I am conscious of my writing being perceived as a self-indulgent, due to a continued antagonistic relationship with conventional architectural practice. Writing helps vent frustrations and rationalise ideas, like that cliché of writing to discover what you think, in a way that social media cannot. Social media is image focused and constructed with an audience in mind yet writing in a different format can be for yourself, a targeted audience or no one whatsoever. Additionally, I am drawn to the immediacy with which I can construct ideas through writing, something which can take years in architecture.

I recently read an interview with the French painter Fabienne Verdier, who learnt calligraphy from the old masters in China. They would make her practice drawing one line for weeks on end, with the ambition that each stroke should represent the energy of your perception. If the energy is accurate, there can be no mistakes because there are no corrections. This is what writing feels like. Verdier says that the act of painting can be done in a matter of minutes, but each piece represents months of planning. This is what design feels like.

Image: Deconstructed Sign by Fabienne Verdier.