Demi Taylor is a writer, Director at Approaching Lines and Co-founder of the London Surf / Film Festival. She lives in Cornwall with her partner Chris Nelson. What was the journey that lead you to start the London Surf / Film Festival? Chris and I met on a press trip – he was a magazine editor and I was managing the PR for the world’s largest surf brand – and the rest is history! We fell in love, packed in our desk jobs, packed up our Winnebago and headed off on a year-long road trip documenting the Atlantic coastline of Europe. We came home, scored a publishing deal, wrote our first book and we’ve been writing partners ever since....
Oh boy did we LOVE our time in Morocco, fabric sourcing, mint tea drinking, surfing and getting lost amongst the medinas and souks. I literally cannot wait to return with a van to fill to the brim with ceramics, rugs and puppies, but more of that later.
Essaouira is a port city on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, it has a laid-back friendly vibe, almost impossible to visit and not feel enchanted by. Here is our World in Cushions guide!
It’s the time of year when we evaluate what has been, what we are proud off and what we are not. We tell ourselves that 2020 is the year we will get in shape and drag our arses running around the park. That we will actually get around to reading and implementing Marie Kondo’s famous ‘The life – changing magic of tidying’ book. The old will be cleared out to make way for a new dynamic version of our 2020 selves. It is also around this time of year we are told that all our well thought out new year resolutions will be on the things we have failed to do pile by early February, a disheartening thought indeed! So,...
It was in the hills of the rift valley working for a Buddhist festival that I first fell in love with the Maasai blankets or Shuka as they are called locally. I had come to Kenya as part of a motley crew of artists, designers, makers and musicians. We were to bring to life this corner of the world for the Shinnyo-en Buddhists annual fire and water festival a faction of Japanese Buddhists. I knew little of Buddhism before the trip and felt inspired by the marriage of colours and sounds of these two separate cultures. The gentle chanting with the deep purples and oranges of the Japanese’s fused with the bright reds and deep drumming of the local Samburu...
I came to Bhutan to work on an Arts and Music festival held across Thimphu (The capital.) I had pre-conceived ideas of how my time would be spent when not working in blissful meditation on green hillsides in the nation that rates the national happiness of the country as it’s maker for success.
Sometimes the universe has a different plan with what’s in store for us often far greater than our imaginations can conceive. I did indeed find the strong connection with Buddhism that permeates the country, schools and hillsides, but more unexpectedly I also found a thriving rock scene!
