Geeking Out with Change Observer Editor Julie Lasky

By Reena Jana
August 10, 2011

It’s a sweltering New York City summer day, yet Julie Lasky, editor of the design - and social innovation - focused website Change Observer and a contributor to the New York Times, looks cool, calm, and comfortable. She’s sitting at the Morningside Heights restaurant Community, lunching on a bowl of local heirloom beets, while speaking animatedly about design, doing good, and her latest obsessions. These range from the elegance of Moleskine notebooks to the reliability of Android phones, to vintage fireplace tools and—despite the July heat—antique Christmas ornaments.

left: Change Observer, edited by Julie Lasky

“I spend my entire days in a very comfortable, air-conditioned room at home, writing and editing, so I feel pretty relaxed most of the day,” Lasky says, explaining her serene vibe. The former editor-in-chief of (now defunct and sorely missed among design aficionados) I.D. magazine, Lasky now focuses on crafting stories about how design can improve the world in the areas of healthcare, education, housing, and the environment. She is also a frequent speaker at design conferences around the globe, and is often invited to locales such as Bellagio, Italy or Cape Town, South Africa, to do so.

She recently began the shift from schlepping to an office to working at home full-time in her new duplex in a 1910 Harlem brownstone, where she lives with her husband, design and business journalist Ernest Beck, and their five-year-old daughter, Shan. Not to mention their new puppy, a Wheaton Terrier.

Lasky took the time to sit down with The Inside Source to talk about her favorite design objects, both professional and personal.

Julie Lasky

Julie Lasky, Editor of Change Observer, and her daughter, Shan (photo by Ernest Beck)

The Inside Source: What writing tools do you use?

Julie Lasky: I’m a freakishly fast typist. If I ever need a new job, I will become a court reporter. I’ve never been complimented on any other skill besides my fast typing. My laptop is a MacBook Air. It makes a clackety-clack noise when I type, because I’m so fast. I drive people crazy at conferences when I’m typing notes. My words are often garbled when I go back and read them—but my typing looks impressive! left: Julie (Photo by Yoko Inoue)

When I have to take notes by hand, I use a Moleskine. I’ve decided Moleskine is the Apple of notebooks. They’re minimal, beautiful and functional. That pocket that you find in a Moleskine notebook! It’s wonderful. And I use their city guides, which are Moleskine notebooks with pages of maps and recommendations of what to see and do, when I’m traveling.

My pen is a Sharpie with a very sharp point. Sharpies last forever! They’re durable pens. I just have to keep them away from my daughter. They’re helpful for marking her clothes and toys with permanent ink. But sometimes she will find one of my Sharpies around the house and hold it up and say, “Mommy! Get it away from me!” As if she knows how tempting it is for a child to have a Sharpie, as if I'm tempting her to draw with it on furniture.

When I’m writing at home, I use an iMac. I write in my bedroom now. Just like a college student. But with our new dog beside me.

The Inside Source: Clearly, you’re an Apple fan, like many design writers and editors. But you’re carrying an Android phone…

Julie Lasky: Yes, I had two iPhones. The iPhones both broke accidentally... long stories. Yes, I miss the iPhone. But let’s just say that I like my Android phone, though. The voice recognition is excellent. I need it to get directions when I’m out. I really rely on it. I can say “Red Rooster Restaurant, Harlem” and my phone recognizes me and pulls up a map and directions.

The Inside Source: What design objects are you obsessing over these days?

Julie Lasky: I embrace every kitchen gadget I ever had. I just discovered the cherry pitter. I can’t believe I went my entire life without one. Seriously. You can feel very gratified when picking up something very small and designed to be very specific and efficient like a cherry pitter.

Cooking utensils are always wonderful objects. Cast-iron pots and pans—Le Creuset!—are beautiful, sculptural.

I have to say, I’m also interested personally in knitting these days. It’s my winter persona, though. I’ve discovered the summer is a good time to buy yarn—you can find it at low prices! Who wants to knit in the heat? Knitting is like writing—a very minimal project. I like knitting in the same way that I like writing, because you don’t need a lot of tools to do it.

I’m very interested in objects for my home, which reflect the spirit of the building. I look for objects with sense of a history. For instance, I bought vintage Christmas ornaments on eBay last year, just for this home. I also bought antique fireplace accessories. I could've bought them in a hardware store. But I wanted fireplace tools with a sense of patina. And I have to say that the chase on eBay is half the fun, too.

The Inside Source: Are you searching for anything particular on eBay right now?

Julie Lasky: If I had a lot of extra money, I’d buy cement sculptures for my community garden on eBay. It’s on the Upper West Side in an inconspicuous location—above a parking garage. It’s been there for 20 years. It has wonderful rules, such as you’re not allowed to criticize anyone’s choices of plants. And there are intriguing stories behind every flower, bush or tree. The azaleas had been planted by someone who died tragically, but others are keeping it alive.

The Inside Source: Your main gig is editing Change Observer, which centers on “social innovation”—in other words, how designers can help make the world a better place. How has working for Change Observer affected the way you live your own life?

Julie Lasky: Before, when I was the editor of I.D., I was interested in the latest news, the latest tech, the latest apps. Now I get the latest reports on why, say, a certain type of plastic is terrible for the environment—or for humans. I get lots of revelatory bits of information about the products in my life every day. It makes me aware of a lot of doomsday scenarios. But I think of all the missives society has solved in the past and I feel better.

In my own life, and in my coverage of design and social innovation, I do the best I can. I never aim for perfection. It’s like being a parent. If you try to be perfect, you’re doomed. I will do what I can do with objects I acquire and the way I conduct my life and my work. All we can do is our best.

Here’s a list of design writer and editor Julie Lasky’s current object obsessions, and links to find them on eBay.

HTC Nexus One Android Phone

(buy it now price, $274.99)

Lasky can’t live without the map apps on her HTC Nexus One Android phone. She relies on it not only for calls and email, but also to get around New York for interviews and appointments as well as when she’s on the road for design conferences. She says the voice-recognition is excellent.
Apple iMac

(buy it now price, $1,549)

Recently, Lasky began working from home. She can’t live without the large and crisp screen of her desktop computer, an iMac.
MacBook Air

(buy it now price, $938.94)

When she’s on the road, traveling to design conferences in Italy or South Africa, Lasky carries a lightweight MacBook Air.
Moleskine Notebook

(buy it now price, $10.95)

When faced with taking manual notes, she relies on what she calls “the Apple of notebooks,” the classic Moleskine notebook.
OXO Good Grips Cherry/Olive Pitter

(buy it now price, $12.99)

Currently, Lasky says she’s obsessing over kitchen utensils, like the cherry pitter, which are designed for a very precise function.
Le Creuset Pot

(buy it now price, $55)

Other favorite objects for Lasky? Le Creuset pots, whose longevity and usefulness exemplify enduringly great design.
Fiskars Garden Tool Set

(buy it now price, $21.52)

One of Lasky’s favorite pastimes is tending to her garden plot in a Manhattan community garden. She says she relies simply on basic tools to trim plants and dig dirt-- like those tools in this set of classic garden gadgets.
Cement Garden Sculpture

(buy it now price, $375)

One of Lasky’s dream eBay purchases would be a cement sculpture for her community garden.
Antique Christmas Ornament

(buy it now price, $39)

One item Lasky finds herself researching on eBay is vintage Christmas-tree ornaments, especially those that match the brownstone aesthetic of her family’s Harlem duplex.
Vintage Fireplace Accessories

(buy it now price, $125)

Lasky’s home, a duplex in a Harlem brownstone dating back to 1910, has several fireplaces. Rather than purchase fireplace accessories from a hardware store, she searched on eBay for those with a sense of history.
Pet Crate

(buy it now price, $67.38)

With a new puppy as her work companion, Lasky says one key piece of “gear” she’s researching these days are pet crates, to keep her family’s Wheaton Terrier feeling secure when she has to leave for interviews and events.