12 AUTUMN 2026 F A B R I C U T . C O M from the editor HOME LIFE “It’s only after we have discovered it for ourselves that it becomes a common ground and a common bond, and we cease to be alone.” —Wendell Berry Can we agree that we all have our own gravitational pull — our own design orbit, if you will? And maybe gathering isn’t about getting everyone on the same page. Maybe it’s about finding enough common ground to keep us in the same orbit. It seems as if of late, design is finding its way toward a more comfortable, authentic way of living. Rediscovering design curiosities with an appreciation for how well the originals work. And I can’t help but invoke Russel Wright’s name. When we moved up to the Hudson Valley, I spent time as a docent at Manitoga, his home and studio in Garrison, New York. So I had a bit of a front-row seat. Wright was right! He was into the whole living-well-in- your-home ethos decades before the rest of us caught on and seemed to understand the phenomenon of home— how it affects the way we feel, function and, yes, gather. He was less interested in designing rooms that looked a certain way than in designing for the life that happened inside them, making living easier, more comfortable and connected. In other words, Wright understood that the life happening around the design was every bit as important as the design itself. Call it common ground. Call it gravitational pull. Either way, there’s room for everyone at the kitchen table. Or the vintage de Sede DS-600 Snake sectional sofa in leather. RUSSEL WRIGHT (1904 – 1976), the pioneering American industrial designer, was already into what we now call the OG kitchen – the original gathering place! Illustration by Russel Wright Studios, from Guide to Easier Living by Russel and Mary Wright. Permission by Gibbs Smith, Publisher.