I was in Los Angeles last week and ended up having a very design-filled couple of days.

I visited the gorgeous studio of my recent, private client Haus of Meeshie: HōM in a historic part of Westchester I had never visited in the almost twenty years I lived in LA. Then I visited my client Jill Romine while she installed her owner's suite and bath at the Pasadena Showcase house. (I can't share pictures but the room has a bed and a feeling, you have to see in person when it's open in April.) I also saw a couple of past clients speaking on panels during West Week at the Pacific Design Center, which is also celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Los Angeles continues to evolve and so does our industry, along with the events that hold influence. In a moment when AI has become a talking point, I was more interested in remembering the power of the things our hands and imaginations can create.

No one can tell you as an artist what to feel. No one can tell you what to think. No one can tell you what to make. Unless you let them.

Creativity is part of our biology. It's what makes us human. Craft has ancient origins. More importantly though artists and their curiosities and convictions have always shaped the cultural conversation. With all the noise, not only on instagram, but in the world, it can be easy to forget that even AI is a human creation. It’s why people doing business—in the patriarchal model, not the spiritual one—try so desperately to clone and diminish the value of our expressions, to mass produce the vision and decisions that come from an artist’s real experience.

To some artists are dangerous because we’re not interested in the status quo; because we capture truth; because many are willing to “starve” for their art. Artists are difficult to control. That’s a very good thing.

Craft is from the old German word—kraft—meaning strength, and it’s evolved to mean skill, specialized knowledge and power. Crafting is strength and power, because to craft has long been linked to cultural identity.

Unless you’ve been living under your blanket—and now is not the time to do that—you know that in this moment, we are at a turning point.

Kings and Queens are no longer the only people who have wealth. Artists don’t need them as patrons. We don’t need to sell our souls: we need to tell the truth. Your people can find you and be directly impacted by the work you make meaningful when you choose who to serve with your art. Choose wisely.

How are you using your creative voice in this moment of profound disruption and change Reader? Because you and I are creating the soul of the culture and the culture is transforming.

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