Hasta La Ideas

I’m Mason Currey—for the past few months, I’ve been working as a guest editor here at Core77, and now my Core colleagues (Core-lleagues?) have asked me to write a brief post introducing myself.

So, first, let me take this opportunity to shamelessly plug my new book. It’s called Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, and it collects information about the routines and working habits of 161 inspired minds—among them, novelists, painters, composers, poets, philosophers, filmmakers, and scientists. If you’re interested in Beethoven’s coffee-making regimen, Kafka’s procrastination methods, Buckminster Fuller’s nap schedule, or Benjamin Franklin’s naked “air baths”—look no further, this is book for you!

In all seriousness, though, the book is also relevant to my work here at Core. As you might guess, I have always been fascinated by process—by how creative people make the time to do their work, and what rituals, habits, superstitions, and neuroses help (or hinder) their creative activity. At Core, I’ve been feeding this obsession with a couple of new blog series. One is the Core77 Questionnaire, where we’re asking a variety of designers 22 questions about their current projects, backgrounds, working habits, and thoughts on design. Over the past few weeks, we’ve talked to Ralf Groene, the director of design for Microsoft’s Surface tablet; Paul Loebach, a furniture and product designer in Brooklyn; and Ayse Birsel, who has named herself the Chief De:Re Officer of Birsel + Seck. We’ll be posting a new interview every other Tuesday.

(more…)