Steyn Viljoen
@steyn
Designer at CustomerOS. Gardener. Dad. Write at Viljoen Space about product, gardening and parenthood.
Steyn Viljoen
viljoen.space
A home is so much more than a structure. It is your life and refuge. Sometimes I go back and forth in my mind, "is design just vanity - or does it matter and what's its proper place?" I know beauty matters. I am an unabashed advocate for that - we don't have nearly enough of it. But home matters a LOT - and good design is just simply making a beautiful functional home. Where is the line between your home and your life? Impossible to define, they are woven together. That's why design matters.
Startups solve for efficiency. Places solve for thoroughness. Startups solve a specific problem as profitably as possible. Places manage all aspects of being human as thoroughly as possible. Startupping is a finite game. Placemaking is an infinite game. Trying to run the same playbook for both is a mistake.
Venkatesh Rao • Placemaking vs. Mission-Shaping - By Venkatesh Rao
Of course the thing about beginning again — about starting over midway through is that you have to be willing to watch yourself die.
I learned that from writing this newsletter.
Next week, it will be three years since I launched The Cereal Aisle, and I think the most important thing I have learned in the time since is that rebirth is on the other sid... See more
I learned that from writing this newsletter.
Next week, it will be three years since I launched The Cereal Aisle, and I think the most important thing I have learned in the time since is that rebirth is on the other sid... See more
What would’ve happened if you hadn’t given the brief for High Speed 2 to a load of engineering firms who immediately focused on speed, time, distance, capacity? What if you’d given the brief to Disney instead?
I guess that’s the beauty of adding value; the more you create, the more others are inspired to create in return. The cycle repeats itself. Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a world of more value not more stuff?
I think bookstores turned out to be weirdly sticky simply because people like being in bookstores. Going to a bookstore is an aesthetic experience. It's fun. It's something to do with your family. It is a pleasant feeling to be surrounded by physical books. It is a pleasant feeling to browse. It is a pleasant feeling to be the kind of person who go... See more
moments defined not by their grandeur, but by their authenticity, by the genuine connection they foster.
Evan Armstrong • Live Fuller, Not Bigger
There is an urgency to achieve, and no matter how big your life gets, that horrible itch to achieve remains. For people like us, it’s impossible to define what success even means.
