A Basic Dreamer

What drove Silicon Valley’s innovation in the 90s and 00s? Hunger, passion, and a need to barter one’s own creations. Not to stand on stages or to be “great”, the culture’s status quo is a juxtaposition of what it truly took to move mountains. Temporary heights with a 3-5 year time limit. We need functionality, we need usefulness, we need financial stability in times of uncertainty that also threatens the vulnerable. Creating chaos to control, dropping notions of fear to persuade, re-writing history to act virtuous, these times won’t last and where will you be when change comes knocking.

I personally feel what drove Steve Jobs was this relationship between competition and building something beautiful, something that lasts beyond our time on Earth. Using that creation as a vessel to win countless olympic medals within the arena. To prove, that technology can have multiple dimensions, not just silicon. An art that no one could understand or compete with. That Macintosh was not only functional, but it was a cultural statement that moved mountains.

Rao is my take on the philosophical bridge between function, design, and fashion. Where the function is protection, the design is a craft, and the fashion is a statement of solidarity. To create questions, when one wears or utilizes my work. To source these answers and observe the discussions, observations, and perspectives. There’s no right answer, but the conflicts are measurable returns grounded in a movement that I believe in.

When I worked at Apple as a contractor, I would divide the first year into 4 3-month phases of transformation. Starting with inspiration, leading into judgment, then persecution (all self-inflicted mostly), and finally back to inspiration. It reminded me that these companies in the Silicon Valley still have humans working within them. People who care deeply about their work, their purpose, their careers, and their impact. A powerful energy that when absorbed carefully, it will help one move mountains. My work is encoded with all of their words and aspirations that refined my first 28 years on this planet.

I intend to spend the next 7 years building something beautiful. The foundational pieces towards a dream I have been looking for. A puzzle I have been trying to put together the past 7. I have numbered my initial collection, until I find the right name for each or maybe they will find a way to name themselves. I believe if one puts their soul into their work it might just… wake up.