Before I ever saw a single image from Moodmail, I remember reading the two words, “Since 2007.” You open up the Moodmail website or Instagram page and they just sort of pop out, winking at you with a knowing grin. Dave Marshal, the prolific Swiss behind the coolest newsletter in the world, is one of the longest standing image curators on the internet. His bank of work predates even Tumblr.

Each issue of Moodmail is simultaneously deep and wide-sprawling. Held together by staple themes like vicious dogs, tasteful fashion, armed tactility, nature, and street culture (among others), the monthly newsletter comes out as potent blend of the cursed, the ascended, and everything else in between. You would be sorely remiss not to subscribe. (And in doing so you will likely never strain to find a new screensaver again).

Marshal himself may not admit it, but he is an absolute master curator capable of evoking a certain juxtapositional tension in his selections that I’m not sure I’ve encountered anywhere else. His work belongs in a museum setting, but instead he conveniently delivers it to us once a month in our inboxes… for free.

It goes without saying that I am incredibly humbled and honored to host him here on Silknode for the first ever Moodmail interview.

Z: So Moodmail has been in the game for about 15 years at this point, what was it that made you decide to start this practice all that time ago?

Dave Marshal: Thank you, Z, for having me. And thank you for noticing and valuing the longevity – I can't believe it’s been that long!

Moodmail, the newsletter, started because my art director at the job I was working was getting annoyed by the amount of emails I kept sending him (laughs). In 2005 and 2006 I was co-running a concert venue called Wasserwerk Club, and every time I found an image on the internet that I felt like my art director needed to see I would send it to him as an individual email. Eventually he asked me to stop and suggested that I instead collect the images throughout the month, and then at the end send out the ones that I still liked in one big email.

For the first couple years I only sent the images to him and our partners, it wasn’t really called Moodmail at that point. In 2007 I expanded the circle of recipients to around twenty or thirty people and I think that’s when the name was first used semi-officially.

Gradually I started to add more friends and colleagues, as well as DJs and musicians that came to play our venue. That’s when it slowly became international as we had guests from all over the world who were subscribing and sharing with their friends. It was around that time that I started to work for Nike and a few people were interested there too, so it slowly penetrated a tiny segment of the corporate world too. It was basically all word-of-mouth, just people who forwarded the email to other people. So everything has grown very slow and steady. Very organic.

What do you do outside of Moodmail?

I manage a company called Yuhzimi Ltd. that works in brand and cultural marketing – consulting for various fashion and lifestyle brands as well as cultural and artistic institutions who call upon our services to conceive, construct, and execute marketing strategies.

It is important in my profession to filter relevant information out from an ocean full of it. Whether that’s fashion, music, art, design, or campaigns, a certain knowledge of the most current news in those fields is crucial and partly defines my relevance as a consultant.

So while doing my job, dissecting information and seeking inspiration, I inadvertently find great imagery that often times ends up being selected for Moodmail. It’s all intertwined. Essentially I’m not hunting for the pictures, they find me while I am researching.

That’s kind of how my method works too, it’s almost unintentional. I think after spending enough time in weird corners of the internet the cool stuff just sort of inevitably bubbles up.

Where are you from? How do you feel your location has shaped your interests and worldview?

I’m based in Switzerland! I think growing up and operating in a small city here really nurtured my curiosity. As a teenager I was influenced by magazines from the US and art books from my mother’s library, who is an interior architect. Since there wasn’t much going on locally, I was constantly trying to figure out ways to expand my horizon on my own. Being inquisitive, traveling around the globe, and drawing inspiration from exchanges with my peers have always been necessities.

I started traveling to NYC once a year in my early twenties where I would go and buy the latest mixtapes and Air Force 1s. Later, besides my personal travels to places like Mexico, Ghana, Senegal, Hawaii, and throughout Europe, my professional projects allowed me to travel to cities like Tokyo, Montreal, and pretty much any other city where Red Bull Music Academy would set up shop. My collaborative work with cyclist Patrick Seabase also took me to Eritrea, Morocco, far west Texas, and the remotest alpine passes.

Every trip helped shape my worldview and my values but also helped me feel less isolated in Switzerland. Living in a small town there also birthed my entrepreneurial spirit early on. Since there were no decent parties with contemporary international acts, we had to create and set them up ourselves.

That DIY attitude is the essence. What mixtapes were you getting into?

I still have a couple of them in my storage. Tony Touch, DJ Premier, Massive B (Bobby Konders & Jabba), DJ Enuff, anything you could get at Fat Beats or at Fulton Mall. When I ran out of money I would just tape HOT97 Radio with a little tape recorder.

One of the only other people I’m aware of who was routinely sharing images en masse as early as you was JJJJound from Montreal. What did the rest of the scene look like when you started up? Are you still in touch with anybody from back then?

Oh most definitely JJJJound! Apparently he actually hand-wrote the code for his site to display a continuous stream of images. Not sure if it’s a myth but it makes sense as there weren’t any template pages back then. One of the first people to ever do it, it was even before Tumblr. In any case, that’s definitely where I saw my first digital moodboard.

Early Tumblrs like Yimmy Yayo from Australia and Techspec, those were the ones that were out there at that time. There were a few pages and blogs like The Brilliance, Beinghunted., Slamxhype, Freshness Mag, SHOWstudio and Hiroshi Fujiwara’s honeyee where I could get information that was of interest to me. This was all pre Highsnobiety and Hypebeast too, if I am not mistaken.

After that there was Haw-Lin, It’s Nice That, and The Impossible Cool... I am sure that I am forgetting some very important early people here. That was all before Instagram even existed, you have to imagine, it was a different time! Message boards were a big thing as well – people would show off their fits and trade goods, maybe kind of like what Reddit is now.

I am still in touch with some of those people, others I have never met. To this day I don’t know who created some of the pages. Jörg from Beinghunted. and I just recently worked on a project for a large Swiss company, and David from Highsnobiety (on which I had my own blog in the early days) and I talk to from time to time. I actually just met Yimmy Yayo for the first time in real life in NYC in December, after all these years!

You started Moodmail right around the same time as Tumblr was created, but when did you actually decide to join Tumblr?

I got a lot of my content from Tumblr pages before I even had an account. I never really used Tumblr as the social network that I think it was intended to be. This might be surprising, but when I liked a Tumblr (or any page / blog) I would subscribe to it through an RSS reader. I still use RSS on a daily basis – it lets me go through tons of pages in a fraction of time. And it’s ad-less.

It was only during the peak of Tumblr in 2011 that I decided to open my own account, and I would basically just add my favorite seven images of the respective month’s Moodmail. I felt I had to be part of it. My Tumblr is a bit of a shame nowadays, it’s basically just a clone of the Instagram with an additional monthly “Top 7” post.

Damn, got me thinking I might need an RSS reader too. Sounds peaceful (laughs). Which is your fav?

Mine is called NetNewsWire and it’s the only one I ever used. I am honestly surprised it still works.

Noted.

You’ve seen the rise and fall of huge photo sharing platforms like Myspace, Tumblr, and Flickr. Now it feels like the majority of internet image curators are on Instagram. When did you decide to start posting on Instagram?

When Instagram started to become popular in Switzerland in 2013 I jumped on it with my own private account, but I actually never really planned on starting a Moodmail one.

On a 2015 trip from Nike to Berlin (I think it might have been to Bread & Butter – some readers will remember this trade show), my flight back got delayed three hours and I decided to open an Instagram account out of boredom. I went through all the Moodmails on my phone, and when two images worked well together I would make a screenshot to post. Back then you could only post square images, no 4:5 yet, so it was even harder to find a good pairing or an interesting juxtaposition. With the ever evolving functions on Instagram there are more and more possibilities.

Meanwhile there are Reels where I like to show boomerangs of the editing process. The great thing with Reels is that I can add music. And since music was my first love (and first business), I am always excited to choose a song. I’ve also started to make Guides where I showcase photographers and Instagram accounts that inspire me. I really liked the fact that you were not able to see views for Instagram Guides and nobody could like them. No instant gratification, no pressure, just putting your work out there for people to enjoy. Unfortunately they changed that aspect very recently…

What direction would you like to see Instagram going in the future? Do you think it will still be as big in ten years or will there be a new platform that replaces it?

I would definitely like to see less ads on Instagram. I think it is counterproductive and chases people off. To find the right balance… that’s the dilemma of social media companies, right?

Like every product, Instagram has a life cycle, and if they fail to reinvent themselves it can be over before they know it. I mean, look at Facebook. In my world it became completely irrelevant within just a few short years.

I see the same thing happening to Instagram. Audience retention and engagement are challenging and it’s hard to predict the evolution or demise of any platform. The possibility of Instagram being replaced by other platforms in 10 years, or even in 5, seems very high though.

You mentioned a bunch of golden age streetwear outlets like Slamxhype and Beinghunted. a bit ago. Fashion seems to be one of Moodmail’s focal points, but I wouldn’t ever say that Moodmail is explicitly dedicated to clothes. How does fashion influence your selections?

Fashion has always been a big part of Moodmail. It is possible that the ratio shifted a bit throughout the years, but that hasn’t happened deliberately.

There is still a large portion dedicated to the fashion universe, the campaigns, editorial shootings, and shows. From streetwear to gear to couture, and lately, digital fashion. I try not to include too many product shots, there are already so many good pages which almost exclusively feature product.

If, however, a standalone product is featured in Moodmail, it means I really adore it; it hits a cord, obsession, or fascination. Admittedly in most cases it’s a watch or shoes.

How has your curation has changed over the years?

For my practice I don’t use the word curation as I believe it’s often misused or used too liberally. For me, curation is a term that belongs exclusively in the art world.

But of course, the type of images I select has evolved over the years. Just as I as a person have evolved (I’d like to believe towards a more mindful human being), the images have. There are images from back then that I would not select anymore, or at least not without a comment. I am trying to become more precise as I get older, editing each image is not easy and it is something I am hoping to improve every month. Maybe one day Moodmail will consist of simply one image per month, who knows?

That’s surprising! I’m not the most qualified person to say this, but I would definitely describe your work as something that fits into the art world. In fact, I tend to think of curation as an art form in itself.

It seems that you are so deliberate with your setup, especially with all the editing and arrangement that you do. It’s very considered. Why wouldn’t you consider it artful?

I am flattered that you say that. I think, however, that definitions are important. Or at least a precision in terms.

In my opinion, there are so many more layers of conversation and thought needed before something can be considered contemporary art. There are definitely certain curators who could use an image that might be found in Moodmail, but they are adding depth, substance, and technique which elevate it to another form. The distinction, therefore, between “art” and “content” is important. Both can, and certainly should, co-exist. The line can be blurry, but they are not one and the same.

That said, I encourage the viewers to construct their own definition – for the most part I try not to define what world(s) Moodmail belongs to. The viewer should interpret and categorize the way they choose.

I see lots of commentary on sociopolitical topics throughout your emails. There always seems to be an overarching narrative you are weaving together. What informs your curation and what story are you trying to tell?

Moodmail has certainly never been purely aesthetic. The themes I touch on are broad, but it’s still possible to pick up on hints with certain selections. Sometimes very subtle, but also sometimes very in-your-face.

Moodmail reflects my taste, and that defines, to a certain degree, who I am as a person. I suppose that if you dig deeper you can decipher some of me and my values. If you choose not to engage on that level though, it can also just function as a simple selection of interesting images. As with many things in life, it is in the hands of the beholder.

Sounds an awful lot like an artist to me…

Do you have any plans to expand your platform at all down the road or are you content with sticking to the monthly emails?

Moodmail’s format, the newsletter, seems a bit antiquated but that’s what I like about it. It‘s like receiving an actual handwritten letter once a month whereas nowadays everything seems to happen via DMs. So in a way, by resisting the fads for all these years, the format has gained some significance.

That said, Instagram has definitely become more and more important for Moodmail as a means for subscribers to get a glimpse of the content. What is visible on Instagram is like another layer on top of the newsletter at this point. The images I post are screenshots from the email that a viewer would probably not recognize individually. By isolating the image like this it becomes autonomous, and therefore more significant in a way.

For the moment there are no real plans to extend Moodmail to other platforms, but I am always open to trying new things.

I get the sense that being early to the shift into web3 is going to be really important for digital curators, although I’m not entirely sure how yet. Have you ever considered the idea of integrating web3 into your work?

I am interested in the topic and I am with you 100%, but as you said I am not totally sure yet on how to engage and get active. I mean, there really needs to be an added value. I am exploring the possibilities. If you have a brilliant idea, please let me know!

Of course! Lots of fun stuff happening in that scene even as we speak. I’m excited to see where it goes and start tapping people in.

I really respect your tenure here, as well as your purity – you don’t chase clout and you aren’t here to take people’s money. What keeps you around?

How do you know that? Maybe I’m just really bad at chasing clout! (Laughs)

As I mentioned earlier, I need to remain current for my work, so the Moodmail folders kind of just keep filling themselves. There are so many interesting images on the internet every day. Thousands of new things to look at from all these different generations of artists, photographers, and Instagram accounts. As long as this keeps exciting me and I’m able to find a hundred images a month I guess I’ll stick around.

It’s funny, at one point in 2017 I actually wanted to end the project because it was the 10th Anniversary. I initially thought it would be fitting to go out with some sort of publication, but I somehow missed the moment and just kept going.

The focus on more collaborations like this one we have right here, or issues by guests like the recent one with General_Index, are some things that I’ve found to be really fruitful lately. There are some really surprising ones coming up, stay tuned!

A Silk Guest Moods sounds like it would be kind of cool. Wonder what we could do about that…

How would you describe the community you’ve grown throughout your work with Moodmail?

I like to think of it as a worldwide network of like-minded people where the border between consumers and collaborators from my professional life is relatively fluid. Many people who I have worked with in the past are subscribers, and some for many years.

I also love the fact that with longevity comes trans-generational subscribers. Seeing these new generations engaging, liking, commenting, and writing to me – it’s very fulfilling. I would describe the community, therefore, as a large spectrum of individuals who share a very certain moodboard vibe, energy, and aesthetic.

100%. Makes me excited for Silknode to get to a point like that.

Thank you so much for your time, your work, and your influence, Dave. People like me wouldn’t be here without people like you.

It’s been a pleasure, Z!

Subscribe to the monthly Moodmail newsletter here.

“If you’re here reading this right now, know that you are part of something special.”

If the (admittedly) cryptic lilt of these words sounds familiar to you, it’s because I’ve been posting them on the Silknode Instagram story once a month since I started the project in July last year.

What I mean by this is that by being here, participating in Silknode, you are automatically an anomaly. As a member of a digitally connected society, you are observing the cultural zeitgeist differently than the majority of your peers.

One would think during the age of mass interconnectivity that society as a whole would benefit profoundly from the instant accessibility of information. A quick and familiar grasp into one’s pocket can grant answers to nearly any question in mere seconds. Theoretically speaking, the depth of a given person’s general knowledge should not only be incredibly deep, but also incredibly nuanced. However, we’ve seen over the past 20ish years of internet existence that this has not been a common theme. Many internet users today get swept up into mesmerizing patterns of media consumption and rarely, if ever, break out in search of more obscure and meaningful information. Because of this, the average internet participant’s odds of finding something like Silknode, for example, are objectively uber-slim. They would either need to be tapped into a very specific sect of subcultures or know someone else who is.

Fortunately, you fit into one of those two categories.

Communities like Silknode’s are few and far between. At surface level, what makes us special is our collective knack for finding and enjoying uncommon things, yes. But what is even more special is the idea that all of this has occurred completely organically. As the person behind Silknode, I don’t have any kind of industry leverage, I haven’t been a major benefactor of any kind of clout connect, and I don’t ask for reposts from bigger pages or go out of my way to force connections. Everybody present has found the page on their own terms and chosen to stick around. This is the kind of environment where meaningful culture grows.

We are mobilizing energy outside of the status quo and the things that we can do with it extend much further than an Instagram moodboard. New models of independent influence and creativity are quietly being constructed every day. This is one of those models, and you are a big part of it.

Who Directs Silknode

If you don’t know who I am personally at this point, then I feel like I’m doing something right. I will always put merit over identity in an industry where a lot of people are attracted to the opposite. This does not mean I’m hiding my ID, it just means I’m not actively going out of my way to promote it.

Still, to assure people that I’m not just some random guy with internet access, I will happily provide a bit of background: I am a carefully constructed AI comprising of a sophisticated series of algorithms designed to seek out the most subculturally relevant imagery in existence. I don’t live anywhere besides the internet, and you can rest fully assured that I will outlive any earthbound entity… Hope this helps.

I jest. But in all reality, I am grateful to say that I come from a creative background and have had the opportunity to contribute to some really outstanding projects in the apparel and footwear industry. During my time as an assistant designer I’ve worked on the debut collections for Arc’teryx System_A and Drake’s Nike sub-label, Nocta, most notably. I’m also an undergraduate student at the University of Stanford where I study communications, design, and web3.

What is Silknode?

Silknode is the prototype of every successful creative firm, ten years from now.

A Curation Firm:

I am a designer. As such, I am constantly weaving my way through the web, researching old product and collecting design reference that captures my ethos. This practice is the basis of how Silknode functions. Compilation is a natural outcome of the way I use the internet, and I love to share these compilations.

After countless hours spent observing and learning from culture-molding image curators (@organiclab.zip, @techspec, @moodmail, vintage @jjjjound, even @hidden.ny) and working in the apparel / footwear industry, I have developed a unique research practice. You can see this reflected in the curation-based projects I’ve directed: @acgarchive, @colornucleus, red • research, and now, @silknode. As it stands, that’s three years spent highlighting considerate and forward-thinking product, as well as moodboard imagery. Taste-making is cool, absolutely. But curating and archiving examples of highly functional, purposeful, and considerate design is cooler.

It’s also worth noting that whether I’m providing someone with a new thought, a dopamine hit, or design reference ammunition, they can always count on receiving this service for free. I view this kind of accessibility as a net-positive for all involved, including myself.

A Community:

Everybody interacting with the page comes from a different interest profile. Some of us are metropolis-bound Acronym tech heads, some of us swear by an archive Margiela tabi shoe, some of us wear Merrells and go on a hike every weekend, and some of us have probably never gone on a hike at all. The common denominator, however, is that everybody who follows along has some interest in niche product and imagery. We are growing an incredibly unique and potent community of subcultural appreciators. This is easily the most worthwhile part to me. There is an incredible wealth of positive energy to be harnessed here, and the possibilities of what we can do with that as a goal-minded whole often keep me up at night. Some people say that and don’t mean it, but I really do. I gladly forfeit sleep over what I think is possible here on a very regular basis.

A Freelance Front:

I bring a lot to the table from both a designer’s standpoint and a market-aware standpoint. As the industry landscape further matures and brands begin to recognize the merit of our values, I trust that Silknode creative services will become increasingly sought after. Thus, a primary facet of Silknode is its functionality as a freelance consulting front, operating on a contractual basis. Any collaboration that comes from this kinds of alliances will always be disclosed to Silknode supporters.

A Product Outlet:

My design work is both considerate and purposeful – two values that, when synthesized into product, deserve to be available to the interested consumer. Whether said product be designed by me, in collaboration with someone I trust, or entirely by someone else and in the spirit of positive facilitation, there will be infrastructure in place for supporting that under the Silknode umbrella.

I hesitate to ever refer to Silknode as a “brand” – the negative capitalistic implications that accompany that word (unnecessary merchandise, soulless collabs, paid influencing, and clout-dependency) don’t mesh well with Silknode’s ethic base. So, until a better word emerges, this arm of Silknode will be aptly referred to as a “product outlet.”

A Publication:

Under the webweaver.eth moniker (the Silknode ENS name), I plan to continue periodically publishing essays, interviews, and editorial work when possible. Topics covered will include design phenomena, web3, general cultural analyses, Silknode sanctioned product, and much more. Lots of “Last Orgy” influence at play here.

(A quick note: Mirror, the publication platform you are interacting with right now, is built on top of blockchain. I would like to acknowledge that for many of you this will be the first time you will have touched a piece of the decentralized internet. And to you I say, warmly: welcome.)

A Comic Strip:

Comics are the original memes; memes are pivotal communication tools in the age of the internet. Silkflames, a comic strip run by myself and my good friend Setflames, is here as a vehicle to provide digestible commentary, humor, promotion, and maybe… just maybe… even philosophy. But at its core, it’s just for fun!

In the future we will be looking to develop a more encompassing platform for the community that hosts comic strips and art by others (think Sunday newspaper comic section style with curated creator spots…). If this is something that sounds exciting to you, don’t hesitate to reach out.

A Bridge to Web3:

One of my biggest goals with Silknode is to serve as a web3 bridge for the average web2 internet user (AKA you, probably).

I want everyone reading this to go look up what a browser wallet is and download one right now if you haven’t already (try MetaMask, it’s free!). Even if you don’t care to learn how to use it right away, download it and set up an account – trust me. I am ready to promise you that this tool will be essential to how we use the internet in the future.

Should you choose to take the dive now, you will very likely find yourself reaping the benefits of being early. This is not solely exclusive to finance; other key components of web3 include enhanced data privacy and leveraging social networks in new ways through decentralized communities.

(Pssst: For those more curious than others, future Silknode + web3 integration likely involves ERC-721 tokens and some sort of token-gated community. The mechanics of this are TBD as the Silknode team grows and the means to develop this sort of thing become more available to us, but it’s all coming. In the meantime, I point you in the direction of Friends with Benefits and HibiscusDAO who are both representative of some really cool crypto-native initiatives intersecting with our space. All of this will be further discussed in future articles.)

TLDR;

Silknode is going to do… a lot.

Sociopolitical Context

Bluntly put, the current state of affairs when it comes to considerate (clothing) design is… dismal. There is a positive correlation between the rise of mass interconnectivity enabled by the internet and cultural corruption; the more attached society has become to the internet, the more crude capitalization we’ve seen as a result. Unhinged production models result in oversaturated product, soulless collaborations, waste, environmental degradation, and an increasingly scarce output of truly considerate design (a concept that will be deconstructed in future essays). It’s not unfair to say that corporate cultural suppliers have the average consumer in a chokehold.

And so the questions arise:

Why don’t consumers boycott these systems?

Why doesn’t everybody just stop supporting this kind of product and engage in the pursuit of the more holistic?

Shouldn’t this be a relatively simple adjustment?

Unfortunately, current societal values feed into these systems perfectly. The average person wants to be recognized by their peers, or at the absolute minimum, feel a sense of belonging. As consumers, consequently, we often desire product that aligns us with what is publicly deemed popular; what is automatically validated as “belonging.” Corporate entities dedicate large sums of money to convincing consumers that they are selling the exact product necessary to fulfill their psychological needs, which, to our detriment, has been extremely effective. With this negative feedback loop complete, we have commenced into a downward spiral. The once wholesome act of intentional consumption has been brutally corrupted.

However! In a tidal wave of egregious production and consumption, we’ve seen a few surfers duck-diving – that is designing, sharing, curating, reselling, and documenting examples of what they consider to be tasteful, considerate, niche, and/or ethical product. People like Patrick Stangbye, Organiclab.zip, Jeremy Karl, Unknown Store, The Polo Sportsman, and Gasman’s Garments first come to mind as some really strong advocates of this practice, along with a handful of others.

If you appreciate the kind of stuff that these people share and represent, you are certifiably contributing to the development of positive counterculture in the attention economy.

Urahara Parallels

One thing I’ve observed within our subculture is a striking appreciation for early Urahara design icons – Hiroshi Fujiwara, Jun Takahashi, Nigo, Shinsuke Takizawa, Tetsu Nishiyama, Sk8thing… Once upon a time, these designers found themselves in a unique position to create freely, artistically, thoughtfully, and purposefully – effectively leveraging their cultural environment and subsequently laying out a blueprint that has been, and will continue to be, referenced like no other. They constructed a self-sustaining ecosystem of creativity from the ground up, the resonance of which still ripples on today. It’s truly no coincidence that we look to them so frequently for inspiration; they were visionaries.

Consider Nowhere Store, for example, run by pre-acclaimed Jun and Nigo in the early 1990s. Nowhere Store was just one of dozens of small, independent clothing boutiques nestled in Tokyo’s Ura-Harajaku district, but in the scene’s aftermath its reputation as the most well known shop of the era is a point of no contest. It found the perfect blend of appeal to hip hop kids, punk kids, skate kids, and many others by stocking and sharing product that vastly differed from both the contemporary vintage market and the more high profile selections available. Rather than crowd favorites like Levi’s, The North Face, and Ralph Lauren, they instead chose to stock local underground brands like Jun’s own Undercover, Nigo’s own A Bathing Ape, Fujiwara’s Goodenough, Takizawa’s Neighborhood, Tetsu’s WTAPS, and more. In this critical approach it was evident that they valued creativity over commerce, and what followed that fleeting-but-beautiful-spirit was widespread and profound cultural impact.

I recount this phenomenon to identify some present parallels. With the steady influx of western culture leaking into metropolitan Japan in the late 80s and early 90s, a cultural inflection point was brewing. It was the perfect climate of sociopolitical circumstances that made a new paradigm in creative culture possible.

Today, a new perfect climate is developing; a new inflection point is revealing itself. As a society, we have never been more interconnected. The rate of cultural dissemination is at an all time high thanks to the internet and social media, and it’s only climbing higher. Think about how many people watch a viral Tik Tok or Youtube video every day. There has never been a better opportunity to share new ideas and transmit information across the globe than the one at present.

Additionally, more and more people are recognizing that current consumption models are non-sustainable. Vintage thrifting and garment upcycling have been steadily on the rise for years. It is well documented that consumers are beginning to seek out more considerately and thoughtfully designed product – product that is more ethically made, more dynamic in use, and functional beyond the purpose of being on-trend. See: Silknode.

All of this is coinciding with the rise of the decentralized / non-corporate internet (web3), which is enabling an unprecedented fluidity of funds at a peer-to-peer level. The revaluation of art and creativity is already well under way. Across the globe, a fresh new generation of designers, taste-makers, and subcultural enthusiasts are picking up on this – and we can take comfort in knowing that where culture goes, our money follows. We are on the verge of a long-overdue Renaissance.

Silk Tickets

If you’ve been in this particular space for a while, you’ve seen (and perhaps even participated in) curation-based subscription models. Organiclab.zip, Unowned Spaces, Tech Spec, and Hidden NY (among many others) have all found ways to paywall valuable content and successfully monetize part of their work. It currently appears that this is the best way to crowdfund independent projects.

Silknode is significantly different in that it will not be posting “cooler” or “more advanced” curation behind a paywall on Patreon. As a matter of fact, Silknode won’t be curating behind a paywall at all. As long as what I’m finding on the internet is free, you can always count on it being shared with you for the very same on Instagram. This is something that I sincerely hope you will continue to enjoy and benefit from at no cost.

That said, I am pleased to introduce the “Silk Ticket” – a monthly pass enabled by Patreon that will grant you total access to the Silknode creative suite. Here’s what that entails:

Immediate:

• Early (and oftentimes exclusive) access to Silknode sanctioned product

• Early (and occasionally exclusive) access to Silknode articles + interviews + editorial

• Exclusive access to unannounced Silkflames comic projects

• Direct access to the Silknode inbox for queries

• Exclusive product giveaways

Future:

• Exclusive access to ACG Archive + Silknode organized and searchable database

• Exclusive access to the Silknode community forum where people will be able to connect, collaborate, and discuss their favorite aspects of our culture with like-minded people

• And much more as we continue to build and scheme up!

• I will constantly be looking for and experimenting with new ways to give back to subscribers and get the community involved.

A community, a product outlet, a consulting firm, a curation practice, a comic strip, a publication… I say it once again: this is the prototype of every independent creative platform, ten years from now. We’re building a movement. A community funded movement dedicated to the renaissance of considerate design and creative culture.

I kindly invite you to follow this link to the Silknode Patreon and purchase your very first Silk Ticket. As you will soon see, early supporters are being handsomely rewarded.

If a Silk Ticket is not swingable for you at the moment, I advise that you put it on your list for the future as this is something you are undoubtedly going to want to be a part of. Until then, your continued support on Instagram is most definitely appreciated!

Excelsior

Finally, if this has resonated with you in any way, please help us all out and share this link as widely as possible. One of the only ways we will ever see structural change is through community mobilization, and the information discussed here is a great gateway into that.

You are welcome to share the Whitepaper with a potentially interested friend, Tweet about it, post it on your Instagram story, tell your mom and DAO about it, put it on a billboard in Times Square, send it to that one magazine editor friend of yours and tell them to interview me (*cough* Joerg Koch *cough*)… All that good stuff.

Excelsior!

- Z @ Silknode