Welcome back to The Truth in His Art. These are conversations connecting arts, culture, and community. These are stories that matter, and I am your host, Rob Lee. Today, we're running it back, and I'm welcoming back a returning guest. This entrepreneur and visionary is bringing the healing power of nature indoors through their work at Cultivated, a Baltimore based houseplant shop and biophilic design studio.
Rob Lee:So please welcome back to the program, Alexander Madaus. Welcome back to the podcast.
Alexander Madaus:Yeah. Well, number one, thank you for having me back. It's I I don't know. It's like a really nice time stamp, if that's the word for it, between, like, our first conversation because that was when our shop had just opened up to now when it's like the shop is closed and we're onto this new thing. So before we talk about that new thing, my name is Alexander Medeas.
Alexander Madaus:I am a biophilic interior decorator and designer, and I'm the owner of Studio Cultivated. Yeah. That's it. I'm excited to be here.
Rob Lee:So thank you. Thank you for the see see, I I like the the the energy. This is what I'm remembering from the first interview we had, so it's always good. So going back a bit, because as you said, it's a nice time stamp. Going back a little bit, I'm curious about sort of the initial vision of sort of the first iteration of cultivating that first conversation that we had to where we're at now, the studio cultivated, and sort of this iteration.
Rob Lee:What are some of the key changes maybe to vision? And and I and I say that because, one, you're a visionary. Two, I've encountered that my own way in in in doing this podcast of, hey. I'm just gonna do a few interviews with folks, and it's developed and grown, and that vision has sort of shifted. And, you know, I kinda do that same exercise beginning of each year thinking about what I wanna do.
Rob Lee:So I just wanna get your take in that area as it relates to cultivate it.
Alexander Madaus:Yeah. So going back to the beginning, right, Cultivated Creations was a retail shop. Like, first and foremost, it was like a retail houseplant shop. We opened it up. I was coming out of finance.
Alexander Madaus:Right? I had, like, done my done my stint there. We opened up the shop, and the big plan for that was I wanted to get out of finance. And the shop was that vehicle. Right?
Alexander Madaus:Like, by by happenstance, by the people that I met and that I know that helped us get open, the shop became my way to find what I thought was gonna be middle ground. Right? Like, I can work the shop. I can figure out what I really want to do and the more time that I spent in the shop the more that we decorated the more that we put this actual space together this undercurrent started to come through right where it was when we were building furniture when I was deciding on how to paint, where furniture should go, big thing became customer experience. Right?
Alexander Madaus:Like, how are we going to place things around the shop to, number one, give people the experience that we want them to have, which is we always wanted them to feel relaxed, wanted them to feel at peace, wanted them to feel intrigued and curious, and just give them something to spend time in. Because for me, that was something that I felt I had been missing a lot in my own life. Right? And so focusing on the smallest details from what the shelves were made out of, to what their supports were made out of, what furniture we brought in, what color should be on the wall, the type of lighting we should have, and where it should be placed to, like, best give this experience. It by the time it was all done, right, like, we did our last renovation back in January of last year, that was when I really started to feel like I love houseplants.
Alexander Madaus:I love being able to impart the knowledge that I have with them. Right? But the most rewarding aspect of the shop for me was so coming back, right, like, maybe, like, a year or two ago, this is something in if the person out there, like, it was this, like, hears it or they wanna, like, reach out, I would love that because it made a huge impact on me that is kind of the foundation of what is turning into cultivated, and that was somebody walked into the shop two years ago or something like that. It was a Wednesday or Thursday, like, midweek. Right?
Alexander Madaus:And they get into the shop, they've got their headphones on, and they just let out this big sigh. Right? Like, they come in, they go and you can feel it. Right? Like, you work retail for long.
Alexander Madaus:You, like, hang out with people for long enough. You can tell when someone's, like, bundled up or stressed or something like that. So they had their headphones in. I let them just, like, kinda walk around and explore, and ten, fifteen minutes go by. Like, they were there for a while.
Alexander Madaus:They were doing everything, sitting down, like, experiencing the shop like we wanted them to. And she comes up to the counter with some small trinket. I can't remember, but she was like, thank you so much. I'm sorry if I was rude. I've been having a really rough day and was having a panic attack, and this is the one place that makes me feel at peace.
Alexander Madaus:So I just wanted to have some time in here. And, like, like, I again, I can't remember anything of, like, what she got, like, blah blah blah. But, like, it was that, right
Rob Lee:Yeah.
Alexander Madaus:That made me realize it's the way that I felt in there and the things that I introduced into that space for my own benefit because I suffer from things like anxiety. I've got depression, like bipolar disorder. And I was starting to realize that the way that my environment was reflected on how I felt internally. Right? Like, the the times of my life, and this is just coming after, like, years of reflection and, like, contemplation now that I've been out of it for so long.
Alexander Madaus:But the times in my life where, for instance, when I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Right? It was when I had gone into university and we were sitting in those classrooms. Like, the the times I was in classrooms was when I was either feeling so sparked up that I could barely see straight, could barely think straight, or I was so down that I I had trouble, like, activating in that room or being in that space. And for the longest time, I thought that it was something internal in me.
Alexander Madaus:Right? Like, I thought that it was anxiety. I thought that it was I mean, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, so I was I wrote my experiences off not as my environment is negatively impacting me. It became I am experiencing something negative that is coming from within myself and there's nothing I can do about that I just have to force it out I have to be in this space I have to get on Zoloft and like find the the right medication that is gonna make me okay in this space and after all of this and, like, after a few years, I was realizing that, like, the space that we created, the space that I put together, I put together so that I felt good. Right?
Alexander Madaus:And that was, I think, my first experience unconsciously. Right? That I would like, the whole time when we were planning it out, I was like, this is gonna be a space where I'm gonna be spending eight, nine hours a day. I want it to be something that I can sustain. And then every decision after that became around not just like how am I gonna make a calm space because we could have done padded walls and no lights and that would have been, like, a comfortable space, but it was more of trying to appeal to all of my senses, right?
Alexander Madaus:Like I realized what I was feeling in the office at work, at school, at any of those places wasn't under stimulation in a sense, but it was overstimulation in like the wrong ways, right? Like the lights were too bright, The seats were too hard. The the desktops were made of plastic, and it was I was losing a connection to something that was is so intrinsic in us as people that I started to feel, like, less of a person. And those aspects, right, were introduced like having real wood shelves or like a real wood counter that I could like put my hands on and like clean. Right?
Alexander Madaus:And it's introducing I mean, we're a houseplant shop so we had plenty of greenery but like there was a lot of greenery around. Right? But then it was having a candle burning so you can see, like, like, a flicker of light in the corner, like, making sure that the the lighting is warm and not daylight because I'm not trying to give myself a panic attack. And it's the the step by step changes that were made in the shop over a period of three and a half years that we were in there were all reflective of this journey towards crafting the perfect sensory space. Right?
Alexander Madaus:And from there, I started doing design. And from the design, I started doing it for I mean, it started with, like, a couple of restaurants here and there, and they just wanted plants normally. But then when I got to play with the placement of plants, right, like, what's gonna give people the feeling that they want? So if a bar is gonna hire me to make it feel like a Florida tropical paradise, but they're only gonna pay me $600, how can we operate within that budget to craft something that is gonna give everybody a taste of the experience that they want? And so that planning, that figuring out how spaces are going to impact somebody's experience there and then designing around that experience that you want them to have, Kind of I mean, I still get really excited talking about it.
Alexander Madaus:Right? Like, it's the opportunity to just and, like, the restaurant was fine, whatever, but now it's like, I've I've helped out with a couple of Pilates studios now, gone into residences, and I do a lot of consulting work just for like friends and family, but for people that are not as mobile anymore, their homes really are, their space. Right? And like if you've only got like one main space but you can't really go anywhere anymore it's how can you make that space everything that you need it to be to give your body the experience that it has outdoors. Because we can't obviously like rip the walls off of our houses but there's there are enhancements.
Alexander Madaus:There are interventions, I think is the word that I would wanna use. There are interventions that we can accomplish in our spaces whether or not there are workspaces, our home spaces, our sleep spaces that can give us more of this feeling of being at peace, being at harmony Yeah. With how we need to feel in order to be our most productive. Because having lighting is fantastic and it helps us do our work, but the wrong kind of lighting can negatively impact your work. Right?
Alexander Madaus:There are tons of studies out there for, I mean, hospitals. Right? There have been studies done in hospitals where you can actually heal faster if you've got just, like, a window that looks out on nature. Students learn better If they've got not even plants in the room, but if you get natural accents or something that lets them view more daylight, those students are going to learn better. They're gonna be less stressed.
Alexander Madaus:They're gonna retain information better. And those all can translate into the home life, right? Like it's it's this opportunity to create an experience for people that when I was alone in my thoughts and feeling like it was me that was the problem, helping folks kind of understand how they can change their spaces because it's not them that's the problem but their space just needs to reflect their own energy back to them. That was a very very long way of saying I love, love, love decorating, and my mother let me help when I was a kid.
Rob Lee:That's that's wonderful. The thing is, like, when when when I'm there having folks cook, one, it's just like, I'm not trying to do the thing of, alright. Now I have some stuff to say. But it's also the thing of, like, you let someone cook. They answer, like, two or three of your other questions, so it just makes your job a little easier.
Rob Lee:So I was just like, that it helps me out helps me out.
Alexander Madaus:Oh, man. I just caught myself out with her. I was like, I already told, like, four stories in the side.
Rob Lee:But but there is a couple, comments that I wanna make. One, you know, thank you for sharing the the the story of, you know, in there in in the space and the sort of the person that that visited and, you know, it just makes me think of, just in the morning. You know? Like, as I was sharing with you, I do this walk, you know, every morning. And, you know, you have the different things, you know, the anxiety, all all the stuff that's that's there.
Rob Lee:But I find and initially, I ignored it, but I find that when I get there to, like, Patterson Park or any place with, like, some greenery, it's just I don't know if it's the air. I don't know if it's the ducks. I'm I'm there before they wake up. So I think the ducks I'm like the alarm clock for the ducks. Right?
Rob Lee:But it's something about being around something that's a bit different than this sanitized AI world that we're in now that is a nice respite from it. And it's just something that is, you know, untouched and just I don't know, like, pure for some reason. That's that's what it feels like. And the other thing is it relates to, you know, space and hearing the the the importance of space. I recently in the the day job at my at my own office now, so I'm away from the the masses.
Rob Lee:But, it took me a while, but away from the masses. And, you know, I I value sort of having that space to make it one's own, and that even extends in doing this. Like, when I start off an interview, I I try to, you know, engage in conversation first versus let's just get to the work piece. No. Let's engage in conversation so it's smooth and makes it a bit easier for for the the the guest.
Rob Lee:My my job is just to do my my job, but I find that I'm able to operate a bit better around all of my creative stuff. So I make my studio, a reflection of me as a creative person. It has all the stuff in here that I like. It has the different elements, and it's like creative work gets done here. It's set up for that.
Rob Lee:And I think having enough of that time and experience in that, that space and doing this sort of, like, function in this activity, this this work that I can I'm able to step out and be confident and not have those nerves that I used to have because I had so much time being in here. And it's like, I know how to do this. So if I have to take an extension out of here, like, taking my mobile gear, I can get a good interview. You know? I could, yeah, I can make make that idea of that space that I have at home that I'm so, like, anchored to that I can take to another place.
Rob Lee:And it's like, I need these characteristics that are similar to the home setting.
Alexander Madaus:Exactly. Right? And it sounds like, like, that's it's already crafting a space. Right? Like, you crafted your office around, in this case, your your profession your passion.
Alexander Madaus:Right? I'm not gonna call this your profession because, like, this is the thing that you love doing. Right? And so crafting a space, like an office space around how you want to use it and how you feel inspired is the entire crux of the design. Right?
Alexander Madaus:Like, it's it's biophilic design that they're like the philosophy of design that I follow is biophilic design. It's just the the takeaway that I have from that is to start designing, to start even just, like, changing the furniture in a space, whether or not you're rearranging it or not. It starts with that question of how do you want to use the space and how you wanna feel when you're there.
Rob Lee:That makes sense. That makes sense. Because I was hearing it and I was like, that's some Latin in there. Right? And Mhmm.
Alexander Madaus:And Yeah.
Rob Lee:And when I when I think of design, I think of because, you know, I finally can doing this podcast as long as I have, I have so many folks chiming and telling me what it is and what it isn't. And while all valid, none of is valid. You know what I mean? It's like Mhmm. You don't talk about art.
Rob Lee:You don't talk about this. It's like I'm I'm connecting these things. And I find that design itself is artistic. It is a creative endeavor. Right?
Rob Lee:So, you know, could you speak on some of those connections in your work and how it maybe connects and contributes to sort of the the the Baltimore arts community or the Baltimore creative class, if you will? You know, are there opportunities where collaboration is happening? And you you touched on some of the consulting that that you've done. But talk a bit about, like like, that piece.
Alexander Madaus:So as far as how all of this connects to the community, now there are aspirational projects that I have, which is where I really want to get the community involved. For instance, like, this Saturday well, I don't know when this is coming up. Very soon, I am going to be doing a, I'm talking to the future. Very soon, I am going to be hosting, like, a workshop. So I'm friends with a local real estate agent, and the I love the opportunity to educate.
Alexander Madaus:Right? Like, I've run a lot of classes out of the shop, and that was for, like, terrariums and paint nights and things that I, like, I love doing. And for design. Right? So we're having this, like, new homeowner thing.
Alexander Madaus:So folks in the area that, like, just purchased a home or just moved in, I'm gonna have, like, a couple hour session to introduce people to this way of thinking. Right? Because the impact that the design can make on the community isn't just within the spaces that are being designed. Right? It's getting people to approach how they live their lives with a little bit more intention and being able to walk into a space and feeling whether or not it is resounding with them or not.
Alexander Madaus:So it's not that I'm going to be teaching them it's like oh this is the furniture you need to buy, this is like this is the type of painting you should hang on your wall and that type, but it's how you your next steps in your journey whether whether it's redoing your home your your entire home or whether or not it's just like painting a couple of walls in your house before you do anything before you buy your paintbrushes check-in with yourself, right? Check-in with how does the color yellow make you feel? You've seen it in a lot of Architectural Digest magazines. Does it make you angry when you see it? Does it make you feel elated?
Alexander Madaus:Like is yellow the right color for you or do you just want to make a change? And then what is that change that you want to make and how can we incorporate your daily routines, your daily life, and how you interact with nature in a way that is going to be reflected in that space to give you that feeling that you want? Because there's and I'm sure that you've seen it. Right? Like, green or, like, yellow is for, like, happy energy.
Alexander Madaus:Green is to, like, make you feel, like, more or, like, that's all fine, but that is all objective psychology at a certain point or subjective. English was not my my major. No.
Rob Lee:No. No. Please.
Alexander Madaus:But it's beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Right? And it's for this type of community involvement that I wanna get into. It's not just something that's gonna change how somebody is in their own space or, like, whether or not somebody's more productive. I want them to be able to go out and engage with other people with that knowledge in their own hearts.
Alexander Madaus:Right? The whole point of starting with introspection is that you gain a little bit more knowledge of yourself and you can bring that out into your community. And ideally, right, if I mean, my far away projects is, like, I would love to design green spaces for the city. I would love to, like, open a nonprofit to help schools with their design and all that type of stuff. But the impacts that we make and how people spend the majority of their days is gonna affect how they spend their off hours and how they engage with their community and how well they can make connections with other people.
Alexander Madaus:And all that starts with making sure that they can understand themselves.
Rob Lee:Yeah. Yeah. I know. I I think that's really good because, you know, again, going back and remarketing on when we initially chatted, we were still, I think, on the tail end of being inside and just your at least I know I was much more aware of and these walls aren't painted. It's still gentrification gray from this house I bought.
Rob Lee:And, you know, wanting to have things in here, like, I'm looking at my my wall in the studio right now, and I have just some of my old paintings, some of these different things that are there that kinda serve a purpose, not only just to keep the walls from being bare and that that sort of gray color I'm describing, but also to add something there. And eventually, I'm gonna paint it, but I haven't gotten to a spot of what color do I want it to be? And and I would ask folks like, what color should this be? And really thinking about it, you were touching on like, does this matter? Is this a good color?
Rob Lee:Is this a bad color? Quote unquote. And I I just keep going back to the the the word black. I don't know. I wanted to feel like it's a dark room for some reason, like photography style.
Rob Lee:And I'm like, alright. Cool. And I think a lot of times, we we make these decisions based on maybe what someone else tells us or what, you know, as a a magazine or someone much smarter than us might say to us, but it doesn't really resonate. It doesn't really click with us. And, you know, I have one part of my home painted, and I like the colors.
Rob Lee:It's like this really, like, royal, like, blue. It's super dark blue, what have you. I was like, I dig this. This this color works. This color works for what I want it to be.
Rob Lee:And, but kinda being a little bit more intentional with some of the other rooms, especially, like, one's bedroom, it's like I sleep there. There's a energy Mhmm. There I gotta think about and but the room that I'm spending the most time in that I'm up, and sometimes I need to sleep in here, is the studio. So this room, two degrees, is a bit more important than the other rooms to me.
Alexander Madaus:Yeah. Exact and and, I mean, it sounds like if you want, we can run through the questions. I actually we, so part of this whole thing. Right? It's I mentioned, like, wanting to kind of branch out into more of the community education.
Alexander Madaus:So we just finished last week. I just finished last week, like, a biophilic design workbook.
Rob Lee:What do
Alexander Madaus:you say? It's like this free little booklet that I wanna send out to folks because, like, I've been helping my friends, like, redecorate their spots. It's, like, fun for me. This is something that I really love, which is also, like, why I realized I should start doing it, which because it was that thing where it's like, oh, man. Like, I really like having this store, and I really love, like, houseplants and, like, giving people education.
Alexander Madaus:But then I was like, hey. I'll spend my entire weekend going tile shopping with you because that makes me vibrate inside, and I don't know why. Yeah. But putting that into a book. Right?
Alexander Madaus:Like, going through having these experiences with people that I'm close with and then hearing their feedback of it's like, oh, I didn't. So I don't know. I put that all together in, like, a little workbook. If you want, I can send that to you, but it's it all starts with so let's let's look at your office. Right?
Rob Lee:Yeah.
Alexander Madaus:So you've got the wall directly ahead of you. So I'm assuming you got, like, a little monitor in front of you. Right?
Rob Lee:I do. I do.
Alexander Madaus:What kind of desk are we working on?
Rob Lee:This is a hodgepodge of a broken desk that I converted. I know it sounds all the the the the the Freddie Mercury aesthetic, the the, Wizard of Oz aesthetic is all gone. I'm working off of a a janky, kinda broken it's dirty. It's dirty. It's fine.
Rob Lee:But it's it's a old, like, black desk that, I converted.
Alexander Madaus:Okay. Alright. And now is your chair like, is your back against the wall and you've got space between your desk and the wall? Or is your desk right up against the wall?
Rob Lee:Desk right up against the wall and I'm, like, flushed to the desk. There's the all the spaces behind me.
Alexander Madaus:Okay. All the spaces behind you. So when you look at that big so you're basically, like, your whole field of vision is this wall in front of you then?
Rob Lee:Yeah. It is.
Alexander Madaus:Okay. So you and I are having a conversation right now. Right? Like, I'm assuming this is primarily what you're doing in that space. Right?
Rob Lee:Yeah. Yeah.
Alexander Madaus:What color is the wall behind you right now?
Rob Lee:The wall behind me is that gentrification gray I was describing.
Alexander Madaus:Okay. And that wall in front of you?
Rob Lee:Same. This this room has not been painted. It's all It is.
Alexander Madaus:It's all it's all gentrifying. Okay. Alright. So when you are having these conversations, so for instance, I am very anxious speaking sometimes of, like, getting interviewed. This doesn't happen very often.
Alexander Madaus:So I'm like like I'm I'm like an anxious person. Right? Generally. But there are interventions that I could put in to, like, decrease my anxiety. There are interventions, like, if you wanna feel more alert when you're podcasting, like, it's later on in the afternoon.
Alexander Madaus:I know that my energy kind of, like, swings down with the day. What is when you sit down at that desk and when you're about to have a conversation, how is it you wanna feel?
Rob Lee:I I wanna feel wanna feel loose. I wanna feel good. I wanna feel, like, introspective. I want to just feel, like, prepared and just good for a conversation. And I'll say if I've not been anywhere and, like, actually had conversations with people, I'm trying to, like, warm up and because, you know, it's like talking to somebody for the first time.
Rob Lee:If I have a super early interview, right, and I haven't talked to anyone, maybe my cat, it's just like I gotta get all of this. Practice. It does. It does. But he doesn't talk back as much as I would like.
Rob Lee:But, yeah, try trying to just feel just feel like my most confident to put a pin on it. Yeah.
Alexander Madaus:Alright. So you wanna feel confident. You wanna feel engaged. You wanna feel alert ish, but you don't wanna get hit in the head with it. Right?
Rob Lee:Right.
Alexander Madaus:So something like a little bit more calmer. Right? Alright. So go ahead and close your eyes. I'm gonna ask you, when you think of nature.
Alexander Madaus:Right? When I say you are relaxed and you are in nature, what is the first image that comes to your mind?
Rob Lee:A sunset.
Alexander Madaus:A sunset. Okay. Do you know what hues are in there? Do you know what color jumps out to you?
Rob Lee:I'm getting for whatever reason, I'm getting orange. I'm thinking of a sunset at a beach. I'm getting I'm getting orange, and I'm getting a little blue, like a light.
Alexander Madaus:Alright. So that is actually that's very funny. I wish that we had done the thing where I, like, wrote it down on a piece of paper beforehand. But that tells you. Right?
Alexander Madaus:So a couple of the when you want to feel most alert or most most calm, it sounds like it's in that transition period, right, between day and night. So whether it's sunrise or sunset, that's when you find most of your energy and when you feel most on track. Yeah. So a good color for that wall in front of you might be like a burnt orange or a coral. Nothing that's like very saturated.
Alexander Madaus:Right? You wanna take down the saturation so it's not like impacting your eyes. Yeah. But a softer orange, like a softer burnt orange, like a terracotta, something warm and earthy. Yeah.
Alexander Madaus:So So that when you're looking at it behind your monitor right? So I don't know if you I'm much more of, like, a thinking colors and, like, pictures kinda guy. But if you can look at that wall around you now, you see it in, like, a calm, burnt orange, like, something that makes you feel a little bit alert. Yeah. That would be what you're looking at.
Alexander Madaus:Right? And then you can talk about depth. You can add in the blues with, like, some of the paintings that you've made in the past. If they have any blues in them, you can, like, hang those on the wall to give you those little tips and tweaks Yeah. To kind of regulate that mood that you wanna feel.
Alexander Madaus:Yeah. But that would be it. So I would say, yeah, that would be
Rob Lee:That's tight.
Alexander Madaus:The color that I went with. And not like the whole not the whole room. Right? Like, you can definitely change the other walls, but you don't wanna be in a box of orange, maybe just, like, right in front of you. Yeah.
Alexander Madaus:But probably that wall right in front of you, I'd say go with that light orange color.
Rob Lee:That's that's tight. That's I I I see it. And, no, that that it works. And, you know, I enjoy orange as well. You know?
Rob Lee:I've worked for the Orioles for a number of years. So, you know, I mean, the losing years. So, you know, very, very, you know, interesting relationship there. But, no, it it it makes a lot of sense in having something that has that vibrancy and that that brightness, but, you know, not oversaturated as you're you're touching on something that's a bit soft. That that makes sense.
Rob Lee:And I even think of, you know, sort of, you know, my partner's place when, she got some painting done just in there. You know, she has, like, sort of the the oxblood, but then it grayed us out to a very, like, soft pink Mhmm. In certain spots. And that's, like, the First Floor of the house. And she was like, this is all intentional.
Rob Lee:And I look at her hair, and her hair is kind of I was like, did you dye your hair this way as well? She's like, oh, this is all orchestrated. I was like, oh, wow. You're smarter than this than I am. I just shaved my head.
Rob Lee:This is why the walls are gentrifying. Just at his base level. That's probably what's happening. Who knows? Who knows?
Alexander Madaus:Oh my god. I love that.
Rob Lee:It's ridiculous.
Alexander Madaus:But it's the intention. Right? It's and and I don't know. As fun as it got to it's that's, like, a little bit of it. Right?
Alexander Madaus:I don't know whether or not that works or comes off, but that's I love doing that kind of stuff. Right? Like, even just, like, watching you, like, close your eyes and kind of picture that little smile that you yeah. You're gonna watch this video back, and you're gonna see the face that you were making. And that experience right like getting to put something together where someone has that experience in their space is such it's an incredibly unique feeling and I feel really blessed to have been able to do that and that's kind of why we started moving in this direction is because of of that.
Alexander Madaus:It's, like, lasting impact. Right? Like, it's not just like you're changing something for a day. You're changing something for ostensibly the remainder of that person's existence and the remainder of their relationship with their interior spaces.
Rob Lee:Wow. It's really good. It's really good. So I wanna move into I got a couple more questions because I guess I guess that again, letting letting folks cook. You know, I get these things out of the way a little bit.
Rob Lee:So I'm I'm really curious about this one, the creativity piece where creativity is it's been described as the art of making mistakes. Do you have an experience that comes to mind that, you know, was maybe something that felt like a mistake at the time, that maybe turned out to be fuel for, you know, late maybe later creativity or or even growth? I have a number of abandoned podcasts that I think led to sort of this is what works, this is what doesn't work. And at the time, it's like, why am I even doing this? Now it's just like, well, this is why.
Rob Lee:This is why you did that, to learn from it. So for you, is there anything that comes to mind?
Alexander Madaus:Oh, we got three and a half years of mistakes I made. But, but I appreciate all of them. Right? Like, I I mean, obviously, like, tastes evolve and tastes change, so I'm not gonna look at, like, how I decorated the shop. The the big one that's coming to mind right now is one of the first, like, solo outdoor jobs that I did.
Alexander Madaus:Right? Because I hadn't really, like, been doing people's interiors. I mostly just stuck to, like, house plants and stuff, and so a big part of that was, especially when we were first starting out, right, it's saying yes to opportunities, because it's money in the door, and it's it's something that, like, gets the gears spinning. So I had somebody reach out, and they wanted, plants in front of their house. Like, it's a Baltimore row home.
Alexander Madaus:You know? Like, people dig out just, like, a little square footage with bricks and stuff. Sure. And the client wanted a tree that covered their windows as well as, like, two or three different types of shrubs. Right?
Alexander Madaus:So I get over to the client's house. I look at this space. It's about, like, a foot deep.
Rob Lee:It's all good.
Alexander Madaus:Yes. Hi, Donnie. We hear you. So I get to the space. Right?
Alexander Madaus:And it's, like, maybe 12 inches deep. Right? These clients are talking. They want, like, a seven or eight foot tree that is four feet wide to cover their one window into their home. And I look at the space I look at what they're looking for and there's a part of me that says okay we can get something that I can put in right now it's not going to cover the window because they're like five feet off the ground but in like two or three years this is going to cover that window, it's gonna be good, it's a native plant, it's gonna survive there, it's not big enough yet but the root ball is small enough where I can get it in this space and then the roots themselves can decide where they want to grow.
Alexander Madaus:Because I'm looking at like the trees that would cover it right and they're like this wide around. I people aren't gonna be able to see, I'm realizing. It's, like, like, two feet in diameter, so we would never fit in there. And off the bat, I'm like, this is gonna be tough, but, like, I can I can do this? I can definitely do this.
Alexander Madaus:So I get with the client. I talk to them and they're like, oh, okay. That sounds great. And I go for it. Right?
Alexander Madaus:I get the plants. I get everything in. It looks beautiful. It's still not where it is and then the client messages me and is like, oh, hey. When is this gonna grow over top of the window?
Alexander Madaus:And I was like, well, it's a tree. So it'll it'll take a little while like we talked about. And they were like, oh, okay. Well, we'll can we just, like, revisit this to, like, see how it does in, like, a month or so? And I was like, well, in a month, the roots aren't gonna be, like, established yet.
Alexander Madaus:And, like, all of these things. Right? And then I come back two weeks later, and they had paid somebody to rip all of it out and then put in a tree and then I saw that And this is like two three months later. I saw that that tree had then died, but all of this to say it's like the mistake that I realized there was deferring too much. Right?
Alexander Madaus:Because you get in there and you understand. It's like this is the job that they want. This is what I can provide for them. And that whole time I was trying to meet them with, like, no. I'm gonna get something in and it will grow there eventually.
Alexander Madaus:Yeah. Not really understanding their time constraints and what their expectations were and how I could have if not satisfied those expectations, then how I could have maybe led them in a different direction. If they wanted a window screen, maybe I could have talked to them about options that would block the window and still give them that privacy as opposed to just trying to block it up with a big plant. Right? And trying to think more multidimensionally like that.
Alexander Madaus:And as far as that goes, I mean, I consider that a mistake because it always bums me out when, like, plants are, like, torn out. Right? Like, it's it's it's something that we invested a lot of time and love and effort into installing in this space, but because it didn't check one or two boxes and I wasn't able to give the client the experience that they wanted the whole thing got thrown out. And the mistake in there I think is realizing that when people ask for, in this case, plants to block the window, realizing that they're not actually asking for plants to block the window. Right?
Alexander Madaus:They are asking for privacy.
Rob Lee:Yeah.
Alexander Madaus:And the plants are a bonus because they want to have plants there. They wanna have life growing. So we can get them the plants that are going to thrive they're going to look beautiful there and we can give them some privacy but it's not all the time that those two things are going to be the same and taking a step back professionally and looking at that whole situation which mortified me for weeks still does looking back at that and realizing that I didn't approach the client with the full scope of what I could do because I was only there for what the client wanted And now it's much more I understand the skills and strengths that I have and I want to impart those and, like, show people the value of it and show people the experience that they can get while still satisfying all of their needs. Right? And it's it's advocating for myself, I think, is the thing that I have the most trouble with.
Rob Lee:That that that makes that makes a lot of sense. And thank you thank you for sharing that because, you know, I'll I'll comment on this before moving to the next question where dad is at a situation where whenever it's one of those things is cool client, it's an opportunity, there's money, whatever the things that, you know, pop up or even if it's just like a creative challenge. Right? And it aligns with the thing I was touching on of being able to take sort of the experience that I cultivate being in the home studio and taking that out and making my own space around it. You know, I was doing an event.
Rob Lee:I was doing artscape last year and, you know, going in there, we're trying to get these interviews. And I was like, cool. This is gonna be great. It's gonna be cool. And so on.
Rob Lee:I booked different people doing the stuff that I know how to do and keeping all this stuff organized in a way. And there's still sort of a stretch, right, where I'm not doing it in my studio. I'm doing it out there in an uncontrolled environment and it's multiple guests over a short period of time. So it's complexity, but I'm like, I'm confident I can do it. Get there and I'm looking at the space and I'm like, alright.
Rob Lee:The space is different. I always account for that. Space is gonna be different than expected. And then I see the space that you have in mind. And I was like, acoustically, we're not gonna be able to get audio.
Rob Lee:I was like, it's a plus if we can get video, but at a minimum, I need to get you guys audio. And I started just going with subject matter expert. Just it's like, I'm not only gonna be someone that's, quote, unquote, the talent. I'm gonna consult here as to what you need. And, so ultimately, it resulted in me finding space, you know, within, the the the venue that we were at or there at Mica and found a space.
Rob Lee:It was like an empty, like, ceramic studio, I believe, and just fashioned that to look like this intimate setting versus the sort of pop and circumstance, you know, green fuzzy wall situation. I was like, this is
Alexander Madaus:up a little bit.
Rob Lee:Yeah. And, you know, because I was like, this is the way that we're gonna be able to get this at a minimum, get some images, get some some pictures taken with the folks back there, but it's not gonna be the video setup, but it is gonna be capturing that conversation and just using what I knew. But, you know, I checked it. I did the I don't know if you remember Ghostbusters. You know, this way I'm walking around with, like, my, audio sensor, kinda seeing Uh-huh.
Rob Lee:Audio is.
Alexander Madaus:And I
Rob Lee:was like, ah, it's not gonna work out. It's like your catalytic converter is down. And just going to the back and just being able to get that, I felt, you know, I was gonna be comfortable one way or the other just because I had that level of confidence in it. But I was like, I'm confident enough to say, like, this is the thing that you need to get the thing that you want to accomplish here and that you've hired me to do.
Alexander Madaus:Exactly. Right? And it's I mean, that's an exact that's it. Yeah. It's it's trusting your own instincts as the professional in the situation.
Alexander Madaus:And whether or not they are bringing you on as the professional or they just want a service provided. Right. Exactly like you're saying, you lean into what you know to create the best possible outcome that is going to reflect on you. Because in the end, right, those plants getting ripped out, that was on me. That was a reflection of the work that I did and the effort that I put in because I did not do everything that I could have in that situation.
Alexander Madaus:In this case, it was advocating for what I knew to be right. Right? Or, like, what what I felt as the professional would solve this issue.
Rob Lee:Absolutely. So I've got two more real questions I wanna hit you with. This this one right here, I think I touched on a little bit earlier. After 800 episodes of this podcast, I think it's like 08:30 or something I'm at now, I've learned we we we all work better when we're working together. Right?
Rob Lee:And the term community is often thrown around. I think some people use it in this weird way that I don't see any community there. It's just like me at the top of the community and everybody else. But I think community is a very interesting term that's used a lot. A lot of times people just fall short and sometimes we we have these ideas of this individualized success.
Rob Lee:Well, you know, community up to a point. But what does support, right? Because I think that's when we're we're talking community. That's the way I feel about it a lot of times. I'm doing this.
Rob Lee:This is community centric And at times, it doesn't always feel supported. The kind word's always great and, you know, people sharing and even listening and being a part of it is great. And that feels like support. But, you know, what does support look like for you and cultivate it? Is it community centric?
Rob Lee:Is it collaboration? Is it just more, like, opportunities to consult? What is what does success look like for you? What does community look like for you?
Alexander Madaus:Oh, so I'm gonna start with the community because cultivated as a shop itself. Right? Like, we had so many people coming in and out of those doors that it it like, in the end, it became a community. Right? Like, the last couple of days when we got the notice that we were being kicked out of our last space, when the power got cut off, when all of that happened, and I put out the call and I was like, hey, guys.
Alexander Madaus:We need to get rid of stuff and, like, we don't know what's gonna happen. We went over to, our friends over at Meander Art Bar, which if you haven't been yet, absolutely incredible. I actually wanna touch on that in a second. But, they got us into their market last minute. They connected us with the host who I've worked with before.
Alexander Madaus:He actually had a, a live drawing class at our shop a couple of years ago. I didn't realize. And so when I reached out to the owner, I was like, oh my god. Is there any way? They reached out to Harrison who had put on the event.
Alexander Madaus:They got me in immediately, and then so many people showed out. Right? Like, we Cultivated Creations as a shop was such an incredible opportunity, not for the fact that it, like, got me out of finance. Right? Not for the fact that it, like, introduced me to what it was like to be a creative and to, like, follow that.
Alexander Madaus:But it Cultivated Creations, the best thing that it did was introduce me to Baltimore as a community, Fells Point as a community, Upper Fells. I'm in Highland Town right now and, like, all of these little spaces. Right? It's community to me is something that I care about and it's the reason why I can't leave Baltimore and it's that double edged sword, right? I moved here a decade ago and it's like I can't imagine living anywhere else because of the community and things right now feel especially difficult.
Alexander Madaus:Right? The community that I have, we're trading dinners every other week. Right? Like, I make bread for my friends, and they make me tofu breakfast sandwiches. We have these little things that day to day not only, like, make me feel good, not only, like, me as a person, like, help me accomplish things, but they help me survive at the end of the day.
Alexander Madaus:Like, they help my partner and I, like, get food in our mouths. They help us trade, and they help me contribute, which is something that I think is the most important part of community. Because, like, it's great and all to say, like, oh, man. Like, I love the community. I support the community.
Alexander Madaus:Like, all that type of stuff. But at the end of the day, I get back whatever I'm giving out. Right? And it's it's time with people. It's, I don't know, just like hanging out with somebody if they're having a bad day.
Alexander Madaus:It's that, but then it's organizing your community. Like, we back to Meander really quickly when everything fell apart with the shop, like, we were working with them. We host our club out of Meander now, which I know you haven't been yet because I'm there every time. It is this Thursday and it's gonna be the third Thursday of every month, so this is like my little shameless plug. Third Thursday of every month, art club is at Meander Art Bar, which is 1801 East Lombard Street.
Alexander Madaus:There's discounts on, like, food and drink and all that stuff, but it's a free club. Right? And the point of the club and what made it so incredible was the first one that we had was our club has been, like, five to 10 people because of the space that we've been in. Right? Like, the shop wasn't, like, real big, so it started off as, like, people sitting on, like, pillows that they brought or blankets or anything.
Alexander Madaus:And we got there last month, so this would be January, which was the first art club that we had there. And I asked, Elihu or my girlfriend, to come with me because I was like, it's our first one there. I'm really worried no one's gonna show up, and, like, I want, like, people to be there. Right? Like, I want, like, the bar to see, like, there's, like there are folks that are gonna come and that, like, we can, like, contribute.
Alexander Madaus:Like, we can we can try to, like, stoke this into something that people will enjoy because I know it's gonna be something that people can enjoy. So we sit down. There's, like, five or six other people at the same table that we've sat at, who are all there doing art. And so we sit there. We're chatting.
Alexander Madaus:The rest of meander's packed. Right? It's like wall to wall. And I was like, wow. This is such an incredible like, wow.
Alexander Madaus:This is like a lot of people here for a Wednesday. And I turned around at one point. Like, I, like, looked over my shoulder. Someone was, like, delivering a drink to a table, and I noticed that the table that they delivered a drink to, they had art supplies. And then I looked at the table right behind me, and they had art supplies.
Alexander Madaus:And then I looked at this and every single table in Meander was filled. People were chatting. People were doing art. I was noticing people, like, come in. People were doing it at the bar.
Alexander Madaus:And people it was it was the community. Right? Like, people strangers sat with us at our table. I saw people, like, making friends at other tables to, like, sit down and make these connections. I don't know.
Alexander Madaus:I find myself crying a lot as I get older, and it was, like, really nice. But it was one of those things where it's like, holy shit. This is it. This is the community. These are people that all came out because they want not just to, like, like, get up on stage and, like, sing or, like, an open mic night or something.
Alexander Madaus:They wanted to sit down. They wanted to meet other creatives. They wanted to either learn from them or connect with them in a way that is going to get carried on into their day to day lives. Right? Like, friendships get made there.
Alexander Madaus:Connections get made there. People find their neighbors or people that are in fields similar to them. I know that we've got like a couple of traveling nurses there that just like met each other by happenstance, but it's community. It's about getting out of it exactly what you put into it, but you got to give people a space for that. Right?
Alexander Madaus:And there's such an empty space, I feel like, in all of our lives for and I know that this goes around a lot, but, like, the third spaces concept where we've got our homes and we've got our workspaces, but having third spaces that are not only accessible, right, but free. And, like, a gathering space for people that can sit there with no pressure just to be and see who else is out there. Right? Like, it's past COVID. Right?
Alexander Madaus:We're, like, four years past that, but I still find myself spending a majority of my time at home now and like I do the dinner with friends once a week which I absolutely love and is absolutely necessary for my sanity and like seeing people here and there but I feel like it's just become so baked into myself and I'm sure like a couple of other people out there of like just home is where I spend my time now, right? It's expensive to be outside it feels like like I I there's there's that joke where it's like you can't step outside your house without spending $200 and it's that pressure is being felt more and more today. So giving or creating an opportunity for people to meet and gather and connect with their neighbors and their community in a way that doesn't have, like, a monetary bar to it Yeah. Is, I think, the foundation of a lot that's going to come. Right?
Alexander Madaus:Baltimore's got a few CSAs that, like, I'm very interested in. Big thing that I wanna get involved in is the community gardening program and, like, figuring out a way to, like, produce food on a small scale and then, like, give people those skills because at the end of the day, we're only as strong as our community is. Right? And it doesn't matter who's in the mayor's office. Doesn't matter who's governor.
Alexander Madaus:Doesn't matter who's president. Right? Baltimore can get Baltimore's back as long as we know each other. Right? And as long as we care about our neighbors.
Alexander Madaus:And the first step to caring about your neighbors is seeing who your neighbors are and meeting them in a place where you feel free to talk, where it's like, if I'm going out to a bar now, if I'm going out to dinner, it's with my partner, we're going on a date. I'm not sitting at the bar and, like, shaking hands with everybody that I that, like, I could possibly meet because that's a date, and that's not what you're supposed to do on a date. But this Thursday, right, I'm gonna be going there. Elior is probably gonna be coming with me, but it's not, like, a social time for just us. And it is nice to, like, still be able to, like, chat with her, but it's also really important that, like, we can sit on a couch and another couple will sit there next to us and we are gonna introduce ourselves.
Alexander Madaus:We're gonna ask who they are, where they're from, what they're doing, what they love to do, what crafts did they bring, what got them interested in art, what do they do on their day to day, oh, you do blah blah blah. Well, hey, I do x y and z. How can we help each other? What do you need? And I think that we're moving towards generationally, I think socially, I think politically, we're moving much more especially in light of recent events, a system where we're gonna have to start relying on one another, and we're gonna have to start filling niches that we haven't had to fill in a city before.
Alexander Madaus:Right? Like, if I go up to my mom's place in the country, there's a dude down the road that sells eggs. He's not paying, like, $67 for a dozen eggs. Like, I would hear it over at Aldi, which is you can't really raise chickens in Baltimore, but the end of the day, things are getting more expensive. And being able to rely on a network of people to provide services that you can then exchange something that you do for Yeah.
Alexander Madaus:Is incredible. Right? Like, I do tattoos on the side. Like, I'll trade tattoos for haircuts. Like, there's I I love doing design for my friends, and they'll, like, have me over for a home cooked meal.
Alexander Madaus:And it's these little things that make not only it all worthwhile. Right? Like, I like, money's nice, but, like, at the end of the day, it's the connection. Right? Like, all of my clients from this past year, I text with regularly now.
Alexander Madaus:Like, we send each other memes. They'll have me over to play pinball. It's but it's it's building those knit ties. Right? Like, they're introducing me to their friends who are are now becoming part of my circle.
Alexander Madaus:And like I get to introduce them to the spaces that we've created out here and bringing them in and like getting them more comfortable with expressing that side of themselves. Well, yeah, I wouldn't be anything without community, man. There's the only thing that I can really hope to do is that whenever I leave this right by circumstance or whatever, giving knowing that there are tools left behind that we helped create as a community that's gonna help the next generation. Right? Like, talking about schools, talking about, like you were mentioning your walk to Patterson Park.
Alexander Madaus:Have you ever seen the the experiment where they asked kids to kids who, like, walked to and from school to, like, draw what their commute looked like and kids that took the bus to school? Yeah. You can look that up. I can also send it to you later. But the kids that walked to school, right, like, their drawings were colorful.
Alexander Madaus:They had grass. They had trees. There were squirrels. There were dogs. The kids that took the bus, it was, like, darker.
Alexander Madaus:Right? Like, there was a road. There was a bus. There's not that depth of vision there anymore, that experience of life. And And I feel like we're all those kids on the bus now, either through our phones or through our workspaces.
Alexander Madaus:We're isolated. We're not in connection with nature. We don't have that depth of vision that excites us and makes us curious about our surroundings anymore. And the same goes for our community. Right?
Alexander Madaus:Yeah. Like, it's all well and good to say you want community, but that community is deep, man. That community is gonna have some people in it that you might not see eye to eye on with everything, but they're still your neighbors. Right? Like, you still share space.
Alexander Madaus:You still pay the same tax. You still live you share a wall. That person is still your community whether you like them or not. You can't pick and choose.
Rob Lee:No. It's it's a really good good point. And, you know, what I try to do in this, you know, is is as I touched on before we got started, this is just me doing this at this point. And, you know, with some of the things that are disappearing, some of the things that have just changed drastically, you know, I noticed that this platform and I say that with all of the modesty possibly, that could that could could muster all the modesty I can muster. But, you know, there's not too many platforms that are there that are actually saying, hey.
Rob Lee:You wanna come on and talk about what you do for an hour? No agenda. Mhmm. No other thing attached to it. And, you know, at times, sort of like, this doesn't have to I don't have to exist in this sort of fashion, but this doesn't have to exist.
Rob Lee:And I I see the value of it, and I see like, I enjoy doing it for one, and it's a way to at least attempt to connect Because that's the thing that I've noticed that it's just goes away. And you you were talking about the the sort of, the third space, if you will. That's the thing that that kinda goes away. Like, you know, I used to look at it. I was like, man, back in the day, like, seventies, eighties, what have you, people used to like, hey.
Rob Lee:We're gonna get up and go over this person's house. We're gonna have dinner. We're just gonna, like, put on some records and just kick it. And I was like, yeah. You gotta connect to do that.
Rob Lee:And we just kinda find a way to skip some of that stuff and just get to, well, I liked your post. I shared
Alexander Madaus:it.
Rob Lee:And I will share this this last thing before I move to this last quick question. I I was able to do some interviews with some folks in Columbus, Ohio. And, you know, a lot of times behind the scenes, I'm told, well, why do you interview people outside of Baltimore? I'm like, I can interview whoever I want. Like, what what are we doing?
Rob Lee:Like, you
Alexander Madaus:It's my show.
Rob Lee:Right. Right. And so so I realized some of my my ugliness starts to creep out when someone's trying to tell me creatively what notes I should do. Do. Like, it's settled out.
Rob Lee:But I connected with those folks, and I and I know the through line. It's just like, I know it. You know, like, I met some of them through in Bethesda, which is still in the state. What are we doing? But I was asked to come there, to this cartoon Crossroads Columbus.
Rob Lee:You know, a lot of the folks that were there, they were selling books. And I was invited to do a panel, you know, to moderate a panel with three artists. One of which I became I've become friends with. You know, I had to go out of state, fly out of state to get that acknowledgment to do a panel, to talk with people, and to connect with folks. And I was there waving the flag of Baltimore, and I don't always kinda get that here, but I was definitely have already this hat on.
Rob Lee:I was talking wild. I was like, man, the Browns suck. I'm just talking all the time. It's like, you know?
Alexander Madaus:Oh, no. You gotta start shit, though. People would if if you're not doing that, I don't think folks would believe you're from Baltimore.
Rob Lee:They don't have that they don't hear that accent. So but ultimately, the the goal there and what I experienced there, which is just a really great period and, you know, this this weekend of going to, you know, this convention, if you will, and and and working there, but also attending, I was like, these people are in a community. These people are connecting. They're all over the place, you know, and all throughout this country. They are connected in this community of independent artists and writers, academics, all of this different stuff.
Rob Lee:And I was like, I've been accepted to be a part of it. And, you know, you go through it. I'm sure you've you've encountered it as well where, you know, when you're not in the cool crowd or have you. I think we all have those those different stories.
Alexander Madaus:Oh, yeah.
Rob Lee:A lot of times I've, you know, kinda got the exclusion or anything even now. You know, like, I do this. I'm a relatively I'm a noticeable individual. And, you know, sometimes it's just like, I don't even wanna waste the time because it's sometime a superficial thing. But that situation right there, that experience right there reminded me of what do I value in that way and literally just hanging out and kicking in and connecting with folks with no intent otherwise.
Rob Lee:You know, I just hung out in Columbus with one of the dudes at Southside Frank, and we just we got dinner and just kinda hung out for several hours and then went to some after party, and it was karaoke with all of the artists and all of that stuff. It was a really, you know, cool, situation. And it's just like, hey. When I go back there, you know, for for this year's iteration of it, you know, I can tap in and it's like, hey. I now have a reference point and a connection with you that we can grow and blossom, and I look for that at times here.
Rob Lee:It happens at times, but I find it happens with folks that a lot of times are outside of here. And it's just like, I need to improve those relationships with those neighbors. And it goes to what you're saying. We just gotta get past some of these things.
Alexander Madaus:Yeah. And he I mean, even to your point. Right? That's the old saying, like, iron sharpens iron. Right?
Alexander Madaus:In order to get better in your field, whether it's podcasting, whether or not it's design, whether or not it's just, like, being as a creative person, you have to have people around you that will do that. And I feel like a lot of seasons in my life, right, because, like, I don't know, middle school, high school, college, early twenties, the criteria that I had for friends, right, was are they close by, and are they nice to me? And, like, as that was I just did not know who I was as a person. Right? So finding people that are kind, that are gentle, that work well with you is important.
Alexander Madaus:And then as I'm aging, right, those types of relationships that you were describing of them becoming so important. Right? The people that you can hang out with that it's not like you're sitting around just like rot like, like, rotting for an hour, like, whether or not you, like, throw on on a TV show, but, like, somebody that you can sit down and have a conversation that afterwards your brain feels like it's on fire. Right? Like, you feel a little bit sharp.
Alexander Madaus:You feel a little bit more elastic, and those are relationships that absolutely deserve priority in my opinion, because it's it's just I don't know. How are we supposed to grow as people if we're never around anyone else who's growing? Right? Like, I'm I mean, I'm 31 now and I still need p oh, no.
Rob Lee:But, like, you know what
Alexander Madaus:I mean? Like, I and I'm like but like I like at 31 right like early 20s you asked me what I would be doing at 31 I'd have that shit figured out. I'd be retired man like God but but now I'm 31 and I'm sitting here and I'm realizing it's like I need people around me that I can learn from I need people around me that I can grow with because if I'm only around folks that are like content with whatever's up or like don't know the things that I love or aren't interested in the things that I want to talk about, I'm never gonna get better in that thing and I need to find people that I can at the very least yammer at about something that I love and have them yammer back at me about why they like that thing but why their thing is kinda similar. You know what I mean? And it's it's keeping that elasticity.
Alexander Madaus:It's it's finding those little moments in any type of relationship that make you feel like, god. Like that was time well spent. Like I could have been in bed for that and I'm happy that I wasn't. Like you're talking about an after party. I like I fell asleep at 08:30 last night.
Alexander Madaus:But then it's finding those people that you can be up to, like, one or 2AM with. And not, like, because you're out partying, but just because you're having a nice time. You don't want it to end. Like, our the folks that we do the dinners with. Right?
Alexander Madaus:He is a web designer who's working, with a company down in DC right now. He lost his job last year, so this is, like, the journey that he's been on.
Rob Lee:Yeah.
Alexander Madaus:So he and I get together. Right? I've been I built myself out a curriculum on interior design decoration, like, learning all the the, like, technical speaking points for, like, why my brain thinks that looks good.
Rob Lee:Yeah.
Alexander Madaus:And so in the same breath, right, he's studying. So we get together. He talks to me about what he's learning. I digest that. I like to talk to him about it.
Alexander Madaus:I like to ask him what challenged him about it. He'll it's it's that type of relationship that pushes you to think a little bit deeper. And I keep saying it, but that depth of vision. Right? It's the same reason you love taking your walks.
Alexander Madaus:There's more stuff to look at, which means that you're more excited by the conversation and the relationship.
Rob Lee:100%. And, the last thing I'll I'll kinda chime in. And before I move to the rapid fire, because you technically just got that last one for me, so that's great. Last thing I'll chime in on is this. You know, I had that this past week.
Rob Lee:I was sharing with you sort of me playing catch up with the sleep hours, and it started on Friday. No. Actually, Saturday. I got up with one of my buddies I know in DC from the whole, you know, fundraising thing. I originally reached out to him.
Rob Lee:I'm like, yo. Y'all got money down here? That was literally what the conversation started off as. And, you know, we were chopping it up and then we met in person and then, you know, we have the same government last name and all of this different stuff and I was like, this is interesting. And, you know, you're just like just chopping it up, just very base level stuff And we we met up in person and and all of that stuff.
Rob Lee:Kane kinda just fostered and built, like, a a friendship thing. And as you get older, you you're you're like, how do you make your friends in in those those few places? It's, you know, work, it's maybe gym, it maybe church or whatever the thing is, or you just don't have friends. And, you know, he hits me up a couple months ago, and he's like, yo, going to this wrestling show, with with my with my girl. Do you and your partner wanna come down?
Rob Lee:And we we kinda did. My my partner had never gone to a wrestling show, and I was like, yeah. You should come down here. We we we
Alexander Madaus:Are we talking like a WWE type of thing?
Rob Lee:Yeah. It was a WWE type of thing.
Alexander Madaus:Get out of here. Oh my god.
Rob Lee:So so we go down, it was vengeance day to be exact. So we go down and we're sitting in different areas. It is, you know, kind of a to do. It's kind of a hassle. All of this different stuff is going to DC.
Rob Lee:And, and we're we're there watching the show and I'm just giving her, like, yeah. This is who this person is. This is this person's style and this is what they do, all of this different stuff. And I pinged my man's, and I was like, hey. You went good to meet your guys at the front.
Rob Lee:We're gonna get dinner after this. Right? And yeah. And he was like, yeah. You ride with us.
Rob Lee:We drove over here. I was like, fantastic. We wait in the parking lot for an hour because that's how bad traffic was. So we missed our dinner reservations because it was just so crazy, you know, that sort of timing. And we just ended up going to get pizza at some spot, and we really didn't hang out too much other than that sort of con time of congestion in the car.
Rob Lee:But, you know, we were able just to kinda riff and talk and so on. And I felt that we all came out of it feeling like it was a good time even though we didn't do anything. We didn't sit together at the wrestling show. We didn't make it to dinner. We just sat there in traffic, essentially.
Rob Lee:And it was that. And, you know, I told a few folks the next day because we went to a concert the next day that, like, why are you guys down here? And it's like, oh, I was down here to see some friends, and they were saying that that, you know, three different people. That's really awesome that you came in here to visit some friends. People don't do that anymore.
Rob Lee:So right there. Right there. All of that to get to that point of just it's not a thing. People don't go out and spend times, and and and that is relates in business, that relates in collaboration, that relates in all of these different things. We work with people that we know what you do.
Rob Lee:Do I feel good working with you? Do I feel good talking with you? And I applied that in going through who I wanted to reach out to for interviews again. You know what I mean? Like, some people are just like, alright.
Rob Lee:That's this is a challenging conversation. And other people are just like, this is really easy. I could talk for four hours to you. And, so, yeah, it's it's definitely a thing, and I think connection is one of the key things that I'm I'm taking out of this, the space and how how one feels about just what's around us. So, yeah,
Alexander Madaus:I think
Rob Lee:we got it. I think we got it in that regard. So let me do this with you real quick. I got four rapid fire questions with you. Yes.
Rob Lee:Four rapid fire questions for you rather. So if you want me to come with you. Alright. Here we go. Cool.
Alexander Madaus:Alright. Hang on. Let me gotta get in my rapid fire position. Get my in
Rob Lee:a rapid fire position. It's like you gotta brace yourself, engage the core. Yeah. So I read that plants enjoy music. So maybe it's the one in front of you, you know, your favorite plant.
Rob Lee:What is their what's their genre? What's their favorite genre?
Alexander Madaus:Oh. Alright. Generally, we're, like, a lo fi Latin jazz type of household. Music is one of the most important things for me. And I don't know if they like it, but they're all growing really well.
Alexander Madaus:But I think and, like, this is just, like, my own so, definitely, I think that music is plants are affected by music. Right? Because it's sound waves. Right? Like, they are going to feel it.
Alexander Madaus:We'll take the fiddle leaf fig for instance. Right? That thing grows on the hills of the Mediterranean. If you have one at home and it's not doing well, that's honestly par for the course because they actually require you to grab the trunk and shake the tree back and forth. Because that because they grow on the with, like, the hills of the Mediterranean when the wind comes and blows them, that sends a signal to the plant that it has to grow roots.
Rob Lee:Yeah.
Alexander Madaus:So I think whether or not that it's about, like, whether the plants like music, I like to pretend that they do because I talk to them and you absolutely have to. I think that they love the music. Put something on with, like, a little bit of, like, heavy bass in it, and I think that they're really gonna enjoy it because it's gonna shake them up a little bit. Right? It's gonna it's gonna make them feel like the ground is alive again.
Rob Lee:I love it. It makes sense. It's a good answer. What time do you usually wake up in the morning?
Alexander Madaus:Five thirty, and it's because of the cats.
Rob Lee:You get it. You get it. The 05:30 gang. Let's see. This this one is ridiculous.
Rob Lee:Whether it's Chad GPT or Google, what's a common or reoccurring search for you? Oh. I'm always looking at macros. What's the macros in these these almonds?
Alexander Madaus:Oh, god. No. No. No. No.
Alexander Madaus:No. It's it's oh, bro. It's about it's spelling shit. I I, I before e. That rule, man, I was not an English student.
Alexander Madaus:I can't tell you how many times I have to, like, Google a word to, like, know how to spell it. And sometimes it's one that's, like, a little bit more complex. Right?
Rob Lee:Yeah. A lot
Alexander Madaus:of times it's the word receive. But we all we've all got one or two, and I'm not gonna I can't. Oh, I wish that it was something better than that. I wish it were, like, something job related. No.
Alexander Madaus:It's like how to spell words sometimes.
Rob Lee:See. Look. Look. See. Because I I sometimes I have a way with words.
Rob Lee:I'm like, I have trouble with the word receive because I'm a giver.
Alexander Madaus:Old. See?
Rob Lee:See? Great. I have a mugging background. Alright. This is the last one I got for you.
Rob Lee:And and I and I found a place recently. I'll I'll I'll share I'll share, notes with you after we wrap here. But, you know, you you touched on, like, hey. Maybe going for a date or something like that. What is one of your favorite date spots in Baltimore?
Rob Lee:Oh.
Alexander Madaus:So right now, our favorite date spot is Patterson Pub, Patterson Public House. Right? We live, like, right next to Patterson Park. I love walking, so we spend a lot of time, like, walking around there, but Patterson Pub is the reason that we moved out to Highland Town. I don't know if you've been there yet.
Alexander Madaus:If you have, I don't know if you have tried. They've got brussels sprouts. And if you were like me as a kid, turn your nose up, you're like, do a little bit of gag, they're brussels sprouts. We were I was living over in Fellows Point, we walked over here, it was a rainy day and we're like, let's duck into this pub really quick. Not really I mean, like, it's it's beautiful on the inside.
Alexander Madaus:I hope that they hear this, and it's like, I love everything that you do. But the brussels sprouts, it's with fondue cheese, dried cranberries, and walnuts, and they just, like, they'll toast the brussels sprouts instead of fry them, and it changed my life. And, my partner and I, we love playing Magic the Gathering. So, like, we'll bring our decks there. We'll, like, get a couple of beers.
Alexander Madaus:We'll have, like, our brussels sprouts and whatever whatever else looks nice, but just like sharing a couple of appetizers is our favorite way to eat. Because the biggest part about it is just socializing and getting to play. And so I mean, we'll play games at home all the time too, but it's nice to like go out and play a game. So my favorite date is we've got Magic the Gathering and, a bowl of brussels sprouts in front of us. That does not sound that appealing.
Rob Lee:I was just I was see, here's the thing. I I was with you. I was like, yeah. That's a good idea. I might apply that.
Rob Lee:I was like, you don't know how to play Magic the Gathering for one, bro.
Alexander Madaus:Oh, no. You can bring any game. Look. They got games there. It's just and it's also just very fun for me to bring games out places because we started it because, like, I don't know.
Alexander Madaus:You're, like, out on a date. It's fun to, like, chitchat, but I always need an activity. Right? And, like, unfortunately now, like, I feel like a lot of that activity has just become like on my phone. And so in order to like not do that, to keep it going, to keep us focused, having a game there was really nice.
Alexander Madaus:But it's also a great way to get to talk to people. Like whether or not it's magic or like strategic or whatever the hell you bring with you, someone's gonna ask you about it. Someone's gonna say like, oh man, I love that game. And then, I don't know, you get your you get their number. Next time you go back, you hit them up.
Alexander Madaus:If you're if you're looking, it's just like, hey, we're gonna go there and play some Stratego. You wanna like come by? And that's friends and that's friends and that's how we make friends at thirty one.
Rob Lee:That's that's great. Try it at forty. You just get back pain and knee pain. That's it.
Alexander Madaus:Oh, look. I'm already there with him, but I'm just, I don't know. It's, it's been, like, the the smallest thing that has helped me. I mean, it's how we got so close with, like, the people in Meander. Right?
Alexander Madaus:You just go there, you play games, you hang out for a while, and I don't know. Eventually, you meet somebody.
Rob Lee:That's great. And and and that's where we'll wrap. So there's two things I wanna do here. One, I wanna thank you for coming back on. This has been just loads of fun.
Rob Lee:Really good to to chat it up and, and catch up. And and two, I wanna invite and encourage you to share with the listeners any final details, website, social media, any of that stuff that, you know, for folks to check out all things, cultivated. So the floor is yours.
Alexander Madaus:Yeah. Absolutely. So, again, my name is Alexander Medes. What I do is called biophilic interior design, and you can DM me for more information about that. Instagram, we are at Studio Cultivated.
Alexander Madaus:That is also our website, studiocultivated.com. Things to keep your eyes out for, we've got our Biophilic Design Workbook, which is going to be a free download. I'm going to be putting that out later on this week. So by the time this podcast comes out, it will be available on our website. Please go check it out.
Alexander Madaus:I'm always looking for feedback. But just like you and I ran through today, Rob, it just gives you, like, a lot of little, like, tools and opportunities to, like, meditate on yourself. Right? And, like, understand a little bit more about you and what you need from your environment to start bringing that in. I'm working on a couple of other booklets, just about design in general, talking a lot about the philosophy of it.
Alexander Madaus:We also do have our consultation services, which you'd like to gauge with that. That's on our website and all of that. Big thing, though, keep an eye out. I'm always trying to do community classes, whether it's terrariums, whether or not it's going to be the free design class that we're hosting. All of that is going to be up on our Instagram.
Alexander Madaus:So follow us there, and, yeah, hopefully, we'll be seeing you soon. Oh, and art club, third Thursday every month, Meander Art Bar, eighteen o one East Lumbar Street, six PM. See you there.
Rob Lee:And there you have it, folks. I wanna again thank Alexander Medeas from Cultivated Studio for coming back onto the podcast and catching up with me. And for Alexander Medeas, I am Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture and community in and around your neck of the woods, you just have to look for it.
Alexander Madaus:It.
