Much of what we’ve looked at with we/customize has been objects mass produced by large corporations and the people who use those objects as blank material. But objects have been produced in large quantities well before assembly lines and international corporations.

Song Dynasty ceramics were made in great quantities and have since been transported all over the world. With the general exception of repairs we’re not generally discussing how to modify such work, but the process of making a large numbers of any object does create a type of efficiency/intelligence/muscle memory in the maker which influences future production.

-Sean Olson

Panorama of we/customize after the final customizer in residence.

With an article by Dustin Wax about what to do at the end of a project. I guess you can see where my mind is at right now.

There’s no feeling in the world quite like the mixture of triumph and sadness that comes after finishing a project you’ve been working on for months or even years. On one hand, you’re done and can finally release your finished product, whatever it is, into the world. On the other hand, though, completing a big goal leaves a little emptiness in your life, like sending your kids off to college — one of the major driving forces in your life is gone… 

-Sean Olson

-photo by Johnna Arnold

Tonight Justin, who has been documenting we/customize since before the project was we/customize, will be collecting people’s handshakes. Exploring customization in the realm of social interactions, Justin will be learning handshakes from visitors and recording themon video with the ultimate goal of translating the moments into drawings.

-Sean Olson

Throughout the we/customize project we’ve gotten caught up in the exchanging ideas and skills within and between social networks. There isn’t a focus on how we learn informally from the people who are close to us when we’re young. This has made it easy to overlook that many of our skills were planted by those willing to take time to teach us even when we didn’t realize that was what was happening because we were having fun.

This image is from a grandparent doing just that. He developed a project with his grandson that is fun at its root, but in the process of sharing his passion the grandfather is also teaching his abilities and aesthetic eye.

-Sean Olson