I never seem to find time like I used to in order to be creative. I also dislike the overuse of the word creative. It seems to be used in abundance, another word that gets bandied around these days. In order to avoid clichés might I just say, I can’t find enough me time… Oops I did it again.
I rise before sunlight in the morning. In a haze usually. I try my best to spring out of bed these days but it feels more like hobble on some days. Off to the loo. Then I pack my little bag, take my medications, descend the stairs of my apartment block, turn on the engine of my car, which starts in electric mode, and off I go to Bondi.
At 6am I meet with an eclectic group of men at the North Bondi Beach ramp, our only Jewish member has disbanded, we have one Lebanese, two wasps, four Greeks and the occasional visit from a peripheral member who can be anything from Italian to Maltese. In we go, the water is arresting. You are now awake.
Follow that by coffee, we exchange war stories from business life, I am the only one in a tiny small business, the others have quite important roles and often sit on top of teams and work with greater intensity each day than I do, certainly they put more on the line.
I come up to my Studio which is about a 7 minute drive. I turn on the lights, write a to-do list, write an affirmation list to try and stay focused and positive, then I get a coffee next door, sit down and plan out anything that needs a pen and paper, and that begins my day.
The day passes by cutting silks, taking appointments, dealing with clients on WhatsApp, dispatching orders, making perfumes, sorting silks, taking deliveries, investigating new designs and product lines, talking to friends, dealing with private label orders, tying bow ties, photographing bow ties, writing about bow ties, posting on Instagram, talking to camera and so and so forth.
Somehow I arrive at 5pm and my friend that I walk 2 hours with in the evening, in order to keep my body active and lower my blood sugars, checks in to ensure that we are departing at 630pm, then I call my daughter to see how her day at school was, I walk for two hours and we discuss the same things each evening, my friend and me, the cost of living, people that give us headaches, the benefits of not being married, and why we lament not having found a ‘good woman’ in life, which is, and we are aware of this, completely incongruous with our belief that marriage is a bad business.
Before bed I am talking to anyone in Italy that needs my attention, I chat with friends on group WhatsApp chats, leave funny voice notes on said chats imitating other nationalities and cultures, my go to being aggressive South Africans who speak in command form, and then I switch out the light, turn on an Audible book, often Swanns Way or Zorba The Greek or a lecture on Homer’s Odyssey and somehow I fall asleep and do it all again.
And this seems to go on each day until something triggers a change in pattern. A holiday, a ski trek, a long weekend, falling sick or simply taking the time to be - creative.
This week, if all goes to plan, I will have the time to continue sketching so I can work with Lucy on our next and final design for the year, Sydney Harbour. I didn’t like the preliminary sketch she handed back this week.
The theme from the final two printed silks for the year will be ‘my island home’. One references evil eyes and Kastellorizo where my paternal lineage comes from. The other is Sydney Harbour, the second island being Australia, where we have laid down our roots having left Kastellorizo some 110 years ago.
Both these designs are intended to be from the heart. I believe we have gotten the first one right, there is a magic when I return to Kastellorizo.I didn’t even want to go this year, I am just over travelling, or I thought I was. Every time I tried to leave something came up. I feel so blessed (another overused expression) that we managed to fit in this trip and I don’t get complacent about the future now, I don’t have any faith anymore that things will simply work themselves out.
So the second design, Sydney Harbour, which I look at every single day of my life between the Studio and where I live, is a magnificent second design which I hope at the end will convey all that I love about this city. Though in some ways it is Draconian and there is overbearing legislation there is in many ways a very poor nightlife and atmosphere about the place, certainly not as exciting as Europe, it is on the other hand a very clean living city, where the beach and the mornings are perhaps more important that nighttime and the good life.
Well, this is about as much time as I can spare today. I hope you like the new designs and as soon as they are ready I will let you know.
Be well.
Nicholas.