, beautiful packaging, and story. I compare two rare Montblanc inks - the new Dragon Red, and the older, beloved Shakespeare Velvet Red.
The YosekaLab Planner, Part 2: Vertical Quadrant (Divided)
Earlier this month in the Method and Mayhem series, I wrote about my experiments with the YosekaLab planner’s Gantt layout. Today I am exploring the Vertical Quadrant (divided) on p. 26 of the planner as a tool to track my many, many projects.
Method and Mayhem: the YosekaLab Planner
What I especially love about the YosekaLab planner is the structural permission to experiment. Of course, any planner can be experimented with, but I think I’m not the only one who is often intimidated (and confused) by fancy readymade setups. In contrast, Yosekalab has many different layouts in a small, simple, yet perfectly designed package, with the idea to try out different layouts. Not every layout will work for everyone! Great! It’s built-in!
The Soft Long Story
I care about story and intricacy, and the pleasure of using an older technology. Writing itself is a very old technology, but it, too, is new in the grand scheme of things.
Stationery Storytelling
What especially frustrated me about #montblancgate is that the ink did not have the same story. … What IS the ink about? Can the same ink mean something else three different times? I don’t think so.
On minimalism
I don’t see minimalism as a virtue. Maximalism is also not a virtue. I think our stationery choices are value neutral in the grand scheme of things. But our stationery habit can tell stories about us - about our identity, history, aspirations, character traits, joys and worries, and even neurotype.
Method and Mayhem (series)
I am driven by desire and will to produce works that reflect my inner journeys, and I also have a determination to do so using beautiful tools. So far, so good. But how exactly this is accomplished is a bit of a structured mess.
Collecting as a contemplative practice
There is that feeling of joy that moves us beyond acquisition, towards coexisting with rare and curious objects. It is a contemplative practice that encourages us to slow down, to look deeper, to pay attention.