Thirty-thirty-thirty
By Gregory Ronczewski, Director of Product Design at Ibbaka. See his skill profile.
It is already the end of January. How did that happen? Where did the time go? Is it just me, or is time moving faster? Time is relative, as Carlo Rovelli beautifully explains in The Order of Time, but reading about it and experiencing it are two different things.
I have a piece of art on my desk from one of the first assignments I did at the State College of Fine Arts—now the Academy of Fine Arts—probably from 1981 or 1982, if I remember correctly. I am not talking about the accelerating last few weeks, but where did forty-two years disappear?
We were told, I remember, to choose a photo and make three variations using different art techniques. I decided to do a pencil sketch, a watercolour and an ink drawing for the last quadrant. Then, glancing at it today, I wondered if those three expressions captured my career or life, for that matter, in some prophetic way.
Selecting the photo was important. However, I have no idea what was guiding my selection (top left quadrant) and why I ended up with a small girl, a cat and a run-down entrance to a dwelling with 1-9-9 numbers painted directly on the plaster. The black cat raises most questions, since all my life, due to my allergies, cats belonged to the enemy camp. Was there a hidden message that one day I would be able to enjoy their company? Since my allergies vanished three years ago, all the cats from my neighbourhood have become my best friends. It was a side effect of another project—for me, everything is a project—but I did not plan it. I dreamed about it but never tried to make it happen simply because I did not know how. Now I know.
The first quadrant, top right, is the pencil drawing. It was about the basics—the foundation where I tested my skills in expressing the original's textures, shades and details. One may say it represents the first thirty years I spend in Poland. It was not about skills, yet it was all about skills. I was offered a TA position at the same school I graduated from. In a way, I was "reliving" my recent past, observing the teaching process from the other side of the equation. They wrote "unlimited" on my contract, presumably removing any roadblocks to my professional future. A cause for celebration, right? So why, after a few years, did I resign? I remember the disbelief painted on the faces of my colleagues as I handed over my resignation.
I packed my skills along with ski boots, a tuxedo (only God knows why), a few books, and a box of watercolours that I got from my aunt (the set designer,) and we boarded the plane to Vancouver, Canada. It was thirty years ago, marking the beginning of the second—the West Coast—quadrant (bottom left). Why Canada and why Vancouver? Very simple. There was nothing further West. Unfortunately, the skills I packed with me did not help as I had hoped. "We would gladly hire you," they said, "should you have Canadian experience" (what is exactly a Canadian experience). So, things did not look promising since I did not have the abovementioned.
Among the new skills I tried to deploy were curiosity, resilience, creativity, and openness. However, imagination was probably the most needed. After all, the original photo I selected for my school project was black-and-white. In retrospect, I think everything worked colourfully. Our son was born, we bought a house on the island, and numbers 1 and 9 are in our street address—a rich and engaging project. Work was good, and after a few years, nobody asked for Canadian experience anymore. For thirty years, I was immersed in many colours and design variations. As for the skills, with Ibbaka Talio, I get all the help I need to paint my skill profile. It's not a watercolour, but I think it works rightfully well in the current context.
There is one more quadrant to look at (bottom right) - the line drawing. One interpretation of the prediction, if this is indeed a prediction, would evoke simplification, clarity and restraint coming from the experience, Canadian experience, I presume. But there is another way of looking at it - a space ready to be filled with ideas, experiences, emotions or dreams - like those adult paint-by-numbers canvases on Etsy. So, what am I going to do with it? Or is it too early to decide? I am a different person, changed by the magnificent journey I am fortunate to enjoy. If it is all about experiences, then I am already a winner. A habit of writing blog posts here has become my favourite part of work, so perhaps instead of colours and shades, I will fill blank spaces with words. Who knows what new skills are waiting for me to discover? Or places, for that matter, perhaps with a black cat to close what started many years ago. In the project I mentioned above, the one that moved me closer to cats, I left the last level (I designed seven levels for this project) undefined, but I did not connect to the piece of art standing in front of me. I recently read that we should pay more attention to little things that, when recognized, create an amazing storyline to follow, which is what I am doing now, at the beginning of the last thirty years. I heard the hardware is good for a hundred and twenty, but that would mean adding another quadrant to my project, possibly redefining the original photo. I think I am good with the original setup - thirty-thirty-thirty.
