It’s suddenly October with its crisp, sunny days and lengthening nights. Before I fully embrace the Autumn, I am still relishing the lighter, warmer days of Spring & Summer. This year in particular has been a special one, as I was finally able to go home and see family in New Zealand.
One early morning while battling the jet lag that comes with a long haul flight, I decided to walk the length of the beach near my Kiwi Batch a beach house near Tawharanui, a beautiful marine reserve.
The sun was just coming up over the horizon in the distance and the light glistened on the dark blue green waves like white dancing horses. As the sun made its morning journey over the horizon, the sea seemed to change from shades of blue and green to turquoise. I could feel the sand squishy and moist under my feet, smell and almost taste the salt sea air. It was a moment of stunning beauty that I hope to hold onto for years to come – a necessary reminder of how inspiring nature is, and how awakening to all the senses.
Back home in London, I am often awash in a different kind of sea – one of business and busy-ness, full of quotidian distractions. The news, social media, getting from a to b, the school calendar, the work calendar, the list goes on.
After this little NZ epiphany, my aim as we head into this winter is to make more time in nature, and when there, to be in the moment, and feel it with all my senses. To stand with my feet in the sea, cool waves washing over, feeling the sand moving between my toes – grounded again and again by the aesthetic epiphanies only nature provides.
Nature is my greatest source of inspiration, especially in my work. The movement and textures, the colours, the sculptural elements that I see in a tree, or an old piece of driftwood, the way light changes from place to place, the list goes on, its lessons endless. It encompasses all the senses, the way I like to build a room or a home.
And so, as I march into the madness of the Autumn rush, I do so with my feet grounded in the NZ sands, faraway as they may be.