Stephan Segmeister visits our ‘History Lesson’ installment once again. It was entirely inevitable: we can’t discuss the ideas of design and rest without mentioning this famous designer's sabbatical. For the past two decades, Segmeister has been practicing a cyclical pattern of living in which, after every seven years of work, he closes his NYC design studio and takes an entire year off, usually spent somewhere else around the globe. After his second sabbatical, spent in Bali, Segmeister gave a TED talk sharing his experience and advocating for the virtues and values of taking time off. The talk, which was held and recorded in 2009—in the midst of the Great Recession— resonated widely. While most people can’t afford to take a whole year off, it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t consider it on a smaller scale. Great things happen in your mind, body, and spirit, and therefore in your creativity, when you shut yourself away from your work - whether for a day, a week, or a year.
For Segmeister, his first sabbatical gave him the creative space to produce two of his world-famous works - the movie and exhibition Happy, and the book and exhibition Beauty.
According to our calculation, he’s up for his next sabbatical in 2023, and we can’t wait to see where it takes him and what ideas it will spark.
