Pixelz Newsletter

Between Progress and Preservation

Bear with me this month as you come on a personal journey with me.

I was on holiday for a good portion of the month. I wasn’t immersed in LinkedIn or TikTok. I was in Laos—deep in the jungle—completely untethered and unbothered by the world.

Laos holds a special place in my story. It was the beginning of my solo travels. I had received a scholarship to go and do research (I use that term very lightly). As part of an undergrad internship, I spent time working with textiles from Laos that drove me to apply for the scholarship. Back then, I was lucky. I got to process textiles and artifacts from the mid-1900s—pieces steeped in meaning and technique. And just last week I saw the mass produced textiles, often sold alongside elephant pants in the night markets. There’s no comparison. It makes you want to mourn what’s being ‘lost’ as the tourist economy flourish.

It brought back the question I asked 15 years ago, that I find myself asking today.

How do people, cultures, and countries move forward while holding on to the richness of their stories?

The real challenge is to make room for progress while holding onto what matters—the elements of culture, identity, and craft that remain meaningful. And to know what is worth preserving or when preservation is holding us back.

As someone working in e-commerce and AI, I feel this tension every day.

I think I often get caught up in work, but this trip reminded me that the cultural shift around AI isn’t new—it’s just the latest wave. I had traveled deep down the AI path (I love what it enables), but stepping away gave me space to view it with new eyes.

In focusing so heavily on the tech, I missed the bigger context: how the AI revolution is shaping me. Personally, professionally. Quietly shifting the way I think, the way I create, the way I craft stories. And it’s high time I understand what I need to preserve—the parts of myself, my practice—that are worth preservation. In the quiet moments between progress and preservation, many of us are wondering what to carry forward.

If you’re feeling that too—know that you’re not alone in trying to make sense of it all and maybe we all just need a perspective shift.

Pixelz Pulse

As I mentioned, AI has been on the brain and not just for me. We've got content and events to keep the learning going:

  • If you’re in London and want to discuss AI in person, join us at FLOW Local: London on May 15th. Register here!
  • Watch our Virtual Model Demo recording to see how virtual models can scale in a hybrid workflow.
  • How can AI help you write product descriptions? We talk about it in our latest blog post.
  • Finally, shifting away from the topic of AI and back to the brilliant humans of our industry. Nominations are now open for Top 50 E-Commerce Studio Professionals 2025.

Hot Links

And for a few more things from around the internet that I’ve been reading:

  • In my standard pre-Met Gala reading, I came across the brand Hanifas that made a mark during Covid with their virtual fashion show. Read the article about the brand and then visit their website - their visuals feel so curated and thoughtful.
  • Are microtrends having less influence on our content? The Debrief from Business of Fashion have a mini podcast discussing this and how (surprise, surprise) tuned-in brand storytelling and values are important.
  • The ChatGPT shopping news dropped too close to the newsletter so let’s meet back here next month to see what we’ve all learned. Until next time…