Hello,
It’s been a while. My last In the Works email landed back in March – not exactly the monthly schedule I’d promised. I just wasn’t moving things forward anymore and I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time with filler emails. That’s mostly because work got busy and my energy disappeared. Partly though, it’s because I felt stuck…
When I started PREST, I described it as a brand “for makers”. But the longer it’s existed, the less convinced I’ve become by that. I’ve seen what you actually do with your exercise books. Drawing, writing, planning, learning, documenting things, starting projects, working things out. Some of you make things, some of you don’t. The thing that connects us isn’t making, it’s curiosity. And I think that’s far more compelling.
We live in a world increasingly obsessed with optimisation. We track our habits, our sleep and our steps. Our hobbies become side hustles (guilty). Even notebooks have become productivity systems.
PREST is going in the other direction.
And that got me thinking about the exercise book itself. It’s a school object. Maybe it’s time PREST leaned into that.
So, welcome back to school
I want to reframe PREST as a slightly strange school for adults, but you get to choose your own subjects. Typography. Gardening. Architecture. Bookbinding. Photography. Cooking. Film. Music. Whatever you happen to be interested in.
We’ll issue the exercise books. You choose the subject.
Because school wasn’t just about learning. It was about being curious for the sake of it. Getting completely absorbed in something because you found it interesting. Asking questions, getting things wrong and trying again. Spending an afternoon on something that might never be useful to you.
I think we could all do with a bit more of that in life. A little less optimisation, and a bit more curiosity. The sort of curiosity we had as kids.
That’s the world I want to build with PREST.
You’ll start to see it take shape in the products, the website, the photography, the writing and everything else that follows. Even the newsletters are getting a little school shakeup. “Making It” is becoming “Set Text”, and “In the Works” is becoming “Office Hours”.
I don’t have it all figured out yet, but I think that’s kind of the point. Thanks for sticking around while I work it all out. And apologies in advance for the next email that inevitably arrives later than promised.
Stay curious,
Callum
P.S. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since Batch 001, but I promise Batch 002 is coming. I’ve been taking my time, but it’s happening.