Amber Supply

The body is not optional. Every product that touches skin, enters the mouth, fills a room, or emits a signal is either supporting or undermining the organism.

• No plastic in contact with food, water, or skin where alternatives exist (glass, stainless steel, ceramic, cast iron, wood)
• No synthetic fabrics against the body — cotton, linen, wool, hemp. Polyester leaches, traps bacteria, sheds microplastics
• Organic and local by default for food — grass-fed, pasture-raised, seasonal, unprocessed
• Non-toxic everything — cookware (no PFAS/PTFE), skincare (no synthetic fragrances, parabens, endocrine disruptors), cleaning products
• EMF minimization — wired over wireless, distance from sources, no unnecessary smart devices
• Circadian respect — amber lighting, e-ink displays, no screens that assault the nervous system

The Japanese call it kodawari — an uncompromising, almost irrational obsession with getting every detail right. The German tradition calls it Meisterschaft. The Greeks called it arêtê — a thing being fully what it is.

• Prefer named artisans over anonymous factories — know who made it, how, and from what
• Heritage brands with institutional knowledge — WMF (1853), Fissler (1845), Zwilling (1731)
• Small-batch, handmade, bespoke over mass-produced
• Materials that age with dignity — leather that patinas, cast iron that seasons, wood that mellows
• The hidden seam matters — quality is what's done when nobody's looking

Drawing from Albert Borgmann: a focal thing demands engagement, develops skill, and connects you to reality. A device hides its mechanism and delivers a commodity frictionlessly. Prefer focal things.

• A gongfu tea set over a Keurig — the practice is the point
• A manual BMW over an autonomous pod — driving as craft and presence
• Cast iron and flame over nonstick and microwave — cooking as embodied attention
• A reMarkable tablet over an iPad — reading as contemplation, not consumption
• Real fire, real books, real instruments — the analogue world has irreplaceable texture

When industry says “it’s safe” and independent research says “we’re not sure,” err on the side of the body. The track record of industrial reassurance — tobacco, asbestos, leaded gasoline, seed oils, PFAS, BPA — does not inspire trust.

• Read labels obsessively — ingredients, materials, certifications
• Prefer the ancestral option when in doubt — the thing humans used for centuries before the synthetic alternative appeared
• Elimination over mitigation — remove the toxin rather than filtering it after the fact
• Whole-body thinking — a kettle isn't just a kettle if its plastic lid leaches into every cup of tea

This is not about accumulating premium goods. It’s about curation — the discipline of fewer, better things that each earn their place.

• Buy once, buy well — longevity over disposability
• Invest in what you touch daily — the mattress, the cookware, the desk chair, the shoes, the tea
• Repair over replace when possible
• Willing to wait and save rather than compromise on quality
• The total cost includes health — the cheap pan isn't cheap if it's dosing you with PFAS for a decade

Ugly function is not enough. When something exceeds what bare function requires, that excess is gratuity — pure gift. The Aarke kettle didn’t have to be that beautiful. The Sheep Inc. sweater didn’t have to come with its own sheep. That surplus is sacred.

• Design lineage matters — Scandinavian, Bauhaus, Japanese, the best of German industrial design
• Natural materials are inherently beautiful — wood grain, fired clay, raw wool, hand-forged metal
• Resist the default — most things in most stores are mediocre. The default is mediocre. Refuse it.
• A beautiful environment shapes consciousness — what you surround yourself with becomes the water you swim in

The story behind the object matters. Not as marketing, but as ethics.

• Transparent sourcing — where did the clay come from? Which mine? How old is it?
• Regenerative over merely sustainable — actively healing rather than merely not destroying
• Fair labor, ethical treatment — of animals, of workers, of land
• Local when possible — European-sourced, reduced shipping footprint
• Skepticism toward greenwashing — certifications matter, but so does direct knowledge of the maker