Weekly Notes on April 10, 2026
No. 6
TO READ
Highly recommend this piece on copper red glazes, Chinese porcelain, Flaubert and more by Naomi Xu Elegant @naomixe
Journalist and author of GINGKO SEASON!
Read the newsletter luanqibazao here: https://naomixe.substack.com/
in search of the blood red sublime
flaubert, porcelain, and the most elusive color in the world
TO READ
From Joey Lico’s substack The Center Will Hold
Great writing here about what we say we want and what we do.
Joey writes:
We say we want discovery, but we reward familiarity. The system didn’t break—it adapted. The question is whether we still know how to look.
We’ve replaced discovery with selection.
There was a time when building a point of view meant going places that weren’t obvious. You followed threads without knowing where they would lead. You met one artist, asked who else mattered, and kept going.
I remember being in cities that weren’t on anyone’s list—spending days moving between studios, being introduced to one artist who would send me to another, and then another. Most of it led nowhere. And then suddenly, it didn’t.
Taste wasn’t assembled. It was built.
TO BUILD
Eames Office and Kettal debuted functional prefab kits to build the Eames Pavillion System. Here is one of many articles out there on this: https://www.wallpaper.com/design-interiors/eames-house-pavilion-kettal
TO CITE
I spotted a post with a link to an interview by @sisterwomansaf (safiya robinson)
with @dvoritdvorit (Deborah Khodanovich) -- in which they talk about her incredible Relational Citation System (RCS). The RCS allows us to cite “co authored, oral, and transmitted knowledge and allows us to trace information along its lineage.”
Here is a link to the podcast to this and other great interviews: https://pod.link/1793372098?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio
TO SEE
The Rijksmuseum @ rijksmuseum has an exhibition up that I really wish I could see.
WORN is an intimate display of fashion garments that have been worn, altered and reused – with a focus on wear, repair and craftsmanship. On view are 24 garments and accessories dating from 1640 to 1930. All of them have been cherished for centuries, from the 17th-century mules with richly embroidered patterns to an 18th-century dress worn by multiple generations of the Six family. See WORN from 27 March 2026 to 21 March 2027.
Link to the museum’s website: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/stories/exhibitions/worn
TO LISTEN
Launched the first in a series of talks by makers, featuring Vipoo Srivilasa, Pola Laamanen and Prashant Pandey
https://events.humanitix.com/what-the-hand-remembers
The Human Touch profiles the makers whose material thinking is increasingly important in our attempt to stay human.
This is the first in Garland’s new series of live online talks, bringing together makers whose work asks questions the rest of us are only beginning to articulate.
How can we be custodians of tradition when our “past is a foreign country”? Three makers have found ways to reconnect with their traditions while staying grounded in the contemporary world. Vipoo Srivilasa @vipooart introduces the spirit of Thai animism to questions of contemporary identity. Pola Laamanen @polalab traces old Karelian embroidery motifs as whispers of the past. And Prashant Pandey @prashantsculptor moves from the family specialisation in marble to an ephemeral material of the street.
TO DO
I am a huge beach pebble gatherer and recently took ‘Painting Rocks with Sophie Tivona’ through A Case for Making. Working on becoming really good at painting rocks and pebbles, and I am definitely getting a copy of this book to try what @m_a_n_i_f_e_s_t_o
Does in this post ater picking up a copy of A Dictionary of Colour Combinations last week from Neil at @drawartstore
They write: I’ve been sifting through my agate collection for colour matches as close as can be found. The book itself is a lovely resource to hold and flick through, built around an extensive collection of colour combinations created by 20th century artist/designer Sanzo Wada.
DISCOVERING TEXTILES. AGAIN
Oh, look! Architectural Digest is discovering textiles.
Again.
Not disparaging the artists mentioned here, just a critique of the framing:
Quote from AD: At Frieze Los Angeles, Textiles Are No Longer on the Fringe. Once relegated to craft, fiber – and its influence on contemporary painting and installation – now commans attention and serious prices.
Article by Lauren Mechling. Title and teaser lines by someone who is punny. Maybe the author, maybe not. Why must craft be separated out like this AND textiles re-discovered every time they are the focus of an article?!
Seen on an IG post by @carvalhonewyork
On Élise Peroi featured in @archdigest ✍🏻 Words by Lauren Mechling.
OPPORTUNITY
Studio Potter is looking for a new Executive Director and Editor.
Part-time (30 hrs per week) permanent, remote
Link here: https://studiopotter.org/now-hiring-executive-director-and-editor
That AD article & framing is so annoying! It's very similar to the way that msm frames the revival of indigo in the Lowcountry, happening repeatedly over more than a decade, as if it's NEW each time a different journalist rewrites a similar version of the same old story (usually featuring the same few artists).
Thank you for the lovely references here. Hope you're well!