Is everyone else over the corporate version of the ‘catch-up trap’, or is it just me?

For those unfamiliar with the term, here’s the synopsis. The catch-up trap is what happens when two people go about their lives and periodically reunite to ‘catch up’ over a series of coffees, drinks and meals, exchanging life updates without ever actually creating any new shared experiences.

We tell ourselves we’re making more memories, but really we’re just making more admin. Am I right?

I had already noticed this pattern rearing its head in my personal life, but little did I know it had well and truly set up shop in my professional life too. You know the admin I’m talking about: the email update, the coffee squeezed between meetings, the familiar opener at every industry event (“so, what are you working on right now?’), snapping a photo for the ‘Gram rather than taking the time to understand the detail, talking about projects rather than actually experiencing them; ten-minute showroom lap before rushing off to the next thing. Always the rushing. Make it stop!

When I was a baby boffin, I remember hearing stories from my design forefathers about their memorable adventures gallivanting around the globe courtesy of the design industry and thinking, ‘golly gosh, I can’t wait for it to be my turn.’

As a side note — a relevant one — these tales were told through word of mouth, not the modern-day Instagram carousel. They left something to the imagination. They sparked a kind of yearning to experience places and people I hadn’t already consumed through the digital vortex that is the World Wide Web. You know that strange sense of déjà vu when somewhere feels familiar, only to realise you’ve already visited it through a late-night doom scroll?

No disrespect to the ‘Gram, she serves her purpose. She helps us discover people, products and places we might never have found otherwise. But design was never meant to be experienced exclusively through a screen. It was always meant to be walked through, touched, debated and, most importantly, shared.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I did indeed get my turn and have been lucky enough to travel to Sweden, Finland and Bali through design. But somewhere along the way, I realised international appeal wasn’t the only thing worth chasing. Local design destinations hold just as much magic, maybe even more.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to spend a day with the Indesign team filming for Saturday Indesign (take a look here!). If I’m honest, that was just a convenient excuse to book flights to Sydney and make a weekend of it.

We certainly made the most of it, and somewhere between visiting all the showrooms, seeing all the products and listening to all the talks, something clicked. It wasn’t the event itself, but everything wrapped around it that stayed with me.

Saturday Indesign became the reason to book the flight, but Sydney became the reason to stay. The long lunch. The new hotel. The cheeky behind-the-scenes tour. The gallery visit. The chance gig. The drinks afterwards. Fangirling out loud over people and places I’d only ever admired from afar. Turning the event into an experience rather than a calendar appointment. And maybe turn an industry acquaintance into a new friend, because chances are the person on the other end is craving the connection just as much as you are.

That simple shift became my own little rebellion against the catch-up trap.

I started choosing quality over quantity, not just in my friendships but also in the way I approached the design industry. Fewer events. Better experiences. Bigger plans. More intention.

Life got richer.

The laughs got louder.

The conversations became less about updates and more about ideas.

Since then, it’s looked like friends flying to Brisbane for Open House that turned into a personalised design crawl: a pilgrimage to Daylesford to not just visit but stay at the fabled Longhouse; a showroom visit to Melbourne morphing into a long weekend for the Australian Open and heading to Hobart for Dark Mofo only to find myself baring all in the famous Nude Solstice Swim. Suddenly the event wasn’t the destination, it was the catalyst.

And maybe that’s exactly what our industry needs more of.

Not bigger calendars packed with networking breakfasts, panel discussions and rushed showroom visits. We don’t need more events. We need more meaningful ones. The kind that are worth booking a flight for. The kind that feels personal, intimate and experiential. The kind where the conversation continues and the memory never fades.

The best design has always been about creating meaningful human experiences. Surely our design events should do the same.

So, here’s your sign to skip the catch-up trap. Book the flight.

Stay the weekend.

Have the long dinner.

Walk the city.

See the exhibition.

And, most importantly, do it with people. The ones you’ve known forever. The ones you only know through an Instagram profile or a phone call. And the ones you’ve never met before.

In the long run, you’ll barely remember the airfare or the logistics — but waking up spooning your best mate in Australia’s 2019 House of the Year after a weekend spent talking design, laughing until midnight and accidentally making memories instead of admin? Priceless.

Saturday Indesign
saturdayindesign.com