I met someone lovely at The Do Lectures.
(Meeting someone lovely at The Do Lectures is a given).
She was lovely to me.
I was horrible to her.
Then we hugged.
(Hugging people at The Do Lectures is a given).
And we’ll probably be friends forever.
(Finding forever-friends at The Do Lectures is a given).
Anyhow.
I’d better explain.
What do you think of all that, then?
My new friend was telling me about her clothing brand.
(She’d heard of Always Wear Red).
She told me all about what she was doing.
Her sustainable approach.
Her love of the shape of it.
Her love of the colour of it.
Her love of the materials she chose.
How she’d learned new skills.
Her love of how the layers ‘sat’ together.
How she’d built great partnerships with clever people.
And a lot more besides.
Then she asked me something.
My new friend asked me:
“So.
What do you think of all that, then?”
Squinted.
I paused.
Thought.
Squinted.
(That means I’m thinking).
And, with a smile, I replied.
“I don’t really care.”
Pause.
There was a pause.
She smiled.
Then, we hugged.
And after another short pause.
She took a deep breath.
Looked down.
Rocked from foot-to-foot in the grass for a moment.
As if to steady herself.
And she started again.
Start again.
My new friend then began to tell me about her family.
How much she loved them.
How connected and hard working they all were.
How her family’s hard work created this small window in her life.
A window that released her.
A window within which my new friend ‘did art’.
Art.
My new friend then told me how her art kept her sane.
Happy.
Fulfilled.
Alive and rejuvenated.
And she fizzed and bubbled as she stared into my eyes.
Her own eyes now wider than ever.
As she told me how she wanted to explore how the feeling of personal freedom and expression she felt when she was creating sweeping lines and crazy colour ways.
Might translate to textile design.
And whether that textile design might translate to sensitively made pieces of clothing.
In tiny batches.
That, when worn, might help the wearer to feel the same feelings of happiness and rejuvenation she did.
My new friend was much more animated when she told me the second version of her story.
She smiled more.
She was louder.
She gesticulated more.
She was… teary.
And I cared.
We hugged again.
Emotional.
It was emotional for my friend because my new friend told me the story behind the story.
And it was emotional for me because in that moment.
In that field.
In West Wales.
A business.
Became a brand.
