Last week was a perfect storm of inspiration. It starts, sadly, with the news of the passing of a friend and mentor, John Partridge. I include him in ‘inspiration’ because of his noteworthy inspiration to so many designers, elevation of good design and a true desire to improve our environment.

The news of his passing came during an all day session with our client envisioning 2015. The subjects we touched included the inevitable recovery of the economy and how our culture will shift focus. A new definition of luxury and relevance. A trend in urbanization, sustainability, smart life and personal wellness and meaning. We are emerging as a community in a way we have not seen in recent history. I believe we have just come out of the age of envy and are entering the age of purpose.

The third part of the perfect storm involved a fallen pine tree and four pampas grass plants. With a little youthful inspiration and help from the kids, we constructed a massive yurt like lean-to. Rather than cut up the tree and trim the grass, we laid the large branches and carefully wove together a network of purlins. From there we coated the entire mass with pampas grass to make it weatherproof. We have promised to spend the night there in spring.

I reflected on the these things as I layered the pampas grass with my exuberant kids and considered its relevance as it related to my vocation. Our mantra- we love design, we are relentlessly creative, because it matters- was further defined this weekend.

We love design the way John did and share that passion with our clients much like he taught me.

We are relentlessly creative, because our emerging world demands creativity on all fronts. Recovery will come from questioning the status quo in all we do.

It matters because we have a responsibility to a generation and we need to preserve their creativity, ingenuity and inspired perspective.

Here's to you John, man of inspiration.