On lime, and the long arithmetic of patience.

There is a particular feeling — a kind of held breath — when a lime-plastered wall is finally polished and the burnisher comes away clean.

Lime asks for time. It asks for many hands. It asks for a contractor who is willing to wait between coats, and for a client who is willing to pay for that waiting.

We use lime because it ages well. Because it forgives. Because it lets a building belong to its place rather than to its catalogue.