Crafting a Meaningful Home

Before Anh-Minh and I started Anthology, I had finished writing and designing a book called Crafting a Meaningful Home: 27 DIY Projects to Tell Stories, Hold Memories, and Celebrate Family Heritage. You could consider Anthology magazine a spin-off of this book since both publications revolve around the idea that designing a home doesn’t merely have to be about loading it with clever decor, choosing the right paint chips, or getting it tricked out with the hippest furnishings. Style doesn’t have be simply prescriptive, clever, or beautiful—it can be reflective and meaningful, too. (In its proposal phase, the book’s title was actually Anthology.)

Crafting a Meaningful Home just came out this fall and to celebrate, there will be a launch party at Rare Device in San Francisco on Thursday, October 21, from 7-9pm. Many of the book’s contributors will be present, including Anthology‘s editor in chief, Anh-Minh Le, and market editor, Joy Deangdeelert Cho. I’m also working on an installation made completely out of cardboard called “A Group Memoir” which will display a majority of the book’s DIY projects. Rare Device will also give away free copies of the book to the first 25 customers whose purchases total at least $60. 10% of the evening’s sales will benefit Architecture for Humanity.

Crafting a Meaningful Home features personal home decorating projects that go beyond making pretty things, as each project tells a story about its maker as well. Here are a few images to give you an idea of some of the projects in the book:

“Folk Art Replica” by Meg Mateo Ilasco (me)

“Travel A-Z” by Anh-Minh Le

“Gold-Leafed Lamp” by Joy Deangdeelert Cho

“Family Teepee” by Billie Lopez and Tootie Maldonado

{Photographs by Thayer Allyson Gowdy}