In the name of buying slow, sparking joy and creating your best life, I wanted to start sharing more about my process. How I design products and scent profiles, what my work space looks like, how I make the goodies and what inspires me.
It's hard for me to do as I typically share myself with my close friends and family and am more reserved with the rest of the world, but I realise that you want to know the how and why behind what you buy and I am happy to provide that for you.
To get started, I wanted to chat about the importance of "slow" to me. In a world of fast business, I am inspired by a Japanese concept called kaizen. It is a concept of getting better with age or constant improvement. To me that means not rushing, letting things evolve and not getting set in my ways.
My favourite story about constant improvement comes from Japanese painter Hokusai - you may know him from his most famous block print The Great Wave off Kanagawa, from a series of prints called Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
This is how Hokusai described his talents:
“From the age of six I had a penchant for copying the form of things and from fifty my pictures were frequently published; but until the age of seventy nothing I drew was worthy of notice. At seventy-three years I was somewhat able to fathom the growth of plants and trees, and the structure of birds, animals, insects and fish. Thus, when I reach eighty years I hope to have made increasing progress and at ninety to see further into the underlying principles of things, so that at one hundred years I will have achieved a divine state in my art and at a hundred and ten, every dot and every stroke will be as though alive.” – written by Hokusai in 1835 at the age of 75
By his nineties, Hokusai changed his name (for the thirtieth time) to Old Man Mad About Painting.
I love his acceptance that today he is better than yesterday but not as good as tomorrow. It inspires me to continue striving, to connect with my scents on a deeper level and make sure they are the best they can be today, but to come at them with fresh eyes tomorrow. As I grow, my scents will continue to evolve into their true forms and I believe my life's work will be in constant motion.