continuing education

you will never know everything there is to know; therefore there is always something to be learned. 

in the professional world, it is easy to get caught up in the day to day or the next deadline, and we often miss opportunities to learn, we often say we don't have the time.  or maybe the last thing we want to do after a long day at work is use our lunch hour to hear about the latest technology, product, or gizmo... even if this knowledge might help us do our jobs more efficiently in the future... or for us designers and creative types to get that warm fuzzy feeling that we get when we see something new something that inspires us. 

lesson:  stop.  listen.  be inspired.  recognize the opportunity to learn.

in italy my job specific mission was to see the facilities where some of our furniture pieces are being manufactured and asses how our pieces are being constructed.   a lot goes into furniture, more than you would think.  wood pieces, foam pieces, metal pieces, fabric pieces... and then there is the hand-craft of assembling all of these made goods into one piece of custom furniture that not only looks good, but is comfortable and functions the way we need it to.  there really should be (if there isn't already) a furniture episode of how it's made!

all of that knowledge can only help you to appreciate beautiful design when you see it off of the paper and in the real world.  designer's get especially hyped about it... which is why i was like a kid at the north pole when our furniture manufacturer took me to Poliform (one of my favorite furniture companies for which they do some of the upholstery work)!
   
here is a glimpse of their showroom in the italian countryside north of milano... drool. 

 

 

 

 

 

just lovely.