Founder Reflection: Learning to Wait

One of the greatest lessons I’m learning as a founder has nothing to do with design.

It has everything to do with restraint.

I shared in a previous reflection that when I begin thinking about a collection, I rarely see one piece.

I see ten.

Sometimes I see the entire collection before the first design has even been produced.

It’s a gift.

It’s also a challenge.

Because when I see the whole story, I want to share the whole story.

I’ve realized that I don’t naturally think in singles.

I think in collections.

I think in systems.

I think in narratives.

It’s probably one of the reasons I love Netflix.

Before streaming, we’d watch one episode each week and spend months getting through a thirteen episode season.

I’ve always been the person who wanted all thirteen episodes at once.

Give me the entire story.

Let me decide how quickly I move through it.

That’s exactly how I approach creating.

When I develop a collection, I don’t want to release one design.

I want to release everything.

Every option.

Every variation.

Every chapter.

But I’ve learned something.

Just because I can see the whole picture doesn’t mean I have to share it all at once.

Sometimes abundance becomes overwhelming.

Sometimes the best way to tell the story is one chapter at a time.

That’s a lesson I’m still learning.

For years, I’ve had goals that felt enormous.

Twenty-two collections.

Thirteen original Founders Day designs, and maybe one day twenty-two.

My instinct has always been to keep creating what’s next.

What’s new.

What’s exciting because no one has seen it before.

Lately, though, I’ve been asking myself a different question.

What if my next season of growth isn’t about creating more?

What if it’s about honoring what already exists?

Some of my favorite designs deserve to be introduced to someone for the very first time.

Others deserve to be rediscovered.

Longevity isn’t proven by how many collections I can create.

It’s proven by whether the collections I’ve already created continue to matter.

That’s the kind of company I’m trying to build.

Not one that is constantly chasing what’s new.

One that creates work timeless enough to be worth returning to, again and again.