Lesson 7b: Making Things That Last

(0:02 - 0:36)

Right, today we're going to talk about making things that last. There are folks in this world who are obsessed, absolutely obsessed with vintage. And the question is really, why is that? There are watch collectors, clothing collectors, I mean you name it collectors, antique furniture, the stuff has really lasted for decades, maybe even over a century.

(0:36 - 1:04)

And the value of these things have probably gone up 100x from their original price. And so the real question, like even antique art, right, like sculpture, things created from a culture that have lasted for centuries, old monuments, people are inherently attracted to them. And they're attracted to them for a couple reasons.

(1:04 - 11:47)

One is just the fact that it's lasted that long, especially in a disposable society that we live in today, where fast fashion, disposable, plastic wrapping, everything is just like grabbed, taken, removed, thrown away. So the quality is really less, the care is less. It's all about scale, not quality.

Grab that quick buck. And so the first piece is just like, wow, how does it even last this long? Like I don't, I rarely have things that last more than like a week in my house. So that is just a fascination factor.

The other piece is the culture, like what was happening in and around that time, the people who used it, wore it, built it, created it. What was their lifestyle like? I mean, it's the historical aspect of it. And a lot of folks are interested in history.

But one of the other things I think are the things that really last, like take, for example, vintage workwear, right, like old Levi's blue jeans or jean jackets, French workwear, for example. They've lasted for so long because people use them in their everyday lives. And so it was useful, right? And so it performed a function, like these tool watches of the past, it performed a function, like I was going to dive underwater, I was going to go to space, I was going to race around a track, I was going to go up in a hot air balloon, and I didn't have the ability to like pull out a pocket watch.

So I needed something on my wrist. It's this strong history of product design and usefulness that took something from being just different to being better to being used throughout like a society in a mass market. And that gave it sticking and staying power.

It's that hook, like we talked about Velcro, to make something last over time. It wasn't just disposable, it was something I used every day. And so it almost over time has this mystique put into it because of the fact that one, it was created to last in the first place, it was created with quality, durable, strong elements, titanium, structured canvas cotton, right, like things that were meant to be durable over a long time period, stone, granite, just huge scale.

And so in the universe, eventually everything turns to dust, the heat, the heat death of the universe. But at least as far as we're alive for at this point, maybe 100 years, we sort of max out for the most part 120. Nobody's really lived past 120 years.

So books, even some film, but books really have lasted long time periods, because it like, shook the consciousness of a planet, or of a group of people. And it had staying power, and each new generation sort of rediscovers what was discovered by the prior generation. So the requirements of doing this and creating something that lasts is one, it just needs to be sturdy.

Two, it needs to be raw and real. And so you, three, you need to have something that's useful that that continues to be used and manipulated, either used as like a idea, like I see something and it's an idea, piece of furniture, I sit in something I wear on my body, something that I use a tool, right, some type of space or architecture that I go into. And so you find that it's something that humans create value or find value from over time.

And the basis, once again, of all of this stuff is that it's built around like a strong core value, like, I need to rely on this thing in order to do my job. It's like a professional's thing, a tool or like a professional's memory that they want to capture professional space that they want activities to recur in. So I think we have to think about that, right.

And so nature is interesting, because it's sturdy, it's durable, but it also evolves slowly and also rapidly, it changes ever so slowly. These trees, some trees last for hundreds of years, some you sort of like a human, right. And there's, there's offspring.

And I think as we move into this like high tech future that we're in, and things like artificial intelligence and robotics and software are pretty much here today, gone today, they're constantly changing under rapid iteration cycles. So how do you make something durable in this world of technology? And I think robotics and some hardware, we're starting to have interesting things like I picked up, you could see this in other videos, I'll drop it in the show notes, but a 20 year old Apple iPod HiFi speaker system that the old iPods went into. It's a beautiful piece of design, as well as just a very strong, room filling sound system that could also be portable with batteries.

And so unbox the video 20 years later showed the receipt on it too. So that's sturdy robotics, I think what's going to play out here is that there's going to be the mass market stuff, and it's going to go, it's going to get used, it's going to be like hammers and shovels, it's just going to keep iterating faster and faster. But there's going to be a subset of this, which is like, defined by real craftsmanship and love of this, and it's going to be built with a strong character and soul.

And I don't mean that in like the human soul aspect, I just mean with like, infused with some kind of essence and core values and like durability, that it will stand the course of time and generations. And people will look back on it, collectors, maybe we'll have some, the parts will go out of capability, we'll have mechanical parts, maybe some digital parts, getting electricity on it might be difficult with maybe some solar panels and things. But it will have character, the Wabi Sabi, like an old tool watch collectors, there'll be old tool watch robotics that were strong, sturdy, and became sort of friends and like a working companion for the working men and women.

And they develop, they have like a really like, novel personality engine, and you just sort of be like a kinship. And that is the future, I think, of where this stuff will go that I would like to see occur. For a movie on this, I'd take a look at Bicentennial Man with Robin Williams.

Like, first of all, like, what a great vision, a great story, great acting, just like a really good piece of durable content that often gets overlooked in this fear of the Terminator. And so this durability create what endures this vintage nature, the Wabi Sabi, the character, the scratches, the nicks, the paint splatter, the rips, the tears, this thing that shows that it was actually loved and lived in and memories were created from within it. Those dense nicks and scratches tell a story, right? Like this beard, this gray tells a story, these wrinkles in my face tell a story, these scars on my hands tell a story.

And it makes me remember something. And so it's not for anybody else. It's for you.

And so as we build these products, and I would just hearken to you, if you really do have a love of this stuff, and really do want to create something that endures over long time horizons, you got to inject yourself into this, you got to slow down and take a minute and like, actually go to the crafts people who are working with this raw component materials, and you build up layer by layer to reach a vision of something you want to exist. And sure, in the beginning, it's a small batch. And those small batches lead to incredible opportunities, because it only takes one other person who really sees understands and loves the value of this.

And they will naturally find it and explore and, and, and speak poetically and orate about the mystique and the magic within these objects, almost as if they do have a soul in some ways. And that soul was transmitted from the crafts people and the creators into that thing. So even if it's a video or something, I mean, these digital things can be stored forever into the blockchain, the Bitcoin blockchain will last for well beyond a human lifetime, it's decentralized, it will go forever.

If, if the whole world gets hit by an EMP blast, and archaeologists of the future dig something up and plug it in, and download that blockchain, and then do a review of everything on there, they will have search algorithms, they'll pull out the most interesting unique things. So your stuff literally in digital space can last forever as long as the pyramids. So the real question in both the real physical world, the digital world and the intersection of them both.

Where's the mystique? Where's the character? Where's the, the often overused, but the je ne sais quoi of the whole thing. And you've got to find it in yourself first and what you're attracted to and how you experience and like the things that you bought that you actually spent the time and research and we're like, wow, I really have a love for this thing. And you want to experience more of that brand of that ethos of that mystique of that character.

Then you do that for your own thing. And my advice and my hope is that you take a minute to do that for your products. And we can, there are times where the sprint matters.

(11:48 - 12:09)

And the sprint will come once you find that thing and it's all lined up perfectly and it will pull you forward faster than the whip. It's the carrot rather than the whip. And search until you find that thing that energy and just give into it and let go and let it just lead you wherever it may.

(12:09 - 12:38)

Because I guarantee you something magical and impactful and durable will come out of it and it will endure over long time horizons. So that's the intention for today. I hope you have a great week, a great day ahead.

And yeah, just take a moment and think about those things you're putting into the world and put a little character into them. All right. That's it for me.

Have a good one. Love y'all. Toodles.