Daybreak Design Blog

For me, the break of day is a rarely experienced, inspiring moment. It reminds me that I have the power to choose something new. I can take a new view of life, or create a new habit, or see a new angle on a problem that has had me stumped.

I remember walking on a winter morning while it was still dark. After about 15 minutes I heard a bird sing and realized that that was the first one I’d heard. It felt like I’d been given the gift of hearing the first bird in the whole world. Pretty soon I heard another chirp, and another. Then a different bird followed.

Soon I noticed a hint of light. Then, gradually, with more light I started seeing colors. Next, a window in a house lit up. Then I heard a dog’s bark down the street. And then (inevitably, in my neighborhood) the first plane passing overhead. Eventually every thing increased with it’s own unique rhythm until the day fully blossomed. I have never forgotten that experience.

Later it struck me that my design process happens in a very similar manner. First, darkness. Then an idea comes. Then an element of the idea repeats itself – first over here – then again over there. As I work on it longer, the idea reveals itself in further detail – a line here, and then a shape over there. These ideas are influenced by the existing environment. They build on what is useful, and overcome things that cause challenges. Elements repeat themselves until the sum of the parts is revealed as a whole.

I know that you have had moments when you realize that changing your home will change your life for the better. Life at home will be easier and more enjoyable, which in turn will give you more energy to pursue all of the good things in life that fulfill you. That’s a Daybreak moment.

Try setting your alarm clock earlier once, and leave the snooze button off. Get dressed and go outside. I dare you not to have a revelation!

Ever wonder why … some of us sit and some of us squat?

Witold Rybczynski explores how the modern house evolved in his delightful book ‘Home: A Short History of an Idea’. He noodles the squat/sit question from several points of view and still comes up with a question mark.

Were chairs developed in response to cold floors? The warm-weather Mesopotamians, Egyptians and Greeks were the first to use them. Do dollars equal possessions? Ethiopia and Bangladesh use few furnishings but Ottoman Turkey, Moghul India and imperial Persia all could have afforded to use chairs but chose not to. Does biology explain it? Cultures that choose to squat include both the relatively taller people of Africa and the generally shorter people of Asia.

What is clear is that using chairs is a choice, not a necessity, and that chairs can be designed to represent all sorts of things, just like any other object. Comfort, importance, social status, fashion, to name a few.

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