Because I think it’s a great way to start off the new quarter, I share some correspondence between me and a student who is coming to realize her own power.

You can be sure students are getting a great education when they begin to measure what they do know against what they don’t know. It’s never about how much you know, or can memorize. It is about reaching that place where you begin to realize you are empowered, you are pushing your own personal values forward. Kinzie’s doing that, so her confidence is now becoming contagious.

And, the thing is, this is a time of change, and change should be embraced, even though it is hard not to be scared of it. As Kinzie grows into her future, as she grows in trusting of herself, I will do everything in my own power to make sure she has the most desirable opportunities to put her Portfolio Center education to its best use.

                "come to edge of the cliff," he said
                       "we are afraid," they said
              "come to edge of the cliff," he said
                       "we are afraid," they said
              "come to edge of the cliff,"he said
                             they came.
                             he pushed.
                             they flew.
                    — Guillaume Appollinaire

Now for the letters:

From: Kinzie Hamer To: “Hank Richardson” hank@portfoliocenter.com
Subject: you’ll never guess… ….but, just guess anyway!!

…the frame of my chair is in production and under way in san diego- yessssss!!….it will make its way to atlanta as soon as it is completed and i am going to get the other portion of the production (the leather strips for the seating) started in Atlanta as soon as I’m back in town…..i’m excited, hope you will be too (it’s about time this all happened, anyway…i know, i know). i had to make some design decisions based on my “history” with this project, the story sharing and the way in which the form expresses my story while it must also function as an object for sitting in, like a house functions as a machine for living in (oh, gotta love it) :) But, my point is, I had to make some decisions, some choices on my own- a tough thing for me to do….to trust my instinct, while carefully considering previous feedback, etc. I hope you will be pleased with and proud of the result. You know, Anxiety and I seem to get along fairly well, maybe we spend a little too much time together :) ….speaking of, i’ve got a LOT on my mind as i prepare myself for this quarter (grad qtr)….i am worried, and have been trying to brainstorm and collect my thoughts in an organized manner as i try to assess my work and anticipate what is coming….i am trying to focus my energy and figure out how and where i can revise my projects….ahead of time….probably not entirely possible, i know, but i’m feeling the pressure!!!

Talk to you/see you soon! Hope you enjoyed your time at the beach.

-Kinz

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From: Hank Richardson Date: June 29, 2008 1:51:08 AM EDT Subject: Kinzie >>> Fwd: you’ll never guess…

Dear Kinzie,

So, 483 emails in my mailbox, 86 drafts in progress, and a desktop of untouched open emails tonight, and yours, Kinzie, is the one I choose to answer… and that coming after a loooooong day on the road arriving back home just a bit ago from Fripp Island, down off the coast of SC, via a daytrip swing by Hilton Head and over to Savannah for lunch… I did enjoy the time spent with colleagues and their families over the week.

Fripp Island, I should explain, is the furthest point you can get off the continental U.S. (google, and you will see it) before you drop into the ocean. It is the only time during the year I take a couple days off to ‘refire the engines’… have to say it is beautiful…remote, way too much sunshine, sparsely populated, secure, sequestered; filled with alligators, snakes, storks, and palm trees; has such an abundance of seafoods that it is hard to imagine (and, cooked by an array of colleagues whose culinary talents are unbelievable); boasts an amazing tennis club and a bunch of golf courses. The tennis court or my bike is where I was most of the time. I like places that are quiet and where I can think. This will be the only email out tonight, as I am going to turn in afterwards….

The chair sounds wonderful, and I am proud of you for bringing it to fruition, and in so many ways. You’ll have to show me the progress on Monday. Perhaps you will change your name as Charles Édouard Jeanneret-Gris once did—his to Le Corbusier. Perhaps so you might be able to introduce your own new ideas into reality just as he did in his time… the new moniker, ah! Le KinZ… and the ideal could be re-defined, “A house is a machine for living in.”

Paul Rand imagined how it is we seek to resolve “the endless conflicts between spiritual and material, between ends and means, form and content, form and function, form and facture, form and purpose, form and meaning, form and idea, form and habit, form and skill, form and style.” It is the merging of these conflicts that determines the aesthetic quality of a painting, a design, a building, a sculpture, a printed piece, or a chair—— YOUR chair.

And your note reminds me to mention, when Charles Eames was asked whether he designed for pleasure or function, he responded, “Who ever said pleasure wasn’t functional?”

The task is to make accessibility just that in the design of your chair… and to make it enjoyable as well. Within that thought @ issue is the understanding that the elegance of the solution which solves the problem is a personal challenge, not a utilitarian discipline. So, how can you, as a designer, use a visual medium to instill, to suggest values into society? Perhaps by not using a design-for-design’s-sake approach. Rather, you tap into your own value system.

If you approach your design this way, you’ll not limit yourself to simply reacting to current culture; instead, you—Kinzie—push the paradigm and make the value of design a moral transaction by your own work.

What we seek in design, not that we always achieve it, is a harmonious relationship, where value becomes a balance between form and beauty. Bucky Fuller did an excellent job of clarifying this ideal as he imagined, “When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I only think of how to solve the problem. But, when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know its wrong.”

A lot of chairs at school are beautiful to look at, but I would never want to sit in them. So are they “bad design”?

The purpose of the chairs is to create culture, more than to reflect it. No doubt, some hit the mark better than others in their interpretation. The chairs explore the relationship, assuredly, of form and how it plays in shaping culture—beliefs, goals, language. And in this sense, the ideal that design is a process of inquiry— a means of understanding and a way of guiding interaction—is the most important aspect, even beyond the significance of the physical form.

What your chair represents and reflects is that role of the designer to understand the condition of modernism as a progressive force and attitude, one full of passion, humor and value, and, as I alluded to in the former paragraph, it is one of being a catalyst that can be used for exploring and defining critical relationships of culture.

Dan Friedman, noted some years ago in his ideas about a radical modernism: “It is important to find comfort in the past only so long as it might expand insight into the future and not just for the sake of nostalgia.”

So, try to consider that it’s with that intent as a neophyte designer you would explore the relationship of design history and design criticism as a catalyst for new ideas. After all, your chair itself will become a true denomination of culture, and it will be a constant reminder of modernist principles of form and function.

You are becoming a very empowered person, Kinzie Hamer; that’s the direction you’re heading in, and that power will be manifested in your work.

As for the other comments in your note, about anxiety… again, it is about the conflict—not the getting along. Why not focus on building from your strengths and not worry so much about eliminating your weaknesses.

Kinzie, come in on day one with a fire in your belly, with a desire and will to excel… hard work is what you must pay for success. I know you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay this price. Leadership is not something you are born with; it is something that comes from hard work… To find your success, you have to learn to lead… start by believing fully in yourself, for to achieve anything in this world, you have to believe.

Miss you.

See you back here on Monday ready to go.

Hank.

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