Soaking up the Fullness of our Day
A new year greeting to you and your loved ones. I hope you enjoyed sailing through the holiday season. I like to take a moment to thank you for being a part of our BK journey through 2021 into 2022. I had more opportunities to be at the studio throughout the holiday season, supporting our fulfillment process. It was lovely to gently fold BK energy into each order I wrapped and imagine how each parcel would be unfolded when it reached our customer. Even though we had very small physical interactions with our community through the year 2021, this ritual of greetings when our team prepares each order continues to thread our relationship together.
As we turn the corner of the old into the new year, my family asked me what my goal or resolution would be for 2022. I thought of the question a little and told this story. In the midst of December, our family was at the BK studio, our girls in tow. I was fully occupied with shipping holiday orders. Our girls spent some time at BK and also enjoyed nature time near Altadena with their friends while I stayed at the studio shipping. During our 1-hour drive back from our studio to our home in Topanga, Satchi gave a deep sign and said “wow. My day feels so complete”. Frido and I both paused in the front seat of the car and told her, “that is wonderful…” Satchi’s comment was candid, simple, and extraordinary. It inspired me.
So I told my family that my hope for the new year is to have more days that I feel the sense of completeness like Satchi did on the December evening no matter how the physicality of the day turns out. I don’t always have a “good” day nor have control over everything that happens. But I trust that I can thrive to "be" on each day and acknowledge that the path I lead on the day is enough when my head rests on the pillow.
I feel similar sentiment from Trina's story, On Mastering Productivity This Year. I also hope you enjoy the monthly spreads of JIYU from the 2nd half of 2021 which A.C. shared with us in their story. My JIYU monthly spreads do not look anything like A.C.'s pages do but I can absolutely relate to the tender emotions that arise when I flip my JIYU pages backward. The narration of Eunice's recent tape designs and her deep thought process is awe-inspiring and it reminds me why we design at Baum-kuchen.
Perhaps this year, we are collectively working on undoing external expectations of more is more. Instead, we are standing for each other to remind ourselves to soak the fullness of each day and gently encourage the feeling that our days are enough just the way they are.
-wakako
always a work in progress...
Topanga, California // January 11th, 2022
