To Flâneur: Wandering as a Practice of Attention and Creativity
To flâner is to wander without agenda—to explore, notice, and let the world arrive without instruction. In this Studio essay, I reflect on wandering as a practice for creativity, attention, and making space for ideas.
Editor’s note: This piece sits within Cultivated Studio as a reflection on attention, serendipity, and the role of wandering in creative and intellectual life. Flânerie offers a counterpoint to systems and routines — an intentional openness that allows ideas to surface before they are structured into value. A video accompanies this post.
To Flâneur
To flâner is to wander without agenda.
To saunter.
To explore.
To let the world arrive without instruction.
To notice, with no agenda.
I’ve always been drawn to wandering
— on foot when I travel, and, perhaps unusually, by car.
I point myself in a direction with no destination in mind and follow roads I’ve never taken. Towns I’ve never seen. Edges of maps I didn’t know existed.
The purpose is not the destination.
The purpose is attention.
When I wander, ideas appear.
Scenes, fragments, overheard conversations, the texture of places.
Serendipity becomes a collaborator.
