Michael Bennett

What an incredible experience. Thank you, @belmond @vsoetrain , for hosting @pelepels and me. Every detail, from the care of the staff to the food and the journey itself, was handled with such intention and grace. To move through the countryside like that, watching mountains give way to snow, feeling the terrain unfold in real time, was something rare and deeply felt. There is a quiet power in that kind of motion, how even as you are carried forward, you begin to find stillness. Having the time to simply listen to Pele’s voice, to sit in conversation, to let music play and drift into the sounds of nature, to even smell the air around you, it all becomes part of the experience. It grounds you. It opens you. Traveling this way slows you down just enough to truly see, to feel, to reconnect. It reminds you that even in movement there can be peace, and in that stillness, you rediscover the simple beauty of the earth’s creation.

Thank you @eamesinstitute for inviting me to be part of the Curious 100. It really means a lot. Design for me is care. It is how we hold people, how we shape space, and how we carry story forward with intention and honesty. It is about listening, paying attention, and being responsible for what we put into the world. Being connected to the legacy of Ray Eames and Charles Eames is special. It is a reminder to stay curious, to keep learning, and to keep making work that feels true.

Design is practice. It is testing form, observing movement, listening to how space holds us, and shaping environments that respond. Thank you to @seattlemag for seeing this process, for capturing a studio in motion, a practice that grows, questions, and evolves with every project. Seattle has always been a city of becoming for me. Here, I learned to grow, to listen, to feel space as something lived, shared, and carried between people. To be recognized in this moment, alongside the changemakers shaping the city, reminds me that architecture is not only about objects or buildings, it is about presence, care, and the act of making visible the relationships that hold a community together. Photo credit: @iamjessicadao

Man… turning 40 feels like standing in that quiet space between the life I have lived and the life rising up to meet me. So much contemplation, so much reflection. This year shook things loose. My daughter stepping into college, my kids moving with us as we uprooted our whole family to a new city, starting fresh while holding on to what matters. Creatively, it has been a journey. Ups and downs, breakthroughs and breakdowns, but every moment pushed me toward something more honest, more grounded, more me. I am learning to trust the becoming. And now, stepping into this next year, I feel something sacred opening. I run into this year with grace, love, happiness, eagerness, joy, and discernment. Steady in my spirit, clear in my intentions, and ready for whatever rises to meet me. I am walking forward. Not chasing anything. Just growing into everything I was built for.

This work is about building sacred space in Black communities not monuments, but moments. It’s about motion, about gathering under something made with care. Pavilions. Circles instead of corners. Places to think. To breathe. To simply be. But I can’t turn away from the extraction. From what’s been taken our thought, our art, our movement, our sound, our joy. All stripped, repackaged, and sold back to us. What once lived in the everyday now sits behind a price tag. So I keep asking: What’s my work as a Designer? How do I use architecture to hold our stories, to guard our grace, to make freedom feel permanent? This is about the labor of care. The work of returning value to the places that taught us how to love. Credits Co-Director / DP: Nash Pearson | @nash.pearson Co-Director: Nick Beeba | @nickbeeba Producer: Nick Beeba | @nickbeeba Production Company: Possi | @possilife Gimbal Operator: Justin Brown | @justinscottbro Colorist: Ben Cowan | @bentcowan Editor: Nash Pearson | @nash.pearson Audio Mix: Evan George | @evngeo Creative director @studioker @mosesbread72 If you’d like to bring this kind of space to your community, DM me.. Built by @dolan_gc

This project took so long, and every moment of that time shaped how I think about architecture, care, and community. Constructed entirely from Cross Laminated Timber, Night Chapel is an experiment in weight and light, mass and breath. CLT’s strength and warmth allow the structure to be both monumental and mobile, a paradox I wanted to explore. Sacred spaces are so often imagined as permanent, heavy, immovable. Night Chapel resists that. It asks: what happens when sacred architecture can move, when it meets people where they are rather than waiting for them to come? The chapel organizes space for care, dialogue, solitude, ritual, and gathering. I see it less as an object and more as a spatial strategy: a choreography of belonging, a structure of invitation, a vessel for community. Its form and materiality are meant to engage not just the body, but also memory, emotion, and social spirit. At its core, this work is about mental health, healing, and spatial justice. I believe architecture can hold more than walls and roofs. It can carry memory, hold grief, invite joy, and offer a place for people to come back to themselves. Night Chapel is designed to listen as much as it speaks, to be present as much as it is built. Night Chapel opens this week at Seattle’s @naamnw Northwest African American Museum, running September 19 through December 2025, with programming led by local leaders, creatives, and cultural practitioners. This is the first work of my Building Motions initiative, an ongoing exploration of how architecture can move , heal, and serve. Special thanks to the Softwood Lumber Board for their support in making this project possibl

Happy Birthday my love @pelepels , I love you, and I can’t even put into words how blessed I feel to have you in my life. Every part of this journey we have shared, from the hardest losses to the most beautiful wins, has been a reminder of how strong we are together. Dropping our daughter off at college, watching her grow into her own, was a full circle moment. And through it all, I see you, the woman who has been the heart and soul of it all. I have watched you transform from a kid with dreams in her eyes to the woman you are today, full of wisdom, strength, and grace. You have accomplished so much, and what amazes me most is that you keep pushing, you keep growing, you keep shining brighter. I am so proud of you, not just for what you have done but for who you are. Every morning I wake up and I feel lucky. Lucky to kiss you, to hold you, to laugh with you, to share this life with you. You are my peace, my partner, my love, and my greatest blessing. As the Samoan proverb says, “O le ala i le pule o le tautua” which means the path to leadership is through service. You embody that every day, in the way you love, the way you give, and the way you carry yourself with grace and strength. So today I just want you to know how much you mean to me. I celebrate you, the woman you have become, and the woman you continue to be.

Built different. Michael Bennett joins the Seahawks Top 50.

Honored to be named one of the “25 for 2025 Design for Planet Trailblazers” by @designcouncil “Design isn’t just about what we build it’s about what we leave behind. If we’re not designing with the planet in mind, we’re designing for our own extinction.” Thanks to the ambassadors @esdevlin , @tomdixonstudio , @fodaydumbuya , Prof. Lesley Lokko OBE @lesleylokko , and @suhairkhan for this nomination. The World Design Congress 2025, hosted by @designcouncil in collaboration with @mayorofldn , will take place on September 9-10, 2025, at @barbicancentre , London. Under the theme Design for Planet, it will drive the design sector to put the planet at the heart of its work. This is more than a conferenceit’s an opportunity to rethink how we design for the future. The choices we make today shape the world we leave behind. Looking forward to joining brilliant minds in London this September to push the conversation forward and build with intention. #DesignForPlanet #WorldDesignCongress

“Change doesn’t start with a donation – it starts with presence, with action,” says this week’s #Aesthete Michael Bennett. “If you can’t give money, give time, your voice: be visible.” For the #HowToGiveIt issue, the NFL star-turned-designer talks pens, Booker T Washington, and “using design as a form of resistance”. Click the link in bio for the full @mosesbread72 interview. ⁠ 📸: Michael Bennett in his Honolulu home © @michelle.mishina .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ #MichaelBennett #TheAesthete

This year has been one of extraordinary layers—of building and tearing down, of family, friendship, and a deep gratitude for the souls who make up this circle of life and work. As I stand on the threshold of another year, I find myself between wins and losses, career shifts, and the delicate balance of ambition and humility. In stepping into new spaces, I’ve encountered both celebration and rejection. Some exhibitions were chosen; others, turned away. But I’ve come to see that loss is not merely the opposite of success; it is the teacher that readies you for triumph. It is in those cracks that light seeps through, where growth emerges, and where the seeds of future projects are quietly and patiently planted. I am deeply grateful for my wife @pelepels my family, my friends, and my community at the studio @studioker those who challenge and sharpen me, reminding me that creation is not always polished, but always honest. This life is a negotiation, a dance with failure and grace, and each turn brings me closer to the core of what truly matters.THATS JUST LOVE

“I didn’t want to give my family a broken man.” @mosesbread72 Sometimes walking away from what we love to do tears at our soul but finding passion and renewed purpose is the real Pivot in life. We talk with Super Bowl Champion and 3x Pro Bowler Michael Bennett on how it was hard to retire from football, but he worried about his brain and never wanted to live out his years broken down or be unable to walk his daughter down the isle one day. One of the most feared defenders and apart of the NFL’s top defensive core, Michael talks football, Seattle’s Super Bowl win and loss, why @beastmode didn’t get the ball on that final drive and gives his thoughts on today’s game, the evolution of black quarterbacks and coaches. Often misunderstood and prejudged for his stance on certain issues, @realrclark @fredtaylor @channingcrowder commend Michael for staying true to his voice and standing up for black men, culture and equality when it was popular to stay quiet. This conversation covers everything from sports to culture to art and architecture to education to family to turning purpose into impact. Definitely tap in and listen on any audio platform and watch full episode on @youtube #nfl #superbowl #seattle #purpose #art #pivot #family 📸 @pdbym x 🎬 @slightlyaskewfilms