Homemade

Today I received my last birthday present from my husband. You know how sometimes men get it really wrong when buying presents? Dave has an uncanny knack of getting it really right.

He noticed I had commented on Facebook on a photo of a bag made by my American friend Laura, who I met many moons ago whilst being a summer camp counsellor in my year out from Uni. There then ensued a flurry of emails secretly back and forth between the two of them. She designed and made a bag especially for me, and I had no idea!! I absolutely ADORE it! The thing with my new bag is that it is not perfect, but the slight imperfections in the sewing just add to it in my opinion. It was made with love, there is not another one exactly like it in the world, and this makes it really, really special!

And it set me thinking about all things homemade. After checking Laura's stuff out on Etsy , I began to browse through lots of other things, like clothes, jewellery, art...... And it set me thinking about how I really would like to do more in terms of buying things from crafts people, things that are homemade, one offs, quirky, but most of all, NOT mass produced. There are lots of reasons this feels important, but a main one is my increasing dissatisfaction with the consumer culture we live in, where we are constantly being coerced into buying more and more and more stuff. I am aware I will always be affected by this mentality ( and I can't help but LOVE shopping for all things pretty!) but I am going to make a concious effort and decision to buy more things second hand or handmade. After all, I am an artist, so I should be doing whatever I can to support the cause of those who share my passion!