The Margins: June 2026
From folkloric traditions to quotidian broadcasting.
I’m half-watching L’Ami De Mon Amie while writing and compiling this post. It’s a Rohmer film from 1987 and the final film in the Comedies and Proverbs series. Something about this one, more so than his better-known films, closely resembles the photographs of my high school French textbooks—all likely taken around the same year, and depicting young French people having a really tame la boum (house party) in vivid windbreakers. Alas, more inspiration notes here: folkloric traditions, quotidian broadcasting, sulfur baths, mosquito repellants and more.
Pająki
Admiring the pająki practices of both Karolina Merska and Allison Hopelain. The traditional Polish rye straw and paper chandeliers seem like a canvas for endless variations. They are not summery—made during harvest and the changing year—but summer is one of the times of year when I personally embrace a broader palette—red nails sometimes, orange shoes, you know.
Infraordinary FM
As a child, I would often fall asleep to the Weather Channel. Unless what was being reported was particularly severe, there was something comforting about the ongoing dispatches on nature. Writer Seb Emina (his Substack is called Read Me) co-created a station with Daniel John Jones a few years back called Infraordinary FM “broadcasting reliable, realtime news of commonplace and quotidian events around the world.” It’s automated and perpetual with synthetic voices; oddly soothing and occupies that “good to work to” space for me. Also highly recommend Jenny Odell’s Rose Garden Radio, a looped soundscape of a public rose garden.
The Functional Advantage of a Bandana
I’ve recently started wearing scarves this way and highly recommend it. I like that it’s a little severe. It protects the scalp, keeps hair tied back whether long or short, and serves as an alternative to a hat. Perfectly exemplified by Lou Schneider worn at her residency at Château de la Haute Borde.
Cuit Pommes
Roasted apples (and other fruit) are a great personal hack, and even better for feeding children in creative ways. In the warmer seasons, all the farm fruit we bring home on weekends could benefit from the roasted treatment. Clare Ptak’s Love is a Pink cake employs this technique for coloring, and flavoring, icing et al. Roasted strawberries on yogurt: highly recommend. This and this.
Mosquito Repellent Techniques
Two favorites: the Rinnesha Mosquito Coils and Hanger, first developed in 1977 by organic farmers in Aichi, Japan to ward off mosquitoes while working into the evening. You can wear it on your belt if you’re more risk-positive or hang it somewhere just as well. Fredericks and Mae Large Citronella Incense Coil which is gigantic and made for hanging outdoors (only).
Lutz Sulfur Baths in Austria
Recently came across the work of architect Martin Mackowitz who designed these concrete baths over a decade ago. The Wassertal project harnesses a sulfur spring, creating an open-air pool heated to 40 degrees Celsius and a sauna. More info here.
Ross J Barr Supplements and Patches
I’ve gone hard into these herbal patches. I bought a few of these patches months back but after a sudden onset of tendon pain in my hands recently, the Healing Patches were the only thing that worked. After trying arnica ointment, turmeric galore, that weird tape athletes use, and a subtle reliance on ibuprofen, the herbs won! Safflower, eucommia, cinnamon, sorghum biocolor extract, clove, menthol, borneol, camphor, and capsicum extract.
Service Works
Name a more versatile summer outer layer than a work jacket? It’s long been a go-to for something lightweight, with pockets and easy to wear. For train travel, plane travel, the beach, the garden, buttoned up like a shirt, worn with shorts. Service Works, out of London, makes workwear designed for chefs but appealing for all, with jackets priced around $100.
Zielone Świątki
Another tradition I learned about through Karolina Merska from her gallery Folka, the Polish Zielone Światki (Green Week) in early June where traditional homes are decorated with green branches to encourage summer vegetation, as seen in this bed layered with cut rushes and birch branches.
Elsewhere:
My Instagram here.
Innere on Instagram here.
Projects and inquiries here.
Related from the Innere archive:
