The Tools Artists Use

I recently wrote about lessons I learned from Tom Sachs, using the protocols he developed for running his studio as a guiding light for operating restaurants. After I published the piece, I heard from Substack friend Olivia Weiss, who works for Phaidon, offering to send me a copy of Tom Sachs Guide.

It arrived last week.

Inside, Sachs includes an exhaustive look at his studio: the organizing principles, his output, and the philosophies underpinning his work. I loved the section called “Tools,” in which he chronicles the gear he uses to make his art. The section includes his choice of the 3M C25 Desktop Tape Dispenser (the same one used at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab) and his resin preference (West System 105 Epoxy Resin - great logo - the same one used on America’s Cup yachts and NASA spaceships).

The book also includes his “essential bricolage tools list,” seen below.

I immediately looked up the DecoColor Fine Line paint marker. If it’s good enough for Tom Sachs, an obsessive labeler, it’s surely good enough for me.

We are living in a recommendation culture world, and I don’t trust most people. When most people recommend a restaurant to me, I act interested, but I’m not; there are only a few people whose taste I trust. The rest of the time, I prefer to make my own discoveries - use my own judgement, find out for myself - except in the case of artists. I respect artists, I trust them, and I love having an insider’s view to the tools they use.

A few days after receiving the book, my wife and I watched Célébration (now known as YSL: The Last Collections) on MUBI. The documentary is an insider’s glimpse into the work surrounding the final collections of Yves Saint Laurent, who, at the time of filming, was Paris’ last living courtier. In the opening scene, YSL is seen sketching as his desk using a Staedtler Mars Lumograph Pencil, his pencil of choice.

I know Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen favor Blackwing pencils (they’ve gifted them to fashion show attendees in the past), but for me, YSL is the guiding light when it comes to this discussion.

William Eggleston, one of the coolest living Southerners and perhaps the most famous living photographer (certainly my favorite), shot almost exclusively on the Leica M3. He is known for his deep collection, seen below. If Eggleston swore by it, then as far as I’m concerned, no other camera exists.

The Eggleston photo reminds me of a recent post on Sofia Coppola’s Instagram (perhaps inspired by Eggleston, who she’s called one of her heroes). The picture is of her small collection of point and shoot cameras, including the now iconic and wildly priced Contax T3. The photo, which got a lot of love (and a bit of hate) online, was the thing that put me over the edge; I bought a T3 that same day. (It’s embarassing to admit, but I also bought the same pink Caran D’Ache pencil, too.)

These little glimpses remind me of the glory days of the GQ ‘10 Essentials,’ when they would ask interesting people - like Andy Spade - about the things they loved the most. Sadly, that feature, much like our culture, has gone into the shitter. Recent entries have included Travis Kelce and Joe Burrow. Um, no thanks?

From time to time we might still get lucky with New York Magazine’s “What I Can’t Live Without,” but the pendulum swings pretty aggressively on quality of guest contributor.

I do love what is happening over at Secret Strategist, and not just because they’ve featured me in the letter. I think the editors are doing a great job at tracking down random recommendations (like a recent post featuring Chloë Sevigny’s summer footwear) and unpacking random but useful products from across the cultural landscape.

After all, it was SS that led me down the path to Sofia’s pink pencil, and now I’ve got one to call my own, hoping that perhaps I can channel a bit of her magic in my day.