Hello everyone! Thank you so much for allowing me to share another BK love letter. I just realized it had been 13 years since I began to hold the idea of Baum-kuchen. It’s longer than my oldest daughter's lifetime! And by now, she is a capable human being who can write a beautiful poem, knit a pair of socks, cook meals for her family, and so much more. Just like anything, I have ups and downs in parenting. I am humbled by how much I am still a student as a parent.
As I watched the world celebrate the idea of “love” during February, it nudged me to meditate on my ever-evolving relationship with Baum-kuchen. Baum-kuchen has been my firstborn baby. It’s humbling to remember how and where we started our Baum-kuchen. (In our garage, by myself, with no experience and absolutely no cushion or bandwidth for overhead expenses.) I can vividly trace many of the BK milestones with mirroring growing pains like any parents probably would feel in their hearts when they think of their children, big or small. And thank goodness, as parents, we don’t give up even when things get difficult. We find ways forward, sometimes with humor, sometimes by creatively thinking outside of the box, and other times by simply sitting patiently with those discomforts of growing pains as long as they take.
I am thrilled to share the Notebook Crafting event on March 19th, the first hands-on communal activity we will host during our opening hours since we went through the lockdown in March 2020. It is not an orchestrated full-day workshop like we used to host before the pandemic, but it is a gentle step forward in gathering the community. I hope the afternoon will be a fun and engaging experience for everyone joining to celebrate togetherness.
Also, please join me in welcoming Barbara of MiSOpaper in the UK, who is starting to offer the BK artifacts through her online store. We created an interview story with her and got to know more about her life and passion. I appreciate her mission to support independent artists and designers so much.
Trina interviewed Clementine Ford as a part of her Notebook People series. I learned a lot from the rawness and intentionality of Clementine’s approach to notebook-keeping. Seeing A.C.’s world through their writing and drawing is always fun. This month, they are sharing their experience participating in Hourly Comic Day.
Today, when I think of Baum-kuchen, I don’t think of it only as a shop, studio, or even a brand. Underneath the surface of those undoubtedly physical manifestations of BK, Baum-kuchen is our love letter to the world. A love letter filled with our hopes and dreams, all bundled up in the form of intention.
Thank you, all, for participating in our journey as our beloved Baum-kuchen grows into its teenage years, literally right in front of our eyes. Who knows what kind of teenager Baum-kuchen will be in the next few years? I’m ready to walk alongside it with a curious mind, a compassionate heart, and arms full of patience.
-wakako
always a work in progress...
Topanpga // March 4th, 2023
**This is from our BK Love Letter for March 2023. If you would like to see the entire love letter we sent to our community, you can browse it via this link.
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