Welcome to the weekly Design Dispatch. This week we're talking homemade pasta, how Airbnb is bringing the world to you and why it's a good time to invest in art.

DESIGN NEWS:

Airbnb may not be hosting many travelers right now (though they are helping to house first responders through their Frontline Stays program), but they are encouraging you to explore the world from your own home. Airbnb experiences allow you to virtually learn to make pasta from scratch in Italy and make Ricotta cheese in Sonoma. Or, our personal favorite, take a plant propagation class with Hilton Carter in Baltimore so that you can be on your way to your own Wild Interior.

Baking bread might be having a major moment, but homemade pasta is close on its heels. A much lower commitment endeavor, it's simple to get started. If you don't own a pasta machine, no problem, there are plenty of techniques for rolling and cutting by hand- you can even use a wine bottle as a rolling pin. Here's our favorite recipe to get you started.

Spending more time at home means staring at the same walls day after day, so why not brighten up the view with some original art? The Artist Support pledge makes it easy and affordable to support artists. Participants post images of their artwork under #artistsupportpledge to sell for no more than $200; once they reach $1,000 in sales, they pledge to buy another artists work for $200.

LOCAL INTEREST:

Edo Salon is here to help if you're getting the itch to cut your own bangs . Check out this post for some seriously cute inspiration then reach out to one of their stylists directly for a virtual appointment. The best part is you don't have to live in the Bay to get their signature look.

Bringing a bit of the outdoors in can go a long way when you can't spend much time in nature. Luckily a handful of Bay Area plant shops are offering contactless pickup or delivery. The aptly named Plants and Friends and Plant Therapy are two worth checking out. Plant Therapy offers virtual consultations if you need help keeping your plant pals looking their best and Plants and Friends boasts a selection of stylish planters.

READ:

The Pocket app, while not a literary recommendation, per se, has been such a sanity saver for me lately that I wanted to share it here. You install the app, then when you come across something you want to read, you hit the share button on your phone and "pocket it" to read later. Here's why that's such a big deal. I'm inundated with media every time I open my phone lately. Consuming that media is how I stay informed (and produce content like what you're reading here), but I was finding that it wasn't healthy for me to be constantly tuning in. So when a ping or headline catches my attention, I Pocket it, and get back to what I was doing. What happens later is twofold. One, I can choose to sit down and read when I'm ready to give it my full attention and better absorb what I'm reading and two, I can see the headlines in a neat little stack and realize what's redundant or not really worthy of my attention in the first place.

That concludes our weekly Design Dispatch. If there is anything you would like to add to the list, feel free to leave a comment below, and if you have a tip for a future column, feel free to drop us a line.

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