A chair I met at Dutch Design Week pulled in a man who wanted to talk about its form, a grandmother who sat down to rest, and children who played on it. That gravity, the way a single piece invites everyone in their own way regardless of age, might be what we actually mean by beauty.

On The Best Weapon, a chair in front of the Nobel Peace Center inspired by Mandela's "The best weapon is to sit down and talk." A small step that comes before any dialogue, and what design can do to gently invite it.

What does it take for people of different backgrounds to be together, comfortably and on equal footing? An ongoing search through inventing and prototyping new ways of communicating. Adding a new option, rather than replacing what already exists.

A baby or a dog can be all it takes to lower the bar for starting a conversation with a stranger. A short piece on the kind of presence that nudges people into talking, no matter how good or shy they are at conversation themselves.