Monthly Recap :: January 2025

Peace Everyone,

Hope you're well! I'm bringing this newsletter back—except now, it’s monthly. I’ve truly missed having this reflection point to share what I’ve been thinking with those who care to know. The goal is the same: a quick ~2-minute read that leaves you knowing what I’m working on, thinking about, and looking for in my practice.

As you might know, I’ve spent most of the past year building a first-of-its-kind think tank for Design x Food Systems. Specifically, I’m directing a $1M project to help the City of Chicago map the next decade of its food system, infrastructure, investment strategy, and risk management. It’s been a beautiful challenge—balancing policy, strategy, and futures thinking. I'll be sharing more of this work as it makes its way into a more public forum.

Beyond that, I’ve been busy refining my art & architecture practice, stepping away from client work to prioritize self-initiated projects—especially those at the intersection of functional art and material culture. Lately, that’s manifested in my design of home products, which you can see more about here. And, on a personal note, I’ve been deepening my study of Islamic scholarship, challenging myself with longer Surahs, and thinking about the intersection of foresight, faith, and creative practice as a unified process. Feels like a season of uncovering frameworks—intellectual, material, and spiritual—for what’s next.

1) Moments I Was Proud Of This Month:

• I published a piece at the University of Cambridge (UK)—always good to contribute to the broader discourse on space, systems, and design.

• I reached 21K+ people this month on IG -- I've had fun using short-form videos as a space to refine and articulate my multidisciplinary practice publicly.

• A client of mine launched a new partnership with Google and opened their NYC storefront—awesome to see them expanding their reach using the brand strategy I built with them.

2) Questions I Returned To This Month:

• How do we design infrastructures of care? Whether it’s food systems, cities, or institutions, I keep returning to the question of how design can be used not just for efficiency but for resilience, dignity, and interdependence.

• What does it mean to create a practice, not just a career? I’ve been thinking a lot about longevity—how to build a body of work that is coherent, evolving, and independent of market cycles.

• What role does slowness play in making? Whether it’s urban systems, textiles, or strategy, I’ve been drawn to the ways in which patience and deep process counter the culture of constant acceleration.

• How do we make room for ambiguity? So much of my work sits at intersections—between art and infrastructure, spirituality and economics, etc. I’ve been reflecting on better embracing those contradictions instead of resolving them.

3) Mind-Expanding Reads from This Month:

📖 There’s Always This Year – Hanif Abdurraqib’s latest, weaving basketball, memory, and time into a meditation on life, culture, and belonging.

📖 Talking to My Daughter About the Economy – A concise, philosophical take on capitalism, history, and economic power structures, written in a way that makes you rethink what we assume is inevitable.

🎙️ Podcast: "Managing Your Money and the Halal Economy with Harris Irfan" – A conversation on why the middle class now feels like economic slaves.

🎤 Talk: Brand DNA Event - Virgil Abloh + Samuel Ross" – Hear from Virgil Abloh and Samuel Ross about their ideologies and gain tangible advice about how to brand yourself and your ideas.

4) Projects I’d Be Interested in Taking On Next:

• Brand strategy in hospitality, food, and beverage (strategy)

• Resilience planning for civic innovation offices (strategy)

• Art direction & movement design for live performance (design)

• Interior design for hospitality and luxury retail (design)

• Sound design & music direction for luxury retail (design)

• Impact investment evaluation and measurement (foresight)

• Report for the future of currency and agriculture (foresight)

5) Priorities in My Practice for Next Month:

• Continuing to build relationships with galleries & curatorial committees locally and abroad

• Refining my brand infrastructure for upcoming product launches

• Exploring printed matter & zine-making as a reflexive practice

• Experimenting with painting and textile work

• Seeking fabrication partnerships locally and abroad with reasonably low MOQs

Thanks again for your attention, and if any of this resonates, the most helpful thing you can do for me is to share it with a friend. 🙂 ‘Til next time.

Blessings,

JCM