emilynorthen

A few days before the new school term started, I'd sit at the kitchen table with a wastepaper bin balanced on my lap and a pencil sharpener in my hand. One by one, I'd sharpen all my new pencils and coloured pencils, watching the curls of wood fall into the bin. Even now, the smell of freshly sharpened pencils takes me straight back. I wasn't really excited about school. I was excited about the possibility of it all: a new classroom, new exercise books, new things to learn and friends to see...

Some notebooks hold ideas. Others make you want to go looking for them. The first time I discovered Atoms to Astronauts, it was the illustrations that caught my attention. I think it was one of their space-themed notebooks that appeared on Instagram. The cover had the feel of a scientist's sketchbook or an explorer's field notes, filled with detailed drawings and observations. Naturally, I clicked through to see what else they made and promptly disappeared down a rabbit hole. The metaphysics...

When I lived in Siena, my friends and I used to go on what we called random walks. We'd leave the house with no destination in mind and decide at each junction whether to turn left or right. What I loved about those walks wasn't really where we ended up. It was the possibility that every turn might reveal something we'd never noticed before. A hidden courtyard. A tiny café. A beautiful view. A street we'd somehow never walked down. We always discovered something. As children, I think we're...