Let's cheers to a new dynamic year filled with prosperity, joy and big adventures!
Which is also the theme for my new blog post.
Adventures and inspiration...
Being an independent fashion designer, event organizer and a boutique owner has got me running around like a maniac for the most of the year where others often ask me "how do you do it?"
My response? "There's a very fine line between brilliance and insanity"
Joking set aside, it really does take everything you have to
accomplish your dreams and goals in life, n'est pas?
Crazy determination, and an insurmountable amount of patience is most certainly key alongside having a clear perspective (while keeping an open mind) of where you're going and what you want to achieve in both the short term and long term.
But there is a light at the end of those 60 hour work weeks...
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After scouring thrift stores all year long to create my one-of-a-kind handmade pieces, participating at year round markets, running a boutique 6 days a week and being the organizer of the annual Nifty for Fifty event...
...I close up shop for a few weeks over the holidays and fly the coop for some much needed "me time"...
Every year for the past few years now I have made it a goal to visit Europe. Germany and France in particular.Germany is definitely becoming second home to me now. Being born in Montreal originally and also having deep Portuguese roots, my affinity for Europe isn't any kind of surprise.
See how I fit right in there? :)
Being that this was my third visit to Germany I decided it would be pretty awesome to organize a photo shoot. This said 2 weeks before my flight! No better time than the present right??
I quickly got to work creating the samples for the shoot.
Prior to my stay in the sweet little town of Konigstein, I was super thrilled to have come across the photographic work of Thomas Ruppel. After a great deal of communication and organization, the collaboration was a total success! Here are a few teasers from our shoot featuring designs from Adhesif Clothing's Fall/Winter 2014 collection...
A first for me and what a dream come true in itself! While visiting Europe, I got the amazing opportunity to work with an incredible team of creative talent! Including Elena Thul for MUA & Hair, Sabrina Nathalie Reitz as the model and the gorgeous natural light photography of Thomas Ruppel.
Check out more of Thomas Ruppel's diverse photographic portfolio at http://www.thomas-ruppel.de/
The photo shoot happened on Dec 29th and what a wonderful way to close 2013. New years eve was celebrated with a bang and just around the corner a brand new adventure with more inspiration to follow...
No time to waste, at 6am on January 2nd we boarded a train to the city of love...
Now before I went a friend of mine lent me a really cool book called...
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in checking out the handmade and DIY scene in Paris. These were two of my favorite spots
The owner of Tombe Du Camion is an installation artist and sculpture. He changes the windows weekly with different themes each time. There was a super charming and hilarious shop girl who was very eager to tell me the stories behind literally every dead stock and vintage object I picked up in the place.
The name of the shop translates as "fallen off the truck" which is an adequately quirky name to express all the random vintage objects including doll parts, old postcards, ornamental glass bottles, you name it...this is a DIY haven for prop house enthusiasts!
This must see shop is located in the heart of Montmartre, where we were staying, just take get off at the Abbesses train station. The shop is a 5 minute walk from there.
I also thought La Droguerie was also pretty cool to check out. As it's name suggests it is like a pharmacy but the drugs inside the multitude of glass jars are all kinds of creative and sewing notions and findings like glass beads, hand dyed feathers, buttons, basically you name it. There is also a fabric section with gorgeous printed cotton twill, trims and hand dyed yarns with already made pieces for purchase.
It really got my creative mind going, but being the vintage junky that I am I personally couldn't justify paying 20 Euro per meter of fabric. Too rich for my blood but still a very colorfully inspiring and worthwhile visit.
Even if you're on a budget, Paris is filled with inspiration. A great city to just people watch with something lively and interesting happening around every corner...
A nice little surprise was this amazing Rolling Stones photographic exhibition documenting their career with gorgeous black and white photographs. Oh yeah...and it was FREE
I have to admit, at the end of it all I was totally exhausted...park benches had just as much appeal to me as the multitude museums! An overall tiring but very inspiring trip.
With so much visual stimulation, coming back to my little Vancouver studio was comforting and familiar and had me filled with a million new creative ideas. Now back to the grind of those 60 hour work weeks!
Eeek.
An artists job is never done so it's good thing I got a little thing called passion...
Speaking of which don't forget to check out our Etsy shop. We have a record number of beautiful, one-of-a-kind jems up for grabs right now and thanks for stopping by!
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