She also mentioned the idea of "an urban surfer not a Californian surfer" for her prints, which is an idea that, though slightly nonsensical, has a certain appeal.
By examining works by Shakespeare, Spenser, Montaigne, and others, he dispels the notion of literary texts as static or closed, and instead demonstrates how the unsettled conventions of early print culture fostered an idea of books as interactive and malleable.
Just as abruptly, the conversation jolted back to business: scheduling a tour for a potential program partner; whether an employee going through a family trauma should take a few days off; how best to advertise their summer camp (Brandon suggested printing on Frisbees, an idea both parents liked).
Emin herself says there is no distinction to be made between these and the bolder conceptual works that made her part of the "Sensation" generation: "The prints start off with an idea," she explains.
In a famous letter to Isaac McPherson, he noted a peculiarity of communication by print: "He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me".
From the outset, a bird's-eye view of the city, etched by Wenceslaus Hollar in 1647 and printed in Amsterdam, gives an idea of what London looked like before it was wiped out by the 1666 fire.
"Now engineers can think of an idea, print it, hold it in their hand, share it with other people, change it and go back and print another one," says David Reis, the chief executive of Objet Geometries, an Israeli firm that makes 3-D printers.
That's not much to pay for a restaurant, to be sure, but if you read the fine print you'll get an idea of what made Mr. Newton such a sharp businessman in the first place.
2. By Invention, or voluntary putting together of several simple Ideas in our own Minds: So he that first invented Printing, or Etching, had an Idea of it in his Mind, before it ever existed.
"With the Web, you don't have any paper or printing costs associated with testing an idea," he continued.
