Personal space: Luke Scott
Designer Luke Scott.
Postcard from Salton Sea.
Scott is looking forward to seeing a decayed Salton Sea hotspot from 1970s California on his upcoming trip to the United States.
Malian band Songhoy Blues.
Songhoy Blues’ new album Resistance.
Ways of Seeing by John Berger.
‘Ways of Hearing’, produced by Radiotopia.
Luke Scott is a designer at multi-disciplinary studio Alt Group and founder of design publication Stemme, one New Zealand’s pre-eminent design publications. Luke’s recent foray into spatial design, Commensality, took out the Craftsmanship category in this year’s Interior Awards. Here he shares some of his sources of inspiration.
What I’m listening to
Songhoy Blues is one of my all-time favourite bands and their new album Resistance is pretty near on repeat these days. The band formed in 2015 in Timbuktu, Mali, where music and other forms of cultural expression were, until recently, outlawed by Jihadist rule. Songhoy Blues make African-desert-punk-blues as a form of cultural rebellion.
Where I’m going
My wife and I are headed on a trip to the States later this year, stopping in LA and New York. We’re doing all the standard design stops, but I am particularly looking forward to the unlikely attraction of an abandoned town on the coast of the Salton Sea. Once a hot spot rivalling Palm Springs, this coastal town was left to decay after the lake began to rapidly evaporate. It is now so salty that it’s unsafe to swim in, and the local town is left as a post-apocalyptic freeze frame of 1970s California.
What I’m reading
Ways of Seeing by John Berger. An oldie but a goodie, based on a TV series of the same name. Dean, our creative director, informed me a while back that the fact I studied design and hadn’t read this was a crime. He was right, and I, no doubt, will give the same ‘what-are-they-teaching-kids-these-days’ treatment to those who come after me.
Where I’m eating
Acho! A little Japanese tapas bar in St Kevins. Great beer selection, the best high balls and the finest sake. Their food menu is small but spot-on. Acho’s buns are off the chain. They also have the tidiest kitchen you have ever seen – it’s a sight to behold. Best plan of attack here: order some drinks and just let Tomoko keep bringing the plates out.
What I’m listening to (podcast)
‘Ways of Hearing’ is a mini-series produced by Radiotopia as part their showcase platform. Musician: Damon Krukowski, of Galaxie 500 fame, dives deep into how the switch from analogue to digital audio is influencing our perceptions and changing our ideas of time, space, love, money, power and noise. Far from a ‘back in my day’ spiel, this series is light, yet incredibly perspective-altering.
