Debbie Millman’s ongoing project “What Matters,” an effort to understand the interior life of artists, designers, and creative thinkers, is now in its third year. Each respondent is invited to answer ten identical questions and submit a nonprofessional photograph.
Andrew Rutledge is a partner at design and technology studio View Source. With over a decade of expertise in design innovation and brand transformation, Rutledge crafts ideas, experiences, and content that alter perception, incite wonder, and create a valuable connection between people and organizations.
What is the thing you like doing most in the world?
My quiet time is my favorite thing. Silence can be so clarifying, and I try to embrace it every day. I wake up at 5:30 am on weekdays, though it’s not to get to work or optimize my regimen (I’m not trying to tout how early I wake up as a productivity ploy). In the morning, I kind of putz around my home in Brooklyn with my two cats, James and Daisy, and my dog Moose. Once they’re eating, I’ll put on a dim light and read some physical print, usually a mixture of The New Yorker and Courier International. It’s around that time that I’ll have an espresso and perhaps go to the gym down the street. By the time I’m back, showered and dressed, it’s 8 am. That’s my time for the final act, piano practice. I’m working on Franz Liszt’s ‘Consolations’ currently, and they challenge me in a way that feels like beauty and despair. Starting my day with this moment for myself removes a sort of anxiety I used to have. With calendars booked up and blocked off during working hours, I can be more aware and enthusiastic, knowing that my personal time was taken care of.
What is the first memory you have of being creative?
My father is an engineer in the mechanical and electrical sense. Growing up with him as my earliest teacher was a lesson in ingenuity. We’d craft our own world and talk about the ways we can approach fixing or improving aspects of the material things in our lives. My father is originally from Chicago, and from age two to seven, we lived there. My brother was born when I was four. Two years later, we decided to build a swingset in the yard. From drawing up plans to prepping the land, selecting the materials, and doing the woodwork, he involved me in the process for as much as I could handle at that age.
What is your biggest regret?
I regret not paying attention to academia earlier in my life. I had fun, and although my life and career have been fulfilling, I am awe-inspired by those who find their passion in their teenage years. Navigating education in the United States can feel like shooting fish in a barrel if you’re unfocused. Charlie Munger famously said, ‘My idea of shooting a fish in a barrel is draining the barrel first,’ and I feel that you can only arrive at that stroke of ingenuity with an extraordinary focus. Put another way, I would have loved to find my passion for design when I was younger and had the focus to see my formative years more clearly.
How have you gotten over heartbreak?
I’ve had a lot of heartbreak. Though heartbreak gives me drive and confidence. It opens up a version of me that’s more raw. The brave and startling truth of how transient things, people, and relationships are, how quickly something can be scrubbed away and forgotten, brings me back to feeling in touch with my capacity to build and rebuild. Here’s a quote from Michel de Montaigne that sums it up: ‘The more we become what we intended to be, the less real the earlier versions of ourselves appear to us, and yet there we were, who we were, forever for all time a monad on its travels.’
What makes you cry?
Tchaikovsky’s ‘Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23.’ And Mahler’s ‘Symphony No. 2,’ (Resurrection). Either this original recording or the more cinematic version in Bradley Cooper’s Maestro will yank tears out of my eyes.
How long does the pride and joy of accomplishing something last for you?
Maybe eight hours initially. Then, in little spurts here and there for the years to follow, as I look back at it.
Do you believe in an afterlife, and if so, what does that look like to you?
Spiritually, I would love to believe in one. However, I don’t. I like the idea that I might create something or contribute to the living world that lives on. Gosh, what a great commercial this was. That’s how I feel.
What do you hate most about yourself?
My inability to rest.
What do you love most about yourself?
My inability to rest.
What is your absolute favorite meal?
Magret de canard avec son jus. Perhaps when it’s the special at Chez René, it’s my favorite place to have it.
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