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Dear studio friends, With endless distractions, I'm deeply grateful that you've chosen to spend valuable attention reading this. I do not take it lightly. Amid the constant noise of the world, making things helps me a bit – the act of construction helps process the witnessing of destruction. On January 1st, I started a daily project for 2025 called Broken Box. The rules: create one broken box each day, using any material, at any scale, a box in any form, broken in any way. So far, most days I've been able to make these in my studio. The materials have been scraps - wood, concrete, stone, and wax. The scale has been small - table-top, hand holdable. As you’ll see, many of the objects that have emerged barely resemble boxes, and they are teaching me a lot. The initial reaction to a break can be disappointment, but I’m training to see it as an opportunity – a chance to change, to leave, or let in something new. This project emerged from a few questions: How can I work with, rather than fight against, the inevitable breaking that happens while making? Could these breaks actually strengthen the work? I’m curious about what will happen if I shift focus from the sculpture that emerges from the mold box to the box itself. During the first month of this project, the focus became connections – how to make them meaningful, honest, and conceptually relevant. I initially used hardware to create removable connections – my typical approach to building boxes for concrete forms. Gradually, I brought in glue, appreciating its invisible, permanent bonding. But visible connections felt more authentic, and I started exploring simple joinery and interlocking joints – connections using a single material that allow elements to interact directly. I’m having to define and re-define brokenness as I go, and it can change with each object. Sometimes, when I push the materials or the connections and they fall apart, the box is suddenly, literally, very broken. Other times, it’s simply that my optimistic plans break down. Below are a few of January’s broken boxes. The larger collection is here if you’d like to see more. Thank you for joining me. More soon. Warmly, Lydia
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