Vol.3:Be•gin•ning
noun: the point in time or space at which something starts.
A Fresh Start
Avocados and Coconuts has recently undergone a dramatic move. Mission to SOMA. However close we remain to our roots, we’re a dynamic, forward-thinking company and we wish to remain adaptable. Our new space signifies the change we’ve all dealt with this past year, the reality of a small business’s financial setbacks, and how accidental beginnings can lead to accidental epiphanies such as unveiling the faces of ‘invisible humans.’
Once Upon A Time
“In the early days of the pandemic, I was in a creative rut and decided, for some reason, to start writing kids stories and poems a la Shel Silverstein. I wrote nearly eighty.” We wanted to showcase the outcome of Matt’s quarantine experience to demonstrate how unanticipated beginnings can produce joyful new pastimes. Matt’s new affection plays well into the idea that beginnings often yield child-like wonder.
First Roll
Shooting on film sheds light on different aspects of filmmaking. There was an incredible feeling of excitement when imagining how the film will turn out. Navigating this new process came with a burst of creativity—I was thinking in ways I never had before and crafting each shot with elevated intention. As I sent off my precious first roll to be digitized, childlike anticipation ensued. That night, I laid wide-eyed in my bed like the night before Christmas.
Taking Shape
A Photo Essay on Making a Surfboard for the First Time. Planning, Building, Shaping, Glassing, Surfing.
Case For Making
Somewhere along the way, most likely when we were all still children, we’re often taught to be fearful of Beginning. At Case for Making we feel it is our responsibility to remind people to begin from a place of curiosity, to recommit to a process in which they are deeply interested and to follow that to unknown and exciting places.
Building Golden Age
The process of becoming ‘the wine shop guy with the cowboy hat’ was not without trepidation and struggle. Avocados and Coconuts’ director Brandon Loper tells us about the emotional and physical manifestations of having a business goal and seeing it through. From conception to pandemic, Golden Age Wine demonstrates how fluctuation is a common occurrence in building up a new company.
Beginning Thoughts : Gabrielle Occhipinti
Beginning anything is daunting and mysterious yet somehow new and pure. Despite our own philosophical and nuanced understanding of it, Beginning is intimately connected to our everyday lives. We participate in the act of Beginning quite often. Whether it be as grand and seemingly revolutionary as a new democracy or as mundane as starting a new day, Beginning is a common practice.
When we study and consider the Beginning we do daily, it becomes less overwhelming and represents both the remarkable and the ordinary. As much as daybreak feels usual and habitual, we can recognize that it is equally exceptional. Beginning presents a dichotomy, perhaps; no matter how true it is that Beginning is intimidating and foreign, it is just as true that Beginning is familiar and completely unsophisticated.
A common perception is that Beginnings are vulnerable. While they often are, and vulnerability often feels like a threat to your entire existence, it also encourages a youthful and unpretending outlook. A Sōtō Zen monk, Shunryū Suzuki said,
“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few.”
If we disavow fear and vulnerability, suddenly, there is endless possibility. It’s almost childlike, playful, and somehow relieving. Beginning is as simple as looking through a new lens, as palatial as building a new workspace, and as joyful as tasting novel wines. When we are without limitation, when we see through fresh eyes, we see infinite options. We see life in brighter color.