Today in Bali is Nyepi the first day of the year in the Balinese calendar, a day of reflection and quiet. For this day we remain in our homes with the lights off. No bikes populate the streets and the sea and beaches are empty. A standard that has become the normal as in turn each country across the world are confined to their homes in an attempt to stop a virus few understand. Nyepi follows the Ngrupuk parade where local villages build Ogoh-ogoh, large statues that represent mythological beings or demons. There purpose is to purify the living environment and any evil spirits and after the parade are burnt with the evil spirits captured inside. Who knows what will...
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...
