I identify myself as a designer, storyteller, learner, research and craftperson. I like recreating or inventing new experiences through storytelling and in doing so, incorporating design theories and research. Similar to most designers, I love well-coordinated color swatches, rare types and things organized neatly. But I am especially into purposeful design, or design that is backed up by thoughtful research. I have been and always will be a learner because I can never get enough of new techniques. They do not have to be ground-breaking technology. Learning how to crochet this past week, for example, has been delightful.

I have many favorite tools. On the first day of class, I mentioned the letterpress (which is magical). I also love the small but mighty bone folder and x-acto knife for bookmaking. They are tools that are specifically made for artists because they are not as easy to use as scissors and rulers.

What I love about learning how to crochet is that because I’m fairly new, the progress has been pretty fast. I went from making twisted messy knots to a square of single crochet in 2 days. I learned by following Youtube tutorial. It is very helpful when the teacher explained what she is doing instead of telling people to follow her without understanding the structure of the single crochet. I spent a day without much improvement following one tutorial that was shorter but didn’t explain much. The next day, I switched to a longer but more thorough tutorial and the result was very satisfying.