Old rugged cross.

I didn’t get to know my grandparents very well since we lived thousands and thousands of miles apart. I can count how many times I recall being around them on one hand, maybe one hand and a finger. I do remember being extremely excited to see them each time but I also remember it felt like having to restart the relationship as we had to get to know each other all over again. A few days later they would board a plane and head home.

One of the last times I saw my Grandpa Warfel was when I was in high school. During our tradition of catching up, I shared that I was enjoying my drafting class. He got up and left the room and returned a few minutes later with a kit. I could tell it was old by the worn and somewhat frayed edges of the leather. He opened it and started to take out tools of the drafting trade. A pen set, the inkwell, rulers, scales, templates, and a compass. Each item was in great condition, but well worn and aged with a particular smell. I was confused as to why my grandfather had these items because I had only known him as a pastor (like Grandpa Storey).

It was then that I learned that my grandfather studied architecture in college. So did his brother. They, along with his father, started an architectural firm somewhere in the Midwest. The new business was off to a good start but it quickly died, a casualty of the Great Recession in the 1930s. The family struggled to find work—as did so many at that time—and that’s when Grandpa Warfel made the hard decision to hang up his kit, his dreams really, and begin a very long career as a pastor. As far as I know, he never tried going back into architecture.

I think about my grandfather's story and how so many people in design are struggling right now to find work. Any work. And I wonder how many of those same people will be in design a few years from now. The exhaustion is palpable and I come across too many folks who are finding it difficult to dream.

The window cleaners outside my flat today look busy. They are on top of the roof, with paper plans in hand, and having a lively conversation. I can’t make out what they are saying, obviously, but I do know this, it has absolutely nothing to do with AI.