Designed in 2020 amidst the chaos and the loneliness, the quiet and the creative, in the shadows and the light I spent many hours drawing & painting with my kids, overwhelmed by the news and the state of things we moved from a home in Cali to care take a farm deep in the coffee region of Colombia.

Despite the challenges of this time and everything we observed on the news and in the media, what I saw and felt from the creative and social industries was the most  immense creativity,  deep connection despite distance, and an overwhelming sense of solidarity and support.

I was also reminded by the many communities we know and work with, the strength of the connection and commitment to their craft, despite the most immense challenges of living through a pandemic in Colombia, this commitment remained. The threads, the fibres, the loom, the plants ~  the practice of combining these elements with their hands maintains a living & constant connection to their heritage, their ancestors and the natural world. Even when Colombia seemed in many ways paralysed, their hands kept spinning, dyeing, weaving.

It was in this context, Ode To Aquarius was designed, as I witnessed the solidarity, creativity and the weaving of new ideas, connections and communities combined with the strength and perseverance of the Colombian women we work with, I felt hopeful and inspired.

This all cried out of the Aquarian spirit to me, and I was moved to design a mini collection to celebrate humankind from this perspective.

 In subtle ways each piece within this collection  has been designed to embody and celebrate an aspect of the Aquarian spirit.

As always I sent my sketches to Marcella & the team in Chimichagua, Marcella told me what was possible, and what was not, the women gathered the palma, they prepared the dyes by hand, cooking up the colour in their gardens, mounted their wooden looms in shady spaces in & around their homes and begun to weave the designs from my sketches on paper.

Ode to Aquaruius was born and remains for the meantime, a made to order collection, so each piece is made up just for you.

Humans throughout history, alongside all that is cruel, have had and continue to have the most beautiful relationships with one another and the natural world and it is my intention and my hope that this mini collection sings to that part of humanity.

In the words of Howard Zinn

 “to be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

 

Images by the wonder Sam Stenson @sheiswater   https://www.sheiswater.space/