The Architecture of Us

The Return Home: Designing the Life We Come Back To

Square footage is useful. It’s just not the thing that makes you exhale when you walk through the door.

That exhale—the feeling of home—is designed. Not in the “buy a new sofa” sense (though, sure, sofas help). I mean designed as an emotional ecosystem: objects that hold meaning, light that helps you unwind, color that steadies you, textures that ground you, and small rituals that signal it’s okay to settle.

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The Architecture of Belonging Starts at the Dinner Table

Family dinners are more than food. They’re a daily architecture of belonging. Every small gesture—passing a dish, listening to a story, laughing at nonsense—threads people together. This isn’t about materializing some idealized past; it’s about practicing connection in real time.

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Niovi Forbes brushing glaze onto a ceramic tile in the OXUM NYC studio.

Curious about the world of Maker Culture? Maker culture is more than a trend—it’s a revival of craftsmanship and community, inviting us to reconnect with the joy of creating something meaningful with our hands. Maker culture is not DIY. It’s a modern movement —echoing past craft revivals, yet adapted to a digital age. It reminds us that making is essential to being human.

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