I’ve looked at these words daily—on a rad J. Abbott Miller for Pentagram-designed poster—since 1999 when the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum sent it out as promotion for their Charles & Ray Eames retrospective. It makes sense that these words are linked to the Eames, the husband and wife design demigods who were essentially their own Bartlett’s for inspiring quotations about the practice. And every day I heed their advice. I can’t stop thinking about things.
I think about things in my job at R Gallery in New York where we represent contemporary and vintage design and where I am lucky enough to spend hours talking about form and materials, function and construction with people who really love objects.
And, I think about the things I encounter as I go through my day. Like how unbelievably perfectly this hand-carved citrus peeler fits in my palm and does the work my too short fingernails can’t do. This is “Good Design.”
Or the fantastic scale and the deep-sea colored glaze on this Russel Wright espresso cup and saucer.
Or the textile design on a pillow by one of my favorite contemporary designers, Brooklyn-based artist Lena Corwin, in conversation with a hand-embroidered one I bought at an estate sale in Nashville.
These are some of the things that inspire me every day in my own house. New objects and old, useful ones and decorative. It’s all fair game. I’m excited to have this space to Think About Things with you.
So, hi, welcome.
Leilani Marie Labong is a freelance design and lifestyle writer living in the super-crafty, crazy-inspired, ridiculously innovative metropolis known as San Francisco. Thus, she too is creative, but only by association. Leilani writes about design for 7x7 Magazine, California Home + Design, Real Living Australia, the San Francisco Chronicle and her own charmingly unfocused blog, 
Love this first post–makes me excited about the thinking-on-things to come. Welcome, Lily!
Hi!
I’m delighted to see you’re blogging, Lily Kane! I know you to have such an intelligent and sensitive eye — looking forwarding to thinking about things through more of your posts!
nice site…ive got loads of those russel wright espresso cups and saucers..in many different colors…so nice to see them in your blog..
love always
uk
I don’t agree with everything in this summary, but you do make some very good points. I’m very interested in this topic and I myself do alot of research as well. Either way it was a well thoughtout and nice read so I figured I would leave you a comment. Feel free to check out my website sometime and let me know what you think.