Fleur-de-Lis

Here's a pin with a modern take on a classical - indeed ancient - motif. I wore it today to reflect how old I felt at 6am (I had to get up to catch my flight to work). The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak.

This is yet another Thomas Mann design, based on the fleur-de-lis of New Orleans, his home town. In addition to the Mann mark, "NOLA" is stamped on the back too, which is "Tom's key phrase of renewal and hope". I presume it stands for "New Orleans, Louisiana".

Since starting this blog, I'm beginning to realise that I own quite a few Thomas Mann pins, which has come as something of a surprise: and there are more of them to come. This one's primarily silver, with acrylic, bronze and brass accents. The dangly bit at the bottom is a watch or clock hand, I think. I like dangly bits on my pins, as you know.

Ladybug Scatter Pin

According to (the seemingly ever-present designer) Thomas Mann, this ladybug (ladybird) should bring good luck. I could certainly use some of that, which is why I wore him today. Having been fogged in at the airport for 3 hours on Monday, I got to work late only to have my flu return with a vengeance. I could hardly turn round and fly home, so I stuck it out as best I could, greatly aided by Alka-Seltzer (that stuff's a miracle, I tell you). I don't know whether the Ladybug worked, but nothing bad has happened, at least at the time of writing.

Being only 7/8", the Ladybug is small but perfectly formed. There's some interesting detail in his silver legs, head and antennae, but his red acrylic body is appropriately simple (and a nice choice of material). The brass studs set in black acrylic remind you of the spots, rather than being too literal about them, which was a smart design choice, I think. All in all, another great Mann creation.

Did you expect me to pick something ghoulish for Halloween? It crossed my mind, but I grew up with the Irish version thanks to my late Mother, which emphasized fear as much as fun. Some things shouldn't be messed with, no matter how much money gets made (cue Satanic and maniacal baritone laughter)...

Heart In Chains

Another Thomas Mann pin, and one that might be in my all-time top five. I'm wearing it today to symbolize the eternal conflict of work. On the one hand, work (or my work, anyway) allows me to indulge a passion for innovation, symbolized here by the heart with wings. On the other hand, all work (not just mine) comes with constraints to be fought, symbolized here by the chains lashing the black heart to the winged heart.

Some people argue that creativity works best when constrained, because the terror of the "blank sheet" is eliminated. But I've never believed that, to be honest. I'd rather wrestle with the blank sheet than fight (often arbitrary) constraints; or impose my own boundaries if the blank sheet's winning. It's that dualism that makes work challenging, I suppose, even worth getting out of bed for. Most of the time.

The Heart In Chains wings are silver, the framing heart is brass, the free-floating black heart is glass, and is held in place by steel chains. I love everything about this pin: concept, materials, proportions, execution. Mann's made many more heart pins, but none as good as this one.

Bee

Sorry I didn't post yesterday: you missed out on my "Surf's Up" pin. I was having happy times with old friends from England, and didn't have time to post. It'll show up again soon, I'm sure.

Sunday's pin is another Thomas Mann design, one of several insects he's put out over the years. The Bee is a frequent choice when I want to say "Look at how busy I am" when I've little or no intention of being so. It's less common for me to choose this one when I'm actually going to be busy - I have other pins for those unfortunate circumstances.

If you check out the Mann catalog, you'll see the more recent Bee Scatter Pin on page 2: but it's a simplified version of my pin, and frankly not as good .

Grating Heart

Here's a winged heart that's NOT by Thomas Mann for a change. I'm flying home today, so the choice was pretty literal: no elaborate or allegorical justification for once.

I don't wear this pin as often as I should. It's smaller than most of my other pins, so maybe it just doesn't stand out in the box. I like it for the layering of the various metals: copper, bronze, brass, silver and steel. It's a pleasing composition, nicely accented by the painted back layer beneath the copper grating. There's no signature though, so that's all I can tell you.

The mask. Or helmet. Or something.

Felt the need for something substantial today, so went for the 2" hunk of metal. This one's a Thomas Mann design.

Techno.texture Frog

This is a big-ass pin, so I don't wear it very often. But today seemed like the kind of day where one or more leaps of faith were going to be needed, so out came Techno.texture Frog.

He's fully articulated, so I can pose him how I like. I went for the "just leapt" look, reflecting my developing trajectory of conflict with my son's water polo coaches: having started the journey, I'm powerless to alter its course. All that remains to find out is where we'll all land. I fear it will end badly.

The Frog's another Thomas Mann design, made of nickel, brass, bronze and acrylic. I'd normally pick him for happier reasons than I did today. C'est la vie. Or in this case, c'est la guerre.

Repeat: Running House

I had a lot of meetings today, of various kinds, so I needed a do-it-all kind of pin that'd lift my spirits. And, just as before, the Running House was a perfect choice. Gotta love that Thomas Mann - his pins almost always hit the spot.

I'm actually posting this from San Jose Airport, while waiting to board my flight home: isn't technology marvelous? But not because it allows me to write my blog while hanging around. The marvelousness comes from being able to escape from a relentlessly friendly fellow traveller (who simply HAD to share his entire itinerary with me) by claiming I had work to do on my Mac.

Naturally he understood: how could he not? We're in Silicon Valley, after all, where work comes first. So I escaped without causing offence, saving myself from imminent and inevitable tales of divorce, death in the family, or other disasters which so quickly follow after the opening trivia of social discourse.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all in favour of strangers being friendly to each other, so long as appropriate boundaries are set. For him, that meant "this English guy is polite, and won't hurt me, so I'll vomit my travelling tales all over him. That'll make me feel good". For me, the boundaries are: "we don't know each other. We're headed in different directions, so we're not going to know each other. So let's be civil, considerate and not get in each other's way. Oh, and by the way: silence is golden". I've got my earphones ready for the plane...

Columns

One of my more ornate pins today, reflecting the varied activities I needed to get through: brainstorming, coaching, reviewing, goal-setting, corporate communication and a few other things besides.

The communication piece had a special kick to it, because two smirking colleagues (names hidden to protect the guilty) challenged me to incorporate the word "haberdasher" into my piece. The incentive need not be shared here, but I succeeded by inserting the word into an alarming analogy that also included Costco. Ah, corporate life: it's sometimes the little things that deliver the deepest satisfaction...

To my complete surprise, Columns is another Thomas Mann pin, which I didn't realise until I looked at its back today for this blog. It's a painterly piece in brass, nickel, silver, steel, acrylic and bronze, which I think Janice, my lovely mother-in-law, gave me some years ago (she's lovely for many reasons, not just pin-giving). The leaves are hand-painted, but the other colours come from the materials themselves. With so much happening in such a small space, Columns has an unexpected harmony which continues to captivate me.

Repeat: Ladybug Scatter Pin

I wore this Thomas Mann pin for luck, the last time. Today I wore it for productivity (the ladybird is an industrious little creature), as I continued to clear out old email, and all the other no-longer-useful digital stuff that accumulates over the year. Much as ladybirds clear out aphids, and other pests, I suppose.

On the home front, Christy has been baking cookies with welcome gusto (six sticks of butter went into yesterday's batch), although our two boys have been more than a match for the output. Few things inspire them to shared enthusiasm, but home-baked cookies are always a safe bet. Not that I'm shy about tucking in myself, of course...

Running House

I got up at 6am to catch my flight to work, so I needed something a little cheerier than usual. The Running House did the job very nicely.

This is another Thomas Mann design, and a bit simpler than a lot of his other stuff. The arms and legs are screwed on to the house, and can be moved to different positions, so you can choose how frantic the house is. I also like that you can see my T-shirt through the door and windows.

Repeat: Bee

Regular visitors have seen this bee before, but I picked him for a different reason than last time. Today he - or rather his flight pattern - is representing my mental state. There's a vague sense of direction, but nothing particularly specific, and a readiness to deviate from any chosen path that nullifies any effort to be productive.

If you think of the Bee as a bumble bee, I woke up as more bumble than bee - and matters haven't improved over the course of the day. The Bee is a smashing pin though, made from silver and laminate. He's another exhibit from my collection of Thomas Mann pins.

Cicada

I pick this pin whenever I feel like making mischief, as I did today. The Cicada is big enough and real enough to startle people who aren't paying full attention to me, prompting nervous laughter and lame 'jokes' like "there's a bug on your chest!" Very droll...

The mischief here is not that I startled them, though there's some satisfaction in that. It's that I stirred otherwise bright people to try covering their social lapse with humour they themselves find cringe-worthy. I think this naughtiness stems from deciding to re-read "The Complete Saki" which, despite its age, is still a seminal collection of satire, and is my favourite book. Saki beats even Oscar Wilde for my money.

Being the consummate professional that I pretend to be, I mostly confined myself to gentle sarcasm and irony today, because I suspect that's what Saki would do if he'd lived to work in a corporation. And there'll be no jolly japes at the airport: the TSA does not have a sense of humour. But I feel it's my duty as an Englishman to think the thoughts, even if I'm unable to do the deeds.

The Cicada is another Thomas Mann pin, this time from his "Insectarium" Collection, which was part of a touring exhibition. It's made of silver, bronze and laminated acrylic, but the tour de force is that the thorax glows in the dark. Yes, it glows in the dark! I love stuff that glows in the dark. Well done, Tom - well done indeed.

Reedbox

Another of my favourite pins (and no, they're not ALL favourites). The Reedbox is a modern representation of, well, a box of reeds, which is apparently an Asian gift given to bring good luck.

The silver 'cage' represents a wooden or lacquer box, and holds loose rods of gold representing reeds, which would normally be bamboo, or a similar material. I pick this pin when I'm unsure about the day, or when I want to wear something more decorative and elegant than the Flying Pig.

The pin is a limited edition made and signed by Peggy R Cochran, who worked in Thomas Mann's studio before going it alone. I like a lot of her work, although most of her pins tend to be too big for a T-shirt to support. Happily, the Reedbox is a perfect size, at just under 2" tall by 1" wide. You'll be seeing this one again...

Heart Mask

On days when I'm not necessarily ready to face the world, this is the face I reach for. It's big, bold and a little bit strange, which suits my purpose just fine. Those who like pins tend to like this one a lot: those who think grown men should shave before they decorate themselves tend to be confused, or start to edge away slowly.

This is another Thomas Mann pin, in steel, copper, brass, bronze and acrylic. The poor quality of the photo obscures some of its many details, but that can't be helped. Suffice it to say that I like its somewhat haphazard composition (what's that bent arrow at the top for?), and the enigmatic expression. Definitely a winner.

Sun Dial in a Triangle

Spikes and curves today, acknowledging the the expected ups and downs (literally and figuratively) of my flight to work this morning. Fortunately, the literal parts went well, and the figurative parts were more up than down.

This is an early Thomas Mann design, in silver, brass and ebony (I think - it might be ABS), and more abstract than most of his other stuff.