Making things.

It is an act that cannot be completed in the mind alone.

No matter how far AI evolves — no matter how effortlessly it generates high-precision visuals — the value of shaping something with your own hands, through touch, feeling, trial, and revision, will never diminish.

At NICENESS, every piece has been made by hand, one at a time. Among the many things that have long shaped our approach to making is the Whole Earth Catalog, born on the American West Coast in the late 1960s.It was not a catalog built to sell things. It was a book designed to spark something in anyone who wanted to begin — freely, flexibly, on their own terms.

Last autumn, we traveled to San Francisco to visit Lloyd Kahn, one of the key figures behind the founding of the Whole Earth Catalog, who continues to create and share his work to this day. His belief is simple, yet quietly powerful: start with what you can do, with your own hands.

He has lived that belief through building homes and publishing books — and he lives it still. More than anything, what struck us was a certain ease in the way he moves through the world, unbounded by convention, genuinely at play.

In Lloyd's way of working and in his words, we found much to learn — and much that resonates with what NICENESS has always valued: making things you can feel, and looking at the world with open eyes.

NN：What principles or philosophies do you consider most important in your work?

Lloyd: Well, the principle is, if you don’t know what to do, start. And then you figure it out as you go. Instead of waiting until everything is organized, if you just start, that’s how I started building. Then, I had to learn as I went along.

And I guess also the principle of doing it yourself, doing whatever you can for yourself. Maybe you can’t build a house, but maybe you can remodel your apartment or grow parsley on your fire escape in New York, or just do whatever you can for yourself.

NN: How would you describe “Value” in your terms?

Lloyd: Value means authenticity, and authenticity is rare.People are craving authenticity these days. There’s so much artificiality, so many misleading things and bad information online, that people are looking for things and people who are genuine and real. I’m not sure how to define it exactly, but I think it’s clear that people want realness in this digital age.

NN: What elements do you believe bring uniqueness to your activities or work?

Lloyd: I think curiosity is a big part of it. I report on things through Instagram and Substack, and that curiosity drives my work. You should check out my Substack.

As for uniqueness, it’s about doing things with your hands in today’s world. Everyone is focused on computers, but a computer isn’t going to build your house for you. You still need your hands, a hammer, and a saw. Sure, it might be an electric saw or a nail gun, but it’s still physical work, and I like that. There are things that still have to be done the old-fashioned way.

NN: What’s next for you? Any dreams or goals you’re working toward?

Lloyd: I want to get back into better shape. In the last couple of years, I’ve let myself get out of shape because of personal tragedies, so now I’m focusing on getting fit again.

One of my big goals is to make a video of me skateboarding when I’m 90. I’ve already got a new skateboard, which was given to me by a skateboarding company in Los Angeles. In six months, I’ll be 90, and I’m planning to do it then.

In the meantime, I’m also planning a trip to somewhere warm, maybe Nicaragua, to do some boogie-boarding. I’ve been traveling a lot recently—three trips in the past six months.

NN: Have you traveled to Japan?

Lloyd: Not really. I’ve been to Tokyo once, just landed there, but I haven’t really experienced Japan. However, I do have a book I really like from a Japanese photographer, Yoshio Komatsu. We worked on a children’s book where he took photos of homes from around the world. I’ve kept a few of his works, and I became friends with the publisher.

The book is called The Power of the Hut, and it’s about homes in different places, showing the inside of each home through photographs and drawings. It’s one of my favorites.

NN: Are there any cultures or values you want to pass down to future?

Lloyd: I started publishing books about building 50 years ago because I wanted to share the interesting things I saw in the world. I’ve always been a communicator, and that’s still at the core of what I do.

Over the years, I’ve shifted from traditional publishing to platforms like Instagram, Substack, and writing books, but the mission remains the same: to share ideas. In this digital age, I often think about the difference between digital and analog.

Digital is all or nothing—black or white—while analog captures the nuances, the in-between spaces. It’s like music—on a guitar with frets, the notes are fixed, but on a violin, there are no frets. The beauty comes from the fluid movement between the notes, the subtlety and imperfections. I think life and art are the same.

It’s not just about the finished product but about those in-between moments—the nuances and imperfections—that give depth and meaning. Keith Richards touches on this in his autobiography when he talks about the Rolling Stones. It’s those subtle spaces between the notes that make the music come alive.

Lloyd: In the same way, I tell younger people—millennials or those in their 30s—that they seem to appreciate what we’ve been doing. Shelter and housing are much more difficult to access now compared to the ’60s or ’70s, when living was inexpensive.

Back then, we lived on $300 a month and could still build a house. Today, I would advise younger people to look for rundown houses in neglected neighborhoods—maybe the foundation is solid, and while the house might need a lot of work, it already has water, electricity, and sewage.

They could fix it up themselves. But in California, it’s too expensive and regulated to build your own house now, so this is one option I’d suggest.