Inspiration

Here are some more pictures (taken by Jeremy) of a Pincushion Protea with a bee collecting pollen.

I am falling more and more in love with a macro-lens ….

I love the small messages that come on the back of sugar packets.

I have a quite a collection - some pinned to my pin board and some pasted into my journal. They always brighten my day or remind me to lighten up, smile and enjoy the simple things.

This weekend I got one step closer to achieving one of Wren and my life’s goals: to make other’s dreams come true.

The demand for Wren bags has steadily increased and Fatimah and Zerina are battling with one sewing machine to keep up. Instead of looking for another sample-machinist to join the team, they asked to get a second sewing machine. For about a month we have been looking.

Then through my ‘Sewing machines, services and sad faces‘ post a few days ago somebody contacted me to offering us a great deal on a very good industrial sewing machine. The machine was perfect: it was a Brother, new, worked, was affordable and as far as industrial sewing machines go, the most beautiful one I had ever seen. Needless to say, we bought it (or Wren bought it).

Poor Jeremy moved the solid stainless steel sewing machine.

During the car trip I was able to ask Fatimah what she would like in her life: She wants to be able to stop working at the factories (currently she has to get up very early, around 4 am, and catch 2 taxis’s, a bus and then another taxi just to get to work), and work from home. I am hoping that sometime next year Fatimah will be able to do this. I wanted to get a studio where we could all work together, but that is not her dream. Now that I know what she wants and what I want, we will work together to make these individual dreams come true.

From Left to right; Zerina, Fatimah (at the back), Fatimah's daughter (at the back), Two girls from the neighbourhood, Ouma and then me.

It is great to be able to make such a positive difference in other’s lives. Thank you to everybody who has bought something from Wren becuase you are a part of this story.

On Wednesday I took some books out at the library. The lady who checked my books out looked grumpy. She took my books, shouted at some students for making too much noise and continued to mutter under her breath about something or other. When she handed my books back she smiled and I did a double take. I could not believe 1) how beautiful she was when she smiled and 2) that she had just smiled!

I walked away amazed and made a conscious effort for the rest of the day to keep a smile on my face. If it turned a lady I would have described as ordinary looking (and rather miserable) into a joyful and beautiful person (on perception) - well it is cheaper than any make-up in the world.

Smile! It makes you look more beautiful and feel a whole lot more positive.

Above is a picture of Katie (my dog) smiling. She always greets me with a toothy grin that I adore. I have to smile back.

One of my favourite things about Canoeing in the Western Cape is all the places you visit and then get to see and experience from a different angle. During this time of the year the Canola Fields are blooming and the hills are all painted bright yellow. I love it.

As for the race - Jeremy and I did well. We finished and had a lot of fun. We landed up in a tree and then in the water once when I hesitated which way to go (ooops). Otherwise, the weather was lovely, the river was full (which has it’s negatives), but overall, it makes the 75km go by much faster and be much more exciting.

Ages ago I found a ‘hybridlife’ advert. I loved it so much I photostated it, enlarged it and stuck it up in my office. From there it moved with me to my next job’s wall and is now pasted in my journal. Wanting to share it with you I tried to take a photograph of it but it did not come out well enough.

So…I found the website.

I’m not going to tell you anything more - GO AND CHECK IT OUT! It’s simply fantastic!

Today I’ve got inspiration ‘block’. This is not something easy to overcome so I turned to the internet and found this post by Elite called “Feeling the need for some inspiration on Monday”. Inspired by it I decided to list the things I know help me. Here they are:

1. Write a list of things you are thankful for. Neilfa from ‘The Observer’ blog has just done this and I loved reading it. When you do this you are full of positive grateful energy and your mind and heart open up to receive inspiration.

2.a. Flip through some old magazines that relate to your niche. Libraries are great places to get these and you will be amazed at the inspiration you can draw from them.

2.b. I have books I call my ‘inspiration scrapbooks’. These are books I have filled with cutouts from magazines and print outs from online of things that I find interesting and/or inspiring.

I love these books and love adding to them. By doing this I am internalizing the inspiration that I have collected and it’s like giving a tired plant water, it does not take long for it to perk up. This activity is water to your inspiration. I really recomend starting an inspiration book. My mom started one two years ago and has surprised herself by keeping to it. She has one for all the things she likes and finds interesting and another full of recipes she wants to try. I love paging through her books becuase her collection is so different to mine. We pick up different things and this is refreshing.

3. Take a walk/do some exercise. Sometimes getting out to clear your mind and breathe some fresh air is all you need. When you come back you are energized and more than often, rearing to go.

4. Open up your RSS page and see what other designers are up to. If you do not have an RSS feed, visit Design Alltop which lists the best/top creative websites and their current posts. It is always nice to see what other’s are up to and creative ideas usually stem from it.

I could probably come up with a lot of ideas but these are the ones I religiously go to when I am feeling uninspired. I hope they can help you.

Have a GREAT DAY!

This is a project recently done by the first year Surface Design students of the CPUT.

To begin, they studied and experimented with the balance between negative and positive, different line tensions and cosmic shapes (which have a focus point). They then took these activities and combined them into one A1 painted artwork again focusing on the balance between all the elements (see below).

By Stohm Savage.

These designs were then taken to Peacock glass (scanned in) where they were sandblasted onto mirrors.

I absolutely LOVE how they came out and feel from both a learning and design perspective that they are a great success.

It was extremely reasonable too. What a great way to take your bathroom mirror and do something different. This is so much more interesting than a boring old frame….or even….what if you had to sandblast a designed frame……the possibilities are endless.

Design Students below from left to right:

Monique Arnold, Cheryl Marley and Amanda Wababa

Three are supposedly many ‘magical’ ingredients to successful business’s but are they really ‘magical’ when you know what they are and that they are achievable by everybody?

Alex Iskold has written a very inspirational article titled ‘What Start-ups can learn from Haruki Murakami‘  and drawn four key points from it that I feel are the magical (or not so magical) ingredients to successful start-ups.

1. Find your passion and commit to it
2. Stick with what you know
3. Start even and finish first
4. Never settle and always seek creativity

P.S. The comments to this article are also very inspiring. Take the time and read them. It is worth it.