What I said...

To my studio professor and classmates last week....

After saying my name and undergraduate background I spoke about my experience with architecture. Since I can't remember my exact words I'll summarize:

In the four years I worked as an interior architect, I found that 80% was about details such as roofing, water protection, structural connections, stud wall construction, and hours upon hours of drawing tiny details. I hated it because it was so boring. The 20% I loved was about design - how people interact with space, concept development, programming - understanding human needs... In four years I decided that the 80% I hated wasn't worth enduring for the 20% I loved. I longed for a job where the ratios were flipped and wasn't ready to give up searching for it. I had taken product design classes in undergrad and really enjoyed them. I decided to invest in developing that interest to see where it leads. I am in grad school, not necessarily to be torn down and rebuilt, but to find my life's questions in the pursuit of industrial design. I am going to CCA to help uncover these questions - these questions that I will spend the rest of my life working out. (At this point I referenced the reading he had asked us to do this summer - Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees - a book about the artist Robert Irwin. I LOVED the book so I couldn't help but bring it up. I looked like a total suck up... be seriously I just loved the book.)

My professor asked me, "How will you know when you've found them?"

I replied, "You just know. It's the thing you keep coming back to. You know when you've found something worth living for. Something worth waking up for. Something that energizes you - that compels you - that makes your heart beat. You just know."

Upon further reflection, I wish I would have added that, as Robert Irwin said, it is about a combination of logic and intuition. Logic evaluates measurable data, the science. Intuition is linked to a sense of spirit, of being, of understanding beyond words. You can limit yourself to just logic - but still be wrong because life doesn't always work in logical ways. The unexpected happens, people change their minds, emotions shift. That is where intuition is key... the key to discerning the stuff not measured by logic or science. The combination of the two is where confidence and faith are found.

That is how "you just know." And now you all know why I think I am in grad school :)