INDUSTRIAL DESIGNERS: what ramen taught me about design

Over the weekend, I took my daughter to a ramen place known for its handmade noodles. Halfway through the bowl, I pointed out how the noodles weren’t all the same size. Some were thicker. Some thinner. She looked up and said, “That’s how you know it’s good.”

The subtle imperfections weren’t flaws, they were proof. A sign that someone stretched those noodles by hand. That it wasn’t pulled from a package. That there was a person behind it.

The world is full of perfect machine-made objects - flawless, repeatable, and instantly forgettable. What we’re starved for is the mug with a crooked glaze. The seam that isn’t quite straight. The object that carries the mark of the person who made it. Because it shows effort. And effort has value.

Maybe that’s where things are heading. Not toward perfection, but connection.

———​ To bold ideas and well-crafted things,​ —Blair

Let’s connect → linkedin.com/in/blairhasty