Projects

Volume N°1 of Patina has been out for a few weeks now. The response to it has been so exciting. Here's an excerpt from an exclusive email I sent out to paying Patrons dissecting the process of putting the first volume together:

"There’s a strange kind of nervousness that arrives when people take your project seriously from the outset. When I put out the first announcement about Patina, I expected to have to pitch and persuade a lot. Instead, I got a huge wave of belief from friends and strangers alike. That sort of front-loaded trust is a gift, and it changed the game for me. I went in expecting to convince people of Patina’s worth, but quickly pivoted my focus to living up to the conviction people already had in it (and me, dare I say?)."

I've also been getting a lot of messages about Volume N°2—it's currently cooking!

I've taken a break from Kindred Spirits. I think I've exhausted what I had to say, and I'm now in the "gathering" phase. I will come back to it, but just when I have something more substantial to say.

Work

I've been working on some projects that are definitely more aligned with the way I want my career to turn in the next couple of years i.e. storytelling and narrative design.

One of those projects happened to be The PhonePe Grid, our first design event of the year. I had the most interesting time working with the internal comms teams to curate our narrative and weave it into every touchpoint, from who we invited to what the merchandise looked like.

Play

Finished Ghosts by Dolly Alderton (loved it), Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico (loved it too), Boulder by Eva Baltasar (disliked it), and Yellowface by RF Kuang (loved it for the same reasons people hated it, funnily enough). Getting a Libby subscription has been a game-changer—even reading on my phone, I'm getting through more books than I have in a while! Super thrilled about that.

My lil pocket notebook has been working wonders. I find myself taking more spontaneous notes and lists, and it feels like I'm accurately capturing what's on my mind at any moment. I'm sure it'll be such a treasure to look back on in a few years.

(P.S.: A while back, I wrote about my notebook ecosystem on Kindred Spirits—I've now taken down the paywall so it's now free for anyone to read.)

Most of my journalling and personal writing have been circling these questions:

• How do I stay creatively independent while operating within structures that resist change?

• How do I get better at protecting my attention and rewinding my brain?

• What makes for a good story?