Author: A. Spaice

Issue #86

A. Spaice

S P A C E | Đà Lạt • ‘Tìm Mình Trong Thế Giới’ is the next in our weekly e-zine series. It is set to release on Tuesday.

DK Director Dipika Kohli made the drawing on the cover this week. The drawing’s title is: Chúc Ngủ Ngon & Chào Buổi Sáng / Good Night & Good Morning.

A line artist for many years, Kohli has rekindled her old style of drawing by putting pencil to page again. This [cover] drawing is part of a series of more than fifty new pencil and colored pencil works. These were created in quiet moments, on the spot, in several cafes and brightly lit atelier spaces she discovered while in ‘The Great Lockdown’ (so far) in Đà Lạt, Việt Nam. Kohli had plenty of time alone to write, draw, and reflect, whilst also working on a new book, End of the Rainbow (Kismuth Books / forthcoming 2020).

This  effort has come out of the slowing down, a natural outcome  resulting from the first and second waves of covid19-related measures to maintain social distancing, and self-isolating, in the era of this, the Great Lockdown, so far. Kohli has been in the Central Highlands since April—and continues to discover and make. In bursts, that is. And only when inspired by the chance encounter and surprisingly enriching dialogues with the people in the places where she goes. S P A C E is a weekly zine. It is created by Design Kompany, which was started in 2004 in Seattle and today is based in Phnom Penh. DK are intrigued about how to design the space for an aesthetic moment to happen, on the spot, for unexpected and random connexion, with the people, objects, and places where they go, in S P A C E.

You can order this week’s issue.

Here’s a link.

http://gum.co/space-dalat-tmttg

Thanks! ;)

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23 July | ‘Tìm mình trong thế giới’

A. SpaiceLeave a comment

It’s a small, real-life meet up for a max of 4. It’s also a mini-workshop. It’s on FB.

Here’s a link.

https://www.facebook.com/events/281855386383568/

Exact location to be shared by email, since you already know if you got the link to this page that I do not have a handphone.

Email me, so.

Thanks!

 

Short course in Identity Design

A. Spaice

A set of 6 modules for anyone to work out their ‘brand’

About this Event

Learn our top 6 go-to resources for you to discover how to build your brand, from scratch.

In a short course that will begin on Tuesday, we will share our top 6 modules that have worked well for more than 80 small businesses and organizations whom we have worked for in Seattle, Durham NC, and Phnom Penh. DK has created brand identity designs for small and medium-sized businesses since 2006.

You’ll be able to learn, and apply right away, the lessons from our past experiences by working with these exact six tools to figure out your core story, and how you can best tell it to the world.

Register here.

Thiết kế trang web tại Đà Lạt & Sài Gòn

A. Spaice

THU HÚT CÁC NHÓM KHÁCH HÀNG MỚI..

Chúng tôi có thể giúp doanh nghiệp của bạn phát triển trực tuyến mạnh mẽ. Thiết kế trang web tại Đà Lạt. Các phương tiện truyền thông, Thiết kế trang Web và nhiều hơn thế nữa..

Liên hệ ngay với Chúng tôi..

What the Canadians said

A. Spaice

On the road today, I met two people who, like me, have been randomly and indefinitely in Vietnam since March. They are from Toronto.

One said to me, ‘There’s this line… I remembered! We used to laugh at America. Now we pity them.‘

6 July | DK Short Course in Brand Identity Design

A. Spaice
A set of 6 modules for anyone to work out their ‘brand’

About this Event

Learn our top 6 go-to resources for you to discover how to build your brand, from scratch.

In a short course that will begin on Tuesday, we will share our top 6 modules that have worked well for more than 80 small businesses and organizations whom we have worked for in Seattle, Durham NC, and Phnom Penh. DK has created brand identity designs for small and medium-sized businesses since 2006.

You’ll be able to learn, and apply right away, the lessons from our past experiences by working with these exact six tools to figure out your core story, and how you can best tell it to the world.

Register here.

Issue #81

A. Spaice

This week’s issue is ready to share.

It’s called S P C | Sài Gòn • ‘Start with Something Simple’.

#81

About ‘SwSS’…

Trang Le’s story, ‘A Discovery of… Myself,’ is the lead story. It is in Vietnamese. One of the most sharply observing young people DK has met in a long time, it is a chronicling of the author’s experience slowly passing time in Đà Lạt, away from home. Two of her photographs showcasing the natural beauty in and around Đà Lạt are included, too. You’ll also find some quirky terrariums created by Dinh Ngô, who shared these images with DK for this issue after we happened to find them in real lfe. He, too, like Le, had found new ways to discover—in this case, a new creative pursuit—over the period of lockdown. Experimenting with making… terrariums led to a new outcrop of beginnings, it seems. The cover photograph and inside images give you an idea of the vibe.

Special thanks to Bích Ngọc, who translated into Vietnamese Dipika Kohli’s  short dialogue, ‘Phoneless,’ about a true encounter in real life in Ho Chi Minh City with someone who, like Kohli, professed he, too, does not have a phone.

How to order..

S P C | Sài Gòn • ‘Start with Something Simple’ is ready to order.

Here’s a link.

http://gum.co/space-saigon-swss

Thanks!

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An art of the moment

A. Spaice

Fascinating insights this week as I review all my notes, in one sitting (thank you, desk!) from a three-month period of time in one place. That is to say, DK did not move (naturally, right?) in March, April and May. Instead, we hunkered down in one point in the Central Highland of Vietnam.

Going to be sharing about the learnings, gleanings, insights and beautiful beginnings of extraordinary things, soon. In Papers.

It will be confidential, and only relevant to those who join in. That is, nothing is going to be put there if it’s not somehow part of the spheres of interest of those who join. Which is why it’s so fun. [deleted]

Papers is my online conversation space, now, pretty much exclusively.

And it’s also exclusive, just four guests at a time.

The point? A place to go to share ideas, bounce things off of others, and connect. Deeply, not trivially (as R. Pirsig put it so insistently, and endearingly, in Lila). Because we need this. We need quality conversation space and not just massive 1:many thingies.

I don’t really like 1:N. Partly why I’m not doing this blog so much, these days. I used to! Wow, did I ever. I blogged every day in 2006, I think. Jeez, though. That’s just a… lot of stuff… And I don’t feel like sharing now with the big vast internet. Most of it is a mess. Rather than nondescript ‘N’, I made Specific ‘N’, as in 16N, a project on hiatus. Had thought about doing a virtual version, but that’s just… anti-thematic to ‘N’. So I’ll just wait until I feel like it. If at all.

But what is the point of Papers you ask ? To help people realize their own projects. I think a lot of people stall [deleted]…. done; at least, that’s what I’ve seen. So I like to give people structure—a scaffolding—something to build onto. A formal form. I know how to do this, because of my past life in architecture and journalism and design and moving around the world on my two feet.

And I can point to things, say, ‘Why not try…’

It works.

If it didn’t, why would anyone join, anything, ever, that I do? Yet I really love that there are 600+ people in our FB community (sorry I haven’t been putting anything there, ever), or some 300 some on Instagram (ditto). Meaning… there are people around or who used to be around who wanted to know how DK could help.. them… accomplish stuff? I think… for me, that’s it. I make Papers to keep some conversations going, sure, but also, to help people figure out how to figure things out.

So those people (and I do invite quite carefully, mind), can  get places… so they can… ‘Break on Through!’…

Speaking of breakthroughs

Because I certainly have, using these methods, in my own work here at DK and at other things I’m up to, too. Yeah, and so, given all that, I’m ready to include a few more voices for July.

At the time of this writing, we have two spots, for July.

 

Gift issue

Anyone who applies *today* will get a free copy of this week’s issue of S P C.

It launches today !

It’s ‘Continuous Partial Attention!’

HT Michael Bridgett, Jr. Working with MB is a great pleasure for us, as always. And it starts with things like Papers, to get the ball rolling on getting more and more deep into these layers of connexion. We are filtering all he time, based on.. sincerity! What else matters, lol.

On Deck

A. Spaice

Be a part of an international conversation in the cloud

About this Event

Since 2017, Design Kompany, or ‘DK’, has been publishing a weekly e-magazine called S P A C E.

The idea is to discover, and share, the stories of us… the people we meet, where we go, and what we find out together. In conversations that last sometimes hours in a stretch, or spill over through multiple days, we get to know our guests at Atelier S P A C E meetups, which are almost always by invitation, only.

The way it works is then we find a theme. Write our feelings, our ideas, our stories. Then, share and discuss them. Together.

When you join us in July, you’ll have a chance to sample this experience. You’ll have a chance to interact with us in this way… only, in the cloud, not in person.

 

Maybe you’ll see your own writing featured in our magazine, one day !

This is a chance to develop your work, explore with others also doing the same, and get the ace advice of our seasoned team of editors, designers, and professional writers over at Design Kompany, too.

Experience it…

Application required.

Apply here. [If it’s a fit, you’ll hear more from us by email…]

Thanks!

A. Spaice

Issue #80

A. Spaice

Today we are working in the cloud to wrap up a very fun, light and intriguing issue of S P C. It’s called S P C | Sài Gòn • ‘Continuous Partial Attention.’

It’s ready for pre-order. Here’s a link.

http://gum.co/space-saigon-continuouspartial

 

‘What?..’

This issue’s title is ‘Continuous Partial Attention,’ a term that was coined, according to Wikipedia, by Linda Stone. Special thanks to Stone for allowing DK to quote from her work on the center spread, of this zine.

Why this topic? Well! Glad you asked. As anyone who knows DK personally knows, we prefer attentiveness, intention, selectivity, and, of course, our signature personality trait: focus. Exploring deeply into this topic of ‘continuous partial attention,’ we decided to go back and pull a favorite old story from our archives to redistribute this week.

The lead story for this issue is, ‘Undefined,’ by Michael Bridgett, Jr. His work features in other issues of S P C, including Issue #46 ‘An Art of the Moment’ and many more, as he was a contributing editor and early collaborator in helping DK find its footing towards the making of more and better S P C.

***

Michael Bridgett, Jr.

‘I believe in the power of spontaneity and improvisation–the creation of something powerful in the moment,’ says Michael Bridgett, Jr., also known as Mike Dynamo, a multi-disciplinary artist based in Phnom Penh. ‘And possibly never to be seen again. It allows me to be fully present. When I perform, I draw on the energy of the crowd and the people around me, amplify it, and give that energy right back, ten-fold. It’s my superpower… In my writing, I strive for honesty, speaking about things that many don’t like to talk about. I want to make people think about their assumptions, because assumptions are a direct result of not being present and not engaging with what is in front of you. Of course, sometimes I just want to riff on video games, comics, and movies I love and analyze.’ mikedynamo.wordpress.com

 

***

Issue #80

S P C | Sài Gòn • ‘Continuous Partial Attention’ is ready to share !

It’s due to release on 23 June.

It’s ready for pre-order. Here’s a link.

http://gum.co/space-saigon-continuouspartial

Papers | Saigon

A. Spaice
For the very curious. This is a real life event.
It will be held on Friday, 19 June…
in Saigon.

About this Event

An interactive, hands-on workshop. Write. Discover. And perhaps be featured to share your work one day, if there’s resonance and rapport, in our weekly e-mag S P C.

DK is in Saigon for a set of time to find new voices and select and edit stories.

A. Spaice hosts. Experience S P C.

Will we meet you?

Let’s see.

No experience necessary. Writers, artists, designers, and illustrators are welcome. No photographers, please. Just too much of that, these days. We want to slow down and make a space to discover, quietly and together, what’s interesting about *right here*, and *right now*. Note: we will ask you to put your phone into a box, when we begin!

Secret location, District 1, public space. Bring a +1 for free.

Agest 20+. Advance bookings only. Register here to confirm. Location details and agenda to follow by email, from there.

 

An update on ‘Papers’

A. Spaice

Papers is a *thing* now, as in, it’s going.

Quite beautifully, too.

Good conversations, with depth and substance, are taking place behind the scenes here at DK’s blog. Wanted to share a little of the backstory of how this whole ‘Papers’ idea got invented. Working on that, this month. Thinking, sharing quietly, 1:1 on email with the people I feel most ‘get’ it.

S P C | ‘There Is No Next Time’, an exclusive for guests of ‘Papers’

 

Late registration opportunity for June Papers..

Here’s what it is.

For the very curious.

A conversation in the cloud with new and different others. Guests are from DK’s 2006-2020 network of friends, collaborators, past clients, and newcomers. Make a space and discover your stories. As usual with DK’s spaces, *anything can happen*. But, given who has already registered, it looksl ike writing and poetry mostly, for June. 

Try it? More information here.