A Day in New York City with Untapped's Tiffany Jow

Tiffany Jow is the editor-in-chief of the design journal Untapped. She is interested in how creative expression, in any medium, can promote new ways of thinking, seeing, and feeling. Previously, She contributed to Surface magazine for more than a decade, and has also served as marketing director for Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, where she contributed to its winning proposal for Chicago’s Obama Presidential Center. From 2009 through 2011, she lived in London and worked in the research department at Victoria and Albert Museum. Now in New York City, her week involves a daily run, an artist’s date, assigning stories for Untapped, and aesthetic chills.

6:15am: My first alarm goes off, and then the one I set for five minutes later as a back-up. I hit snooze and think about what’s on the docket for the day. Based on that, I do my affirmations.

6:30am: I get up, put on my exercise clothes, and stretch.

6:45am: I set out on a thirty-minute run, something I’ve been doing for more than fifteen years now, every day, even when I’m traveling and regardless of the weather. I’m not fast, but speed isn’t the point—it’s more about waking up and reflecting on things. Twice a week I substitute the run with a HIIT, which also gets the job done.

7:45am: Having a quiet moment before the day begins helps me feel grounded and focused. I make coffee and a yogurt parfait, for which I make the granola myself. Then I sit at the dining table, read the news, and answer any urgent emails. Sometimes I do “morning pages,” which involves completing three pages of longhand stream-of-consciousness writing, as advised by Julia Cameron in her book The Artist’s Way. But I prefer to journal at night.

I do, however, observe another ritual Cameron suggests, which she calls “artist’s dates.” It basically means carving out time for yourself to do something you love, alone, once a week. I always look forward to them. Recently I went to the Cooper Hewitt to see writer and dancer Jerron Herman, whose site-specific performance responded to the institution’s building.

8:30am: I get on the subway and head to the office. On my ride, I do nothing—no emails, no reading, no podcasts—except listen to music. These days, it’s almost exclusively Brandi Carlile, who is a hero of mine. But sometimes it’s Philip Glass, Elbow, James, or Neil Diamond. I also really love the MTA Arts & Design program, which installs permanent works throughout the subway system. The mosaics it commissioned from my favorite artist, Marcel Dzama, and from Nick Cave, are true bursts of light.

*Untapped*’s inaugural print edition. Photography by Daniel Bernauer.

9:00am: I get to my desk and get settled. I work out of the SoHo showroom of the design company Henrybuilt, which publishes Untapped. I go in three days a week, and enjoy doing so. Colleagues from Henrybuilt’s design, business development, and marketing teams work out of this office, which makes it distinct from the other locations, such as its Seattle headquarters, where its designs are made.

When I started developing the concept for the journal in August 2022, it was very important to me, and to Henrybuilt, for Untapped to be an independent editorial initiative. The journal does not feature any of Henrybuilt’s products or projects. Instead, Untapped’s stories focus on an approach central to Henrybuilt’s ethos: looking back to look forward. That shared method is what connects the two ventures.

Of course there’s a way in which Untapped is a marketing mechanism for Henrybuilt—its content reflects the company’s guiding principles—but the journal is so much more than that. It stands on its own at bookstores (we’re currently in shops across the U.S. and in the U.K.), produces its own programming, and fills a gap in design media: Our long-form stories are about ideas—we do not publish news or home tours. Since we have no advertisers, our writers write freely and can tackle topics they may not be able to in other publications.

10:00am: After answering emails—I consider it my obligation to respond to every one—I’ll check my calendar. It scares most people: I create time blocks for every task and color-code each one so that I can see at a glance how many internal meetings, external meetings, events, and to-dos there are for a given day. All of this is also written in my notebook as a prioritized list. I find these snapshots calming, and take particular joy in striking through each item when it’s completed.

10:15am: I try to stack meetings on the days I’m in the office, and to edit and do other head-down tasks when I work from home. But if I need to edit a story, I’ll do it early in the morning if I can, when I’m most productive.

In February, *Untapped* marked its one-year anniversary at the National Academy of Design, where artists Torkwase Dyson and Sarah Oppenheimer spoke with Tiffany Jow about the body and space. Photography by Rebecca Smeyne.

Today I’m working on an essay about the architectural movement known as Metabolism—written by Edwin Heathcote, the architecture and design critic for the Financial Times—that will appear in our May/June issue. I work about four months ahead and typically assign stories at around 1,500 words, blocking out a few hours to tackle each one. Once the writer and I are aligned with the edits, the piece goes to our fact-checker, then to our copy editor. I will review it at least one more time before it goes into production.

Untapped’s content consists of bimonthly digital issues, and we publish a new story every Monday morning. Our annual print edition, released each fall, comprises both new and existing stories, supplemented with footnotes and fold-out photographs and presented in a dignified, idiosyncratic design.

I love the concept that our graphic designer, Yeliz Secerli, created for the journal. The print edition comes in a slim, vertical format—sort of like when you fold a magazine in half and take it on the train with you. It’s fun to see people interact with it, discovering the expandable images and the little booklet hidden inside, and how they carry it, often under an arm, in a tote bag, or in a pocket. I keep meaning to take pictures of this for Instagram, but I am not that savvy, and am okay with that. Wouldn’t it make for a fun series, though?

1:00pm: I should probably eat lunch around this time. But lunch ruins my flow. So I have something simple, and generally don’t take lunch meetings. If I could make it through the day on Soylent, I would. Trust me, I’ve tried.

1:30pm: Early afternoons often consist of meetings with folks on the West coast. My boss, Scott Hudson, Henrybuilt’s CEO and creative director, is based there. We have a weekly one-on-one to catch up and problem-solve. He has been incredibly and consistently supportive of the journal—it would not exist in the form it does without him. Untapped is an anomaly in the design-media world.

I often remind myself how fortunate I am to have this job. I’ve had many of them, and all too seldom felt valued or heard. This chipped away at my confidence over time, which was at an all-time low when I started working on the journal. Scott empowered me to trust myself.

The New York Architecture + Design Book Club’s April gathering, which focused on the book *Minerva Parker Nichols: The Search for a Forgotten Architect*. Photography by Argenis Apolinario.

3:30pm: I save late afternoons for planning and organizing, as there’s always an event or a special project to execute. In addition to our written content, we have produced programs in collaboration with entities such as Vitra, the Los Angeles gallery Marta, and the National Academy of Design. With the Brooklyn bookstore Head Hi, Untapped runs the quarterly New York Architecture + Design Book Club, which focuses on a new title and features a conversation with its authors and a special guest. Our next one will take place in July.

Right now I’m working on two programs: One will take place in June, at the Center for Architecture and Design in San Francisco, where I’ll be leading a discussion about the ideas fueling the design industry there. For NYCxDesign in May, Untapped is the program curator for “The Crossroads,” an exhibition designed by Rockwell Group that serves as the heart of the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. It’s our second year collaborating on this series of dialogues, which offers a peek behind the curtain of contemporary American design.

6:00pm: I lock up the showroom and, if I’m not headed to a work event, shift my mind to focus on other priorities as I head home. I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of doing that, particularly as I get older, and as my parents get older. I have a niece now, too. I’ve spent so much of my adult life working myself to the ground that now, I want to make time for the most important people in my life, and to be the best version of myself for them and for me.

Tiffany Jow gave a guest lecture to undergraduates at New York University in March. Photography by Alessandro Facente.

Last year I started taking a ballet class at Mark Morris, the modern dance company in Brooklyn, at night, twice a week. I trained as a dancer until I went to college, and reconnecting with it as the person I am now has been an extraordinary experience.

7:00pm: My husband travels often for work, so when we’re both home, we make dinner together. Meaning, one person cooks and the other cleans up, and we trade off those duties.

My favorite part of our apartment is our giant oak dining table, as it’s been the stage for so many conversations and projects and other moments that make me feel like I’m really living. When the meal is ready, we light candles—which sit on a pair of off-white candlesticks with green crystals hanging on them that I’ve had for more than two decades—sit down, and talk about our days and how we’re feeling.

8:00pm: For me, being around people requires a lot of energy. Being alone helps me refuel. If I don’t take an hour or two to read, write, paint, or see art several times a week, I grow testy. Right now I’m reading a book of poems by Jane Hirshfield, and All About Love by bell hooks. And I am re-teaching myself how to crochet.

While preparing for my interview with Ivy Ross a few weeks ago, I learned about frisson, or “aesthetic chills”: an embodied peak emotional experience. I was delighted. Achieving this is, in many ways, my quest in life, and now I have a word for it.

10:00pm: I don’t function well without at least eight hours of sleep. I like getting up early, so going to bed early isn’t a problem for me. I try to end the day how I started it: with reflections and affirmations. Life is wild. I want to be as present and self-aware as I can be.