Rayouf

The “not smiling because we’re grinding” discourse is perfect time to pull out a verse from my favorite poem by Rumi

Hardware is such a humbling domain. It's painfully unscalable, unforgiving, and leaves no room for shortcuts.

Back in my industrial design days, I would often cry out of sheer frustration. I still remember spending 12 hours working on a lathe to make a magnifying glass, only to turn it a little too far in and snap the entire handle off. Other times, I'd spend 10+ hours making something only for it to end up horrifically ugly and just had to accept that i wasn't built it for it.

I feel an intense amount of fomo from not being conscious enough to have attended the Met's 2012 Costume Institute exhibition, “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations.” The exhibition contrasted the two Italian designers in a gallery aptly titled “Waist Up/Waist Down,” where Schiaparelli focused on the upper body, with her heavily embellished jackets, surrealist details, and jewelry, while Prada emphasized the lower body, especially skirts. So fascinating to see how both challenged traditional ideas of beauty and femininity, but in such different ways.

Schiaparelli's emphasis on the waist up reflected 1930s café society, where women were often seen seated at tables, while Prada uses skirts to explore modern femininity and movement.

We put a little musical easter egg in this video, turning what our guests said into a melody. Every syllable is one note, and the stressed words are longer and louder, and the ending chords are '15'

If you slow it down, you'll hear these quotes:
@kickingkeys: “You’ve got to do some things for the love of the game.”
@mihikapoor: “Figure out what to do, then do the thing.”
@lizwandersworld: “We want main character energy back.”

Happy 15 interviews on @creativecpress!

Creative Conviction is a series of conversations with people exceptional at their craft. We talk to founders, developers, designers, studio owners, and artists about how they think, where they find inspiration, and how they make decisions. We feel incredibly lucky to learn from them.

As AI reshapes how we create, we want to understand what this means for creativity and help more people find their own creative path by learning from those who have forged theirs.

We’re just getting started, with more interviews and more ways to bring this community together. Tell us who we should chat with next!!

Also, I'm so very lucky I get to do this w @Libbiefrost !