Catherine Black

✦ Partner @ ✦ ✦ ✦

[Catherine Black @mrsblackstudio]

@troymyatt I’m so sorry for your loss.

[Catherine Black @mrsblackstudio]

RIP Dolly Parton, an absolute saint on earth. I loved her music and her sharp sense of humour but most of all admired her philanthropy, something that seems to be missing in our world, where we have too many billionaires and too little kindness.

[Lee Black @mrblackstudio]

1042 Studio is seven today 🥳

Seven years of making things, changing things, breaking things, getting some things right, getting plenty wrong, meeting brilliant people and somehow still being excited about what we might design and build next.

I’m especially grateful for the people who have been part of, and helped shape our journey over the years. Stan, Marci, Flo, Max, Matt, Thao, Raphael, Tyrone and Julia. We’re still in touch with everyone, and somehow our very first and longest lasting freelancer from 2020 has even found his way back this year to join forces. Together we’re more agentic and building for the future.

And Catherine (my wife), who has lived through every version of 1042 with me and probably deserves some sort of medal.

Cheers to every client who trusted us, the mentors who give their time and advice, our awesome partners, and everyone who supported, recommended or simply gave a shit about this unique little studio, built by me, a Scotsman who speaks ein bisschen Deutsche. Some would argue I’m more of a visual than a languages guy.

Best of all, today we officially move into our new design studio. Completely coincidental and absolutely perfect.

Seven years. Still here. Still making things that matter.

[Lee Black @mrblackstudio]

Some Friday progress on the new studio. Under desk Mac Studios mounted and cabled up. Decal added to front door. Might be off angle by 1mm 🤦‍♂️

I have extra, so probably a redo.

[Catherine Black @mrsblackstudio]

@stephenbliss I can’t tell if that’s a giant marshmallow or ice cream

[Catherine Black @mrsblackstudio]

@stephenbliss but did they touch everything first and then cough on the fruit selection?

[Lee Black @mrblackstudio]

Been quietly building a browser based live audiovisual studio app for commercial use in @framer

It listens to your music, analyses it in real time, then turns the frequency into visuals, type, glitches, motion, scene changes, FX, and more.

It’s node based. Connect audio, MIDI, visuals and behaviours together without needing a PhD in noodles.

Build scenes. Chain FX. Map parameters. Make things react to sound and MIDI in near real time (milliseconds latency).

Performance Mode splits your controls from the clean projector output where you see the knobs and chaos, everyone else sees the magic.

Underneath: frankly ridiculous. To use: surprisingly simple. Code named Signaaal.

Sneak peak 👀🔊

[Catherine Black @mrsblackstudio]

My favourite woodland walk in Scotland, small but mighty.

[Catherine Black @mrsblackstudio]

@mrblackstudio I think it should be i have a wonderful and remarkable wife, not life 😜

[Catherine Black @mrsblackstudio]

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿A little walk in Scotland.

[Lee Black @mrblackstudio]

Great to have been featured in @figma’s 2026 Config zine alongside a lot of talented designers and builders. Also go get your copy. It’s really nice.

[Catherine Black @mrsblackstudio]

@troymyatt ah cute! Your mum is so pretty.

[Lee Black @mrblackstudio]

I’m a bit late to men’s mental health awareness month. Good. Because mental health doesn’t care what month it is.

Check in on your brothers, your dad, your son, your uncle, and your mates. Check in on the females in your life too 🖤

Some posters of encouragement. Made in @figma

[Lee Black @mrblackstudio]

Ampere posters.

Alongside Studio F.A. Porsche, we did the branding, mobile app, website, Illustrations, Icons, and design system.

The posters are just for fun spin offs.

[Catherine Black @mrsblackstudio]

@KiritDawda @meshtimes_ I guess they should consider that a stranger approaching her is potentially unnerving and just say hi. Maybe next time mention it- but instantly is just a bit much. :) I say this as someone who knows and chats to all my neighbours, I think it’s a balance. ;)

[Catherine Black @mrsblackstudio]

@jappleby @meshtimes_ I think it’s the difference is him being in her private space and not in public, he knows where she lives and potentially has searched to find her address. Maybe he is just a neighbour but in a split second she wouldn’t know that.

[Catherine Black @mrsblackstudio]

@meshtimes_ All the comments here outing themselves as oblivious to women’s safety. If he approached you in a shopping centre then maybe that’s ok, but to approach you in your apartment building is quite intimidating. I’d worry he’s stranger who found your address and not a neighbour?

[Catherine Black @mrsblackstudio]

@KiritDawda @meshtimes_ it’s completely different when someone approaches you in a public place compared to your apartment lobby, that’s more personal and a much bigger risk. A stranger knowing your home address is worrying. Was he a neighbour who recognised her or a stranger who found her address?

[Lee Black @mrblackstudio]

I’m genuinely surprised by this one.

Connected Earth has won the Innovative Workflow Award at the Figma Makeathon and received a $10,000 prize.

A few weeks ago this was simply an idea I couldn’t get out of my head. The belief that while language often separates us, sound has a unique ability to connect us. You don’t need to speak the same language to understand rain on a window, birds in a park, or waves hitting a shoreline.

What followed was a lot of conversations with Figma Agents, countless iterations in Make, a mountain of prompts, late nights, broken audio pipelines, and more than a few moments where I wasn’t sure it would make it to the deadline at all.

The thing I’m most proud of isn’t the award. It’s that people from around the world decided to contribute. Today there are more than 200 recordings from 48 countries, all helping build something far bigger than I could have created on my own.

Thank you to everyone who uploaded a sound, tested an early version, shared feedback, or simply spent a few minutes listening.

And thank you to @figma, @contra, and the judges for seeing something in a slightly unusual idea about slowing down and paying attention.

Congratulations to all other winners. Kudos to the 11,000 participants.

Language separates us. Sound connects us.

[Lee Black @mrblackstudio]

Interesting to hear people recording themeselves playing guitar, humming, playing piano, and noodling on Synthesizers. This is amazing 🤩