Every year we remember Jorge Luis Borges who wrote the Book of Sand, which inspired us to create our name WONDR.
Born on the 24th August 1899 in Argentina, Jorge Luis Borges was an iconic and unique thinker who created magical stories in his writing. Borges had a strong connection with Ireland formed through his passion and interest in famous Irish writers like Oscar Wilde & James Joyce.
Many stories have been written about his links to our nation, including an article by Newstalk who noted as a result of this affection for the country and its authors, his works are littered with Irish references. In his short story ‘The Shape of the Sword’, the protagonist is from Dungarvan, while in ‘An Examination of the Works of Herbert Quain’, the story opens with a line that states that Quain recently died in Roscommon. Similarly, the story ‘The Theme of the Traitor and the Hero’ also takes place in Ireland, set in 1824.
We took inspiration for our name from his short tale ‘UNDR’ in the Book of Sand. UNDR we took to mean wonderment which we shortened to WONDR.
When we had our first premises we converted a shop into our creative hub and had a display window facing the main street which contained pictures of the man. Often we would get travellers, particularly Argentinian & South Americans, who would stop by to ask about the story how a picture of Jorge came to find its way there. We were more than happy to tell them.
When you visit our Practice on Wicklow St you are going to see constant reference to the UNDR story and ‘The Mirror and the Mask’ also from the book of Sand. Each room in our building takes its names from the stories. For example, our main creative studio is called Olan. Skald is our second studio. Uppsalla is where we meet to converse and eat. You get the picture.
Our main boardroom is named, Borges, after the man himself where you’ll find the portrait from our old shop window but also a portrait of him as a young man.
This picture of Jorge at the age of 21, captures a young man who had the clarity to define a vision and forge a brave path that led him to inspire many generations of writers and creatives like ourselves.
We thank Jorge Luis Borges for showing us the way.
Originally published at https://wondr.io on August 24, 2020.
