On the instinct that something is either made with care — or it isn't.
Form Function Foundry
The right tool for the right task is its own kind of elegance.
Form Function Foundry is a place to think out loud about objects, systems, and decisions that are made with care.
I work in business, leadership, and technology. I spend most of my days thinking about organisations and how to make them work well. This is something else — a space for a different kind of thinking, though not an unrelated one. The same instinct that makes me care about whether a process is well-designed makes me care about whether a pencil is.
I have always been drawn to things that are built with intention. Mechanical watches that show you exactly how they keep time. Typefaces where every curve is argued for. Tools that can be maintained, repaired, and passed on. I grew up taking apart bicycles and motorcycles, learning early that there is a real difference between a good tool and a bad one, and that the right tool for the right task is its own kind of elegance.
It does not have to be expensive. Plastic is fine, in the right context. What matters is whether someone made a decision — whether the thing in front of you is the result of genuine thought, or just the path of least resistance.
I am not a designer by training. I have no formal background in typography or industrial design, though both have interested me for as long as I can remember. What I have is a long habit of paying attention to how things are made, and an equally long habit of being bothered when they are not made well.
FFF is where I write about what I notice.
It does not have to be expensive. What matters is whether someone made a decision.