Production got cheap. Coherence didn't.

Ink + Aether is a studio, a practice, a “collaboratory”1 for making complex decisions

1 A makeshift term for a “center without walls” (William Wulf). ↩

Visible, workable and holistic: three corners of one triangle, with holistic at the apex. ++ holistic visible workable

Beyond what we buy from a machine

  1. Ink sketch: structure over surface, tension as data, integrity over convenience. 01Judgement that holds.
  2. Ink sketch of two diamonds converging on one point. 02Someone accountable for the call.

Design × Strategy × Wellness

Hello, I'm Sichen

but I go by ‘Si’ (like ‘yes’ in Spanish).

I'm equipped with a consumer's heart and an architect's mind.

Eight years working alongside engineers taught me how things get built; a lifelong habit of sketching taught me how things hold.

Sichen Ying in a hard hat, smiling in front of a glass wall covered in sketches.
Sichen Ying

From the studio — design × strategy × wellness. A fresh selection each visit.

Axonometric diamond grid in red and blue ink.
design
Schematic, The Anatomy of Value: soul as water, identity as seed, brand as flower, product as fruit.
strategy
An eye drawn as a tree of roots ringed by data.
wellness
Kairos O.S. coordinate system schematic.
strategy
A circular window onto a quiet garden at night.
wellness
Red ink cube drawn inside a gridded circle.
design
Heaven and earth diagram mapping emotions between mind and body.
wellness
A tower crane building an X-shaped lattice of scaffolding.
design
Squaring the circle: a phased diamond from self to society.
strategy

I work at the crossing of design × strategy × wellness — drawn to restoring integrity to systems that have lost their center, and clarity to the people inside them.

*You may know the weather report from @seeing.storm. This is the door to the work itself.

Services

Strategic Cartography

↳ Bring one stalled decision. I examine how intentions, constraints, roles, resources and information flows fit together — and you leave with a shared picture of what must hold, what is pulling against what, and what can change.

  1. 01 / map

    Name the pieces + parts in tension.

  2. 02 / form

    Make tension visible in composition.

  3. 03 / center

    Choose with reason + clarity.

The cartography stack Two isometric disks. Disk 01, map, holds the named pieces A, B, C and D. Disk 02, form, holds their composition. Between them sits 03, the center, where the choice is made. disk 01 disk 02 ABCD 01 / map 02 / form 03 / center

“Time”

Offering 01

Retainer + Counsel

One pool of hours for diagnosis, advisory and cartography, and the accountable call, with reasons.

The two offerings, drawn from 03 / center: its upper half is the pyramid, its middle plane the map artifact. Time attaches at the plane's edge, Rights at the apex. map artifact

“Rights”

Offering 02

Buyout

A one-time assignment of a finished map artifact, with its masters and a walkthrough handoff.

contact:

By referral only.

Capacity is deliberately limited. New engagements are accepted by referral only, through 2028.

Studio hours
Mon–Thu · 10:00–17:00 ET
Office hours
Tue + Thu · 14:00–16:00 ET, by appointment
Illustration: an astronaut meditating on a stone among golden trees in mist.
Occasional weather at @seeing.storm