Archive & Anvil
Our work is a discipline of integrated dual stewardship.
The Archive is our act of preservation. We are digital archaeologists, unearthing the timeless artifacts and principles of the hand-built web. We look to the past with rigor to understand what is true and what endures.
The Anvil is our act of creation. We are architects and partners, forging digital authority and new landmarks on the bedrock of that truth. We build for the future with intention, creating the ground upon which enduring stories will be told.
To understand this discipline, you have to understand a feeling: the quiet confidence of owning your ground. It’s the feeling of the internet we grew up on, the one we built with our own two hands, one hyperlink at a time, on digital homesteads that were truly ours. That foundational feeling guides our search for the artifacts that embody it:
Our work is a return to the first principles of digital identity, a craft grounded in the timeless artifacts of the hand-built web.
The Archive: Unearthing the Artifacts of Identity
Long before "brand" became a buzzword, the pioneers of the web forged a raw, essential form of Identity Management. From that foundational era, we unearth three core artifacts foundational to our work within the Archive:
1. Declaration: "I Am."
Personal homepages weren't just pages; they were declarations. Choosing GeoCities Vienna for its romance, not market share, was an act of identity: planting a flag, making the simple, powerful statement of existence.
2. Connection: "Instant Message."
Communities were built not by algorithms, but by direct, intentional links and conversations. An "Instant Message" wasn't a notification; it was a direct line to our tribe, a real-time signal of human presence.
3. Ground: Digital Real Estate.
Crucially, these identities lived on ground we controlled. Our corner of the web was our own. This ownership was the bedrock—the address where identity lived and community gathered.
The Anvil: Forging the Landmarks of Tomorrow
The Anvil is where these unearthed artifacts are reforged for the future. This is our forward-facing craft of creation: building Digital Monuments that translate past principles into present forms, exploring generative art that echoes unearthed aesthetics, co-creating with artificial intelligence to discover novel expressions of identity, and forging neologisms to give language to emerging concepts.
This is precisely why we champion the .im domain. It is a unique creative tool that instantly imbues any word with a deep layer of narrative provenance. Its power comes from its intrinsic triple-meaning, echoing the core artifacts: it is the personal declaration (I'm), the human connection (IM), and the sovereign ground of Identity Management. It is the perfect substrate for both digital preservation and new creation.
In a digital world of rented land and borrowed identities, a landmark forged on owned ground is the only defensible position. It is the home for an identity, the clear signal a tribe can always trust, the foundation upon which enduring value and legacy can be built.