June 7, 2024 • 31 mins
Deciding the objects we surround ourselves with in our homes can be a journey of self-exploration. In this Lesson on What We Keep, Jean Lin, Founder and Curator of New York City design gallery and studio Colony, speaks about her new book, what designers make, what they collect and understanding the creative power of collecting.
ABOUT COLONY
Founded in 2014 by Jean Lin, Colony is a cooperative gallery, design studio and strategy firm with the singular aim to celebrate independent design and support the community who creates it.
Colony Consult provides creative direction and design services for design studios, architecture firms, real estate developers and global manufacturers. The team utilizes design, marketing research, PR, and content creation to better articulate clients' position in the American market.
Colony, the designers’ co-op, is a community of independent furniture, lighting, textiles and objects designers coming together on a New York City stage to celebrate American design with an international audience. The gallery is located at 196 W Broadway, New York, NY 10013.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kim (00:04):
Deciding the objects we surround ourselves with in our homes can
be a journey of self exploration.
Collecting is a ritual, one that maychallenge your self identity, ignite
your curiosity, or simply allow youto live in the presence of beauty.
(00:27):
I spoke to Jean Lin, founder andcurator of New York City Design
Gallery and Studio Colony, aboutwhat designers make, what they
collect, and understanding thecreative power of collecting,
not just objects, but stories.
Because once you understand wheresomething comes from, and what
(00:50):
its purpose was and is, you willinstinctively understand its value.
Jean Lin (01:00):
I'm Jean Lin and this is a lesson on what we keep.
Kim (01:16):
Tell me your earliest memory of being creative.
Jean Lin (01:21):
Oh gosh, it's funny because there's no design history
or creative family history.
So growing up, it's not that Iwasn't encouraged to be creative,
but it was never really the focus.
We did a lot of sports, being physical,being active, but creativity wasn't like
this core value that I was raised with.
(01:43):
So I think my first Reallyclear memory of me realizing
that I was being creative.
When I was in high school, I wasreally into clothes and fashion.
And I grew up in a time where itwasn't super easy to get whatever
you wanted on the internet.
Like it, we've had to like, Hunt.
(02:04):
Go to Goodwill.
Goodwill, Value Village.
Speaker (02:08):
Did you Value Village?
Yeah.
Yeah,
Jean Lin (02:10):
exactly.
So it's like you had to hunt andyou had to work with what you had.
And we didn't, we weren'tof like great means.
So it was never like, I didn't getto buy all the things that like
the sort of popular kids could buy.
So I think my earliest memory of justlike true creativity was I would just
sit and imagine outfits for myself,like out of the things that I had.
(02:33):
And also there's like, imagine, like, Iguess it was like early fashion design,
because I studied fashion design.
It was early in that sense whereit was like, I would imagine
what a dream outfit would be.
So it's not that early.
And I'm surprised.
I think I was certainly a creativekid, but it was just never something
(02:55):
that I really thought about as a thing.
It was like, it's just likeintuition at that point.
And then for sure, the fashionstuff was probably the first
time that I realized I was.
Actually creative and have takingan initiative to think about
something that didn't exist.
Kim (03:13):
So you have a cooperative.
It's called Colony.
Can you tell me a little bit about howthat transpired for you and developed?
Jean Lin (03:22):
I worked in social services.
I went back to schoolto study fashion design.
I started a fashion companyafter I'd worked as a fashion
designer for a few years.
And I didn't really know what I wasdoing, and I didn't make any money, so I
had to do something for money, and I, Ijust happened to land this job writing.
(03:44):
I've always been a writer, andI've always loved writing, so I, I
started writing for this newsletter.
About interior design.
And it was more on the commercial side.
It talked about like more commercialinterior design, but it was an
education for me because I was ableto learn about this, like really
rich history of American design.
(04:04):
I, the commercial design is thepowerhouses, Herman Miller and Noel,
and they're amazing historic brands.
And you, and when you learn aboutthem, you learn about this, like
rich history of American design.
American design, but also the ideaof the place being a very, a key part
(04:25):
of history and this like environmentthat we all are surrounded by, but we
don't necessarily have the education,the wherewithal to really understand
everything that's going on around us.
So that was my first time reallyunderstanding that there was this other
world of design that was happening.
It's like the duck at thetop of the water, like.
(04:47):
We seem so like calm above thewater, but there's like all this
work happening behind the scenes tomake our environments what they are
and make them work for us and makethem beautiful, but also work for us.
As I was maturing through thatcareer, Hurricane Sandy happened.
And Working as an editor.
(05:07):
And I was talking to all theseamazing designers who were
making work locally in Brooklyn.
But when the storm happened, everybodywas desperate to do something, but
like we, none of us like knew what to
Speaker 3 (05:21):
do.
Jean Lin (05:22):
Yeah.
So I started a charity exhibit.
It was like a very fast thing thatwe, I did with my friend right after
the storm where I invited designers.
And we used to make work out ofdebris from the storm and sold
it for storm relief and charity.
(05:44):
And it was in the process of thatplanning and curation that I had this
like light bulb moments where I realizedthat I loved writing about design.
Um, but what I think I really loved.
(06:05):
In the writing was the process ofgetting to know the designers and also
the businesses that they were growing.
And I was also able to channel thatinto a world where the work was going
towards something meaningful andsomething that was bigger than me.
(06:27):
Also on the business side, Irealized that a growing independent
maker industry was burgeoning andPopping off as the kids say at the
time, this is 11, 12 years ago.
There was really no truesupport system for them to.
(06:47):
Showcase their work, sell theirwork, advocate for the unique
challenges that they were facingas independent furniture makers,
furniture, lighting, and textiles.
So at the same time that I was havingthis sort of personal professional
awakening of like, this might besomething that I want to do, like in
the curation space, but also with somesort of mission behind it, but also.
(07:12):
Identifying that there mightbe an actual business here.
There might be an actual.
Opportunity to start a businessthat could really work.
And that being this idea that it'sa gallery and showroom only for
independent makers and designers,like exclusively for representing
independent American designers.
(07:34):
But the big thing that is differentabout colony, and this was the sort of
founding idea is that it's structuredmore in the spirit of a cooperative.
So a traditional gallery will take40 to 60 percent commission on every
sale and that for the independentis just extremely unsustainable.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Yeah.
Jean Lin (08:00):
The margins are too tight.
The cost of operation is too high.
That if you're giving away somuch of your sales, even if
you're making sales at volume,
Speaker (08:10):
you
Jean Lin (08:11):
can't grow.
I invite my designers who werepresent to use Colony as a tool.
So we charge a monthlyfee, which is 6, 000.
This equivalent of a co op fee.
And then our commissionis much, much lower.
It's 15%, but at the time there wasnothing like that where we solely
(08:32):
were there to support this communityof designers that were nascent
in their practices, and it was alittle bit radical at the time to
say, we were willing to forego thesort of trajectory of our growth.
for the trajectory of the growthof the designers that we represent.
Kim (08:55):
We live in a capitalist society, but creatives are
inherently collaborative.
And there is, I believe, adifferent model that has emerged
and continues to emerge as morecreatives have mass audiences online.
And can leverage their own abilitiesacross their own social channels.
(09:18):
They, they don't need theintermediaries anymore.
So you coming in as somebody to nurturethem, but also to run a business,
but to facilitate some of the thingsthat they don't necessarily want
to do, it makes really good sense.
And it, it just, I think not sayingI'm going to gouge you for that.
Is, is respecting their valueas human beings, and then
(09:44):
respecting their value as artists,
Jean Lin (09:47):
too.
When you say it like that, it'ssad that it was so radical.
When I started Colony, it was a timewhen a lot of companies were starting
and then selling really quickly, andit was a time when fast, immediate,
and extreme growth was happening.
Was the goal.
(10:07):
And I think what was really actuallyinnovative on my part or whatever you
want to, however, whatever word youwant to put on it is that I wasn't
interested in that I knew I was gonnahave to work every day of my life.
I knew I was going to haveto get up and go to work.
So like I was more interested in acompany that I could go to work every
(10:28):
day and feel good about and earna good living, but also, you know,
Do something that felt substantiveand less like sustaining for me,
as well as the community around me.
You
Speaker (10:47):
mentioned your family was not necessarily not discouraging
of the creativity, but itwasn't a value that was held.
So what was theirthought on this decision?
Did that affect you in any way?
Jean Lin (10:59):
That's a great question.
I think that on the surface, Becausethey aren't designers and they really
still to this very day, they havetrouble really understanding like
all the ins and outs of what I do.
Right.
You would think that Iwas just rogue on my own.
And I think that even Isaw that narrative too.
(11:19):
I think in the promotion of this book,talking about the, and like the work
of putting the book, my book together,I've come to realize that The family
values that were there are ones that areuniversally supportive and universally
Universally buoy to encourage someonelike me to do anything I wanted to do.
(11:42):
Even though when I was like,I'm going to go to fashion
school, I know it's weird.
And they were like, whywould you want to do that?
Like also worried, Oh, are yougoing to go to earn a living?
Even though all those things wereseemed like obstacles at the time and
might even be painted as obstacles.
Now, looking back, the reality wasthat my parents are immigrants.
They came.
(12:03):
With barely even speaking thelanguage when they first came, right?
And they showed me every day in and out,every single day that you work hard.
And you live with passion and youstand really strongly by the things
you, that you care about most in life.
And I'm going to cry because Ithink I've lost somehow in the like,
(12:26):
hard work of getting to where I am.
Like, I think I lost sight of how much.
Those values actually played such ahuge role in being for me to be able
to think I have an idea, it's notsomething that anyone's done before,
which is colony, and I'm going to do it.
(12:47):
And that's crazy.
And that's something thatit's so much more about.
Those values of hard work and ofintegrity and family, those core values
have so much more of an impact in thosedecisions that I've made over my career.
Speaker (13:06):
I think that's interesting though, because there are parents
who will hold people back.
Yeah.
So the, once again, there are parentswho will make that a sticking point
because they really don't understandand they're so feared for your safety.
So you have a business called Colonyand family values are important.
It makes such beautiful sense theway you were describing those values
(13:29):
and just again saying that they wereexpressed in that business and this
whole idea of being an immigrant aswell, my grandmother was an immigrant
as well, is that you're taking a chance.
Yes.
Everything is a chance.
Yes.
So, so it is in you actuallyto have a thing to yourself.
I'm going to have an idea becausethat's what they did to their brain.
(13:50):
They made a move, but solet's talk about the books.
I have the book here.
It's called what we keep.
It's beautiful.
Yes.
Thank you.
I love the book and it is divided up.
I'll let you talk about it.
I'm going to say it.
What I loved about it isthat it was divided into
sections, fire, water, metal.
I loved that.
(14:11):
And then you have different designersand architects and artists and wonderful
makers categorized under each of thecategories of each of the topics.
So tell me a little bit about what.
inspired the book and then how youselected the people to go into it.
Jean Lin (14:35):
Sure.
Thank you for such kindwords about the book.
I feel like I put so much into it.
And every time I hear somebody saysomething nice about it, I'm like, it
just brings so much joy to my heart.
Speaker (14:46):
I just have to say something a little extra then is that yesterday I
was in like such a mood and I opened thebook and I was like, Oh, I'm a creative.
I'm an artist.
This is why.
I am a creative and an artist.
Like, it just reminded me who I was.
So, that's what I was feeling yesterday.
(15:08):
Oh my gosh.
So, thank you so much for that.
Wow.
That's
Jean Lin (15:12):
maybe the best compliment I've ever gotten.
Speaker (15:13):
Yeah.
I just, literally, I justfelt so at ease looking at it.
I was like, yes.
Yes.
Collecting.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Yes,
Speaker (15:22):
silver, collecting silver.
And I was like, finding,I really was doing that.
I was like, finding thethings that you love.
Like, I just was feelinglike an artist after.
Anyway, go ahead.
Jean Lin (15:36):
So the book, I have always been a writer.
I've always loved the sort ofpuzzle of putting together.
words to make like coherent thought, butalso when a sentence is crafted, well,
it's its own piece of art, isn't it?
It makes you feel, it makesyou, it makes, it gives us all
(15:58):
the things that good art does.
And I think I felt that really earlyon because I always felt, I felt like
writing was, it came to me quite easily.
It wasn't something that Ithought would ever happen.
And I also just didn't pursue that asmy professional, like, career path.
And yeah, and I just like when youhave dreams, like I thought I was
(16:21):
also going to be like a professionalfigure skater, even though I
never, I never knew how to skate.
A couple years ago, my editorat Abrams reached out to me.
I'd met her once or twice,just in the industry.
And she asked me if I'd whatever,consider writing a book.
And she's so knowledgeable indesign and design media and
(16:45):
specifically book publishing.
And I think that She had this ideaor sense that it was time for a
book about collections or it'slike in the zeitgeist right now.
So she provided me withthat very loose parameter.
I knew I wanted to talk about peopleand I knew I wanted to talk about
Tai, the people behind the objectsand the lives behind the objects.
(17:11):
To the objects and the space and the artfrom there, as far as the organization,
the people in it, I think I knew Iwanted to include these three categories
of people, one being the makers.
Those are the people that I workclosest with right every day to
being the interior designers andarchitects who, and the trade.
(17:34):
Designers who, who I also workwith a lot and I admire so much
and I admire their work so much.
And then three being the homeownersand the collectors and the people
who really live with the work.
And there's a lot ofoverlap in the book.
Some of them are makers and collectors.
Some of them are designers and it'stheir homes that I'm featuring.
(17:57):
But in my work at Colony, I really havefound that there's this like really
beautiful ecosystem that exists betweenthose three categories of people.
I realized that I'm so lucky.
I live in this, I guess itcan only be called a bubble.
I live in this bubble ofcreativity and beauty.
(18:18):
I'm surrounded by all these inspiringpeople and it really was the first
thing I did was just to reachout to my network and see who out
there was considered themselves acollector and some of them don't
consider themselves collectors.
But I just, I knew something was there.
I knew that something abouttheir personality was speaking
to me and something abouttheir work was speaking to me.
Speaker (18:40):
This, and she saw a loom when she was nine and she said, if
I get this, my life will be set.
Come on.
Like she knows I'm nine, right?
So just when you were saying thereason I'm jumping in there is
(19:03):
because you were talking about.
About the intuition piece and like I'mgoing to reach out and see and also I
just I just want to touch on somethingI'm taking off track but it's just one
of the reasons I reached out to youas I was kind of looking around and I
saw you say on Instagram the book istaking me on television the book is on
(19:26):
television right and I often I'm of thebelief that the art has its own Life its
own journey, but it has its own place.
It wants to go.
Is that the same with objects for you?
Do you believe?
And do you feel thatwith the book itself?
I mean, I think for the book,
Jean Lin (19:47):
absolutely.
I did not know what toexpect with launching a book.
Of course, it's like alifelong dream fulfilled.
I feel so proud of the fact thatthis piece that I worked so hard on.
It doesn't even need me.
(20:07):
When you put something out into theworld, it does start to gain its own
momentum and its own life and its ownvoice and I'm really a firm believer
in, in business and personal life.
Like what you put outis what you get back.
The book is pretty serious.
If you open to certain parts and itfeels very like you have like all
these revelations page after page.
(20:29):
But then I also triedto infuse it with humor.
I try to infuse it with lightheartednessthat can break up the seriousness.
And that was one of the things that Ithink I, you know, Did achieve but I
also am it's just like part of who Iam like I'm a serious person and I'm
like a silly person at the same timeand I don't know if that translated to
(20:50):
the book but I hope that as you likesift through it you can feel the weight
and gravity of what I'm trying to sayas well as It's the levity, which is
like a really hard thing to do, butI think that was one thing about the
Speaker (21:09):
book.
Yeah, I think it's the levity in the,in even some of the objects where the
two architects, and I don't remembertheir names right now, but one was the
architect, where they're collectingboxes, empty boxes, and she's just
like, no, that's more your thing.
But it's how they perceive each otherin the collection of these boxes.
So I get, there's somany different things.
(21:30):
Like that seem like they could be simpleor light, but when you start to really
examine the why behind everything,it becomes layered and nuanced.
Jean Lin (21:44):
I was thinking about, did I write a book that
was like universal enough?
Is it commercial enough?
I really came to the conclusionthat like, this is a book that
I can feel proud about what Iwrote and what I put together.
I hope that people.
Can like meet me halfway andI don't have to assume that
everybody's at level zero.
I think that these, these sort ofnuanced ideas can be picked up on.
(22:08):
They don't have to be alienating.
I hope that they aren't.
And I'm, and I think that'sthe balance we're all trying
to strike as creators, right?
Like how do we exist in a world that'scommercial, but also be true to who
we are, and I think that this book waslike my ultimate expression of that.
Speaker (22:24):
Yeah.
I think the whole ideaof being commercial.
Is an interpretation of somebody,what somebody else did, right?
Somebody else did something else'screativity sold or resonated, reached
an audience with such capacity thatwe decided that was commercial.
So if we cut ourselves off fromdoing what we're just going to do.
(22:49):
Right?
We will never know what the nextcommercial is, or we might, and
you might not have commer butthis doesn't, it's, I'm not to
say that this is not going to sellwell, because I really hope it
sells well, and here it is again.
But it's like, but I do believe,I do Emma, believe, of the belief
that the book has its own journey.
The book came through you in thisparticular collection of people and
(23:10):
objects, and it has its own journey,and it will find the people who need it.
Objects are feminine and masculine,and we say that with Ian.
Do you think that leadershipis feminine and masculine too?
Do you even think about thatin the collaborative nature
(23:31):
of the work that you do?
Jean Lin (23:32):
I will preface all of this with, I think the definition
of femininity and masculinity haschanged and evolved so much in
the last even just five years.
It's feels like the evolution ofthose definitions have been like
chugging along over the, my 20 years.
(23:53):
But like, most recently, I think thosedefinitions and those lines have been
more blurred than they ever have before.
Do we even need them?
I wonder.
Yeah.
That's a good question.
I think that they are a nice sort oftouch point as long as we're prefacing
(24:14):
that touch point with this exact point.
Do I think about my femininity?
Yes.
I think about it all the time.
I think about the fact that I lookaround at my contemporaries and there
are not many women in this position.
And there are almost.
No women of color in this position.
(24:37):
And like, I've evolved in my thinkingaround it as well, where at first I
was like, well, I don't want people tosee me and only think or see colony and
think that it's obviously a woman who'slike started it or like was curated it.
But I've evolved in that too.
I think it's a hugepart of the narrative.
It is a huge part of how I run mybusiness, how I choose my designers,
(24:58):
how I choose to represent my designers.
A really good example is.
Just simply the number of designersthat we represent at Colony.
We represent 16 where our contemporariesand our competition, the closest
is probably 50 as far as the numberthat they represent the most core and
(25:21):
important part of the entire businessis my relationships with my designers.
And I'm just not the type of personwho can have deep and meaningful
Relationships with 150 differentdesigners in the way that I need to
for this to work, for this to workfor them and for this to work for me.
(25:41):
And I hope that it continues to evolveand I hope that femininity and a more
nurturing and maternal energy can beapplied to more businesses, whether
it's a man or a woman at the helm.
That's like the future.
And I also think, one more thing, IMy, I just had a baby two years ago.
(26:03):
He's two, two and a half now.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
And I think that my own masculinityand femininity within myself has the
ratio has changed as a mother now.
And I think that.
Whether we want to call, uh, a maternalinstinct feminine, I don't know,
(26:26):
but I think that traditional sort ofmaternal instinct was missing in me,
like this woman for a very long time.
And now it's amplified so muchbecause of my son and it has
also changed the way that I
approach my businessin a lot of ways too.
Speaker (26:48):
Is that from a timing perspective, like
just a flow perspective too?
I think being a mom, I've had to reallyadjust my time and my priorities.
I will say somethinginteresting that I just heard.
I have a son he's adopted.
He's five, but like from the momentthat he came in at newborn, I've, I did
feel the surge of femininity as well.
(27:08):
This is what I would, I feltlike I was on, but I will say
I read something the other day.
where it was talking aboutmasculinity, that motherhood
inspires more masculinity inmoms, because you're having to be
regimented with order with the daywith, especially as with a toddler.
And I was like, Oh, that'swhy it drives me crazy.
(27:29):
Because I'm wanting to do,I'm wanting to be nurturing.
I'm wanting to be more feminine, but Ihave to turn on this masculine drive.
Sometimes, like, really turnit on to get things done.
Jean Lin (27:42):
Everyone's relationship with motherhood is so unique for me.
My first baby is colony.
And when you talk about thatregimented sort of order that
existed in spades before.
(28:03):
My second baby, Juno, came along andI think that my energy prior to having
a child, what like a human child wassuper masculine and like very, not
just driven, but also very goal andtask oriented and like, tunnel vision.
(28:28):
And also I sort of bought intomy own narrative for like I
was a little bit, and that'salso to do with tunnel vision.
Like I, I told myself what itwas, told myself how things were,
told myself, for example, I alwaysseen myself as the underdog.
I've always seen, like, I'vealways thought that I had to.
Work twice as hard to get half as far,like all those sort of cliche things
(28:50):
and very strict in that with myselfin that mindset, that's who I am.
Right.
I, I really credit my son and theflexibility he's forced me to have that.
I can step a little bit away from thethings that I am very strict with myself
about, and, you know, Whether it be myschedule or whatever it is, but also
(29:13):
things like, Oh, I'm the underdog.
And then all of a sudden I'mlike, Oh, but I'm not the
underdog with my employees.
I'm the boss.
Now I'm realizing like having mybaby has changed me in a lot of ways.
And that's one of them whereI'm open more to listening.
I'm open more to letting go a littlebit and letting him take charge.
(29:37):
What
Speaker (29:44):
is your wish for every other woman?
Jean Lin (29:46):
Feeling empowered enough to make your own choices and find
your own path and dream your owndreams and say, even if there's
not necessarily a written path infront of you, that you can do that.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
Be visible.
Use your voice.
Every other woman needs you to lead.
Voice Lessons is co produced, written,and spoken by me, Kim Cutable.
Speaker (30:28):
It's also co produced and edited by Sergio Miranda.
You can find past episodes, shownotes, and the cool stuff our guests
recommend at voicelessonspodcast.
com.
Deciding the objects we surround ourselves with in our homes can
be a journey of self exploration.
Collecting is a ritual, one that maychallenge your self identity, ignite
your curiosity, or simply allow youto live in the presence of beauty.
(00:27):
I spoke to Jean Lin, founder andcurator of New York City Design
Gallery and Studio Colony, aboutwhat designers make, what they
collect, and understanding thecreative power of collecting,
not just objects, but stories.
Because once you understand wheresomething comes from, and what
(00:50):
its purpose was and is, you willinstinctively understand its value.
Jean Lin (01:00):
I'm Jean Lin and this is a lesson on what we keep.
Kim (01:16):
Tell me your earliest memory of being creative.
Jean Lin (01:21):
Oh gosh, it's funny because there's no design history
or creative family history.
So growing up, it's not that Iwasn't encouraged to be creative,
but it was never really the focus.
We did a lot of sports, being physical,being active, but creativity wasn't like
this core value that I was raised with.
(01:43):
So I think my first Reallyclear memory of me realizing
that I was being creative.
When I was in high school, I wasreally into clothes and fashion.
And I grew up in a time where itwasn't super easy to get whatever
you wanted on the internet.
Like it, we've had to like, Hunt.
(02:04):
Go to Goodwill.
Goodwill, Value Village.
Speaker (02:08):
Did you Value Village?
Yeah.
Yeah,
Jean Lin (02:10):
exactly.
So it's like you had to hunt andyou had to work with what you had.
And we didn't, we weren'tof like great means.
So it was never like, I didn't getto buy all the things that like
the sort of popular kids could buy.
So I think my earliest memory of justlike true creativity was I would just
sit and imagine outfits for myself,like out of the things that I had.
(02:33):
And also there's like, imagine, like, Iguess it was like early fashion design,
because I studied fashion design.
It was early in that sense whereit was like, I would imagine
what a dream outfit would be.
So it's not that early.
And I'm surprised.
I think I was certainly a creativekid, but it was just never something
(02:55):
that I really thought about as a thing.
It was like, it's just likeintuition at that point.
And then for sure, the fashionstuff was probably the first
time that I realized I was.
Actually creative and have takingan initiative to think about
something that didn't exist.
Kim (03:13):
So you have a cooperative.
It's called Colony.
Can you tell me a little bit about howthat transpired for you and developed?
Jean Lin (03:22):
I worked in social services.
I went back to schoolto study fashion design.
I started a fashion companyafter I'd worked as a fashion
designer for a few years.
And I didn't really know what I wasdoing, and I didn't make any money, so I
had to do something for money, and I, Ijust happened to land this job writing.
(03:44):
I've always been a writer, andI've always loved writing, so I, I
started writing for this newsletter.
About interior design.
And it was more on the commercial side.
It talked about like more commercialinterior design, but it was an
education for me because I was ableto learn about this, like really
rich history of American design.
(04:04):
I, the commercial design is thepowerhouses, Herman Miller and Noel,
and they're amazing historic brands.
And you, and when you learn aboutthem, you learn about this, like
rich history of American design.
American design, but also the ideaof the place being a very, a key part
(04:25):
of history and this like environmentthat we all are surrounded by, but we
don't necessarily have the education,the wherewithal to really understand
everything that's going on around us.
So that was my first time reallyunderstanding that there was this other
world of design that was happening.
It's like the duck at thetop of the water, like.
(04:47):
We seem so like calm above thewater, but there's like all this
work happening behind the scenes tomake our environments what they are
and make them work for us and makethem beautiful, but also work for us.
As I was maturing through thatcareer, Hurricane Sandy happened.
And Working as an editor.
(05:07):
And I was talking to all theseamazing designers who were
making work locally in Brooklyn.
But when the storm happened, everybodywas desperate to do something, but
like we, none of us like knew what to
Speaker 3 (05:21):
do.
Jean Lin (05:22):
Yeah.
So I started a charity exhibit.
It was like a very fast thing thatwe, I did with my friend right after
the storm where I invited designers.
And we used to make work out ofdebris from the storm and sold
it for storm relief and charity.
(05:44):
And it was in the process of thatplanning and curation that I had this
like light bulb moments where I realizedthat I loved writing about design.
Um, but what I think I really loved.
(06:05):
In the writing was the process ofgetting to know the designers and also
the businesses that they were growing.
And I was also able to channel thatinto a world where the work was going
towards something meaningful andsomething that was bigger than me.
(06:27):
Also on the business side, Irealized that a growing independent
maker industry was burgeoning andPopping off as the kids say at the
time, this is 11, 12 years ago.
There was really no truesupport system for them to.
(06:47):
Showcase their work, sell theirwork, advocate for the unique
challenges that they were facingas independent furniture makers,
furniture, lighting, and textiles.
So at the same time that I was havingthis sort of personal professional
awakening of like, this might besomething that I want to do, like in
the curation space, but also with somesort of mission behind it, but also.
(07:12):
Identifying that there mightbe an actual business here.
There might be an actual.
Opportunity to start a businessthat could really work.
And that being this idea that it'sa gallery and showroom only for
independent makers and designers,like exclusively for representing
independent American designers.
(07:34):
But the big thing that is differentabout colony, and this was the sort of
founding idea is that it's structuredmore in the spirit of a cooperative.
So a traditional gallery will take40 to 60 percent commission on every
sale and that for the independentis just extremely unsustainable.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Yeah.
Jean Lin (08:00):
The margins are too tight.
The cost of operation is too high.
That if you're giving away somuch of your sales, even if
you're making sales at volume,
Speaker (08:10):
you
Jean Lin (08:11):
can't grow.
I invite my designers who werepresent to use Colony as a tool.
So we charge a monthlyfee, which is 6, 000.
This equivalent of a co op fee.
And then our commissionis much, much lower.
It's 15%, but at the time there wasnothing like that where we solely
(08:32):
were there to support this communityof designers that were nascent
in their practices, and it was alittle bit radical at the time to
say, we were willing to forego thesort of trajectory of our growth.
for the trajectory of the growthof the designers that we represent.
Kim (08:55):
We live in a capitalist society, but creatives are
inherently collaborative.
And there is, I believe, adifferent model that has emerged
and continues to emerge as morecreatives have mass audiences online.
And can leverage their own abilitiesacross their own social channels.
(09:18):
They, they don't need theintermediaries anymore.
So you coming in as somebody to nurturethem, but also to run a business,
but to facilitate some of the thingsthat they don't necessarily want
to do, it makes really good sense.
And it, it just, I think not sayingI'm going to gouge you for that.
Is, is respecting their valueas human beings, and then
(09:44):
respecting their value as artists,
Jean Lin (09:47):
too.
When you say it like that, it'ssad that it was so radical.
When I started Colony, it was a timewhen a lot of companies were starting
and then selling really quickly, andit was a time when fast, immediate,
and extreme growth was happening.
Was the goal.
(10:07):
And I think what was really actuallyinnovative on my part or whatever you
want to, however, whatever word youwant to put on it is that I wasn't
interested in that I knew I was gonnahave to work every day of my life.
I knew I was going to haveto get up and go to work.
So like I was more interested in acompany that I could go to work every
(10:28):
day and feel good about and earna good living, but also, you know,
Do something that felt substantiveand less like sustaining for me,
as well as the community around me.
You
Speaker (10:47):
mentioned your family was not necessarily not discouraging
of the creativity, but itwasn't a value that was held.
So what was theirthought on this decision?
Did that affect you in any way?
Jean Lin (10:59):
That's a great question.
I think that on the surface, Becausethey aren't designers and they really
still to this very day, they havetrouble really understanding like
all the ins and outs of what I do.
Right.
You would think that Iwas just rogue on my own.
And I think that even Isaw that narrative too.
(11:19):
I think in the promotion of this book,talking about the, and like the work
of putting the book, my book together,I've come to realize that The family
values that were there are ones that areuniversally supportive and universally
Universally buoy to encourage someonelike me to do anything I wanted to do.
(11:42):
Even though when I was like,I'm going to go to fashion
school, I know it's weird.
And they were like, whywould you want to do that?
Like also worried, Oh, are yougoing to go to earn a living?
Even though all those things wereseemed like obstacles at the time and
might even be painted as obstacles.
Now, looking back, the reality wasthat my parents are immigrants.
They came.
(12:03):
With barely even speaking thelanguage when they first came, right?
And they showed me every day in and out,every single day that you work hard.
And you live with passion and youstand really strongly by the things
you, that you care about most in life.
And I'm going to cry because Ithink I've lost somehow in the like,
(12:26):
hard work of getting to where I am.
Like, I think I lost sight of how much.
Those values actually played such ahuge role in being for me to be able
to think I have an idea, it's notsomething that anyone's done before,
which is colony, and I'm going to do it.
(12:47):
And that's crazy.
And that's something thatit's so much more about.
Those values of hard work and ofintegrity and family, those core values
have so much more of an impact in thosedecisions that I've made over my career.
Speaker (13:06):
I think that's interesting though, because there are parents
who will hold people back.
Yeah.
So the, once again, there are parentswho will make that a sticking point
because they really don't understandand they're so feared for your safety.
So you have a business called Colonyand family values are important.
It makes such beautiful sense theway you were describing those values
(13:29):
and just again saying that they wereexpressed in that business and this
whole idea of being an immigrant aswell, my grandmother was an immigrant
as well, is that you're taking a chance.
Yes.
Everything is a chance.
Yes.
So, so it is in you actuallyto have a thing to yourself.
I'm going to have an idea becausethat's what they did to their brain.
(13:50):
They made a move, but solet's talk about the books.
I have the book here.
It's called what we keep.
It's beautiful.
Yes.
Thank you.
I love the book and it is divided up.
I'll let you talk about it.
I'm going to say it.
What I loved about it isthat it was divided into
sections, fire, water, metal.
I loved that.
(14:11):
And then you have different designersand architects and artists and wonderful
makers categorized under each of thecategories of each of the topics.
So tell me a little bit about what.
inspired the book and then how youselected the people to go into it.
Jean Lin (14:35):
Sure.
Thank you for such kindwords about the book.
I feel like I put so much into it.
And every time I hear somebody saysomething nice about it, I'm like, it
just brings so much joy to my heart.
Speaker (14:46):
I just have to say something a little extra then is that yesterday I
was in like such a mood and I opened thebook and I was like, Oh, I'm a creative.
I'm an artist.
This is why.
I am a creative and an artist.
Like, it just reminded me who I was.
So, that's what I was feeling yesterday.
(15:08):
Oh my gosh.
So, thank you so much for that.
Wow.
That's
Jean Lin (15:12):
maybe the best compliment I've ever gotten.
Speaker (15:13):
Yeah.
I just, literally, I justfelt so at ease looking at it.
I was like, yes.
Yes.
Collecting.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Yes,
Speaker (15:22):
silver, collecting silver.
And I was like, finding,I really was doing that.
I was like, finding thethings that you love.
Like, I just was feelinglike an artist after.
Anyway, go ahead.
Jean Lin (15:36):
So the book, I have always been a writer.
I've always loved the sort ofpuzzle of putting together.
words to make like coherent thought, butalso when a sentence is crafted, well,
it's its own piece of art, isn't it?
It makes you feel, it makesyou, it makes, it gives us all
(15:58):
the things that good art does.
And I think I felt that really earlyon because I always felt, I felt like
writing was, it came to me quite easily.
It wasn't something that Ithought would ever happen.
And I also just didn't pursue that asmy professional, like, career path.
And yeah, and I just like when youhave dreams, like I thought I was
(16:21):
also going to be like a professionalfigure skater, even though I
never, I never knew how to skate.
A couple years ago, my editorat Abrams reached out to me.
I'd met her once or twice,just in the industry.
And she asked me if I'd whatever,consider writing a book.
And she's so knowledgeable indesign and design media and
(16:45):
specifically book publishing.
And I think that She had this ideaor sense that it was time for a
book about collections or it'slike in the zeitgeist right now.
So she provided me withthat very loose parameter.
I knew I wanted to talk about peopleand I knew I wanted to talk about
Tai, the people behind the objectsand the lives behind the objects.
(17:11):
To the objects and the space and the artfrom there, as far as the organization,
the people in it, I think I knew Iwanted to include these three categories
of people, one being the makers.
Those are the people that I workclosest with right every day to
being the interior designers andarchitects who, and the trade.
(17:34):
Designers who, who I also workwith a lot and I admire so much
and I admire their work so much.
And then three being the homeownersand the collectors and the people
who really live with the work.
And there's a lot ofoverlap in the book.
Some of them are makers and collectors.
Some of them are designers and it'stheir homes that I'm featuring.
(17:57):
But in my work at Colony, I really havefound that there's this like really
beautiful ecosystem that exists betweenthose three categories of people.
I realized that I'm so lucky.
I live in this, I guess itcan only be called a bubble.
I live in this bubble ofcreativity and beauty.
(18:18):
I'm surrounded by all these inspiringpeople and it really was the first
thing I did was just to reachout to my network and see who out
there was considered themselves acollector and some of them don't
consider themselves collectors.
But I just, I knew something was there.
I knew that something abouttheir personality was speaking
to me and something abouttheir work was speaking to me.
Speaker (18:40):
This, and she saw a loom when she was nine and she said, if
I get this, my life will be set.
Come on.
Like she knows I'm nine, right?
So just when you were saying thereason I'm jumping in there is
(19:03):
because you were talking about.
About the intuition piece and like I'mgoing to reach out and see and also I
just I just want to touch on somethingI'm taking off track but it's just one
of the reasons I reached out to youas I was kind of looking around and I
saw you say on Instagram the book istaking me on television the book is on
(19:26):
television right and I often I'm of thebelief that the art has its own Life its
own journey, but it has its own place.
It wants to go.
Is that the same with objects for you?
Do you believe?
And do you feel thatwith the book itself?
I mean, I think for the book,
Jean Lin (19:47):
absolutely.
I did not know what toexpect with launching a book.
Of course, it's like alifelong dream fulfilled.
I feel so proud of the fact thatthis piece that I worked so hard on.
It doesn't even need me.
(20:07):
When you put something out into theworld, it does start to gain its own
momentum and its own life and its ownvoice and I'm really a firm believer
in, in business and personal life.
Like what you put outis what you get back.
The book is pretty serious.
If you open to certain parts and itfeels very like you have like all
these revelations page after page.
(20:29):
But then I also triedto infuse it with humor.
I try to infuse it with lightheartednessthat can break up the seriousness.
And that was one of the things that Ithink I, you know, Did achieve but I
also am it's just like part of who Iam like I'm a serious person and I'm
like a silly person at the same timeand I don't know if that translated to
(20:50):
the book but I hope that as you likesift through it you can feel the weight
and gravity of what I'm trying to sayas well as It's the levity, which is
like a really hard thing to do, butI think that was one thing about the
Speaker (21:09):
book.
Yeah, I think it's the levity in the,in even some of the objects where the
two architects, and I don't remembertheir names right now, but one was the
architect, where they're collectingboxes, empty boxes, and she's just
like, no, that's more your thing.
But it's how they perceive each otherin the collection of these boxes.
So I get, there's somany different things.
(21:30):
Like that seem like they could be simpleor light, but when you start to really
examine the why behind everything,it becomes layered and nuanced.
Jean Lin (21:44):
I was thinking about, did I write a book that
was like universal enough?
Is it commercial enough?
I really came to the conclusionthat like, this is a book that
I can feel proud about what Iwrote and what I put together.
I hope that people.
Can like meet me halfway andI don't have to assume that
everybody's at level zero.
I think that these, these sort ofnuanced ideas can be picked up on.
(22:08):
They don't have to be alienating.
I hope that they aren't.
And I'm, and I think that'sthe balance we're all trying
to strike as creators, right?
Like how do we exist in a world that'scommercial, but also be true to who
we are, and I think that this book waslike my ultimate expression of that.
Speaker (22:24):
Yeah.
I think the whole ideaof being commercial.
Is an interpretation of somebody,what somebody else did, right?
Somebody else did something else'screativity sold or resonated, reached
an audience with such capacity thatwe decided that was commercial.
So if we cut ourselves off fromdoing what we're just going to do.
(22:49):
Right?
We will never know what the nextcommercial is, or we might, and
you might not have commer butthis doesn't, it's, I'm not to
say that this is not going to sellwell, because I really hope it
sells well, and here it is again.
But it's like, but I do believe,I do Emma, believe, of the belief
that the book has its own journey.
The book came through you in thisparticular collection of people and
(23:10):
objects, and it has its own journey,and it will find the people who need it.
Objects are feminine and masculine,and we say that with Ian.
Do you think that leadershipis feminine and masculine too?
Do you even think about thatin the collaborative nature
(23:31):
of the work that you do?
Jean Lin (23:32):
I will preface all of this with, I think the definition
of femininity and masculinity haschanged and evolved so much in
the last even just five years.
It's feels like the evolution ofthose definitions have been like
chugging along over the, my 20 years.
(23:53):
But like, most recently, I think thosedefinitions and those lines have been
more blurred than they ever have before.
Do we even need them?
I wonder.
Yeah.
That's a good question.
I think that they are a nice sort oftouch point as long as we're prefacing
(24:14):
that touch point with this exact point.
Do I think about my femininity?
Yes.
I think about it all the time.
I think about the fact that I lookaround at my contemporaries and there
are not many women in this position.
And there are almost.
No women of color in this position.
(24:37):
And like, I've evolved in my thinkingaround it as well, where at first I
was like, well, I don't want people tosee me and only think or see colony and
think that it's obviously a woman who'slike started it or like was curated it.
But I've evolved in that too.
I think it's a hugepart of the narrative.
It is a huge part of how I run mybusiness, how I choose my designers,
(24:58):
how I choose to represent my designers.
A really good example is.
Just simply the number of designersthat we represent at Colony.
We represent 16 where our contemporariesand our competition, the closest
is probably 50 as far as the numberthat they represent the most core and
(25:21):
important part of the entire businessis my relationships with my designers.
And I'm just not the type of personwho can have deep and meaningful
Relationships with 150 differentdesigners in the way that I need to
for this to work, for this to workfor them and for this to work for me.
(25:41):
And I hope that it continues to evolveand I hope that femininity and a more
nurturing and maternal energy can beapplied to more businesses, whether
it's a man or a woman at the helm.
That's like the future.
And I also think, one more thing, IMy, I just had a baby two years ago.
(26:03):
He's two, two and a half now.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
And I think that my own masculinityand femininity within myself has the
ratio has changed as a mother now.
And I think that.
Whether we want to call, uh, a maternalinstinct feminine, I don't know,
(26:26):
but I think that traditional sort ofmaternal instinct was missing in me,
like this woman for a very long time.
And now it's amplified so muchbecause of my son and it has
also changed the way that I
approach my businessin a lot of ways too.
Speaker (26:48):
Is that from a timing perspective, like
just a flow perspective too?
I think being a mom, I've had to reallyadjust my time and my priorities.
I will say somethinginteresting that I just heard.
I have a son he's adopted.
He's five, but like from the momentthat he came in at newborn, I've, I did
feel the surge of femininity as well.
(27:08):
This is what I would, I feltlike I was on, but I will say
I read something the other day.
where it was talking aboutmasculinity, that motherhood
inspires more masculinity inmoms, because you're having to be
regimented with order with the daywith, especially as with a toddler.
And I was like, Oh, that'swhy it drives me crazy.
(27:29):
Because I'm wanting to do,I'm wanting to be nurturing.
I'm wanting to be more feminine, but Ihave to turn on this masculine drive.
Sometimes, like, really turnit on to get things done.
Jean Lin (27:42):
Everyone's relationship with motherhood is so unique for me.
My first baby is colony.
And when you talk about thatregimented sort of order that
existed in spades before.
(28:03):
My second baby, Juno, came along andI think that my energy prior to having
a child, what like a human child wassuper masculine and like very, not
just driven, but also very goal andtask oriented and like, tunnel vision.
(28:28):
And also I sort of bought intomy own narrative for like I
was a little bit, and that'salso to do with tunnel vision.
Like I, I told myself what itwas, told myself how things were,
told myself, for example, I alwaysseen myself as the underdog.
I've always seen, like, I'vealways thought that I had to.
Work twice as hard to get half as far,like all those sort of cliche things
(28:50):
and very strict in that with myselfin that mindset, that's who I am.
Right.
I, I really credit my son and theflexibility he's forced me to have that.
I can step a little bit away from thethings that I am very strict with myself
about, and, you know, Whether it be myschedule or whatever it is, but also
(29:13):
things like, Oh, I'm the underdog.
And then all of a sudden I'mlike, Oh, but I'm not the
underdog with my employees.
I'm the boss.
Now I'm realizing like having mybaby has changed me in a lot of ways.
And that's one of them whereI'm open more to listening.
I'm open more to letting go a littlebit and letting him take charge.
(29:37):
What
Speaker (29:44):
is your wish for every other woman?
Jean Lin (29:46):
Feeling empowered enough to make your own choices and find
your own path and dream your owndreams and say, even if there's
not necessarily a written path infront of you, that you can do that.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
Be visible.
Use your voice.
Every other woman needs you to lead.
Voice Lessons is co produced, written,and spoken by me, Kim Cutable.
Speaker (30:28):
It's also co produced and edited by Sergio Miranda.
You can find past episodes, shownotes, and the cool stuff our guests
recommend at voicelessonspodcast.
com.
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