Holly Christian: Consider all the Senses

I grew up in a tiny community in the northwestern corner of North Carolina in the Appalachian Mountains. There was one elementary school and 12 in my class. It was a pastoral, gorgeous place to grow up with nature abounding—a perfect place to nurture a big imagination and big dreams.

Looking back on those formative years, I see the influences of my parents. My mother was a nurse—a caregiver of all people. My father was an agriculture teacher and farmer—a caretaker of the earth. Living in such a remote place with low industry and financial resources, we were forced to be resourceful. I have such an appreciation for people and the planet from those years.

I believe design inspiration can come from anywhere! I welcome it. I routinely find myself most inspired by art, nature, travel, and even personal style. The work of the artist Andy Goldsworthy is art in nature—incredibly precious, yet not precious. Travel, cultures, countrysides, and cuisine inspire me the most. Eating rotten shark in Iceland was a fun favorite. I was expecting it to be off-putting, but, honestly, I liked its pungent bite.

I have a deep belief that the best designs are simple, curated, and bold. I consider it like the capsule wardrobe, where you just have a few essentials but by pairing them in different combinations you can get different looks. In design, you need to commit to a move, and whatever that move is, you need to keep it tight, use the same vocabulary, and do it at different scales so the project holds together and has clarity and harmony.

Embrace the fullness of life. A dear friend offered that to me in a down moment when I was feeling overwhelmed with too many irons in the fire and too many priorities. She said she always admired how I was able to bring so much into my life. That sentiment resonated so strongly within me. It felt that she was giving me permission to live fully in the avenues that make life richest. Now, after living that philosophy for a number of years, I see the avenues of life as a spectrum—similar to Living Design—many petals make up one rich, bold, beautiful life.

I find enormous joy and vitality in parenting, cooking, baking, reading, exercise, and communing with nature. Supporting my two teen daughters in their social, academic, and sports pursuits brings unexpected perspective and joy, and teaches loads of patience! Cooking is one of the best daily ways to create and unwind at the same time. I find enormous joy in bringing together simple ingredients in unique and creative ways for inspired meals. I see cooking as such a similar process to design.

I am a voracious reader with multiple books going at the same time: one for fun, one for information, one for inspiration. I just finished Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and have been fascinated by its conclusions ever since. Design-wise, I was recently gifted Eventually Everything Connects by Andrew Blauvelt at a retreat at Cranbrook Academy. It is a beautiful book about Charles and Ray Eames and mid-century modern design in the U.S. It is delightful to reflect on their foundational work and how design builds and grows over time.