Rummaging around in the wooden drawers with letters, numbers and punctuation in adventurous fonts, I discovered what I roughly wanted to make. I figured out what the print should more or less look like, I made a design by playing around with the letters on the printing press. I translated my ideas into a mirror image, worked neatly and cleanly (hmmm) and carefully laid the crisp, white paper on the blocks. I gave the crank a yank and the paper waltzed deliciously over the blocks.

Then I lifted the sheet for the big reveal… AND THEN… the design  looked different from what I had imagined. Either because: the design looked differently in ‘image’ than in mirror image, either because there was still a smudge of different colour ink on a wood letter or because one of the letters had shifted a fraction or because, because… There were many different reasons during the day.

Experienced printers call this ‘the beauty of chance’. But as a beginner, it’s a tough lesson in letting go. And yet – just like when working in transition – you have to organise that beauty of chance. By simply standing at the printing press. By trying things out when printing. Coming up with patterns and motifs, creating a design, taking risks. And then. being open to everything that might deviate.

In transition, it’s all about taking that next step; designing an action or a process. Sticking your neck out. And then, while you dare where your colleagues may still be hesitating… accepting that the result will ALMOST CERTAINLY turn out differently from what you had imagined. But embrace this difference, because therein possibly lies the most important learning, the most beautiful new insight or the next innovation.