When designing a room, you need to balance and prioritize certain aspects against each other. For a home studio, I consider the following three to be the most important: 1) Acoustics, 2) Aesthetics and 3) Functionality. I am currently building my fourth home studio in my garage. Each iteration has had a different priority order and the results have varied accordingly. As with any project, you need to write down the purpose of the room, to understand how the parameters should be rank ordered. In this article, I will describe what I have learned from my different home studios.

A beautiful home gives a beautiful mind

Yesterday I had an epiphany when I realized that I haven’t changed the air filters in our ventilation system since we moved here a year ago. The thought had never crossed my mind, even though I have lived in a house before and I should have known it. It was not until the rooms had been decluttered and made beautiful, that I could see what had been in front of me all the time. It is a testament to the power of cleaning one’s room.

Philosophy, Style, Habits, ArtRikard ÖqvistAugust 1, 2020cleaning, cleanyourroom, jordanpeterson, beauty, focus, productivityComment

Beneath the three pillars of sustainability

Sustainability is often said to rest on three pillars: 1) Ecological, 2) Economical and 3) Social sustainability. When supporting a structure with pillars, we also need a solid foundation, or the pillars might sink into the ground. In today’s post, I explore what this foundation might look like. The foundation should consist of eternal values. Two such values instantly come to my mind: Beauty and Education. The primary difference between these two eternal values and the three pillars, is that the three pillars need to be optimally balanced against each other over time as the facts on the ground varies, whereas beauty and education unconditionally strengthens all three pillars at once.

Beauty matters

Last summer, we moved to a house in the countryside in the north of Sweden. The house is located literally next to the sea, surrounded by dense forest and no neighbours in sight. Before, we lived in the middle of the city with walking distance to everything. The contrast is huge. I grew up in the countryside and so did my wife, so I suspect that is why we consider this to be our dream. I actually visited this place many years ago and the very first thought that entered my head when I saw the place was “I want to live here”. It was true love at first sight.

PhilosophyRikard ÖqvistFebruary 1, 2020beautyComment