01. Coffee
One evening. 37 shots of espresso. 2 passable drinks. Only 1 that tasted just right.
01. Coffee
One evening. 37 shots of espresso. 2 passable drinks. Only 1 that tasted just right.
It started out simply enough: I like to start my day with a good cup of coffee. So I decided to learn how to make one.
Cut to 6 of us huddled around the machines at the Intelligentsia shop in Venice, CA, listening to Charles Babinski talk about coffee and coffee making, about the five key flavors (sweet, sour, bitter, salty and savory a.k.a umami), the equipment and how to evaluate espressos for brightness, aroma, body, flavor and crema. It took some practice to pick up the different flavor nuances as we tasted the many, many amazing espressos Charles made.
Then it was our turn. I stepped up to the gleaming and enormous La Marzocca machine and started pulling espressos. Shot after shot, with minor adjustments between shots. Did I tamp the coffee evenly? Does it taste too bitter? Was it under-extracted?
37 shots later, there were 2 cups that tasted fine and only 1 that I would have (gladly) paid for.
Lessons Learnt
- Coffee is the new wine. In fact, coffee has more aromatic and flavor compounds than wine, an estimated 1500 vs 200 in wine.
- Pulling a good shot of espresso takes training. And practice. And then some more practice...
- Most good things, including good design, take practice.
02. Trans-architecture
02. Trans-architecture
It was 1996. I was visiting UCLA when I walked into a talk by Marcos Novak. That's when I first heard about the Situationists and Transarchitecture.
I was planning to study urban design, driven by a vision of shaping how people experience public spaces.
Until I met Marcos Novak. He got me thinking about a new kind of 'liquid' architecture, cut loose from traditional logic and laws of gravity. Where spatial configurations exist at the intersection of virtual and physical, and mutate in response to people and events.
He was the man who helped me 'see' Minority Report years before it was built.
Graduate school was where I learnt how to code (though I don’t make a very good coder/ the best technologists I know have more patience!). I learnt how to think in terms of liquid architecture (virtual spaces generated algorithmically); write algorithms to create interactive spaces in dialog with the audience (music that plays based on where and how many people are in a room); build virtual worlds (first UCLA Campus VR map; 3D spaces inspired by paintings).
Inspired by the Situationists, I build a Virtual World with the words from the Latin palindrome In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni ('we turn in the night and are consumed by fire') which was featured at the Getty Museum.
Lessons Learnt
- You never know when life can take an interesting twist.
- We live in a time where the spaces we inhabit and the spaces we interact with are merging. We, as users, can choose how to experience this new space.
03. World-gazing
03. World-gazing
A good cup of coffee. Chocolate cake. Daily Life. People. Food. Conversations. Travel. Simple things inspire me.
(Many) Lessons Learnt
'The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.' - Marcel Proust
My first avocado. Uni. Spanish chocolate. Churros.
A: What else have I never eaten before? Let's go exploring.
The first time I saw an XL cup of Coke at the movie theater.
A: What is that? Can one person really drink it all? Can good design nudge people and societies to make smarter, healthier options?
The time we wandered for 5 hours trying to find the hotel we were meant to stay at.
A: Smiling and pointing can take you far, but sometimes Google Maps is quicker.
The man I sat next to in Pompidou Cafe, who later sent me his recipe for clementine cake.
A: Talking to strangers has changed in today's connected world. And, you never know when you'll find your next favorite recipe.
A conversation with a monk about 'where is home'
A: Sometimes strangers can show you your path. And the next TED talk worth watching.