White cloth, old patterns, and a tonic for tumultuous times

Postcard #3

Fortepan / Domokos József

Hello and welcome back to the third edition of THE POSTCARD, Unregistered’s fortnightly roundup of recommendations.

Thoughts, tools, and treats

This week, links range from 1787 to 2024.

• The white handkerchief

  Did you know that the house of Simonnot-Godard is older than the French Revolution? Founded in 1787, it’s France’s last independent manufacturer of handkerchiefs and pocket squares. A look at their website quickly shows that this family-owned workshop in Caullery is one of the few high-quality textile businesses that have not been bought by a luxury conglomerate and transformed into yet another soulless brand. Their white handkerchiefs are woven on traditional looms; the hem rolling is done by hand. Owner Benjamin Simonnot says: „We are not going to invent things (...) we just use our archive, our books, our old patterns.“

• The white T-shirt

  Speaking of white textiles. The New York Times started a new series, Visual Studies, exploring how images move through and shape culture. The first installment featured an iconic item of clothing: the white T-shirt. According to costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, the white T is „the ultimate blank canvas“ and has become a symbol of how Americans want to imagine themselves: „unfussy, hardworking, laid-back and egalitarian.“ And, of course, it’s communicating „understated sexiness and absolute coolness.“

• How to deliver a speech

  The BBC offers a fun video showing the best way to deliver a speech. It’s just 01:36 long.

• The Silicon Valley canon

  Tanner Greer published a very insightful article about what tech folks in Silicon Valley read – and why. Read my comment here.

• Telegram is not secure

  For those who still believe Telegram is a secure messenger app, it’s not. John Gruber summarizes: „One-on-one chats in Telegram are not encrypted by default and group chats never are. Telegram employees have access to every single message ever sent to every group.“

• Intellectuals and politics

  Sam Kahn wrote an interesting piece on the fate of the intellectual. Read my comment and Sam’s reply.

• A writer’s diary

  Henrik Karlsson quietly launched waste book, a collection of loose thoughts he doesn’t feel like publishing on his main blog. Henrik thinks of making it private „if it grows too much.“ So, if you’re interested, don’t wait too long to subscribe.

Noteworthy

“You can admit disappointment without becoming bitter. After all, we still have time and can make room for some things, even if perhaps in a different form. Moreover, most people have more dreams and desires than can fit into one lifetime. In this respect, regret accompanies a life that wants and desires a lot. But if I had set my priorities differently, there would have been no room for other things, which I would not want to miss”.

—The philosopher Barbara Bleisch, in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürchner Zeitung, reflects how life after 50 oscillates between moments of remorse and regret, but also moments of pride and gratitude: „You are lying to yourself if you say: If I could go back, I would make different decisions. We were not the people we are today back then.“

A mystery link leading into the unknown

Finally, here’s a tonic for tumultuous times:

• Save travels!

As always,

Dirk

P.S.: Feel free to send me pointers to articles, books, sites, pods, tools, and treats that could be interesting for this roundup. While I cannot promise to link them, I read and appreciate every hint.