Sensory People, designer Nancy Wu
Sensory People is an interview series about the specific, sometimes unexpected things that help people find comfort & beauty in daily life. It's the questions I always want to ask — and the reminders we all need.
This week: Nancy Wu, designer and co-founder of Building Block and now Building Block Etc. Knowing Nancy is like knowing the best champagne in human form — sparkling, fizzy, an infectious excitement for life. She also always knows where the most interesting thing in the room is.
Building Block began as a bag design studio with her sister, Kim, in 2011, running for over a decade. Their new chapter is Building Block Etc. — a select shop of one-off finds and special pieces from local and international artists.
Nancy makes their business cards by hand, punching the logo one circle at a time, a few each morning with coffee. David Lynch said, 'I'm just, you know, kind of happy in the doing of things.' Nancy is exactly that.
What's a feeling you're always wanting more of in life?
I always want more laughter. It’s my way of releasing feelings, big or small. The last couple years of my life have taken me on an emotional, mental, and physical rollercoaster. I married my college ex-boyfriend, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, watched my cat of 14 years pass away, and opened a store with my sister. Through it all, I laughed as a means to exhale through the pain, as a means to feel open, and as a way to face the absurdity of what I couldn’t control, whether it was laugh-crying or laughing to myself or laughing with my people. Once I was in remission, I actually got on every rollercoaster at Six Flags and surrendered every ounce of control in my body while scream-laughing into the sky. Who knew being whipped upside down and backwards into the abyss could be so transforming?
What are your favorite sensory objects?
The plants in my garden offer me so much sensorial peace. Each has their own unique offerings, like the Matilija poppies that spring out of impossible cracks in the hillside and bloom huge flowers that look like fried eggs once a year. Or the peppery scent of White Sage that my dog likes to brush up against and trail into our bed. The Mexican Marigold is my favorite to touch because the lemony-sweet aroma isn’t apparent unless you run your hand through its leaves and give it a little “hello”. I know each plant intimately like friends, some who have fallen victim to my over-doting and some who have stayed through every season.
What scents instantly comfort you?
The scent of my dog’s corn chip paws. Wet pavement. Pages of a new book. Scotch tape. Tiger Balm. Jasmine tea at dim sum.
What emotion or memory would you bottle if you could?
I have a memory of riding bikes in Kyoto with my husband after I finished chemo: my hair was still only a couple of inches grown out on that trip, puffy and wavy and weird, yet the simple feeling of cold air running through my newly covered scalp as we raced along the river brought me unimaginable joy. I would bottle up the feeling of pure fascination that I am growing hair, that I am still alive, and that possibilities really can spring from the darkest of darkness, inch by inch.
What words, things, people or places bring you back to yourself?
There is a tiny secret cove in Laguna Beach where you can only access by scrambling over a sharp rocky peninsula at low tide. It’s a commitment to get there because sometimes the tide doesn’t go back out for a solid 5 hours, which leaves you trapped in a little U-shaped beach with or without snacks for most of the day. I spent long luxurious days in my 20’s swimming and reading by myself here, too young and free to care about time or future hyperpigmentation. Going to my little beach by myself, whether in reality or in my mind, brings me back to my happiest self.
What's your favorite BODHA and why?
I can’t get enough of Tenderness Incense! It’s what we burn in our shop, Building Block Etc. and the first thing that 99% of people comment on when they first walk in, that “it smells amazing in here”. It feels a little bit luxurious, personal, and warm—all of the things I want the store to be.
