Hi, I'm Dorian.
I like to make things, and I like to make things happen. I'm interested in the intersection of technology, design, and society. I write about products, user experience, entrepreneurship, art, and culture on my website, doriandargan.com. This is where I post some of my inspirations.
Welcome.
twitter.com/doriandargan:
(Answer by Sahana Mysore, Enginerd), link to entire question here.
Teach him skills. Whether you sign him up for a shop class or baking lessons, he’ll learn not only tangible skills (e.g. to use a lathe if it’s a shop class) but also the intangible skills that comprise the maker mentality — estimation (how long should this bake for if my oven always underheats things?), scaling (hmm, what if i want to make 23 cupcakes instead of 11), innovating (i bet this frosting would take yummy with some cinnamon), etc.
Let him spend money. ”Making” has costs. To learn how to sew, you need a needle, thread, some cloth, and if you don’t have any ideas, a template. A lot of parents urge their kids to be resourceful, regardless of the task at hand but this isn’t always most encouraging thing to hear: “Oh you want to build a model rocket with an on-board camera? That sounds cool. You can do it if you buy all the parts yourself.”
Leave him alone. Building, especially at a young age, is a solitary activity. It requires time to think about what you want to build or change and lots of editing, chiseling, re-writing, etc. If your kid’s schedule is jam-packed with all sorts of activities (swim for two hours, then rush to ballet lessons, then eat dinner with family, then homework, then night time art…), he’ll never have the requisite time to do the kind of reflecting that is needed for making things.
Inspire him. Bring home cool stuff (cool for you, not for him) — that sounds vague but my parents always brought home things that they thought were awesome. They would tell me how X was the softest or loudest or sharpest X that existed and why that was important or new or interesting. It wasn’t huge, but it got me thinking…
Camille found a #baby #doll and started playing… #toys #play #childhood (Taken with Instagram at Target)
excavating the nostalgic sounds of my childhood
When I was younger I underwent a variety of diverse experiences that colored my tastes but confounded my cultural self-image. During my coming of age I endured an “I’m ultra-black so I only like to do ultra-black things” phase in an attempt to find myself.
Over time I’ve been able to peel back and dismantle the repellant layers I had worn to accept things I naturally enjoyed but had trained myself to abhor. And as I developed as an artist and musician I began to appreciate almost everything for its ability to inspire and evoke meaning.
When I was very young I remember catching glimpses of the animated cartoon movie “The Hobbit”, and being captured by its enchanting storytelling. At the time I was too young to appreciate music the way I do now, however for some reason this movie and its soundtrack left an impression on me.
In the fifth grade I unknowingly came across Tolkien’s masterpiece in my school library, and read it in its entirety, later realizing that the movie I had subconsciously taken in was correlated with this amazing novel. This combination of imagery, sound and “pure imagination” left an indelible mark on my psyche - forever inspiring and simultaneously intriguing me.
Now when I hear certain types of folk music I am whisked back to my early years as an inventive and open-eyed child. To this day Gregorian chants and various string-based melodies evoke something sentimentally wistful and peaceful in my soul.
Yesterday I searched Youtube for the The Hobbit (1977) soundtrack, after not having heard it for 15 years. My heart discovered a sentiment that “sounded” just as I had once forgotten and now remembered. Overjoyed, I was immediately inspired to write this post and share the nostalgic sounds of my childhood with the world.
- Dorian Dargan
(Source: youtube.com)
