The journey, together.
As we all continue this journey into safety and isolation, sharing support is something I’ve come to find brings some relief to us all.
Here I share some of my key inspirations throughout this week of isolation, alongside some of my personal tips on keeping focussed, creative and positive. I hope you enjoy, and share yours with me too at @bibivandervelden.
I’m following the #HermitageAtHome @hermitage_amsterdam campaign. The team there has brought the museum online via video tours, curated interviews with key experts and inspirations focussed around the exhibitions that are still very much open online. The ‘Jewels! Glittering at the Russian Court’ exhibition, for which I created a treasured piece inspired by the Neptune Sculpture in Winter Palace is now able to view online here. Another great museum that’s taken to opening up online to the world right now is the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Belgium. With their virtual tours you can escape into exhibitions and even zoom in on the smallest details.
A tip for keeping focussed is meditation in a routine. The structure of keeping to an element of self care and reflection daily will bring comfort and truer focus. For me, meditation is the most valuable first thing in the morning, when I’m close to nature. In Portugal, we have our favourite spot, on a rock that looks into the ocean. Meditation is a great way to make the most of the precious time we have with our own thoughts through this journey. We’ve been enjoying the Instagram yoga and meditation classes with our friends at @delight.yoga. Delight Yoga shares daily live streams of their classes on Instagram Stories and Eddie Stern is a fantastic teacher. They’ve built a great community of masters at the studio there, the community itself is something you can still feel so strongly over video.
As founding partner of Auverture, a supportive environment for creative fine jewellery that is uniting independent artists together, support for our industry and all of it’s talent is key now more than ever. Over the next three months, all profits from jewellery sales via Auverture.com will be donated to designers in need via The Auverture Designer Fund #AuvertureUnited. If you believe in the power of creativity and unity to help independent designers survive, invest in their beautiful creations or donate to the fund along with me, here.100% of donations will benefit the cause, for when we commit to something, it’s always fully.
Next week, the Harper’s Bazaar Powercast podcast features my interview with Editor In Chief, @miluskavantlam on how and why keeping our values around craft and sustainability at the Bibi Van Der Velden brand are so key. You’ll also learn more about a charity we’ve started called Charlie Braveheart, a very personal cause very close to all of our hearts and I’m sure it will warm yours too.
Now is also the time to sketch and draw. At times of difficulty, I often find a great spark of energy within me for creativity, and so taking to art materials is a great way to release energy and create something beautiful through the emotions we have. I plan to share my sketches live with you very soon on Instagram, to show the very first elements of my design and art. Do let me know if there is something in particular you’d like to see from me sketch-wise, message directly at @bibivandervelden - I can’t wait to share my favourite inspirational art forms with you.
The beautifully lucid art from Louise Bourgeois I’ve always loved, and I find these pieces particularly encouraging in times of uncertainty. Bourgeois once said, “When I draw it means that something bothers me, but I don’t know what it is. So it is the treatment of anxiety.” You can view the Louise Bourgeois Drawings exhibition from Hauser & Wirth online now too: https://bit.ly/2wx5eOf.
Louise Bourgeois - Femme Maison, 1947
Most of all, I recommend spending quality time with our loved ones, (even if over a video call) now is the time to check-in and stay close with communication where we can. When possible, take just an hour of time to talk about how you are all feeling, together with loved ones and raise positive subjects for thought.
I started cooking for my mother and two younger brothers when I was twelve. My mother, an amazing sculptor, didn’t derive much joy from cooking. For me, it started as a necessity and later became a passion, now I find it meditative. Living so remotely in Portugal now, food supplies have been something difficult to come by during this time, and so we’ve quickly taken to building a vegetable garden and planting. There’s something very significant about receiving from nature, giving it what it needs and looking forward to what it will give. Especially now.
We’ve been finding creative ways to teach the children from home. Taking them outside safely with nature to teach through conversation and what you see whilst on your daily walk together, or back inside creating small fun games to teach maths or language skills. This is a time to collectively learn more about each other, parent and child too.
Let’s follow the journey safely, together. Bx