How could I not be drawn to Sarah Seidelmann and Suzi Vandersteen? As designers, they guide clients to find the sweet spot where self-acceptance meets great design. As unabashed emissaries of friendship and play, they teach self-exploration and design recovery through entertainment. They laugh, they whoop it up, and they invite whole people to join the party – all our bits are not only welcome, but necessary.

Suzi and Sarah’s design business is Kitchee Gammi Design Company. Joy Junket is their amusement park of a website.

In what way are you most successfully sensitive?

I think what we do really well is that when we have the initial meeting with the client we carefully gather information regarding what’s important to them in terms of the space we’re designing. Then we interpret all the information and collaborate with them on the design. With each update and new idea presented we watch carefully for reactions and feedback so we know when to make changes in the plan and when to reassure the client.

What or who has inspired you to embrace your sensitivity?

Probably responding to and working with many of our clients who had worked with other artists and designers who didn’t listen carefully to their needs and concerns. We feel design is intensely personal and intimate, and we’re privileged to be asked to work with people in their homes. The fact that we’re both always working towards spiritual progress (not perfection) leads us to listen carefully to everyone we work with, from clients to sub-contractors. We then, of course, take those data points and feed them into the design filter of Kitchee Gammi Design Company, resulting in a design that reflects the collaboration.

What are your eternal fascinations?

Beauty, function, the infinite possibilities inherent in how different people live in their homes, nature, good flea markets (treasure hunting), other businesses that bring their own points of view and have fun doing it, fashion, travel to exotic locales (Istanbul, India, Japan …), the makings of a good party, new food finds – essentially all the creative arts and the infinite offerings of new creations that we see every day.

What quest currently captivates you?

Finding a balance between work, play, and family, as all the variables are constantly changing.

We realize that many people don’t need a COUCH, they need a COACH to help them realign with their heart’s desires, so we’ve added coaching services to our menu. Sarah is currently doing additional coaching training with Oprah’s Martha Beck and is freaked out by how limitless personal transformation is.

What is your favourite kind of help to give?

We love to encourage others to live beautifully on their own terms: Don’t do what we do. Do what you do! And we love to encourage fun and laughter all along the way.

Related Reading: Successfully Sensitive | Dolly Hopkins, Book | A Pattern Language

What’s it like to wear a bespoke suit, a suit custom-made to fit me and only me? I want a life like that. I want a plan, a pattern, a path that takes into consideration all the weird, unruly, shocking, steadfast little and big things that combine to shape me. But how?

“The word bespoke itself is derived from the verb to bespeak, to ‘speak for something,’ in the specialized meaning ‘to give order for it to be made.’”
~ Wikipedia entry for Bespoke

What plan speaks for me? Cookie-cutter solutions need not apply. If I can’t make it fit me, if I can’t make it mine, all mine, then forget it. I’ve scoured office supply stores, art supply stores, read books and websites by goal gurus and earnest cheerleaders of every stripe and found only an elite few who make the cut, including these two…

For the past two weeks I’ve been pulling together a strategic planner for 2010, guided by what artist and business school graduate (a combination that thrills me) Lisa Sonora Beam does for herself every year. Although I’m still creating my plan, the power inherent in the thoroughly self-customized system has already taken me so far further along my way than I’d imagined possible that I’m almost scared to continue. The zoom is palpable. For more about this intensely customizable system, see Lisa Sonora Beam’s “Goal Setting for Creatives: My 2010 Strategic Planner.”

One of the zoomy surprises to burst forth from my 2010 Strategic Planner process is that a friend offered to sponsor my fees for an e-course that seems perfectly designed to help me further custom-make my life: Susannah Conway’s Unravelling: Ways of Seeing My Self, which combines photography, journaling, comrades, Susannah’s strong heart, and the promise of deep self-connection.

The primary goal of both systems is to put me in touch with myself in a way that encourages invention, supports forgiveness and acceptance, and fills the silence with my voice, even if I choose to be quiet. What could be more fittingly comfortable than that?

Related reading: Book | The Creative Entrepreneur, by Lisa Sonora Beam

Flickr photo: (untitled), by bird_flew

My copy of Warren Berger’s book bristles with Post-It Notes. Its full title is Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life, Your Business, and Maybe Even the World and it features the visionary ideas of Bruce Mau, along with other designers and thinkers on the topic. I’m forcing myself to stop at page 50 and recommend it to you right now. It’s important.

I have a new theory: highly sensitive people (HSPs) are perfectly suited for being designers. I’m so convinced that we’re extremely valuable precisely because of our various traits, and this book supports that idea in many different ways.

The innate curiosity, complex thinking abilities, and long-viewing we’re capable of as HSPs puts us within sight of visions that are out there, but that might actually work.

What if we saw ourselves as capable and effective at designing the world we want to live in? What if we start with the assumption that we’re built to press our faces up against the outer edge of the envelope and look beyond, to reach out and grasp what didn’t exist until we thought to touch it?

By relying on “abductive reasoning,” or the ability to think about and picture what might be, designers can glimpse possibilities that lie on the other side of the fence.
~ Warren Berger, Glimmer

Designers “live in an expansive world where they believe the only thing limiting us is the stuff we haven’t figured out yet. And they’re excited about it. You’ll hear them say things like, ‘I’m working on this really cool problem that has no answer!’ That’s what they live for.”
~ Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management, as quoted in Glimmer

We need you. We need you. We need you. Your valuable ideas, your whacky imaginings, your unpolished, half-formed, rough, barely describable flights of fancy contain miracles with the leverage to change the trajectory of the planet.

What we’ve found is, if someone has an enthusiasm or curiosity about many different disciplines, then they can be more flexible, more empathetic, and more engaged with the world.
~ Tim Brown, IDEO’s Chief Executive, as quoted in Glimmer

Find some way to pursue what intrigues you. Never mind if no one else is intrigued. That’s the point. Be first. Be brave. Be so curious you drench yourself in questions and come out cleansed, a gift cradled in your hands.

Feeling lost on a project can be the first step toward finding an original solution.
~ Warren Berger, Glimmer

Related reading: Bruce Mau Design’s Manifesto for Growth, Creativity Prompts Compendium

About six years ago, I took a travel writing class in Vancouver. Although the class went on for weeks, it wasn’t until the ride home across town after the last class that I spoke with Keri Medig and we realized we lived within a block of each other. Since then, when we bump into each other in our neighbourhood we stop and chat a bit.

In the years since we met, I’ve watched Kari’s photography career ascend and found that I’m increasingly grateful that the hook holds, that I get to see the world through his eyes, and that I know something – however piecemeal – about the man behind the camera.

What I’ve seen of Kari’s generous personality and his love of being outdoors suffuses his photographs, which focus on the culture of snow and the extreme side of outdoor sports – not a world I have much experience with. But after more than an hour spent looking at everything on his website this morning, I realize that he’s found and communicated such warmth and intriguing visual stories from that world that I have a new respect for those who live there.

I also realize that I’ll miss Kari now that we’ve moved away from Vancouver. His viewpoint, his sensitivity to people and to subtle connections make me want to invite him over for dinner and conversation – not so easy now that we’re not in the same neighbourhood anymore.

I’ll hold fast to the line and see what happens.

Photo (Norway 2161) by Kari Medig. Used with permission.

Related reading: Pep Talk | Wing It, Books | Tim Moore’s Travel Writing

The Creative Entrepreneur: A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real

“You are not making art; you are enquiring about significant matters using art supplies.”
~ Lisa Sonora Beam

An artist with an MBA from Dominican University’s Green MBA program, Lisa Sonora Beam combined her expertise in both realms and came up with a series of prompts and visual explorations simultaneously useful and fun. The specific concepts she’s invented and developed clarify ways to combine heartfelt, meaningful work and the nuts and bolts of business.

For example, the Creative Entrepreneur Mandala combines four pathways – Heart-Meaning, Gifts-Flow, Skills-Tools, and Value-Profitability. By discovering what’s unique about me in each of those paths, guided by her instructions and encouragement, I close in on what she calls the “sweet spot” at the centre of the mandala, the place where all the pathways overlap. She describes the “sweet spot” as “the absolutely unique value you offer to the marketplace that is aligned with your innermost aspirations and ideals.”

If you yearn to be self-bossing, to create a business system that thrives, or just want to explore the possibilities, there’s a wealth of direction in this book. Please don’t let being creative get in the way of also being wildly successful.

“The processes shared in The Creative Entrepreneur can be accessed by all, but the specifics of each are as unique as the individual. That’s why a cookie-cutter approach to succeeding in business so rarely works. The beauty of the processes described here is that you are using proven tools to create your very own road map for getting from where you are right now to where you want to be. Where and how you travel will look very different from other people’s paths.”
~ Lisa Sonora Beam

Find further information about the book at The Creative Entrepreneur website and blog, and about Lisa Sonora Beam at her Sanctuary Studio website.

Related reading: Collage Vision Boards, Creative Collaboration in Great Groups

And if the map is imaginary, I’ll be lost. I’ll gladly roam the unfamiliar world, curious to discover not only another land but another mind.

These are (so far) my favourite sources for imaginary map adventures:

Strange Maps ~ I heartily thank the apparently anonymous creator of this website for regularly making me giggle, gape, and ogle. The author wrote this in the site’s long-ago first post: “I like maps. I like weird maps, the kind you won’t find in a regular atlas. Maps of countries that never existed – or never will exist. … here are the weirdest maps I found on the internet.”

Holly Lisle’s article “How I Drew a Map and Sold Three Books and a World” ~ Holly Lisle is one of my favourite online sources of writing encouragement and resources. Make sure to click on the little pictures in the article to see larger versions of her map creation.

You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination, by Katharine Harmon ~ I wish this book had been produced in a larger format. Nevertheless, the variety and oddness of the maps and the analyses offered make it a captivating gem well worth exploring.

The Dictionary of Imaginary Places, by Alberto Manguel ~ Although this vast dictionary is not only (or even primarily) about maps, it does contain many maps of “the imaginary lands and cities of literature.” If you can’t quite picture a bird’s-eye-view of Narnia or the countries surrounding Oz, this dictionary will make it all clear.

Slightly off-topic bonuses:

The Agile Rabbit Book of Historical And Curious Maps, by Pepin Press ~ The maps in this book aren’t imaginary, but they’re so spectacular and strange that they might as well be.

The World of Donald Evans, by Willy Eisenhart ~ I’m a long-time fan of this odd, interesting man who died too young. He created and painted tiny, gorgeous postage stamps from countries he imagined.

Flickr photo: Early Morning Balloon Trip, by bestfor.

Related reading: Being Home, Pep Talk | Grope

In my constant quest for creativity with a wow-factor, I followed a Flickr photo search to the discovery of Kevin, a man of inspiring creativity, humility, and generosity.

Among other things, Kevin created a couple of digital art freeware programs – VEXER (left picture) and Agony (right picture). I’ve played around some with VEXER, which I downloaded for free from Kevin’s website, and am boggled by the creative options.

The gallery on Kevin’s website offers browsable albums of art from various programs and in different styles. You can also access other people’s art created using Vexer or Agony, through their Flickr Groups: VEXER – by Flikr and Agony – by Flikr. For a tantalizing example, see realeoni’s Abstract 52: The look of a flower.

The Agony program appears to have an animating option, as shown in Kevin’s flikr2542 creation.

There’s humour throughout Kevin’s offerings, and it’s a humour that suits me. For instance, if you click the Help menu in VEXER, the only option is “About VEXER,” which provides this short message:

“VEXER is a farily stupid drawing program. You are using it right now. You can contact its author by emailing: caulky@gmail.com. There is no more about VEXER.”

Call me perverse, but that makes me laugh.

Luckily, there’s an appealingly fascinating self-profile of Kevin on a Flickr discussion group (scroll down a little to the start of the long comment by “flikr” – that’s the name Kevin’s uses on Flickr).

Thanks to Kevin, doodling now touches divinity.

Flickr photo: flikr1608 and flikr1189, by flikr.

Related reading: Curious Curators, Book | Orbiting the Giant Hairball

The inspirational allure of the curiously mundane puts me into a trance of appreciation.

I can get trapped in an old office supply store, paper goods store, or crowded local hardware store, exploring the weird world of the mundane, for longer than my companions usually think is strictly necessary. The utterly normal – whether old or new – crafted with particular quality or ingenuity makes me rub my hands together in anticipation, thrilled that someone else admires details and usefulness as much as I do.

Other lovers of glorious everyday objects include the creators of the these sites:

The Curiosity Shoppe – “Crafts, kits & curios for the creatively inclined”

ReForm School – “Art Craft Design”

Sadie Olive – “Antiques, collectibles and all things inspiring” (Thanks to highly sensitive Stephanie for pointing me to this site from her blog at Mainstream Melancholy.)

Flickr photo: I Believe Your Have My Red Swingline Stapler, by foundphotoslj’s.

Related reading: Fonts of Joy, The Link Between Mess and Abundance

“Dave Hickey’s prose transports are like an eye attached to a butterfly attached to a rocketship…”

~ Lawrence Weschler

Dave Hickey’s résumé is impressive. He’s written for Harper’s Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Artforum, plus many other publications. He’s been the Executive Editor of Art in America magazine. He’s owned and directed an art gallery. He’s written and performed rock songs. I could go on (and on), but I won’t, because my point doesn’t have to do with Hickey’s former or current job titles. The single salient point, the riveting thing, is Hickey’s ability to think in a way that’s both deep and sideways, and to write about his thoughts with gripping flair.

Hickey’s Air Guitar: Essays on Art & Democracy is a compilation of essays about artistic culture, with a large dose of memoir. But this is memoir of a unique order, simultaneously cool (as in neat-o), warm (as in open and vulnerable), and intellectual. The topics covered in Hickey’s essays range from Cézanne, and Flaubert, through jazz, Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, and the Rolling Stones, all the way to Perry Mason, Siegfried and Roy, and Liberace, with oodles more in between. And all the while, the last sentence read begs to be reread in order to dally a while longer in the company of Hickey’s language and large heart.

From the book’s introductory essay:

“We need so many love songs because the imperative rituals of flirtation, courtship, and mate selection that are required to guarantee the perpetuation of the species and the maintenance of social order – that are hardwired in mammals and socially proscribed in traditional cultures – are up for grabs in mercantile democracies. These things need to be done, but we don’t know how to do them, and, being free citizens, we won’t be told how to do them. Out of necessity, we create the institution of love songs. We saturate our society with a burgeoning, ever-changing proliferation of romantic options, a cornucopia of choices, a panoply of occasions through which these imperative functions may be facilitated. It is a market, of course, a job and a business, but it is also a critical instrumentality in civil society. We cannot do without it. Because it’s hard to find someone you love, who loves you – but you can begin, at least, by finding someone who loves your love song. And that, I realized…is what I do: I write love songs for people who live in a democracy. Some of them follow.”

~ Dave Hickey, Air Guitar, “Unbreak My Heart, An Overture”