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(The following is extracted from the April 2022 edition of New Architecture magazine.)

I firmly believe that if you’re not planning to get somewhere early, you’re planning to get there late. But a call from my daughter’s school nurse and a subway track fire on the A-train conspired to make me an hour late to my scheduled appointment to interview Carastariel, the talented and successful architect at the forefront of the elvo-human fusionist design movement.

  I had only just arrived at her SoHo headquarters and design studio at 3:50 PM, having already been told by her assistant that under no circumstances could my interview extend past 4 PM.

  Why 4 PM? Because that’s tea time, and there is one unbreakable rule the employees of Carastariel, PC, must follow: never interrupt the boss during tea time! Not for emails from a client, not for a phone call from the President, and not even if the Forest Queen herself shows up at the door.

  But my bad luck turned out to be serendipitous. Ever the gracious host, Carastariel invited me into her office to join her for tea instead of asking me to reschedule. Preparing the tea herself with an electric kettle, she explained why this time of day was so important to her.

“I need my coffee in the morning like everybody else these days. But tea has always been more popular among my people, so it’s a way to stay connected with that tradition. And I’m usually here working late into the evening, so a cup of tea and a light snack in the late afternoon are perfect to hold me over until supper. But more importantly, it’s an opportunity to relax, reflect, and recharge. I usually spend the time alone, but it is nice every once in a while to ask someone to join me for a pleasant chat. But I never discuss business during tea time, and today is no exception.”

So instead of talking about architecture, she asked if my daughter is okay (just a cold), we commiserated about subway delays, and we discussed our plans for the upcoming weekend. (I was going to visit my mother-in-law in Hoboken. Carastariel was flying to Milan to attend a fashion show.)

  As for the tea itself, I’m no connoisseur, but it seemed unique and tasty.

“It’s my own special blend of chamomile and leaves imported from the Forest realm. I would love to cultivate the leaves myself in my rooftop garden, but, understandably, we’re not allowed to bring living plants from the Forest through the Veil.”

Knowing Carastariel, I had to ask: has she been working with a major tea company to produce and market her own brand of tea?

“Hmm, that does sound like something I would do! But no, between my architectural design work, my growing line of clothing and accessories, and my mentoring program for other young elves who want to live in the human realm, I’m stretched a little thin as it is. My poor mother is already worried I’m going to burn myself out working so hard at 135, when I still have thousands of years to live ahead of me.”

With such a stunning list of accomplishments, it is easy to forget that Carastariel is still a very young adult from an elven perspective. For how much longer can an elf realistically pursue success at the pace of an ambitious human? 50 years? 500? 5000?! Does her mother have a point? What lies ahead for Carastariel in the long term?

“This is why tea time is so wonderful, it’s a perfect opportunity to contemplate these kinds of existential questions! I know it can be difficult for humans to comprehend the scale of an elven lifetime, and we are naturally less inclined to become bored by doing the same thing every day for long periods of time. But admittedly, I am quite a bit more restless and impatient than the average elf! So all I can say for now is that I plan to keep doing this for as long as I’m passionate about it. It may seem inevitable from your perspective that I’ll lose interest eventually, but keep in mind how quickly human civilization is changing, and that could create a lot of new and exciting opportunities for an architect like me. In 50 to 100 years, I could be designing buildings for colonists on Mars, or creating new types of living spaces for androids! But whatever it is I’m doing in the future, I hope it will be something that I can continue to pour my whole heart into, while still remaining true to myself.”

Another puff piece on Carastariel from the same supposed “reporter” we’ve read before (here and here ). I’m starting to think that guy might have a celebrity crush on her or something. Does he not realize how she manipulated him into a situation where he couldn’t ask her any tough questions? And it turns out even the basic facts he reports are questionable. For example, his previous articles have repeatedly mentioned that Carastariel went to NYU, and it seemed like such an important formative experience for her. But I recently did some checking on my own, and it turns out they don’t even offer a Bachelor of Architecture program (oops)!

Daz Studio -> Iray -> Photoshop

Criticism and comments are always welcome, and greatly appreciated!

Description

(The following is extracted from the April 2022 edition of New Architecture magazine.)

I firmly believe that if you’re not planning to get somewhere early, you’re planning to get there late. But a call from my daughter’s school nurse and a subway track fire on the A-train conspired to make me an hour late to my scheduled appointment to interview Carastariel, the talented and successful architect at the forefront of the elvo-human fusionist design movement.

  I had only just arrived at her SoHo headquarters and design studio at 3:50 PM, having already been told by her assistant that under no circumstances could my interview extend past 4 PM.

  Why 4 PM? Because that’s tea time, and there is one unbreakable rule the employees of Carastariel, PC, must follow: never interrupt the boss during tea time! Not for emails from a client, not for a phone call from the President, and not even if the Forest Queen herself shows up at the door.

  But my bad luck turned out to be serendipitous. Ever the gracious host, Carastariel invited me into her office to join her for tea instead of asking me to reschedule. Preparing the tea herself with an electric kettle, she explained why this time of day was so important to her.

“I need my coffee in the morning like everybody else these days. But tea has always been more popular among my people, so it’s a way to stay connected with that tradition. And I’m usually here working late into the evening, so a cup of tea and a light snack in the late afternoon are perfect to hold me over until supper. But more importantly, it’s an opportunity to relax, reflect, and recharge. I usually spend the time alone, but it is nice every once in a while to ask someone to join me for a pleasant chat. But I never discuss business during tea time, and today is no exception.”

So instead of talking about architecture, she asked if my daughter is okay (just a cold), we commiserated about subway delays, and we discussed our plans for the upcoming weekend. (I was going to visit my mother-in-law in Hoboken. Carastariel was flying to Milan to attend a fashion show.)

  As for the tea itself, I’m no connoisseur, but it seemed unique and tasty.

“It’s my own special blend of chamomile and leaves imported from the Forest realm. I would love to cultivate the leaves myself in my rooftop garden, but, understandably, we’re not allowed to bring living plants from the Forest through the Veil.”

Knowing Carastariel, I had to ask: has she been working with a major tea company to produce and market her own brand of tea?

“Hmm, that does sound like something I would do! But no, between my architectural design work, my growing line of clothing and accessories, and my mentoring program for other young elves who want to live in the human realm, I’m stretched a little thin as it is. My poor mother is already worried I’m going to burn myself out working so hard at 135, when I still have thousands of years to live ahead of me.”

With such a stunning list of accomplishments, it is easy to forget that Carastariel is still a very young adult from an elven perspective. For how much longer can an elf realistically pursue success at the pace of an ambitious human? 50 years? 500? 5000?! Does her mother have a point? What lies ahead for Carastariel in the long term?

“This is why tea time is so wonderful, it’s a perfect opportunity to contemplate these kinds of existential questions! I know it can be difficult for humans to comprehend the scale of an elven lifetime, and we are naturally less inclined to become bored by doing the same thing every day for long periods of time. But admittedly, I am quite a bit more restless and impatient than the average elf! So all I can say for now is that I plan to keep doing this for as long as I’m passionate about it. It may seem inevitable from your perspective that I’ll lose interest eventually, but keep in mind how quickly human civilization is changing, and that could create a lot of new and exciting opportunities for an architect like me. In 50 to 100 years, I could be designing buildings for colonists on Mars, or creating new types of living spaces for androids! But whatever it is I’m doing in the future, I hope it will be something that I can continue to pour my whole heart into, while still remaining true to myself.”

Another puff piece on Carastariel from the same supposed “reporter” we’ve read before (here and here ). I’m starting to think that guy might have a celebrity crush on her or something. Does he not realize how she manipulated him into a situation where he couldn’t ask her any tough questions? And it turns out even the basic facts he reports are questionable. For example, his previous articles have repeatedly mentioned that Carastariel went to NYU, and it seemed like such an important formative experience for her. But I recently did some checking on my own, and it turns out they don’t even offer a Bachelor of Architecture program (oops)!

Daz Studio -> Iray -> Photoshop

Criticism and comments are always welcome, and greatly appreciated!