Field Notes
I had never been here before. After serving my drink, the bartender asked, “Where are you staying?”
“Hatagaya,” I replied.
He nodded, then without a word, picked up a notebook and started writing.
For ten minutes, he said nothing. He wasn’t serving other customers or distracted, just focused on whatever he was writing. The silence felt deliberate, like part of a private ritual. At some point, I stopped expecting a reply. Then, without a word, he slid a piece of paper across the bar.
No explanation. No words. Just this quiet offering.
Hospitality isn’t just about service. It’s about attention. The kind that turns routine into ritual, that makes a moment feel like magic.
It reminded me of what Teller, the magician, once said: "Magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect."
We live in an age where speed is rewarded and efficiency is king. AI brings convenience and personalisation at an unprecedented scale. Technology makes things faster, smoother, more efficient. But while efficiency enhances convenience, it doesn’t create meaning.
Meaning happens when something we care about is seen and valued, when effort or thought makes us feel understood and recognised.
Magic goes further. It happens when meaning is created for us in ways we don’t expect. It’s not just about seeing but about acting. It happens in the spaces beyond efficiency, in moments of presence, quiet generosity, and care.
Magic is the ability to see what’s hidden in plain sight, to notice what others overlook, and to turn meaning into action.
Sometimes, it means returning to a process that might feel old-fashioned in today’s world of algorithmic promise. Trusting intuition, noticing what’s needed but never asked for, and making space for care beyond what can be predicted or optimised.
In our work, we’re not choosing between speed and magic. We’re deciding how to bring them together. How to remove friction while still making space for surprise. How to use efficiency to free up time for what matters most.
In a future that will only get faster, my bet is we’ll crave more magic.
Found is a new series of field notes on what can be learned from the objects around us.
—
Felix Ng
Co-founder, Anonymous
@felix.anonymous