On Responsibility, Design, and the Weakest Link

5:30 a.m.
The wind blows 25 knots, gusting to 35. I’m sitting on the swim platform of a sailboat, anchored in what should be a calm bay.
The sea is restless, the boat pitching. One of the mooring lines has chafed through — cleanly, as if sliced with a knife.

It looked like a regular rope. Just cheaper. The owner said, “Got a good deal.”
That was the problem.

While trying to thread a new line through the mooring eye, the wind tugs at my jacket, the dinghy rocks, and the whole maneuver turns into a fight against rhythm and gravity.
Somehow it works. For a moment.
Then the shackle holding the buoy to the seabed fails — and we start drifting off, buoy and all.

A small incident with a big message.
Because this is exactly what happens in design and in business too:
When short-term savings replace long-term quality, someone always pays the price.

As a designer, I see daily how material choices, production ethics, and responsibility are intertwined.
Design is not decoration — it’s conviction.
A decision to make things that work, endure, and respect everyone involved in the process.

Ignore the weakest link, and the entire system becomes unstable — whether at sea, in a product, or in an organization.

That stranded buoy is a reminder:
Good design holds — even when the sea gets rough.

📸 Photo: The buoy, later found ashore.

#DesignEthics #Quality #Sailing #Responsibility #Leadership #IndustrialDesign #ProductDesign