Little travels
Three jewellery ranges have been designed, created and delivered – it has been an incredibly busy season, meeting up with new-found designers, artists and buyers. As an artist and jeweller it was exciting and fascinating, but as a traveller and outdoor junkie it left me a bit parched. So instead of the usual chilled weekend at home pondering life in all its many permutations, I decided to go experience and explore them instead. After two months of solid designing it was time to fill my creative cup.
The beauty of living in South Africa is that you are never far from wide open spaces and unknown new places. It’s really important to me to make time, even when I’m at my busiest, to get out and about. To go near, far, anywhere and where I am from, one never has to stray far from home to end up in some small part of paradise.
Saturday morning, 6am, I was heading west – a reliable source had given me a heads-up on surf along the coast. Two and a half hours later I found myself driving down a long and winding tar road that became a winding gravel track, only to end in a dead end. One little house with the ocean for a lawn and towering mountains as its backyard. It was quiet and peaceful. I unpacked and unwound.
I came across a coastline of empty waves, majestic mountains and endless roads – I surfed, I walked, I wandered. I stood in awe, I surfed some more. I swam in rock pools and chased my own shadow until my heart was satisfied. There was no-one in sight, and I could see for miles. The ocean, the mountains, the swallows, the sky – all so clear, so content.
On day two the ocean woke me early – it was time for photo exploration. Countless empty little bays, the ocean and its creatures their only visitors. The birds and sun beetles, background music, the sunshine my only company. In only 24 hours my cup was overflowing and it was time to return home.
Little travels are never out of reach. There are very few things in life that excite, exhilarate and restore more than a quick trip somewhere – anywhere. As a designer there are very few things that inspire more than a change of routine, a change of scenery, a change of mind. As a traveller there is only one thing that satisfies, and that my friend is travelling – to see, to explore and to discover. To inspire and be inspired.
So go – near, far, somewhere, anywhere.
