Category: Papers

DK: “My community, these days, more than ever, is ‘Papers'”

Dipika Kohli

‘What is it that you do to stay motivated to keep writing, DK?’

I work with a small group of no more than 4 at a time in a project I love called ‘Interactive Papers.’ We are going to open a new circle in August.

Conversations take place each week with a fresh writing prompt that is based on earlier dialogues, and things people share, and research that I do, personally. It’s fun; a week at a time, asynchronously and in the cloud.

 

Staying focused

Sometimes I get distracted and start googling things like ‘how to write a novel’ and ‘tips’ and these listicles come up and all this ‘bestseller’ stuff and people tooting their horns without realizing that a new piece, something that is innovative, that hasn’t been seen before, but could cut a new cloth and shapeshift a different paradigm, is not the kind of thing you write to a template, or a formula. So I immediately back out of those pages and go back to my solid relationships, in the e-circles of email, S P A C E, zoom chats, Dropbox, and ‘Papers’.

Why? Because I just… disagree with the internet ‘besticle’ shite. I made up ‘besticle,’ but you see what I mean, right? More, better, more gooder money I am so cool and I wrote 5069 books already and they are all so popular and they have all changed everyone’s lives, like everyone. Getter richer. (That’s what it sounds like, to me, reading these ‘pieces.’) Where is the ‘back’ button? Out, out, out. I’m different I guess. I write because I actually like relationships, communication, and most importantly, communicating such that a relationship can flourish into a wildly pure aesthetic of a quality human connexion. I guess that’s lofty and idealistic. So?

That’s what I like.

So I write where I write. In ‘Papers.’ I like the interactive components, in our different technological spaces. It adapts based on the inputs, like a fuzzy logic machine. I really do have more to say about this, but I’ll save it for those who opt-in, via an application.

Applications are open now for an August circle of no more than 4, for ‘Papers.’ I’m currently accepting applications through the end of July.

See what it is, at this link for ‘Papers’.

 

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

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.

What is ‘Papers?’

Dipika Kohli

For the very curious...

For those who are curious about Papers, thanks for asking. Attention, time, replies: I am happy to converse about this project to gather us for moments of remarkable connexion in the cloud. It’s a natural segue from our real-life 2-year roving project, Atelier S P A C E. From that we got to know a hell of a lot of people and have invited handfuls to connect, and meet, and converse, and make, with us, issues of our mini-magazine, S P A C E. Sometimes it’s just email, sometimes it’s a whole collaboration on a complete issue of S P A C E. See some of the things we have done in our online shop. It’s meant a lot to me to know there are some people ‘out there’ who got something out of conversations with me. We’ve come a long way since starting S P C in 2017. To our early supporters: thank you. To our recent guests and collaborators, welcome. I really appreciate all this, and I’m excited to share more, soon, with those who are interested in keeping up with us in S P C. Last week we published one of the best issues, so far. I really love it. It is Issue #75. Wrote a little bit about it here: https://designkompany.com/issue-75/
S P C | Bangkok, ‘The Last Copy is for Reading Here.’
Sometimes we share messages with people in our small but growing network. Which, if you know DK, and all our things since Seattle in 2004 (gosh, really, that long!?… who is reading us from there! HT LT, JK, and EG, if you guys are reading), then you already know, our network is highly self-selecting and also rather closed-invite, too. Focusing on the people who are most interested in what I am interested in. Questing. S P A C E quests S P A C E. Can you dig it? Here’s the set of zines that came of conversations in May’s ‘Papers.’ They are a mix of digital zines, and printer-friendly ‘make it at home’ black and white versions, like the first one, below.

Next up, is June’s ‘Papers.’

On deck, is June’s edition of co-creating in the cloud. Making fresh, new and fun conversations *happen*. In S P A C E. We’re planning these, for example, in June..

‘Papers’. It’s going to be very simple this time. Email. Just email. I know. Real simple. It’s called ‘backwards innovation.’ (I did not make that up!)..
Thanks!
DK

 

Issue #57, S P C | Phnom Penh, ‘Saturday’

Jas Plac

The science fiction series, ‘Uncertainty’, by A. Spaice continues this week with S P C | Phnom Penh, ‘Saturday,’ a fresh zine with a surprisingly light-on-the-eye set of vector images. They’re made by Dipika Kohli.

‘…’

‘Can we play monopoly?’

‘Not right now.’

‘…’

‘I have to fix a typo, right on the front page.’

‘…’

‘It said science nonfiction, which, you know. It can’t be. Either it’s science fiction, which it is, or it’s nonfiction.’

‘Science nonfiction, well. That would be like, if you go to the moon, and there are aliens waiting for you.’

‘…’

 

Science fictions

Discovering how to write in a different way (third-person) is part of DK’s new directions for 2020. We’re talking about it a lot in different places, but lightly, quietly and in just a very small inner circle. I can’t share where it’s going yet but I can tell you how it began. A writer’s workshop in southwest Ireland. Impersonating the instructor, kind of on a whim, in a surprising, unexpected move that we now understand is the hallmark of everything DK. Short. Sweet. And a little bit… wacky.

‘Wacky? What is this word?’ (This was at a new bar, about to change its name, in Aarhus, circa 2015).

‘Wacky? Well…’

*googles*

‘See? What I meant was–‘

‘–WACKY. That’s it!! That’s the name for our new bar!!!’

‘Um, well, it’s not exactly–‘

‘WACKY !!!!’

‘…’

‘Wacky.’

 

***

 

I think, one who might be watching for a while the progressions of DK’s creative work, which has not been shared here much but is coming through loud and clear in this week’s zine, might simply recognize ‘Saturday’ as a natural step in the movement towards something tighter, clearer and of its own ilk.

Which, of course, we think is the point of making all this time, to see what might emerge. It’s a long story. [Deleted].

‘Just another thing in the evolution of D,’ as KE had once put it. Stars. Fractals. Chaos… those were their conversation topics, along with terrible jokes that no one else would laugh at besides KE and DK.

Catch a glimmer of a hint of what’s to come with S P C this year when you get this week’s issue.

S P C | Phnom Penh, ‘Saturday.’

;)

Here’s a link.

http://gum.co/space-pp-saturday

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