When you invite someone to become a guest editor of your magazine, you have to be prepared to surrender some of your own ideas for the good of the collaborative process and out of respect for the chosen collaborator. When you invite someone like Rand Elliott to become a guest editor of your magazine, you can expect, as I rightly did, that that process would become a relentless pursuit of ideas that are not necessarily considered mainstream in the design profession. What I was not prepared for was how, in partnering with Rand to create the July issue of Contract, I would not only be immersed in but also impassioned by a new way of looking at design—and at the world through design.

Once he was convinced that I was in a rational state of mind and serious about my invitation, Rand Elliott, FAIA, principal of Elliott + Associates Architects in Oklahoma City, Okla., carefully broached the subject of creating a July issue devoid of the most current conversations and personalities capturing the attention of the design community in favor of a focus on mostly low-profile, uncelebrated designers who quietly practice outside the media spotlight. My enthusiastic grasp of his intention led both of us on a 10-month journey (both virtual and literal) to such seemingly ordinary places as Oklahoma, Nova Scotia, Arkansas, West Texas, New Mexico, northern Norway, and ultimately back to Oklahoma—not at all the places where cutting-edge design appears to be happening.

Or so I thought.



What I learned is that there is a whole group of refreshingly—no startlingly—independent-thinking designers, far from the world's major design Meccas and fastest-growing urban centers, who approach their subject matter with a grassroots perspective that allows them the freedom of expression to do truly unique and innovative work that is not based on a desire to produce the world's tallest, coolest, or edgiest anything. Rather, they embrace their isolation as part of their creative inspiration, producing buildings, interiors, and artworks that are truly of and at one with their surroundings.

As you read the July issue, pay special attention to the common themes that the featured individuals, works, and ideas share. Good—really good—architecture is not something that is done to the land or the immediate environment as much as it is brought forth from it, fully informed on its possibilities and limitations, and seeking to render a place better than it was: Design that is a celebration of place.

I could go on…but I will let the following pages tell the story and leave our readers to contemplate this alternative meaning of good design that the articles hold in store. In the end, the only gift I can give to Rand for all I have learned from him in these past months is my hope that the July issue of Contract sufficiently communicates and celebrates his own independent spirit and voice.