Noah Winkler

I can spiral into obsession when I sink my teeth into a task at work - usually an open-ended design opportunity. This spiral can lead to a mental fatigue that actually blocks my ability to creatively ideate, though I continue to tell myself that "I'll get it in this next drawing." A walk, long or short, almost always serves to clear my brain, reset my logic to it's uncluttered state, and untangle the mess of ideas that have begun to blend. I always return to my desk with at least a few fresh ideas naturally.

If I watch TV or surf the web as I eat, my attention moves away from the food and into the digital world. I find that my food literally loses flavors and gets eaten quicker with less satisfaction. The meal serves less as a necessary pause in my day and an opportunity to slow myself. I also neglect the potential learning opportunity I have in each meal to improve my cooking skills and figure out how to do more with less.

One of the themes of the presentation was NAU's innovation in material reduction during their process, largely attributable to reuse. Obviously their re-purposing of recycled materials happens at a corporation's scale but definitely inspires me to adapt a similar approach in my own wardrobe. A tear can be an opportunity for a clever pocket or patch, an outgrowth an opportunity for a creative hem, and a stain an opportunity for a tie-dye, bleach-dye, or, again, A POCKET! (I'm gonna end up with some funky pocket locations)