Creative??

 The world is my source, my inspiration and enables my creative thoughts

Here comes our monthly, "By Invitation Only". Our topic is about staying creative... and how one accomplishes that.

This is a personal quest. For me, it is very simple: I do not have a choice. I am am Interior Designer, furniture and lighting designer. If I am not creative, constantly in the moment while thinking ahead, I no longer have a purpose and would be condemned to a fate of boredom.

At this point, I think everyone around me would jump ship, my sons, my friends, colleagues, staff, my dogs and even my dear Mr Whiskers. I would be unbearable... (I do hope that my present self is indeed bearable).

How do I do it? Above all I am curious...so curious that it got me into some deep trouble, such as searching for the perfect graffiti in the worst neighborhood of Buenos Aires or looking into junkyards and chased after by some rather nasty dogs in Santorini. While in foreign lands, I love to explore, often getting lost, so lost that I need to be rescued by various passersby. I have become incredibly talented at hand language which, actually, in some countries can make a situation worse.

Getting back to how to stay creative: beyond being curious, one must live with open eyes and an open heart, embracing our surroundings, finding beauty even in the ugly and the discarded. I absorb colors, textures, scents and read. I am an avid reader and some of my furniture collections have been inspired by pages of a book.

Now the hard part.... staying young.... Being in an ever changing and challenging youth and beauty oriented industry is not for the weak at heart. We, as creative people, should really get a break in that department, but genetics have no respect for our creative minds. So, I stay young in spirit, in the now, embrace my kids' culture, their music, love to discover young artists, watch the latest independent movies, do not dress according to my age but according to how I feel , and am constantly on a learning quest.

Formula to stay creative: be daring, be curious, look around you, explore foreign surroundings, read novels and foreign magazines, stay alert, visit museums and galleries, walk into fabulous hotels and observe, watch nature. Embrace it all and experiment, Enjoy!

 A Bientot,

 

Francine

Perfect Imperfections: The doors of Zanzibar

Welcome to Stone Town, Zanzibar

In writing for my  blog, I need to dig deep into my own persona: who am I, what do I really like and dislike, how do I live this passage of time that is life? A while ago, I worked with Sean Low who helped me define the process of running a creative business. This exercise was very personal as I needed to really understand and assess the core of my creative mind. In the end, it became evident that my design aesthetics are not about the expected perfection of an object, a piece of furniture or a space but quite the opposite. I need to feel a space, touch an object, to see and feel a piece of fabric, the texture of a chair or a table needs to stand on its own. The design of a piece of furniture or the inspiration for a new collection always comes to me from a part of the past, a discarded object or material, or even a few lines from a book.


It all came so clearly to me, what speaks to me, what I strive for in design and in my personal life is perfect imperfections. The essence of beauty seen, felt, breathed, touched... from this I  will be writing a small series of jottings on perfect imperfections.

Hidden in the corner, I am indeed the lady in black

I will start with the doors of Zanzibar. I travelled all the way to Zanzibar, a rather small island off the coast of Tanzania to see its famous entry doors. The splendor of Oman's influence and its wealth is long gone, but what remains is a richness in history, texture, display of wealth, tortuous narrow streets, decayed gardens, ancient palaces and  one's imaginations can go wild with visual stories of exotic days gone by.


For hours, I walked under tremendous heat in Stone Town's narrow streets, admiring, touching, watching the inhabitants of these houses go in and out via these magnificent doors. These doors are mute witnesses to the richness of the ancient Omani culture, beautifully sculpted in rare woods or sometimes just simple doors that evoke the terrible human suffering during the sordid times of slavery and far too often, death.

The doors with a chain design belonged to the slave traders. Zanzibar was once the main center for arab slave trading. The inhumanity of such men is almost palpable as one walks through the narrow street and enter some of the holding cells for enslaved men and women.

My imagination was running wild while looking at these remnants  of past splendors

Very tempted to ship this one home!

More to come on fascinating Zanzibar, its culture, people,architectural heritage and its famous beaches and hotels.

A bientot,

Francine