A Lesson on What We Keep with Jean Lin

Deciding the objects we surround ourselves with in our homes can be a journey of self-exploration. In this Lesson on What We Keep, Jean Lin, Founder and Curator of New York City design gallery and studio Colony, speaks about her new book, what designers make, what they collect and understanding the creative power of collecting.

https://oembed.libsyn.com/embed?item_id=31643367

The Cover of What We Keep by Jean Lin

Jean Lin is a New York City–based design entrepreneur and the founder of the downtown design gallery and studio Colony. Trained as a fashion designer, she has professional experience as a fashion designer, an interior designer, editor, writer, trend forecaster, educator, and curator. She has served as part-time faculty at her alma mater, Parsons School of Design, and as a guest lecturer and critic at Rhode Island School of Design, Pratt Institute, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and Tama Art University in Tokyo.

The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, Jean came of age in the eighties and nineties in a middle-class Asian household in Massachusetts suburbia. Design, style, and aesthetics were not a consideration in her home. Family, integrity, and hard work were. After a few slightly rebellious years, Jean finally came to understand the power and merit of the latter. Only after she embraced her heritage of values has Jean been able to fully explore who she truly is and what she has to offer the world: finding and sharing the substance behind beauty beyond what is most readily prescribed.

ABOUT COLONY

Founded in 2014 by Jean Lin, Colony is a cooperative gallery, design studio and strategy firm with the singular aim to celebrate independent design and support the community who creates it.
Colony Consult provides creative direction and design services for design studios, architecture firms, real estate developers and global manufacturers. The team utilizes design, marketing research, PR, and content creation to better articulate clients’ position in the American market.
Colony, the designers’ co-op, is a community of independent furniture, lighting, textiles and objects designers coming together on a New York City stage to celebrate American design with an international audience. The gallery is located at 196 W Broadway, New York, NY 10013.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN “WHAT WE KEEP”

  • Jean’s earliest memory of being creative.
  • How Jean’s family influences her worth Ethic.
  • Why Hurricane Sandy is part of Colony’s origin story.
  • When and why Jean founded Colony.
  • The inspiration and editor of Jean’s new book What We Keep.
  • The three categories of people Jean wanted to feature in the book and why.
  • How creative work often has its own life.
  • What makes creative work commercial.
  • The evolving definitions of feminine and masculine.
  • Why Jean agrees with the concept of feminine leadership.
  • Jean’s “first baby” and what her second baby Juno have taught her about femininity.

Comments +

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CONNECT

elsewhere:

work with us

contact 

buy the

book

The difference between unknowns, design leaders and legends is a factor of visibility. Branding + Interior Design is the quintessential handbook for next-gen design leaders.

Check out my 

INSTA