Here it is. The first post on Baronfig’s new blog, The Margin. I’ve been writing for over a decade, sharing thoughts on various platforms and in a variety of places about Baronfig, design, creativity, thinking, and products.

And today, I’m going to start writing here.

The Universal Particular

James Joyce said, “In the particular is contained the universal.” Meaning, when you create with specific intent or for a particular person or purpose, you tend to tap into a greater sentiment. Something that ends up resonating with far more people than expected.

When I created that first notebook, I was making it for myself. It was a tool that I needed, a combination of materials and message that I couldn’t find out in the world. Because a tool isn’t just a means to an end. It’s a companion, a sidekick—a partner in creation and craft. One that I would be excited to carry, inspired to use.

In creating the Confidant for myself, it ended up resonating with thinkers all over the planet.

At Baronfig, we believe that what makes humanity special—and beautiful—is our ability to imagine. To think. To develop ideas in the abstract palace of the mind. And to bring them to life. It’s the unique separator between us and every other creature. Baronfig was born from the joy of connecting with ourselves. With the inner workings of our minds. It was built to inspire people everywhere to explore within just as much as we explore without.

Intentional & Accidental

What started as a project between friends has grown into something far more complex and considered than we ever imagined. My co-founder Adam and I didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into—but we knew we wanted to get into it.

So we (accidentally) rented an oversized space, divvied up the responsibilities needed to run a fledgling business, and spent day after day swapping metaphorical hats as we congealed a team’s worth of work from the efforts of just us two.

That was over twelve years ago.

Since then, the ever-evolving Baronfig team has designed and launched over a hundred products. We’ve had stupendous successes. We’ve had fantastic failures. Many products never even made it off the drawing board. But a few—the ones we believed in—did. And, all around the world, thinkers have integrated those products into their daily lives.

I still remember the first time I saw someone on the subway using our notebook—the same one I’d obsessed over for months on end, ensuring the details were just right. By that point, even though we’d sold tens of thousands of notebooks it still felt nebulous. As one of the early direct-to-consumer brands, the entirety of our sales were online. We didn’t see our customers. So when I absentmindedly looked up from a book I was reading to see the person sitting across from me scribbling in their Baronfig Confidant, the hairs on my body stood up.

Baronfig was real. Our creations were real. And we were growing.

Onward

To this day, I am still surprised and grateful when someone sends a photo of their Baronfig setup or pulls one of our pens out of their pocket as we’re talking. It’s an honor to be able to provide a tool that helps them think, that inspires them to get to it or to do better. Whether ideating professionally or journaling personally, it’s an honor to be a part of so many people’s lives.

Helping someone think by hand never gets old. And I don’t imagine it ever will.

Thank you for being here, for reading these words, for being a part of this journey.