Water has a superpower. You’ve felt it, even if you’ve never named it.

“It distracts us just enough that it opens us, and our minds move along different channels. Like a daydream. Like when you relax and suddenly think of what’s really important without trying to.”

These are words from Jim Garland, and he would know.

He has spent over three decades shaping water into experience, with work spanning the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Hearst Building, Longwood Gardens, and Water Tower Place in Chicago. He is one of the world’s leading water feature designers and the author of Fountain Safari, a 400-page exploration of how fountains have reflected civilization’s relationship with nature, beauty, and meaning from Imperial Rome to today.

And yet, this conversation isn’t really about fountains. It’s about attention, presence, and what happens to the human mind and the sense of embodiment that occurs when it encounters water’s movement, sounds, and glimmers. Something deep within us, where instinct and memory live begins to stir and shape what we feel.

And once you begin to notice it, you start to understand why we’re always drawn back to it.

In this episode of Crafting Human, we explore:
→ The precision hidden inside beauty, how Bernini and his contemporaries crafted light, texture, and sound with extraordinary intentionality, and why "very little is left to chance" in the greatest fountains ever built
→ What the Trevi Fountain and a shivering fountain in Hong Kong teach us about the difference between craft and accident
→ Water as collaborator, why the best designers do not control water, they invite it, and what happens when you try to push it around too much
→ Eastern vs. Western water, a fundamental philosophical divide in how cultures give water meaning, and what it reveals about beauty itself
→ What makes a water feature soulful
→ The three books that shaped Jim’s thinking, Moby Dick, Darwin’s Origin of Species, and Donald Judd’s art criticism

This is a conversation for designers, architects, creative practitioners, and for anyone who has ever paused beside a fountain and felt, without knowing why, more like themselves.

Crafting Human is a podcast about the people, practices, and philosophies behind extraordinary creative work, and what it means to make something that lasts.

Fountain Safari by Jim Garland, available now: https://oroeditions.com/product/fountain-safari 
Fluidity Design Consultants: https://www.fluidity-design.com/ 
Fluidity IG: https://www.instagram.com/fluidity_design_consultants/ 

Watch the full episode on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXlP1oS7kw4&t=53s

There's a room in your home that holds everything.

It’s the room where you learn that mistakes are okay and you’re encouraged to keep trying, the place that holds the grief that has nowhere else to go. It’s also the room where joyful celebrations spill into the hallway and where the traditions your grandmother never wrote down, because they lived in her hands, still echo through the walls.

Steven Cooper has spent the last forty years designing that room. As owner of Cooper Pacific Kitchens and a member of the La Cornue Global Design Council, Steven is one of the most respected voices in luxury kitchen design. Over four decades, he has developed a deep understanding of how kitchens shape the daily rhythms of a home and the incredible role they play in our lives.

In this conversation, we go far beyond design to explore how the spaces where we cook and gather shape our identities, carry our cultural memory, and hold the full weight of what it means to be human.

We talk about why natural materials matter and how they age with time in ways that reflect the lives lived around them. We consider the idea that the most powerful design is often invisible, felt more than noticed.

And we reflect on something surprisingly simple, that in a world accelerating toward artificial intelligence and convenience at rapid speed, the act of standing at a stove and making something with your hands can still be one of the most beautiful things we do.

This is Crafting Human, and a conversation that may very well change how you see the room you walk into every morning.

New episodes of Crafting Human™ air every Wednesday. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and join our creative community to stay connected.

Subscribe to the Crafting Human™ YouTube channel:

www.youtube.com/@CraftingHuman-Media

Join the Crafting Human creative tribe for updates on future conversations:

craftinghuman.myflodesk.com/jointhecreativetribe 

Thank you for helping keep these conversations and this community alive.

On this episode of Crafting Human, I sit down with interior designer Garrett Robbins, co-founder of Brime Robbins, for a conversation about cultural heritage, storytelling, and the role design can play in reflecting a sense of identity and enabling a deeper connection to community and culture.

Garrett shares the design inspiration behind the award-winning Andaz Prague project, a hotel design concept shaped by Czech myths and legends passed down through generations. Together, we explore how a narrative can anchor design decisions, how integrated art can bring a space to life, and what it means to create hospitality environments with depth, meaning, and emotional resonance.

We talk about what happens when a building becomes a vessel for shared memory, when craftsmanship bridges generations, and when a hotel becomes a place that helps people remember who they are and where they come from. 

Crafting Human™ is a space for conversations that go beyond aesthetics to explore what it means to create and to remain human in a world increasingly shaped by automation and optimization.

In this episode:

– Storytelling as the anchor for design decisions

– Cultural memory and myth as design inspiration

– Integrated art and collaboration with local artists and artisans

– Hospitality as a space for shared meaning and emotional connection

– How Garrett thinks about AI, creativity, and the role of soul in design

You can explore Garrett’s work here:

Website: https://www.brimerobbins.com/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brimerobbins/?hl=en 

New episodes of Crafting Human™ air every Thursday. Subscribe to the channel and join the Crafting Human creative community to stay connected.

On this episode of Crafting Human™, I sit down with David Leventhal, founder of Playa Viva, a regenerative luxury destination resort, for a conversation about regeneration, adaptability, and what it means to design business as a living system.

What began as a conventional real estate development shifted course after the 2008 financial collapse. Instead of simply trying to repair a broken model, David and his team stepped back to ask a deeper question: What future are we actually trying to create?

Drawing from decades of work in conservation, hospitality, and systems thinking, David shares how Playa Viva evolved into a regenerative destination built on stewardship, community partnership, and whole-systems design. We explore how land, economy, culture, and environment are not separate concerns and why meaningful regeneration requires addressing social and economic realities alongside ecological ones.

Together, we reflect on creative adaptability and the courage to release a plan, to listen deeply to place, and to allow a paradigm shift to unfold.

Crafting Human™ is a space for conversations that go beyond design and business strategy to explore what it means to create, to lead, and to remain deeply human in a rapidly changing world.

In this episode:

 – What regeneration really means beyond sustainability
 – The paradigm shift from scarcity to abundance thinking
 – Why you can’t regenerate land without addressing economic poverty
 – How adaptability shapes both design and business
 – Building toward a shared future instead of solving isolated problems

You can explore David’s work here:
 Playa Viva: playaviva.com

New episodes of Crafting Human™ air every Wednesday. Subscribe to the channel and join our creative community to stay connected.

www.youtube.com/@CraftingHuman-Media

On this episode of Crafting Human™, I sit down with Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross, authors of Your Brain on Art, for a conversation about how the arts and aesthetics shape us, emotionally, physically, and neurologically.

Drawing from neuroscience, lived experience, and the emerging field of neuroaesthetics, Susan and Ivy explore how engaging our senses through art, beauty, design, movement, and sound can rewire the brain, support well-being, and deepen our capacity for empathy and meaning.

Together, we reflect on what it means to live as embodied human beings in a world often oriented toward speed, efficiency, and constant production, and why the arts are not an extra, but essential to our humanity.

Crafting Human™ is a space for conversations that go beyond aesthetics to explore what it means to create, to lead, and to remain human in a world increasingly shaped by optimization and automation.

In this episode:

– How art and aesthetics influence the brain and body

– The science behind neuroplasticity and sensory engagement

– Why meaning, empathy, and creativity deepen through the arts

– What it means to cultivate an aesthetic mindset in everyday life

– Moving beyond survival toward a more flourishing way of living

You can explore Susan and Ivy’s work here:

Website: yourbrainonart.com

Instagram: @yourbrainonart

New episodes of Crafting Human™ air every Wednesday. Subscribe to the channel and join the Crafting Human creative community to stay connected.

Subscribe to the Crafting Human YouTube channel here:
www.youtube.com/@CraftingHuman-Media

Join our creative tribe for updates on future conversations:
craftinghuman.myflodesk.com/jointhecreativetribe 

Thank you for helping keep these conversations and this community  alive.

- Sharon

On this episode of Crafting Human™, I sit down with Thomas Lavin, Founder and CEO of Thomas Lavin Showroom, for a conversation about craft, stewardship, and the responsibility of building a business around makers.

Over nearly three decades, Thomas has championed artisans and designers by prioritizing long-term relationships, education, and storytelling over speed or trend. Together, we explore what it means to represent handmade work in an age shaped by mass production and why craft continues to matter as a commitment to our shared humanity.

Crafting Human™ is a space for conversations that go beyond aesthetics to explore what it means to create, and to remain human, in a world increasingly shaped by automation and optimization.

In this episode:
– Championing makers through long-term stewardship
– Craft in the age of mass production and technology
– Why handmade work creates emotional connection
– The role of showrooms as places of education and culture
– What it means to build a business with care and responsibility

You can explore Thomas Lavin’s work here:
Website: https://www.thomaslavin.com
Instagram: @the.real.thomas.lavin

New episodes of Crafting Human™ air every Wednesday. Subscribe to the channel and join the Crafting Human creative community to stay connected.

On this episode of Crafting Human™, designer Valerie Legras and fibre artist Morgane Baroghel-Crucq reflect on craft as a form of embodied intelligence, one that lives in the hands, the body, and the process of making itself.

Together, we explore how slowness, care, and making in alignment with nature and its natural rhythms shape not only objects, but the meaning they carry. This conversation moves beyond skill-building to consider how objects, spaces, and rituals hold memory and how meaning emerges through process, not just output.

Crafting Human™ is a space for conversations that go beyond aesthetics to explore what it means to create in a world increasingly shaped by speed and automation.

In this episode:
 – Craft as intelligence made visible
 – Slowness as care, not inefficiency
 – Objects, spaces, and rituals as carriers of memory
 – Why meaning is found in process, not just outcome

You can explore their work here:

Valerie Legras 
Website: www.swadoh.com/manifesto
Instagram: @_swadoh_

Morgane Baroghel-Crucq
Website: www.morganebaroghel-crucq.com
Instagram: @morganebaroghelcrucq

New episodes of Crafting Human™ air every Wednesday. Subscribe to the podcast and join the Crafting Human creative community to stay connected.

What happens when we stop teaching people how to make things?

On Crafting Human, next Wednesday, 1/28, join me for a fascinating conversation with Valerie Legras, Founder & Creative Director of SWADOH design studio, and Morgane Baroghel-Crucq, a French fibre artist and artisan. We are having a conversation about craft, independence, and what’s lost when knowledge isn’t passed down.

We reflect on the ideas of:

• Craft being intelligence made visible.
• Slowness is not inefficiency, but care and aligning with the natural rhythms of life.
• Objects, spaces, and rituals carry memory.
• Meaning emerges through process, not just output.

On this episode of Crafting Human™, painter and educator Gabriel Islas reflects on plein air painting: working in the landscape where weather, time, discomfort, and imperfection shape both the process and the outcome. 

Together, we explore his journey and growth as an artist, which has taught him to trust in the moments and process, even when the scale or stakes felt intimidating.

Crafting Human™ is a space for conversations that go beyond aesthetics to explore what it means to create and cultivate our humanity in a world increasingly shaped by speed and automation.

In this episode:
– Discomfort as a catalyst for creative growth
– Letting go of perfection in the making process
– Presence, imperfection, and working with place

You can explore Gabriel’s work here:
Website: gabrielislasart.com
Instagram: @gabriel_islas_art

New episodes of Crafting Human™ air every Wednesday. Subscribe to the podcast and join the Crafting Human creative tribe at the link below.

craftinghuman.myflodesk.com/jointhecreativetribe

As technology accelerates speed, scale, and efficiency, many of us are left asking deeper questions: what does it mean to be human in a world increasingly shaped by machines?

Hosted by designer and creative leader Sharon Yu, Crafting Human™ podcast celebrates the humans behind the work: the artists, makers, designers, craftsmen, and storytellers whose creativity shapes how we experience culture, community, and ourselves.

Each week, conversations go beyond output and aesthetics to explore the uniquely human perspectives, lived experiences, and creative processes that give depth and soul to what we make. We look at who we are beneath our professions, how creativity reflects our humanity, and why the human touch still matters.

Across each episode, we meet emerging artists and established creatives from around the world, going behind the scenes of their work to understand how meaning and purpose emerge through process and how creativity serves the communities around us.

We also explore the evolving role of technology and AI, not as a replacement for human creativity, but as a tool that reveals what we value, what we fear, and what we must remember.

Crafting Human™ is a space for reflection, curiosity, and connection and an invitation to rediscover the stories that make us, us.

New episodes every Wednesday. 

If you’d like to watch the Crafting Human™ trailer and subscribe on YouTube, you can find it here.

And if you feel called to stay connected, you’re warmly invited to join the Crafting Human creative tribe here.