Simplify Simplify Simplify

Less is ALWAYS more! Aside from Modernist design, I have adopted it's motto as looking at having less of consumed goods creates a full life.

 few  LOVED things  > lots of 'liked' goods = my curated minimalism life.

Where we are going we won't need roads!

OK, so maybe I will need roads but I am entering new territory. I am about to enter grad school to get my MArch, well that's the plan! 

I have been pondering it ever since I graduated with my interior architecture degree. As a little background: interior architecture is NOT interior design and it is NOT architecture. If you look at architects as envelope designers, interior architects design the inside of that envelope. Thus, I do not pick out colors, fabric and furniture, though I can by all means. I have been educated to understand building systems and to create spaces that are commercial, not residential. Still confusing? Google it.

So with the economy the way that it is, I figure that there is not better time than the present to re-enter school. After graduation and working in a firm I slowly realized that although interior architecture is great and I liked it, there really are not very many jobs in that field that fit what I wanted my career to be. I wanted more freedom with design and to be able to have better career opportunities. So, after much deliberation, I visited the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and chose to attend. Something about being in an architectural studio makes me feel right, this is what I am supposed to do in life. 

I have accepted and registered for my summer class. Being that I do not have a BFA in architecture, I have to attend extra school with everyone else who is lacking the background. So now I start my 3 1/2 year program. The blog is switching it up and now turning into a sort of documentation of my schooling, experiences and work. By doing this, I hope not only to allow myself to become stronger at explaining myself and work but to also inform anyone in the same boat that I was in.

I will not be blogging about my schooling until it starts in July but I aim to write not the typical student blog or architecture blog for that matter. While I plan on writing about my current projects, internships and coursework, I also plan to write about my life as a grad student, Milwaukee resident and anything else that I so choose.

The perfect pen sketching/writing/life.

Every artist has their own arsenal. They may have a signature pen, pencil, watercolor or marker, but each has their own favorite. While in school for interior architecture I think I switched pen brand/styles four times per year. I always got sick of replacing ink that was hard to find, smudging drawings, not having the ink hold up on trace paper and bleeding that seemed to only happen when writing notes. 

For a while, I was in love with my Rapidographs. They came in different line weights, that made easy for complex drawings, and were pretty easy to fill. Their downfall? I was using then before during and right after my semester abroad. While I was on a plane all the time, I noticed that right after or during a flight, the in somehow was effected by the pressure and would leak. The worst of all, I had forgotten and the ink fell all over a pair of my favorite jeans. Whoops!

The industry secret was broken to me. The Pilot Fineliner. The felt tip was easy to use and gave the familiar feeling of a marker, the size fit perfectly in hand for hours of straight use and it was really affordable. No smudging too! Nearly everyone in the industry uses them and they travel really well! My only problem: the ink is a little too rich and bleeds through my favorite sketchbook.

My switch came from an online recommendation somewhere online: a Rotring. Although nearly no one uses fountain pens but calligraphers, they really have lasted long for a reason. Most people stopped using them because it was a pain to refill the ink and chained people to carrying around a bottle of ink with them just in case they would run out. Enter the 21st century: the easy refill. Most companies allow for a refill to be put in the nib that gets tossed when the ink is out and a new one needs to be put in. But I got sick of it, I know I'm a fickle person. My reasoning: the length got in my way and was hard to carry with me on a regular basis.

Enter my new favorite, and the one for my lifetime pen.The Lamy Safari. It just looks good. It fits perfectly into any hand, is lightweight and only 5.5" long. I have only had it a few days but I am in love. I wanted to get the aluminum body, but the store I was at only had the Safari. The ink fits in just the way the Rotring does and also has an additional accessory that can be purchased to turn it back to the classic fountain pen with ink bottle. The line is a little thicker than the Rotring, about the same as a fineliner, the weight is just right for a pocket- I can barely tell that I carry it in my pocket, and the refills are easy to do.