Reducing the craft of reducing

Today, I went for a haircut after work. The barber who I usually saw wasn't there, it was another younger looking fella.

He was cutting another guy's hair, probably in his twenties. As I waited, there was one part of the conversation I overheard. They were talking about who should be giving the advice on how the cut should be styled.

The barber, who was also pretty young, twenties or early thirties I suppose, said that he doesn't really give suggestions to customers on how the cut should go. His reason was that the customer is the one who has lived with their hair their entire life, who is he (a barber) to give an opinion on how it should be styled? Granted he said, most of his clients were teenagers (tiktok was mentioned) who would bring him photos or videos on the style they desired.

The customer, didn't seem to agree fully. He's not sure if he has that strong of an idea on what a good hairstyle would look like, and doesn't mind if the barber gives an opinion on what might look good. The conversation then drifted to some other topics, and I'm not sure whether the hairstyle he got that day was what he wanted or what the barber decided to give...

Later, the young-ish barber went on to cut another (older) customer's hair, while I waited a little longer. My usual (older, more experienced-ish) barber showed up and I was kinda glad I was later in the queue, haha.

This other barber, is the second of which had pointed out a bulge in my head (the first one I still go to sometimes), and who had told me that they would avoid cutting that area too thinly. Having gone through dozens of barbers in my lifetime, I usually just give simple instructions like shave the sides with number X, scissors on top, with varying degrees of outcomes.

The two that noted the bulge though, I kinda feel are the better ones, as they know how to adapt the cut and style to the shape of my head. Honestly, it's hard for me to describe the haircut I'd like with any specificity, because I'm not versed in the terminology or whatever.

Not sure why, but I feel like this regular barber of mine checked in with me a lot more often than usual on how the cut is looking, in between tool changes. Is it because the younger barber right next to us was influencing things? Or is it just me being more sensitive today, about how the young generation is going with customization?

This post on crafting I've wanted to write for a while. There are probably many ways to define what a 'craft' is. Today, I focus on crafts where the reductive part is more important than the generative part.

So things like haircuts, carving wood, perhaps even software design done in my way :P

As the marginal cost of producing something, in both time and perhaps monetary terms, drops to zero. When 'skills' that used to take years or careers to master can be replicated so easily nowadays. What is it that will remain?

I want to say nothing, because 'nothing' is probably the part that gets overlooked.

An important part of design, is in the blank spaces. I think of posters where simplicity rather than clutter helps get the essential messages across. Or websites like the one you're looking at now with minimal distractions keeps the content centre of mind.

Nothing is hard to copy right?

More and more so, I am starting to value aesthetics, based not on what is present, but what is purposefully absent. What is new and fresh tends to be beautiful, but you need disciplined effort to keep it that way. Maintenance, is something I can do gladly for things that adhere to its original intent and beauty, or something I do begrudgingly for 'professional' work.

Sad to say, the things I reluct on seem to be growing, which I guess makes me appreciate the precious bubbles that still exist here and there.

The start of the year has been hard to swallow for me.

The scientist in me had mixed feelings attended a climate and cryosphere conference that basically boils down to - reduce carbon emissions to avoid the worst case scenario of climate change and sea level rise. I painfully watched ex-colleagues, some of whom I had admired once, continue on their duty of using science to reduce uncertainties, even if the main uncertainties can be reduced by extra data or model ensembles - it is humanity's efforts that truly matters.

The 'engineer' in me attended our company's annual gathering two weeks later, the vibe of which was taken over by the other meaning vibe is now connotated with. That, and the layers of abstraction upon abstraction that some colleagues are advocating so much for, that makes sense I guess if you're incentivized to work on it, but now feels like complexity and over-engineering to me.

My intuition tells me, that sure specifications are important, but what does it all distill down to?

As I sat down to write my self review last week, I felt a tinge of despair, knowing that my past year has been a great one as I connected with my Pacific neighbours and did a lot of meaningful work. Whereas this year, almost three months in, it feels like the tailwinds have turned into gusts, directionless, a hindrance even.

The way to hone my craft has to be less outward facing now. I will need to empty what was filled, rather than filling it with noisy echoes, the effort shall go into preserving my mindspace with tranquility. Or burn it all as I once said.

Someone else will fill the void. Just as I craft for it.