Field Trip is a homebase for the research and references that inform the work and life of designer Lauren Scarlett.
[RESEARCH ©FT]
It's a ritual. I clean my space the day before I start. Despite it rarely cluttering, dust settles quickly, and it feels good to clear it from the piles of books that stand unread. I make a note to flick through them more and remind myself to listen to the records that have become placeholder art, propped up against the wall and never played. I wipe down the desk and organise the notebooks I never use, choosing digital lists that are made and forgotten about instead. Electronic dust collects, and I swear I'll do a digital clear-out one day, when I remember. I open my macbook and wipe the screen with the little microfiber cloth, now clear of smudges, unmarked by dirty fingerprints; this year will be better, I think.
I do it all with headphones blaring. I let ideas flood my mind and hype myself up, to become better, to work harder, to raise my level and get everything I want. At some point I realise I have the exact same prep routine as Kendall Roy and laugh at myself. I think about the times I’ve put headphones on before meetings and outings in attempt to calm my nerves, it rarely works but is necessary, ritualistic comfort.
I procrastinate and search for odd jobs to do because my ideas are currently bigger than me. My own potential feels out of reach, so I avoid starting, just for one more day. There’s a lot I want to do this year, and I’m not ready for it all, but I know I’m going to do it scared and unsure of myself. And now, there's nothing left to clean, no more excuses not to begin.
The next morning, I walk into the room, and I'm eased by the clean and quiet of the space. I still sense that pressure to feel relaxed and recharged for the new year, and I’m not sure I feel either. But I do know I’m not sprinting out the gate with blinkers on like usual; I’m completely calm and content in the knowledge that a slow burn has never done me wrong. I put my coffee on the coaster, connect my phone to the speaker, and I get to work.
[REFERENCES ©FT]
What I Listened Too:
What I Watched:
Succession
No Time To Die
Again, your words feel like they're pulled out of my own brain, and then woven with a completely different fiber of perspective. This one hit good ❤️🔥