The archiveNewsletterMusic
INDEPENDENT. POSITIVE. NOT NAIVE.
Our manifesto
A good day to stay informed.
Positive Times
There is more to the world.
Thankfully.

A LITTLE ROOM FOR CURIOSITY

Little Discoveries

Illustrated reads, from a quick discovery to a closer look. Pick a topic. Follow your curiosity.

THE CITY NOTEBOOK

Rome, together.

Three journeys, one map and a good reason to go out.

Little Discoveries

A little more to discover.

Design · Philosophy · Plants · Curiosities · Words · Food · Cultures & peoples. Ideas worth a closer look.

Read all 7 discoveries

Original illustrations made with AI assistance. Facts and sources stay in plain sight.

Every edition, a little discovery.

7 reads

Hans J. Wegner: the Y that helps hold a chair together · Adam Smith: imagining is not mind-reading · Goeppertia orbifolia: two names on one plant label · What do you leave on paper when you write with a pencil? · Disastro: the star still inside an Italian word · Black and white pepper: two journeys for the same fruit · Oostduinkerke: the horse that helps catch shrimp

7 reads

Jasper Morrison: the space inside a chair · John Ruskin: wealth that can be lived · Pachira aquatica: who made the braid? · Why does iron leave a smell on our hands? · Scrupolo: a small stone between doubt and care · Saffron: a spice hidden in a flower · Pysanka: a design made where the colour cannot enter

7 reads

Ingo Maurer: a light bulb becomes the whole lamp · Bergson: the time an idea takes is more than a number · Coleus: colour does not have to wait for flowers · Why does a screen go dark when you turn your sunglasses? · Paesaggio: a place, a view and its representation · Nutmeg and mace: two spices inside one fruit · Uilleann pipes: a tradition carried by elbows as well as hands

7 reads

Joe Colombo: four tubes, more than one seat · Okakura: make room, then adjust your attention · Cyclamen looks down while its petals point up · Why does water climb into paper? · Orizzonte: the Italian word that marks a limit, then opens possibilities · Peanuts flower above ground and develop their fruit below it · Noken: a bag also holds its makers’ knowledge

7 reads

Richard Sapper: the lamp that finds its balance · George Berkeley: what do we mean when we say “exists”? · Nephrolepis: the dots beneath the frond are not flowers · How can a drinking straw become an instrument? · Merenda: a word that is not a test you must pass · Couscous: the grains are made · Taquile: when a belt tells the story of a year

7 reads

Vico Magistretti: an eclipse on the bedside table · W. E. B. Du Bois: learning a trade, learning to live · Dracaena trifasciata: a reserve inside the leaves · Why can a paper clip stay on water? · Pagina: an Italian word between vines and writing · Puff pastry: steam finds room between the folds · Mongolian calligraphy: learning the direction too

7 reads

Shigeru Ban: a curtain can give back personal space · William Godwin: the first lesson is learning to ask · African violet: a leaf can be a new beginning · Who bent the pencil in the glass? · Lente: the lentil hidden in an Italian word for lens · Why does heat make an egg set? · Blaudruck: the pattern appears where blue does not reach

7 reads

Gae Aulenti: a lamp that takes its place · John Locke: a book cannot think for us · Hoya carnosa: the little stalk worth keeping · Why does a mirror seem to swap left and right? · Museo: before the display cases, the Muses · Mozzarella: before the ball, a ribbon · Cinque Terre: a wall that holds a craft together

7 reads

Lina Bo Bardi: a chair that leaves room to choose · Clifford: sincerity is not enough to make a belief justified · Tradescantia zebrina: the important point is between the leaves · Why do shoelaces come untied while we walk? · The Italian word tessera: one small piece, several meanings · Capers: the jar holds a flower that has not opened · Sejnane: a pot grows one clay coil at a time

5 reads

Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky: designing the steps, not just the cupboards · George Santayana: remembering does not mean standing still · Begonia maculata: spots alone do not identify a plant · Why does metal feel colder than wood? · Telefono: an Italian word that carries a voice far away

5 reads

Lucie Rie: a button can tell the story of a workshop · Anna Julia Cooper: who gets to join the conversation? · Gynura: the purple is a coat of hairs · Why does a soap bubble change colour? · Curiosità: an Italian word that takes time to look

7 reads

Harry Bertoia: a chair you can see the room through · Hobbes: words are counters, not coins · Peperomia: flowers that look like little sticks · Why does a drop of coffee leave a ring? · Orchestra: a dancing space before the musicians · Chilli peppers: heat that begins with a signal · Angklung: bamboo played together

8 reads

Aino Aalto: a glass thinks about the cupboard too · Lucretius: a drop and the changes we cannot see · Maranta: leaves change position through the day · A snail has a rasp covered in tiny teeth · Palestra: an Italian word that practises beyond sport · Pineapple and gelatin: when fruit takes a structure apart · Slovenian lace: threads also pass on a way of learning · Who drew the path across the lawn?

5 reads

Wagenfeld: a lamp that looks like a small geometry lesson · Pascal: the heart’s reasons are not permission to ignore evidence · Zamioculcas: what looks like a branch is a leaf · Uranus: the planet that spins almost on its side · Fascicolo: the Italian word that holds a little bundle together

5 reads

Jean Prouvé: a chair shows where the weight goes · Patañjali: a short sentence is not a shortcut · Spathiphyllum wallisii: the white sail is not a giant petal · Hummingbirds: reversing is not a flight played backwards · Quaderno: the Italian word that keeps a four inside

5 reads

Lilly Reich: a room can begin with a curtain · Buddha: a guide cannot practise in your place · Ficus elastica: a glossy leaf rewards a closer look · A tardigrade is not invincible: it can change state · Ombrello: the Italian word begins with shade

7 reads

Marcel Breuer: an armchair drawn in the air · Emerson: thinking with your own mind · Crassula ovata: a little tree with fleshy leaves · Cicadas: the concert begins in the abdomen · The Italian word candidato: a white garment before a promise · Green and black tea: the difference continues after harvest · Guna molas: colour emerging from underneath

7 reads

Josef Albers: colour has neighbours · Mill: hear the strongest objection · Aspidistra: the leaves start below · Dragonflies: flight begins underwater · Considerare: an Italian word with stars behind it · Bread crust is more than dried bread · Wayang kulit: who moves the story behind the screen?

7 reads

Moholy-Nagy: designing what light does · Thoreau: what are we giving our day to? · Fatsia japonica: many points, one leaf · Venus: one rotation takes longer than a year · Lucido: from light to clarity of thought · Jam and the network that holds its liquid · The Mongolian ger: a home made from shared skills

5 reads

Michael Thonet: a chair designed for the journey too · Francis Bacon: understand the conditions before you act · Spider plant: those little plants are more than tiny leaves · The beaver: orange teeth, an explanation worth updating · Bazar: a marketplace inside an Italian word

7 reads

Poul Henningsen: designing the journey of light · Marcus Aurelius: the bee does not live outside the swarm · Nepenthes rajah: that pitcher is a leaf · A turtle cannot move out of its shell · Taccuino: an Italian word with a travelling past · Caramel: colour tells a story of change · Ebru: before the paper, the pattern floats

7 reads

Gio Ponti: lightness is built at the joints · Descartes: good sense needs a method · Coffea arabica: the bean was hidden inside a fruit · Sharks: behind one tooth, the next is waiting · Biscotto: an Italian word that goes back into the oven · Pickles: two different routes to a sour taste · Kintsugi: the join becomes part of the design

5 reads

Naoto Fukasawa: music begins with a gesture · Laozi: the journey begins beneath your feet · Papyrus: before the sheet, a water-loving plant · Scallops: there is a mirror inside the eye · Origami: a word folds action and material together

7 reads

Eva Zeisel: two objects keeping each other company · Peirce: a useful hypothesis opens an inquiry · Poinsettia: the red parts are not petals · Narwhal: that long spiral is a tooth · Criterio: deciding what matters before choosing · Emmental: a hole needs somewhere to begin · Fileteado porteño: a line can carry a city’s memory

7 reads

April Greiman: pixels can stay in view · Mary Astell: learn to reason before passing judgement · Banyan: roots can become columns · Axolotl: those feathery tufts are gills, even in adulthood · Entusiasmo: when inspiration had a god within · Pasta softens as water moves into its starch · Al Sadu: knowledge also travels through hands

7 reads

Lucienne Day: a garden can become a language of shapes · Seneca: noticing time, even when it slips away · Cotton: the white tuft starts with a seed · Platypus: a bill that finds clues the eyes cannot see · Nostalgia: an Italian word for a return we long for · Baking powder: bubbles begin when ingredients meet · Silbo Gomero: a whistle can carry words across a valley

7 reads

George Carwardine: a lamp that finds its balance · Wittgenstein: what do games have in common? · A giant that belongs to the grass family · Why snow crystals grow in six directions · The Italian word album: from white to remembered moments · From cream to butter: changing what surrounds what · Vanuatu: when a line connects movement and storytelling

7 reads

Sori Yanagi: two curves can become a stool · Iris Murdoch: we can change how we see another person · Prickly pear: those broad pads are not leaves · Fennec fox: those ears have two jobs · Matita: an Italian pencil word with a stone in its past · Red cabbage: an ingredient that changes colour · Batik: designing where the colour cannot go

7 reads

Anni Albers: a wall can be made of threads · Mencius: a good action starts with a sprout · Maidenhair fern: a plant that does not wait for flowers · A barn owl’s neck is not a hinge · Muscolo: the little mouse hiding in an Italian word · A banana keeps changing after harvest · Fado: one voice, one city, many stories

7 reads

Saul Bass: the film begins before the first scene · Jane Addams: before helping, learn to listen · Lavender: one purple spike holds many little flowers · The elephant’s trunk: precision without a single bone · The Italian word calendario: a notebook of dates and debts · Yogurt: milk transformed by tiny workers · Capoeira: the circle matters as much as its centre

7 reads

Margaret Calvert: the sign that lets you concentrate on the road · Karl Popper: what would make you change your mind? · Dandelion: a tiny flight full of empty space · A giraffe’s neck: longer, not more crowded · Biblioteca: books and a place to keep them inside one word · Whipped egg white: air finds a network · Kimjang: preparing for winter and sharing the work

7 reads

William Morris: a leaf can become a rhythm · Bertrand Russell: making room for a good question · Stone pine: the umbrella has needles too · Clouds are not made of visible water vapour · Pazienza: an Italian word for staying with a task · Ice cream has an ingredient you cannot see: air · Kente: a broad cloth begins with narrow strips

7 reads

Paul Rand: a small mark can do a big job · Diogenes: do I need it, or do I want to impress? · The coast redwood: even a giant needs its landscape · A rainbow is a circle: we usually see only part of it · Desiderio: check the word before reaching for the stars · Grainy honey: its sugar is changing arrangement · Día de Muertos: an offering can hold a story

7 reads

Florence Knoll: people come before the chairs · David Hume: it always happens, but will it happen again? · Tillandsia: the plant hanging its leaves in the air · A blue sky is a journey made by light · Robot: before the laboratory came the stage · An apple turns brown: air enters the story · Tango: a culture that meets on the dance floor

7 reads

Massimo Vignelli: a map does not need to say everything · Kant: people are not tools · Drosera: when the dew is actually a trap · Goats keep a horizontal eye on the world · Finestra: an Italian word that opens more than a wall · Glossy chocolate has a hidden order · Talavera: the heritage is in the gesture too

7 reads

Susan Kare: a computer begins with a square · Montaigne: understand before repeating · A sunflower changes as it grows · The gecko’s secret beneath its toes · Bussola: a word with a box inside · An onion is not telling a sad story · Sodai: a hanging garden made of straw

7 reads

Otl Aicher: a picture that helps you find your way · William James: noticing is already a choice · Victoria amazonica: a leaf with a structure underneath · A sea star walks on feet beneath its arms · Gioco: an Italian word that began with a joke · Mayonnaise: lots of tiny droplets staying together · Finnish sauna: a tradition is also what people share

7 reads

Rietveld: a chair you can see through · Zhuangzi: the butterfly that unsettles a point of view · Strelitzia: that beak is part of a pollination system · A bat flies with a very different kind of hand · Cultura: the Italian word with soil on its shoes · Popcorn: the big leap starts inside a kernel · Washi: a learned movement inside a sheet of paper

7 reads

Enzo Mari: making something changes how you look · Simone de Beauvoir: freedom needs other people · Lithops: a plant with windows on top · The satin bowerbird decorates its courtship · Ciao: a greeting that changed its distance · Bread rises because it can hold on to bubbles · Singapore: cultural heritage can have a spare seat

5 reads

Charlotte Perriand: a chair begins with a gesture · Confucius: learning includes recognising what is missing · Aloe polyphylla: reading a spiral, finding a mountain · Penguins: those leaps are part of swimming · Testo: words hold together when they are woven

5 reads

The Eameses: when wood suggests a change of plan · Spinoza: understand a feeling before it takes the wheel · Baobab: start the wonder with its leaves · Crows remember a face. And learn from one another · Scuola: a word with time to understand inside it

5 reads

Achille Castiglioni, light takes a shortcut · John Dewey, try something and understand what changes · Nelumbo nucifera, the leaf that lets mud slide away · The cuttlefish changes the shape of its skin too · Compagno, an Italian word with bread to share

5 reads

Alvar Aalto, a bend that makes room · Mary Wollstonecraft, learning to choose · Pilea peperomioides, look beneath the leaf · Seahorses, the dad with the baby bump · Meraviglia: a word with a plural beginning

4 reads

Verner Panton, a chair in one piece · Epicurus and the pleasure of enough · Oxalis triangularis folds up for the evening · Honey bees give directions by dancing

4 reads

Eileen Gray, a table that makes itself comfortable · Aristotle, a friend is not a service · Welwitschia, two leaves for a lifetime · Butterflies taste where they put their feet

4 reads

Isamu Noguchi: a sculpture you can switch on · Socrates and the limits of expertise · Venus flytrap: a leaf waiting for confirmation · The sea otter already brought the tools

4 reads

Marianne Brandt, geometry at teatime · Simone Weil, attention that makes room · Mimosa pudica, the leaf that folds · The wombat’s bathroom geometry

4 reads

Bruno Munari: the use of a useless machine · Epictetus: the weather does not take orders · Monstera deliciosa: the holes come as standard · An octopus has three hearts. All with jobs to do.

4 reads

Dieter Rams: fewer things, done better · Hannah Arendt: the world has more than one viewpoint · Ginkgo biloba: a little fan with a long history · Flamingos: pink is on the lunch menu