ABOUT AWE / A PRACTICE OF ATTENTION

A life with more
of the world in it.

Awe designs instruments, objects and books that draw our attention outside. They help us notice the sky, weather, light and wildlife around the places we live and stay, and know when to look.

Pencil drawing of a lakeside home. On the couch, someone draws the view in a book. An adult and a child step out onto the terrace and the child points towards the Moon above the ridge. A ceramic Rise instrument rests on a low coffee table and a square Bird Register on the wall shows the bird heard outside, where it has alighted on a branch.

A SHARED ATTENTION / PEOPLE, INSTRUMENTS AND THE LIFE OF A PLACE

01 / A PRACTICE OF ATTENTION.

A practice of attention.

We can live beside a lake for years and scarcely know its moods. We can recognise a mountain’s outline without noticing how often it changes. Familiarity makes it easy to look through a place towards whatever needs to happen next.

Meanwhile, the light moves. Birds arrive and leave. Weather gathers and passes.

Awe begins with the possibility that everyday life can hold more of this world. A colour on the water. Rain that never reaches the ground. The Moon appearing above a ridge. Gradually, we recognise the conditions, learn the signals and begin to anticipate their return.

02 / SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO.

Something to look forward to.

Knowing that something may happen changes the evening before it does. Perhaps tonight. Perhaps when the weather clears. Perhaps at this time of year.

Anticipation gives us a reason to return to a window, take a walk or call someone outside. With repetition, these small acts become rituals. A certain light comes to mean something between people. We remember who was there last time.

This can begin at home, during a hotel stay or in a place we visit often. Even a brief encounter can leave us wanting to look again.

03 / SLOWLY IMMERSIVE.

Slowly immersive.

Awe unfolds across evenings, seasons and years. A sound becomes familiar. A change in the light begins to mean something. There is room for ordinary days, distraction and absence. The relationship grows through living.

Pencil drawing: a woman stands at a wide window beside a Bird Register, looking out at a lake, a ridge and a bare forked tree where a bird has perched. — FIRST EVENING

A signal draws us to the window.

Pencil drawing: the woman returns to the window with a child, both reaching towards the bird in the tree, now coming into leaf. — LATER THAT SEASON

We recognise the call and bring someone with us.

Pencil drawing: years later, the woman and an older child stand together at the same window, pointing towards the leafy tree. — YEARS LATER

What we remember gives us a reason to return.

Memory becomes part of our attention. Last year’s light gives us something to look for this year. What we keep can draw us into what is happening around us now.

04 / THINGS THAT KEEP US LOOKING.

Things that keep us looking.

Awe gathers traces of the world and gives them forms we live with.

Our instruments extend what we can notice. Our objects and books give those encounters a place in daily life. A record of colour can bring us back to the view. A field guide can reveal something we have passed many times.

An object earns its place through the relationship it helps sustain. The world around it keeps changing. There is always more to notice.