Consolidating Our Gains: The Best of 2019

  We at Directrice Global Industries Limited* are all about scientific improvement and growth. But how to improve and grow if you can’t remember where you started?   That’s not a trick question. You can’t! And thus, our annual look-back is not simply a content-stretching maneuver designed to temporarily satiate content-gobblers. Nay, it is a … Read more

A Hypnotic Pin

  A simple dress + a striking piece of jewelry. It’s a simple formula and it never fails. Remember that.   Fortunately, that is a visual-emotional effect. The brooch is not actually exerting any gravitational, psychological or moral force upon you; nor can it pull you through your computer and into my life. Your free … Read more

Visit to an Atelier, and Suitcase Post-Mortem

  On our last day in Argentina, Luján — knowing my interest in clothes — arranged for me to meet a designer whose atelier was close to our hotel: Francisco Rojas of Design Maker Lab. This is the scene.   Here, I am clearly rhapsodizing about seaming, darting, and exterior scaffolding. Francisco told me the … Read more

The Black Widow Goes to Work

  I don’t think of black as funereal or grim.   There are days when unrelieved black is a cozy blanket to wrap oneself in. Combining black pieces of different fabrics and textures — remember, variations in the shade of black don’t matter when you do this — makes for easy outfit construction.   Blazer: … Read more

Back to Business

  All good things must come to an end! This necklace and other works by MPR are made of precious and semi-precious metallic wire, worked into geometric shapes that are then linked into kinetic, mobile designs. The wire is very light, so the pieces are essentially weightless. The closure is a pair of tiny magnets, … Read more

Big Boat, Little Boat — And Penguins!

  After several days incommunicado, we can tell you where we’ve been and what we’ve been doing.   In case you haven’t previously had cause to ponder the enormity of South America, allow me to share some useful information. It’S HuGE!! Keep in mind, we started in Buenos Aires, which is roughly midway between the … Read more

A Remarkable Spot

  The last thing we did before leaving Buenos Aires was withdraw a ton of Argentine pesos from the bank . . . forgetting that we would shortly be in Chile where Argentine pesos are not legal tender. Oh no. We found that in this modern age, you can manage for a week in a … Read more

Big Ice

  All that’s come before was merely prelude to the main event: gLAcIeRS. That’s why we’re here.*   After a few days in Buenos Aires, we boarded a plane and flew south and west to a Patagonian town called El Calafate. El Calafate (pop. 23,000 according to our guide) is in the Argentine part of … Read more

Out and About in Buenos Aires

  The Photographer worked with Jacada Travel* to arrange our trip. Jacada does a great job of listening to a prospective traveler’s interests, hopes, and needs and then turning it into a detailed itinerary that meets all three types of expectations.   We like talking about politics, culture, and history and they’ve found the best … Read more