I am a carpenter by trade. I have been making things from wood for 15 years. Over time, I have developed what I like to call 'wood mind'. It comes from experiencing the material over countless interactions. How will the wood bend, warp, or twist? What is the best way to cut it? What is the best way to assemble it? How well will it hold fasteners, withstand the elements, etc? With wood mind, the answers to these questions seem to arise before the question is asked, as if the wood told me.

Wood is a natural material with endless variety, which makes the space for wood mind just as endless. Each new encounter builds on the richness of those that preceded it. There is always another conversation to be had...

I have been teaching myself to sew for the past 8 years or so. Although I am aware that 'cloth mind' exists, it remains elusive to me. I may have only caught glimpses. It may be that my wood mind is too strong - it has taken me a long time to stop 'planking boats' with cloth.

I was excited to find the videos that Reza has on YouTube. It seems to me that there is an attempt to lay the foundations for a cloth mind with ideas such as 'simulating gravity' and 'the law of the concave curve'. In some ways it is only through the practice of concrete rules that we can gain an intuition for what we are doing.

I am excited to see the development of The International School of Tailoring. I am eagerly awaiting the module on drafting a pattern, I think that it will provide a new space for my cloth mind to expand into.

This is in part a thank you to Reza, but also an invitation to others to cultivate their own cloth mind.

Be attentive.