I’ve lived my whole life in California, roughly split between a couple decades in Northern California and another couple decades in Southern California. Over the last decade I began to see more of the world. A trip to Iceland and London back in 2013, Milan, France, and Mexico to follow. My real world traveling was starting to match my curiosity, seeing the places I’d always dreamed of visiting. Now after a month in Barcelona, and our return to Los Angeles quickly approaching, I can easily say this city it’s a city high on my list of favorites.

There’s something sooo… easy about the city. The walkability, the liveliness of the streets, the laughing, the eating and drinking, the steady thrum of energy the city exudes. Before we came, I had heard many good things, though I was still a bit reserved. We had a lackluster experience in Milan, and I thought to myself, “could it be the same?” Thankfully, that hasn’t been the case. There’s such a similar spirit to Los Angeles (the LA that we inhabit, that is, which is very different from the stereotypes), a laissez-faire approach, a come as you are attitude. Which is a perfect fit for me, as honestly, that’s my Californian way of living.

✖️ — Tom Sachs announced a new collab with Nike called the NikeCraft General Purpose Shoe which he’s pretty much described as the perfect boring shoe that you should wear forever and live your life in. I feel like the marketing language is spot-on, saying, “Your sneakers shouldn't be the most exciting thing about you. They are tools, and what matters about your tools is that they work.” Plus, it’s a beautiful shoe, which I will be buying for $109.99 on June 10.

✖️ — When you think of money there’s a symbol for everything (feel free to fall down the wiki-rabbit hole of Currency Symbols), save for Iceland’s Króna, which recently underwent a competition to create an iconic glyph. There were over 70 submissions with an absolute perfect design by Sigurður Oddsson. I was able to hang with Siggi in Iceland years ago and he’s a wonderful person and a fantastic designer who deserves to have his mark emblazoned across all the króna.

✖️ — I stumbled upon Tokyo based ITO BINDERY, a book bindery that’s been running since 1938, and their simple collection of paper products. They offer a memo block in a number of colors (the gray is sublime), a series of drawing pads in three sizes, and a pair of notebooks, one plain and one gridded. Their attention to detail is staggering and the pride of their craft shines clearly in everything they make.

✖️ — A few months ago, rumors began to surface that Apple would be debuting a new optical-based experience with an operating system called realityOS. Parker Ortolani, a consumer product manager at Vox, did some digging and it's certainly looking to be... a reality. The thread goes into all the details of how Apple files their patents as well as some folks in the comments, including what apparently is the logo, which is strangely uppercase, which goes against all recent naming conventions. The Apple developer conference starts Monday, June 6 at 10am PT, if all the above is true we should be seeing Apple’s next big bet (I’ll put my money on AR, VR is too niche, imo).

✖️ — Speaking of Apple, can anyone tell my why the design of Apple Music is abysmal on desktop while on iPhone and iPad it's great? Assuming they're separate product teams and that is not a good answer! They need to merge these worlds together already, creating a unified experience across all devices.

✖️ — Which tangentially reminds me of an absolutely fantastic hateread from FT, a conversation between Jony Ive and Marc Newson. I would definitely describe it as interesting, with some choice quotes such as “The best Bugatti restorer is nearby, and the best Ferrari restorer too” or how about “If you don’t have personal and practical experience of a material – say, the difference between aluminium and titanium – it is hard to develop the right forms.” 🥴 Rich people are just like us!

The Trend Report™ by my partner, Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick, is a sharp and insightful look at all the things going on in the world, arriving every Sunday to your inbox. Highly recommended, obviously.