Simple Shoes

There is a central quality which is the root criterion of life and spirit in a man, a town a building, or a wilderness. This quality is objective and precise, but it cannot be named . Christopher Alexander (quote taken from the Timeless Way of Building) This quality without a name is something that I have constantly been in awe of. You can see it n... ow and then not often enough unfortunately. It is basically pure and good design. Design that makes you happy. The header shot is of the Tutukaka coastline on the east coast of the north island of New Zealand. This is a place that will make most anyone pretty happy. Average home size in NZ is about 1200 sq. ft. Toyota Camrys are considered luxury cars there. My history has been as a clothing and footwear designer. I ran the design and creative of a clothing and shoe company called Vision Street Wear in the 1980s. After that I had a brief stint designing clothing for MTV (Music Television) in 1991 my wife and I started a shoe Company called Simple Shoes. We sold Simple in the mid 1990s and kind of decided to practice what we had been preaching about simplicity and have been restoring old houses and building new ones ever since. I have also built and sold a few other small brands with friends. The largest of these was called Medium Design Group a brand aimed at the creative class (people whos jobs are creating things) and sold to Pentland group in 2006. In 2008 I was appointed as a planning commissioner for the City of San Luis Obispo California and then in 2012 I left that position when I was appointed as Planning Commissioner for the county of San Luis Obispo. I suppose this site is a design blog. Someday I want to build another brand around the subject of design and people who are designers but in all honesty I am a tad burned out on consumerism and so it is just hard to motivate. Lay down until the feeling passes Cynthia says. So instead of brand building I content myself with posting photos, yammering on about things, watering my garden, building interesting ...Read More