Nature - Nurture - Nourish

A Story Evolves

A narrative about who we are or are not is expressed in our home. The Art of making a home is not easy for most people. It requires a combination of vision, aptitude, artistry, and time, often in short supply. People are frequently guided by a tendency to do nothing, make impetuous choices, copy others, or seek help as a less stressful way out.

Holding the Flashlight

My role as a design guide is to help illuminate the path. My eventual goal is to pass the flashlight on to you.

Design Principles to Walk With

The process we use to enrich the design experience can be guided by these principles to take us beyond aesthetics, styles, or trends: Nature, Nurture, and Nourish. I will be using the acronym N3 to abbreviate the principles.

Back to Front

In the prescriptive design world, the conversation begins with objects, parts, and components, the WHAT of the project. Less emphasis is placed on connections, relationships, and processes, the HOW of the project. And, even less inquiry is given to the feeling, meaning, and reason, the WHY of the project.

Intermingle 

By reversing the roles and allowing the WHY and HOW to have more initial influence, the WHAT emerges naturally, creating surprising outcomes rich in meaning. Intermingling the WHAT, HOW, and WHY, the project takes on a new purpose with greater potential.

Reciprocity

The N3 principles shape a way to engage in a relational process with place, people, and materials that yield lasting, meaningful outcomes.

NOURISH

Nourish is a feedback loop that keeps giving; there is always an affirmative story attached to it. Here is a typical example of how it works (just a story). During a wonderful vacation, Tom and Carol met a furniture maker and bought a piece of furniture for their entry hall. The purchasing and selection experience was fulfilling, and the piece of furniture worked perfectly in its new home. Now this could have been the end of the story, but instead it was just one step in the continuum. Each time Tom and Carol return home, the piece of furniture connects them to their positive experience—the piece of furniture nourishes them. Although Tom and Carol only purchased it once, it keeps on giving. When friends come to their home and ask about the piece of furniture, they enjoy retelling the story. The nourishing continuum builds on itself.

Contrast Tom and Carol’s experience (just a story) with buying an item at a well-known furniture chain store. The salesperson was a bit pushy, and Tom and Carol were not confident in their decision-making process. Now, when they get home each day, there is a tinge of regret about their purchase, however momentary or subliminal it is. When friends ask about the piece, Tom and Carol tell their sad story, which in turn clouds the memory of their vacation.

By making their first furniture purchase, Tom and Carol added value in the feedback loop, nourishing the craftsperson, the community, and themselves.

NURTURE

The most enduring image of nurture throughout the ages is the mother and child—comfort, safety, protection, and unconditional love.

At best, our home is a welcome and embrace for us, our family, and visitors.

In our homes, two rooms in particular have an embracing essence. The bedroom, where we turn in from our active day, is usually a place to decompress, sleep, and dream. The bathroom can be our special space, where we bathe, nurture, and rejuvenate ourselves. Of course, bedrooms and bathrooms can do many things, but quintessentially, they are restorative spaces.

Conversely, stimulation belongs in the kitchen, family room, and media room—a different kind of embrace—food, culture, entertainment, and conversation.

When we feel “at home” with what we surround ourselves with, we are nurtured. If the connectedness is tenuous, the nurturing is missing. Shiny, slick, hard, and straight materials tend not to embrace as readily as matte, textured, and soft materials do. 

I recommend reading the chapter "A Comparison with Modernism" in Leonard Koren's Wabi-Sabi.

NATURE

Our Nature

In designing our house, we learn about ourselves through the choices we make. Taking time to discover and resonate with elements and materials is a nurturing and nourishing exploration with our own nature. 

Adapting with Nature

Understanding the natural elements is a top-level priority when designing a home. How does a home fit and integrate with the surroundings? How can we live consciously with the land and nature? Keeping the elements in or out can be incorporated into Passive House principles.

The materials of nature

Natural materials, as wood, cotton, clay, paper, metal, and stone that fill our homes have stories and histories dating back thousands of years. In the continuum, we become connected to those histories.