The Koettlitz family motto was nils sine labore, which translates to ‘nothing without labour’. In the 19th century, travelling the globe and enduring Antarctica certainly required not a small amount of labour.
That motto feels increasingly relevant, 110 years after the man’s death. We live in an age of acceleration, of shortcuts and lifehacks. All that matters is end product, is content, is having more. The joy of making recedes day by day, as the process of creation is deemed unnecessary. We have become transfixed by the spot of light on the wall, thinking it to be the light itself, forgetting that it is only a by-product. We cede our agency and innovation, and being in such a rush to reach the end we forget to live.
