A Brief History: I wanted to be an architect. I went to college and graduate school. I worked as an architect. Then the recession hit architects. I returned to internships. I began practicing Qi Gong and Tai Chi Chuan. I learned how to use a sword. And I wanted to be a garden designer. I raised chickens and planted food. I tried to "find myself." I worked odd design jobs. I sold invisible sound systems. We moved. Then I became a mom. We moved again. I earned my Permaculture Design Certificate. I think I found myself. Everything that was Old is New Again. When we moved to Oregon to be closer to some family and farther from droughts and hurricanes, I signed us up for a CSA share with the closest farm I could find: Old Soul Farm. I loved the name. I brought my kid along on a trip to meet the farmers, and we all fell into a close friendship with them. My kid and I spent a lot of time out looking for friends. We landed in the Roseway Play Cafe. There we met another mom and kid combination who seemed to mirror us in so many ways. The mom later introduced us to her partner, an architect, and finally I felt somehow connected to my original goal of being an architect again - even though I couldn't see myself practicing as an architect. I could talk to someone who knows about what it takes to design this built environment which most of us inhabit. My mind always busy, I have played with the idea of creating a new business. Having lost my passion for just garden design, and my old faithful Green Rascal Design, I have filled sketchbook pages with possible names for new business ideas. I kept returning to the divergent ideas of something involving my name and something like Old Soul Farm. Names derived from old Doctor Who planets were interesting and catchy, but they did not seem right at all. Finally, last night, it hit me. What about a play on words? The name Holcombe begins with Whole. Thinking about my architect friend, Mr Heart shall we say, and how architects so often just use their names, I admit to pondering a collaboration between Holcombe and Heart. Well, not wanting to suggest anything too forward, I just decided to let that be. But the idea of designing with my heart would not go away. Something clicked and I realized my heart and soul are dedicated to permaculture. And thus heart became Soul. Holcombe Soul. Whole Soul. This is the first day of Whole Soul Design. Whole Soul Design involves every part of me. I cannot deny my architectural background. I will find a way to include it. But Permaculture is very important to me. It takes into account all the same factors that initial design of architectural projects include - like how much rain falls at the site, what's the land form like, what are the prevailing winds, is there crime in the area, what do you want to build anyway, how big does it need to be, how many people does it need to provide for... But the guiding principles behind permaculture are very clearly in favor of the earth and regular people. They don't say anything about working for rich people who don't want to spend any money on design services. There aren't enough of them, anyway. Clearly the Earth needs all of us regular people to do everything we can to reduce our impacts. And let's not forget to take care of ourselves and the energy we put out into the world. Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese art of placemaking, is one of my interests. It's all about the energy flowing through our buildings and gardens. Qi Gong and Tai Chi deal with the energy flows through ourselves. Permaculture talks a lot about the cycle of energy through the landscape. Buildings use a lot of energy as well. They're not all the same, but they are similar enough. We are all connected through these various forms of energy. In this way, all of my previous practices - even the ones I never thought would connect to my professional life - have informed my new outlook on my work. It's amazing. I love it. I hereby declare to follow my whole soul wherever it wants to take me, I will design anything as long as it feels right to me. And my practice will always pay attention to the whole soul of my clients. That is what Whole Soul Design is about.
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Hollie Holcombe is a trained architect, LEED accredited professional, and certified permaculture designer trying to find her way in the world, well, PDX at least. Archives
January 2018
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