Have you heard of a book called “Happiness Project“? You probably did a couple of years ago when author Gretchen Rubin launched it and was instantly a New York Times bestseller. Curious, I got a copy and read for myself what it was all about even if I was late in the game. Simply put, Rubin’s yearlong quest for happiness moves readers to embark on the same adventure – to invest in themselves and maximize happiness through small manageable steps. This should be easy I thought. So, this year, I started my mini happiness project.
In her book, Rubin tackled 11 resolutions and one of which was pursuing a passion. According to the author’s research, it is likely for a person to experience a “tremendous happiness boost” once he or she makes time for a passion and treats it as a priority. In her case, it was to write a novel in 30 days. Mine was to design.
I’ve always found realizing ideas come to life as something worthwhile and fulfilling. A perfect example would be our Mori home decors. Imagine the designs we had in mind early 2016 that turned into actual products now in the hands of customers based across the Philippines and abroad.
I wanted to enhance my design skills a notch further through formal education. So, I thought of exploring into another design field which was furniture design.
Luckily, SoFa Design Institute was offering Furniture Design Studio 1 program last July. The lecturer for the class is multi-awarded furniture designer Mr. Rey Soliven. Mr. Soliven’s works were showcased in several Manila Fame events already. Without so much thought, I immediately signed up for the class and Saturday afternoons have never been the same.
Three months have passed, and progress is looking well:
- Conceptualized a chair inspired by the lips (my chosen body part)
- Presented a full-size drawing from the top, side, and front views of the lip-inspired chair
- Practiced free hand and perspective drawing
- Understand the history, types, forms, and functions of furniture
What’s next? Ideally, it would be to produce a prototype but that is reserved for the next blog post.
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Are you thinking of starting your happiness project? Please share in the comments below. We’d love to hear it!