This is not a designer life…

Today marks the start of the year in the Julian calendar, an older calendar that is still used by the orthodox. I have always liked 14 January as a date as it rings like a new start, or second chance to get it right.. after the inevitable let down of the first round of good resolutions.

Perhaps this also because I feel there is so much pressure around New Year’s resolutions and I cannot avoid thinking about the undertones of “failure” and “having to do better” that they carry. It is all about what you have not yet achieved, correcting your bad habits, trying to be a different person..

So how about focusing on things you like and like doing instead? And doing more of those to make you feel happier?

This year I have decided to do just that.. do more of what I like and less of what stresses me out and ultimately makes me unhappy and unfulfilled. Ok so I admit it is work in progress but I am starting with what brings me a little daily joy.

So here goes.. Objective number one is to read more books. I have always had a love for books, to me they are magical creatures, doors to other worlds where my imagination can run wild or simply a gateway to greater insight into how the world around us works.

I also get a lot of fulfilment from reading, ever since finishing Lord of the Flies in primary school. I remember I was gripped by the storyline, however hard it was, and couldn’t put the book down. Since then, I have always felt great pride at the end of a good book. Pride for uncovering it in the first place, pride for sticking with it..

Back in London, I was in this great book club started by four friends who each invited another friend. Being one of the plus ones, I obviously felt great pressure to impress everyone at our first meeting! It helped that I just loved the book but I also remember spending hours reading up commentary about the plot, its historical meaning, and thinking up all these great discussion starters! Needless to say that wasn’t the point at all and we just had a great evening discussing our own interpretations and getting to know each other over a glass of wine!

So a couple of weeks ago I decided that if I aimed to read one book a week, it would help me get through the backlog of fantastic books I keep picking up in quaint bookshops in Paris, London, New York, Brussels… I may or may not reach that target but I definitely am going to try. In fact, just two weeks in and I am through a book and a half… My first book (pictured) was short and powerful – an inspiring essay by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which certainly made me realise how much more awareness is needed around gender discrimination in all settings but also that the courage of just one person can make a lasting difference. I read it as a manifesto for speaking up and not shying away from the more difficult discussions around the perception of women in society and in the workplace.

My second book is about the writing process as told by John McPhee, one of the greatest writers at the New Yorker, in which he shares many wisdoms and anecdotes about his life as a journalist, novelist and professor at Princeton. I have just finished a section recounting when he moved from a typewriter to the first computer-based text editors which were programmed specifically to meet his editing needs – a lovely step back in time.

Better keep reading…

 

 

 

 

 

… or so my mother used to tell me. I’m perhaps not the most patient person, always full of ideas and grabbing inspiration everywhere I can find it, in a bookstore, the Paris metro, watching films and TV series that moulded a generation, or simply people walking by, people I meet. This blog has been on my mind for years now and last year while I was on holiday in Greece, I took the leap and set it up…

Of course, me being me, I wanted it to be perfect, so I started thinking about moodboards, complex structures, taking loads of photos… and then life took over again the minute I came back to Paris, the second I walked back into the office. I have been working for about 14 years now, pretty much non-stop, pushing myself and being pushed. I have done incredible things, met incredible people.

Last year was a turning point however. I got engaged and then married, changed jobs and completed a yoga teacher certification. Granted it’s a lot of things at once. But back to the first, life-changing event, suddenly it is no longer about me, my ambition, but us and our shared goals, something that is going to bring new meaning to my life entirely. 2018 was also about planning the perfect wedding, whilst living in different cities and … working round the clock and travelling all over the place.

So it is with a little delay but just as much passion that I am taking that step again, a small step, just one post but one which I hope marks a new beginning.

This blog is about capturing my journey from “Bright lights, big city” to Real, Wholesome life. While you can achieve a lot of things in life if you set your mind to it, I don’t believe you can “have it all” as we were brought up to think in the movies.

Real life is about choices, compromise, staying true to yourself and who you want to be and to get there you first need to figure out who that true self is, what inspires you, what makes you happy, proud, inspired, what brings meaning to your life; and most importantly, who you want to be for your friends and family.

I have had to learn over the years how to slow down and set realistic expectations for myself and for life in general to find a way to savour each moment and be as grateful for the little things – a love note found in my bag, the smile of a stranger in the street – as for the fancier ones – a designer dress, a trip to the other side of the world, going to a ball, eating out at a Michelin starred restaurant.

Everything is in reach, you just need to believe it is.

Who am I? That is a good question.. I grew up in Paris to a cosmopolitan family, spent my early adulthood in London skipping from one party to the next, enjoying Gallery openings, trips to the Theatre several times a week. London is also where I met my closest friends, those I chose one at a time and kept with me for the journey. I look back very fondly on those years and realise that however hard they were at the start, how lonely it could feel, how unsettling it was trying to figure out who I was against a plethora of other personalities, in the end they helped me come back to who I truly was deep down and I have never looked back. I loved London with all its excitement, new openings, ideas, trends, fashion, art and culture but when I look back almost ten years later, I realise I loved those years because they helped me shape my own path, after trying out a number of others.

Back in Paris, I am very curious about the world I live in. I love nice fabrics and materials, aesthetics, architecture, both classic and modern art as long as it has beauty to it, jazz, classical music, ballet, a bit of saxo house music, and most of all I love to travel, try new foods, cook, discover new wines, see new places and meet people with different outlooks on life as they are all sources of inspiration.

This blog is about all of that and more.. over the years, I have made very enriching encounters, read incredibly deep and inspiring books and I am trying new paths to bring balance to my life – between high ambitions & a solid mind, getting energy from meeting new people and trying new things & focusing on those people that matter most to me, a fascination for incredible, artful design and fashion & a real person’s budget…

I hope these pages will inspire you to try new places, eat different foods, admire beautiful things and over all find some balance in your very busy and demanding lives.

It is delightful to meet you…