Crafting Human™ Episode 10 | What Home Really Means with Sandra Fadayel

When the place that once represented home is no longer, what does it look like to build it again, and not just the walls and rooms, but the deeper foundations home provides: safety, identity, belonging?

In this episode of Crafting Human, I sit down with my longtime friend and fellow Pratt alum Sandra Fadayel, founder of Inhabitat, a Dubai-based interior design studio whose mission reaches far beyond aesthetics. Sandra designs homes for global citizens and executives living across borders and cultures to create spaces that reflect who they truly are and evoke the familiarity of home.

Sandra traces her design ethos and mission back to a defining moment in her youth, which was witnessing her grandmother return to the home in Palestine from which she was forcibly removed decades earlier. The experience planted a seed within her about the relationship between home and identity, one that would take years, and nine cities of her own, to fully understand.

Her art practice, which includes large-scale abstract paintings and her latest collection, Unmapped, explores those same themes of borders, belonging, and identity,  deeply personal ideas woven through both her creative work and her life story.

Together, we explore why people in crisis instinctively reach for objects that remind them who they are, why creativity requires room to breathe, and how inspiration often lives in the smallest moments like a slice of sky through a window or the bark of a tree on a morning walk.

This is a conversation about what it truly means to create home and how to protect creativity in a life shaped by movement and change.

New episodes of Crafting Human™ air every Thursday. Subscribe to the channel and join the Crafting Human creative community to stay connected.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hi, thanks for listening to Crafting Human and being part of our creative tribe. If this conversation resonates with you, please share the episode. Liking and subscribing helps me to keep telling the stories of the creatives who bring soul into our world. If you want me to dive deeper on anything discussed today, let me know in the comments. I'd love to bring those conversations to you in future episodes. Now, on with the show. My guest today is Sandra Fadayel, an interior designer, an artist, and the founder of Inhabitat, a Dubai-based interior design studio with a mission that goes far beyond designing beautiful rooms. Not like a showroom, not like a Pinterest board, but like a true expression of who they are and how they live. Sandra's path to this work has been shaped by a life in motion. Born in Amon Jordan, raised in Bahrain, trained in architecture in the UK, she has called in New York or Toronto, Italy, or Abu Dhabi, and now present day she calls it a buy home. That nomadic experience runs through everything she does, both as an interior designer and as a visual artist. Her art practice, which includes large-scale abstract paintings and a new collection called Unmapped, explores ideas of boundaries and borders and identity, which are deeply personal themes in her own life story. She is the winner of the 2025 TV Award for Creative Person of the Year and the International Business Awards, a recognition for both her interior design work and the creative vision behind Inhabitat. In today's conversation, Sandra and I go deep into what home really means when you spend a lifetime rebuilding it. She shares a childhood moment that planted the seed for everything she does today. We also talk about the client experience that brought her to tears and changed how she understood her own work. This is a conversation about identity, belonging, and the quiet power of the spaces we make for ourselves and call home. Hi everyone, I'm so excited that you're joining me today on another episode of Crafting Human. I'm so excited to introduce you to my friend and industry colleague, Sandra Fidel. She is an interior designer in uh Dubai, living in Dubai, where I also practiced my uh interior design formerly. Uh wow, almost 10 years ago. Um but uh Sandra and I have been longtime friends. We have been not just colleagues in the industry, but we also went to design school together. So it's been really fun to see the evolution of both of our careers uh from the beginning, early days, into where we are today. And I especially wanted to take this moment first before we get in to congratulate Sandra on her recent Creative Business Award. Um, congratulations, Sandra. Thank you for joining us and welcome to Crafting Human.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Oh, thank you for having me, Sharon. It's such an honor to be here, and um, and I'm super excited about what you're doing uh with Crafting Human. And um, and yeah, I I'm super excited about the conversation we're gonna have this morning or your evening. So so super uh super excited and happy to be here.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Thank you. It was interesting as I have been going through my career and evolution in who I am as a designer and you know, thinking about um, you know, interior design and what it means for me. I remember seeing something of yours recently that really just caught my eye because it resonated so much with me and some of my own values. I was wondering if you could share with us um, you know, what is that you've moved out of uh commercial design, um, formerly working with Gens with uh you know leading companies like Gensler. And um, and I know you've had many different iterations in your career, but today in your practice, you're really focusing on a sense of home and what it means, and you know, creating for your clients um, you know, this this you know, saying that we all know home is where the heart is, right? And I just love how you incorporated that ideology into your practice. And um, you know, what is what is it in your practice that you're trying to help your clients um, you know, really try to solve in their living environment?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Yeah, so um, so basically the the the mission, if you like, that kind of drives us is um is to create a sense of home, uh, no matter where that home may be. So a lot of our clients are um global citizens, um, executives, and they tend to uh the the concept of home, you know, you mentioned home is where the heart is, that yeah, that adage. Um I like to see that uh as a lens that frames home as a place where you ground yourself, especially today in a world that doesn't sit still in such a fast-moving world. So um so the idea of home has become a lot more nuanced and layered. Um, it's no longer a static place, and it's less about geography, it's more about identity, about belonging, and um and that's really what we uh, you know, the the mission, if you like, the the drive behind inhabitat um is is that is creating that sense of home for people and that sense of belonging, a place that reflects who they are when that's not always a straightforward answer.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you and I both we both traveled quite a bit and lived in all kinds of different places in the world. And so we definitely know what that's like to move from place to place and create home in a new country, in a new city. Um, you know, and uh I know for myself building home, the sense of home has meant so much as I've moved kind of all over the US and into Dubai as well. So um I'm just curious, how did this evolution, you know, because I think you started, if I'm remembering correctly, you were working in commercial design. Yes um and then you sort of, you know, how did that that story unfold for you where you're practicing?

SPEAKER_00 7:03

This is like you know, rewinding years and years, but um, but in a nutshell, so I uh yes, I did. I started my career um it commercial, um, you know, core more corporate interiors, um, and then moved to hospitality, uh, more boutique firms, and um and then moved into art consulting as well. Um, I do uh alongside interiors, I do art, uh I have an art practice, um, but I also love art. So um, you know, meeting artists and and um and things like that. So I went into art consulting for the hospitality industry. Um and then I got to a place so amazing, I love that. Yeah, and it's and it's always, you know, when I when I stop and kind of look back, the uh art was always there, and um creating spaces or a sense of space um or a sense of uh you know a tactile aspect has always been in through the common thread, if you like, throughout my work. Um so uh so I but I all always wanted to be a little bit more autonomous and pursue projects that excited me, that I really liked, and um, and take that kind of agency um for myself, and that sort of drove the uh the decision to start my own um studio, to start my own practice. Um, and then it's it actually took a while to materialize. Um it came, it first came as a sketch in um in a sketchbook. I wrote the words in habitat, and at the time I didn't really know, it wasn't you know a concrete business idea, it was more of a concept of a loose sort of feeling. I knew that people wanted it was a place where I wanted art and interior design to uh coexist. Um I just didn't know exactly. So that was that was the original, you know, the the original sort of uh idea. Um then and then throughout my it took a few moves, a few um, you know, shifts in uh both in professionally and personally to kind of really get clear on the idea, and um, and it became much more about homes and um designing spaces where people were uh you know came to for to to be grounded and to feel safe, yeah, and to feel like they their identity was being expressed, and a lot of that has to do with with my sort of nomadic existence in the past 20 years. Um so that's kind of how the business evolved and started.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Yeah, yeah. Well, and Dubai is such a perfect place for that kind of a practice. So much, yeah, so many people who live there are expats, and you know, they've for whatever reasons of their own, they've moved, you know, out of you know their their home country and you know decided to um establish roots in Dubai, whether it's temporary or for a longer, right? And so I think yeah, it's a very transitory city, and it is, and it's moving away.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

I mean, it it was extremely transitory, but um, I think increasingly we're starting to see uh more people choose to make it more their home. So that's been really an interesting shift to witness as well. Um and you and you do have more of a mixed community between the very transient and people, you know, it starts it's at as transient initially, and 10 years later you're like, oh my gosh, I'm still here, so I guess this is home.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

So well, and it's funny you say that because when I moved to Dubai, it was supposed to be for three months, and then it became six months, and then it became nine months, and then I was there almost six years later until I finally decided. Oh, it definitely does. It definitely does. So, um, and you're so you're originally um, I mean, because I know you've moved and you've lived in you were in Canada, you were in New York, I mean, which is where we met, and then I mean, I know you've jumped around in a whole bunch of different places, but where did you grow up? In which part of the world?

SPEAKER_00 11:43

So um, so I was born in Amman in Jordan, and um I grew up uh mostly in Bahrain.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

Um, okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

So that's that's kind of my childhood. Um and um and then did my undergrad in architecture in the UK, um, and then moved to New York, which is where we met, um Toronto, um, and then uh and then Amman, uh Abu Dhabi, Dubai, so a little bit of Italy in between. So it was it was it's quite uh mixed.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Right. Oh wow, that is very that is very mixed. Um and and now you've been practicing in Dubai for how many years?

SPEAKER_00 12:29

So I moved to Abu Dhabi first, um, and I was there in 2014, and then moved to Dubai in 2016. So I've been there for coming on to 10 years.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

Oh wow, yeah, yeah, wow, that's amazing. I um was wondering though, so did you always envision having a practice and developing this creative, you know, business of the year kind of entrepreneurial lifestyle? And was this always?

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Yeah, I mean, I have always wanted to have my own thing. It's more the autonomy of it and the freedom uh that uh that drove me, but I wasn't sure what it would be. So the the feeling was there, but I wasn't always sure exactly how it would manifest into a viable business or into how does it actually serve people, um, create some some sort of impact. So that's where uh that's the part that kind of took a while to figure out, so to speak. And um to figure it out, I did do a lot of experimenting with different uh facets of the interior design and art industries.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

Okay. Isn't it interesting how all of the different things we go through in our career and evolutions of our life? It sort of, you know, if you just sort of let it lead you, um it kind of takes you back to this place where you've always kind of known. And when you look back, you say, Oh, all of the little fingerprints and the breadcrumbs have been there all along, you know? And what was that like for you? What was the what were some of the breadcrumbs and the things that really helped inform kind of what your practice is today?

SPEAKER_00 14:22

So, um, I mean, there is so many, it's exactly like you said, right? It's breadcrumbs and um, and then there's it's only when you pause and look back that you that you realize what how those pieces kind of fit together to lead you to where you are now. Um that that in itself is is quite a magical experience, and I definitely suggest if you like you've clearly done it, but um, but you know, anyone listening, you know, that's such a it's such an eye-opening thing, um, because you don't always realize what the experiences are that you've had that have led you to where you are. And um, and for me, I mean, we talked about this a little bit um before, but uh but for me the seed was planted um when as a teenager I witnessed my grandmother visiting the home in Palestine where she was forcibly removed in the 40s, and that experience made me realize the importance of um home and the impact of home on identity. And um, and you know, it wasn't I also realized in that moment it wasn't about politics or history or real estate, it really was that sense of identity, um, and the role of home in that was so fundamental that when it's taken away from you, something is shaken. Um and then simultaneously, because I was um effectively spending I spent my childhood as an expatriate, right? Living in in Bahrain, growing up in an English school. Um so uh so that experience um made showed me that it was possible to create a new identity. Um because I felt a lot more like home was, you know, at that time in my life when I was a teenager, I was quite detached um from the past, this is the history, I didn't think it was so relevant, you know, like all of that stuff. But um, but I realized you know, home for me at that time, I would always say, Oh, it's Aman, um, because that's where I was born. And um, and and that's how sorry, really quick.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

So, going back, were you so you weren't aware growing up in Amman that there was this whole other kind of family story? I was aware of it.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

I was aware of it. I just felt a bit detached from it because it wasn't my reality, and I was a teenager or younger, you know, so uh so I was definitely aware of it, but uh but I was quite detached from it, especially growing up. I wasn't growing up in Amman, I was growing up in Bahrain, which is so I was already an expatriate in uh in in an in a country which such a vibrant expatriate community that you know everyone sort of you it was like a one-word answer to where you're from. So so a man was a much easier conclusion, you know, yeah, um, and a bit more accurate to my actual lived experience. So that's kind of how it was, and only you know, growing up and and then experien and hearing other people's stories and um and meeting people from all walks of life, all around the world. I mean, for me, I love that, and um and I this is one of the things I love about being in Dubai, it is very multicultural. Um, and um, and I do also tend to be attracted to cities for that reason, like living in cities, because they have quite a uh a rich um melting pot of cultures and diversity, and yeah, and um that really inspires me. So uh, and I and I strive to be in environments like that. Um that's always driven my choices, even of moving.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Yeah, yeah, no, I totally get it. It's it's definitely such a unique mix. Uh when I mean, even from the time I was there, it was really a very, you know, it's now become a world hub, right? And so having, you know, the opportunity to work in such a diverse cultural environment, you know. Yes, when I was working out there, you know, you're literally you could be sitting around a table full of people from 12 different countries. And it was amazing. Yeah. Um, but I want to go back to that, you know, that moment that you're you and your family went to your grandmother's home, and you said it was like a seed that was planted and um helped kind of your understanding or the you know, this alignment in who you are to the sense of identity and what does home mean. And what was that what was that journey like for you to go from when the seed was planted to it's sort of crystallizing and how that became what inhabitat is and what you do for your clients today?

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Yeah. So, I mean, we're talking decades, right? So, so it is uh it's definitely a process. Yeah, yeah, but but definitely um a big part of that journey has been um in my own moves and and looking back again, more breadcrumbs, right? Looking back, what are the what are the things I would do in each place, including university accommodation, which you know is possible, right? Oh yeah. But including uh uni, you know, accommodation and things, like whether it's I don't know, hanging uh a weird like sheet over a bed to just create an enclosure of some sort, or like you know, break the fire codes, like all of that. But but there's always been something that um that I've done in everywhere where I've moved that addressed the space that I was staying. Um sometimes it was uh, in fact, all the time it was as simple as um taking a couple of objects or artworks or and I mean like small artworks that that had some kind of meaning, or a postcard, or something, and I would just have these moments in in my spaces, um, which obviously became a bit more sophisticated as I started to grow up and settle, but um, but it was always something that was that was there throughout my journey of um professional development and um and just moving uh moving to different places.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Isn't that funny how it's kind of just the instinct, you know, even when you're not say an interior designer, that we just know that to take things that represent home for us when we move to a new place. I just find that really it just kind of popped in my head how when, like you said, when I moved to, you know, to college and I moved away from home, I brought a few things that reminded me of home and helped me feel like this is a a grounding place and this is my safe space, right? My room or my little corner where my bed was, where this other side was for my roommate or whatever. And Um, I do think that's quite instinctive how people say that.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

And super, and that's actually one of the ways that we um, you know, we have quite an in-depth client survey when we onboard um a client, and one of the ways that we really uh because we strive to create a space that reflects who they are, a big part of our process is getting to actually know who they are, right? Um, so we do that using a lot of different questions, and and um and one of the things that always intrigues me is um what are the objects that they associate with home? And yeah, digresses every um culture, um, financial status, everything, because everyone will have specific things that that is their safe space, that is that has that sense of attachment and of home. Um I was recently watching a show and I really can't remember what it was called, um, but um but one of the scenes in it, one of the one of the actors uh is in charge of um housing for refugees, and um, and one of the statements that he was making in the you know, as part of the in the show is that um he doesn't understand uh you know when when these refugees arrive, okay, they've got some of the essentials like clothes and food and things like that, and they allow those into the housing, but they don't allow the non-essentials, and he wasn't understanding why they were even bringing them in, like you know, random like bits of toys or or objects or things like that. And I found that absolutely fascinating as a um to think that even in those dire situations and circumstances, people still grab onto tangible expressions of who they are, and I just thought that was so interesting.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

Um well, and what you're saying reminds me of even, you know, like with you know, refugees, of course, when they're you know displaced, and then also I mean, recently we had the fires here in LA, and I mean thousands and thousands of people were displaced. And you know, when you see the stories of the families, you see that the little kids taking their little stuffy, you know, their their, you know, their thing that makes them feel like this was what represented home for me, or you know, they're back and packing up the car, and you begin to start questioning what are the things that are essential, right? Like you're saying, and then what's what's non-essential, but funnily enough, it's like sometimes a toy is very essential for like that emotional safety, or maybe it's you know, a picture or a piece of something that was an heirloom that is easy to take with you, and it's funny how we begin to process that. And um, so how have you done that for your clients? And what what's been what's been that process like to kind of go through that journey with them? And I'm sure not everyone's going through, you know, this a traumatic displacement or you know, like some of them are just simply moving to Dubai and Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

They're sitting in each other and things like that. So no, no, no. But basically, I mean, well, um, I I sort of alluded to that earlier in terms of the questions. I think that's really a key to uh to ask the questions, which which you're doing, right? So it's really asking asking lots of questions and um and just being curious about uh who they are and sometimes asking questions that they might not necessarily expect, um uh, you know, uh, because that really gives us um a clue or or it just opens more facets into who they are. You know, we're also regretted, and it's and it's very difficult as a you know, as a stranger, effectively, coming into design your home, you've got to sort of get all those facets, you've got to read them and you've got to get a sense of them. So, um, so a big part of it is the questions, of course, a part of it is actually meeting them, um, and you get a lot of information just from talking to someone um and um and being even in the same space as them. Um we also, you know, if if they're going through anything, like one of our clients, um she was going through uh a divorce, and um, and it was a very uh turbulent time um in her life, and of course, and she had two uh young boys, um, and they uh you know they they had joint custody, so she was really uh really anxious uh that their room in their dad's home would feel uh really playful and really calm and uh and like home for them. Um and we, you know, when we created their their room uh and she saw it, she burst into tears. And I think in that moment I was just like, oh my god, this is so much more than picking pretty furniture, you know, it's it's so much more than that. And um uh and and that's actually it really drives me every day um to to work on homes, um, because that's that's the most I would say people spend most of their lives at home or at work, and even and post-COVID, even that is uh you know, less so at work, but yeah, many people, right? So uh so that was um definitely uh you know an impactful moment um uh in in the in in habitats uh history.

SPEAKER_02 27:58

Well, and I and I totally resonate with what you're saying because you know I've gone in and out of doing commercial and hospitality specifically, and in doing residential as well. And that's always the you know, I I love designing hospitality for the experience and the um, you know, the story that you get to tell about the place and the cultures of the people. Yes. But when you're getting down to this really micro level of someone's home, it's a totally different like a sense of fulfillment that I've I haven't experienced in like a hospitality project necessarily. I mean, there's the satisfaction of seeing transformation, right? But I definitely resonate with what you're saying because you do, you begin to realize, oh wow, this really it's it means something for them. And when there's that, especially when there's that emotional response, you know, it doesn't always have to be over tears, but even just that I can't, I can't believe this. This is amazing, I love it, it's totally me. Yes, I feel like, oh wow, I've really I've I've impacted someone's life in a way that's really meaningful, right? And that's definitely one aspect of residential design that that I've also really grown to appreciate. Um, it's true.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

And and you know, with impact, sometimes it's not about huge, bold um uh actions or or uh reactions, even sometimes it is, but yeah, but sometimes it it's the simple things like you put a cushion on a sofa that someone is gonna be resting their head on after a long day at work and they just want to relax and watch their favorite show, you know, like is a moment, and that's so it's such a precious moment. Um, and um, and the way I see it is life is made up of these moments. That's that's what it is, right? So like just to be able to curate each of those moments um and contribute to that is um is a very special experience for me.

SPEAKER_02 30:13

Yeah. So what I feel like I'm might be hearing you say and kind of touching on is this sense of like how you're listening and kind of intuiting and preempting some of their own needs, and you know, they probably didn't even wouldn't have even thought I would want to ask for a pillow here, right? And just to have that ability to understand, right? And that the um, you know, the needs of your your clients and the people who you're serving. Yes. Um I was wondering how much of your art comes into the picture in the work that you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

Yeah, so you know, it's always been for me such a dance. Um, and for the longest time I was trying to define if I'm an artist or an interior designer. You know, I I somehow, for some reason, I decided that there needs to be a rule and they had they couldn't coexist, right? And then um, and then one day I realized, I'm like, why am I making it so painful for myself? They are both parts of who I am. So what who's who is making me choose? You know, nobody. It was just I don't know where I got the notion from, but I was it was causing me a lot of pain. And um so I I was like, this doesn't make any sense, let's throw it away. So um I realized that you know, with my art practice, um the way that I see it, it's more about my own pure expression. It's my place to play, to experiment. Um if uh I I do set myself loose themes that um that help to structure the practice, um, but that's pretty much it. Like I don't have any you know requirements or specifications or anything like that. Um with interior design, it's a totally different ball game, and with those, it's um it's more about the client, it's more about um how they want to live, it's uh you're much more bound by timelines and budgets and things like that, and those are all awesome um as a part of a game and and part of a play that all comes together, but it's a very different um, it's a very different uh skill set and it's a very different area. So um for me I enjoy both, right? So um so I chose to do both, and um with with my interior projects, um, sometimes I do have existing art collections that um if they happen to work with a client's um story and uh and in their project. I recently had um a client where we were doing some art consulting and accessories, and they happened to see one of my artworks. I was not trying to uh to sell it or anything, they happen to see it and they loved it, so um, so they ended up buying two from the same uh same collection because it just spoke to them with their with their space, but there's no formal tie. Um, I often actually um in my interior design projects almost prefer to work with artists um because uh especially if something is being commissioned, um I'll work with artists to commission an artwork or um or just see what's available. Obviously, that depends on a lot of factors. Um and then with my art practice, sometimes it's um it's the simple things like you know, getting really well versed with colours and playing with color palettes. Like for me, I love mixing paint, and when you mix paint, it gives you um an understanding of how color works uh than seeing you know pre-determined palettes and things. So um, so that for me is is a direct link between the two worlds. Um another one is more theme-based. So at the moment I have a new art collection just starting, so it's literally in the very pre-early stages of idealization, and um, but the word is unmapped, like that's the that's the theme. So um exploring ideas of boundaries and borders, and cross um, you know, a more sort of ethereal or nomadic existence, and what does that mean? Um so it all kind of ties into this idea of identity and things, but in a more it's a more abstract exploration than the interior design practice.

SPEAKER_02 34:47

Well, and I can see how some of that that theme, even of the nomadic theme, it's even like traces all the way into your own kind of childhood and story and life of that region and um and the culture. Um how have you found, you know, in our creative business, it's so easy to, you know, just feel stretched and challenged with always coming up with a new idea or some new form of inspiration. Have you found the practice of integrating art into your kind of day-to-day life has brought up a different perspective that you hadn't really considered as a you know, a solution to the challenge at hand?

SPEAKER_00 35:32

Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's really it's a really interesting dance, right? I like to use that word because that is how I see it. Um we live in a world where we're literally being bombarded with stuff, input from every angle, right? And and it's and it's at work, and it's um in your social life, and it's in your personal life, and it's all over the place. And I mean, you just open your phone and you're bombarded with stuff. Um, and I think um, and there is an incredible pace that we are able to from a productivity standpoint, it's incredible, right? Like we've never been as fast and as productive as we are today, um but it's important to ask at what cost and uh and to take a step back. And creativity only happens when you're able to breathe. You you can only do so much creatively when you're there's there is a magic, there's a magic balance of pressure with when it comes to creativity. You can so relax and have absolutely no deadline or nothing to you you've got to give yourself some something to work to. You've got to give give yourself a bit of pressure and a bit of push, but not so much that you just can't think. Like it's it's getting that that balance right, and it will look a little bit different to different people, but um, but I also uh but it is definitely I think um you know definitely creativity needs room to breathe. You need to be able to, um, and what I mean is like you might create something and it might be great the first time round, um, it might look amazing or whatever, but uh, but it's only when you step back and then come back to it with a fresh pair of eyes, um, where you've had moments to for it to simmer in your in the back of your mind that you that you really are able to push it up to the next level. And you can't do that if you know you've got a two-day deadline on something. So um, so so it's it's that it's it's really understanding when to take a step back and which moments to push as well.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

Yeah. Striking that balance is such a struggle. I definitely have, you know, I feel like I've had to intentionally take breaks in my life. So where do you get your inspiration from?

SPEAKER_00 38:16

You know what I learned about inspiration is um, you know, we've I feel like we've been conditioned to think inspiration is this, you know, lightning bolt that just kind of strikes you, and you're like, ooh, light bulb, and I'm gonna go and I'm gonna create this masterpiece or whatever it is, whatever that masterpiece might be. Um, but it's not that, it's something that is very quiet. Um, of course, it can be that sometimes you can look at something or hear or listen to something and and feel immediately inspired and motivated by it. But um, a lot of times I think it's really important to really um train your eye and your mindset to be open to being inspired. And you know, sometimes like I journal every morning and I'll sit at uh my dining table downstairs and look out the window, and it's not a very exciting view, it's a concrete wall, but there's a there's a gap, you know, there's a gap in there, and in that gap I can see a piece of the sky and a tree that's in my neighbor's backyard, and that that's a small vignette that inspires me. There is something inspiring about how the light hits um in at that time in the morning, and you've got to allow yourself to be inspired by you know, you're walking on the on the sidewalk, and there's a grate or the cobblestones or whatever is that you're working on. Um, you know, so so inspiration lives everywhere, and it's all about perspective, it's all about um opening, training your eyes also. I mean, inspiration for me, because I'm visual, very visual being, it's it's about um training your eye to see things, um, to see the beauty in the everyday. Um, you know, with some people it's more about hearing and listening, so it depends how you function. Um, but whatever that key is for you, it's about really um exercising it and learn how to see things um in a new light, and a lot of it is mindset. Um yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 40:33

You know, the other day I was walking with my dog, and I just noticed that there was a tree, and like its bark, the way it was peeling, was so beautiful. And you know, because we're now in between these seasons, yes, yes, some of the trees are like the bark is changing, and and then I looked and it, you know, it's planted in the middle of the sidewalk, which is so random and weird, but it is. And the tree kind of like, you know, you kind of just think of how it puts itself into the ground, but it had create they had, you know, left a square kind of a dirty patch where they decided to plant the tree and then build the sidewalk around it. Yeah, but the tree trunk and the roots had literally filled up that entire square perimeter, and I just thought I never seen a tree do that before. And I literally took photos of it just on my walk, and it was one of those moments where I thought, oh, you know why I haven't seen this before is because I'm always on my phone reading emails, trying to multitask while I'm walking my dog, you know, and there's these things that we do that make us feel hurried because there's so many, I'm constantly trying to multitask to squeeze more into my day. Yes. And then the one morning I kind of just I was tired and I didn't want to look at my phone. So I kind of just kept walking and I happened to turn down a block that I don't normally take. Yeah, and you know, it wasn't a totally adventurous deviation. It was just a normal street that I normally don't go down. I just went an extra block and I walked down that street and I thought, yeah, this is this is really what a wonderful little moment. And I showed my husband, and I, you know, you kind of have that these little moments of awe and kind of wonder and curiosity, and that's those are all I love those, the expression of those things that you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 42:33

Because inspiration, all of that is inspiration. You know, you talked about varying your routine. That that's a great hack to get you know, getting out of a rut, or when you feel you're just uh demotivated or down, you just take a different route uh that than you normally would. Um you know, for me I love going back to the beach or um having a cup of coffee sometimes just reframes everything, you know, like good coffee is magical.

SPEAKER_02 43:03

Sometimes it just it's sometimes just being awoken by caffeine sparks an inspiration. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

Yeah, so um, yeah, I think inspiration definitely lives in the in the little things more often in the in the grand moments.

SPEAKER_02 43:22

Yeah, that's so true. I love that. And I've often found that when I'm hiking, if I'm in a totally new part of the world, I'll be hiking and I'll see kind of the way that the rocks layer and you know, the way that the soil and the sediment sort of have created these layered effects. Sometimes I just marvel at it and I look at it and I'll take a photo of it and my friends are like, what are you taking a photo? It's like the rock. The dirt. But it's like but you're but you're totally right. It's the lens in which you're seeing. the perspective that you bring to the moments of and how you're showing up to be present, right? I think you're I think you're really onto something there. Um so what so I love how you were sharing a little bit about the morning and maybe just to kind of wrap up our time, I love that you kind of gave us a little glimpse into maybe some of the routines that you like to practice and engage in.

SPEAKER_00 44:24

Yeah I mean you know uh in terms of um in terms of you know things that I do right to keep that to keep the creativity going um definitely the journaling you know something I was always really cynical about journaling and I thought it was just one of those you know Instagram things that that you're supposed to do you know that no one does you're supposed to come and do it. And then I read um a book called The Artist's Way uh and it was oh yeah I have that too such a game changer and effectively morning pages is an exercise that you know when I when I start to when I have a sort of vision as to how something can manifest I get really inspired about doing it so so then I was like oh okay now I know what the reason is behind journaling and morning pages so I started just was such a game changer for not just um my creativity but also um my emotional state my uh character like the way that I was able to process things and actually for a while because I had traveled and moved and stuff I stopped and I noticeably saw how it impacted um my being so I start restarted because I was like no this definitely has uh a very uh tangible result for me in my life so um both creativity personally so uh so that's definitely something I do um I don't want to say every single morning but most mornings um and then uh coffee is a big one so I've actually cut down how much coffee I drink during the day but my first cup of coffee is sacred so um coffee is a big one traveling is huge um especially traveling and I loved going all sorts of um places beaches jungles um most recent trip I took was Toronto uh which was actually when did I go end of August um last week of August and I loved being there I just loved it I loved walking um in the city uh I was I spent a lot of time in the distillery district which is a place uh that is a very sort of art artsy um there's a lot of um uh really cool like cafes are my thing I love sitting in a cafe people watching um I have a soft spot for almond chocolate croissants as well which which is like you know I'm into helping you to do that but not when it comes to almond chocolate croissants well I mean who can resist right right so there's always that um what else are things um I work out um um like five six times a week just because I feel like that's such a great release like uh physically um uh what else uh what are some things well I think everything you're saying is really it's like trying to just you know um it's like self-care right and that that idea of self-care I just I don't know I don't know about you but I know for me early out in my career Ollie just was pushing and pushing and pushing and it there was something that you know I mean I'm sure there was some aspect of you know I need to prove myself or you know some some standard of whatever that the you know that I was following some system that was put in my head you know kind of breaking free from that and coming back to myself right and through practices of self-care and these morning routines and things have definitely you know I feel like it's been a game changer for me really totally transformative for my own you know not just my own um like work and how I show up in my creative practice but just like you said like personally on a mental health level and to be a body in motion so I'm not just like stagnant you know like you're saying and it's definitely been a learning curve for me though. It is it is yeah yeah it is and I think more than even self-care it's also a big part of it is through that you get self-awareness as well. Oh a hundred I totally agree.

SPEAKER_02 48:49

Yeah yeah yeah yeah so um well this has been such a wonderful conversation and I just love hearing and reconnecting with you and hearing about this wonderful business that's like so full of soul. It is a I mean it really is it's a really soulful approach to your practice and um I am just really grateful that we had this opportunity to connect and thank you so much for sharing your world and how you um are helping to create you know a world in which your clients are able to feel like they're building a home and a new sense of identity for themselves and a sense of connection.

SPEAKER_00 49:39

There's so many good things there and congratulations again on your award it's such a thank you thank you and I really you know it's been such an honor and a pleasure to uh to be here with you this morning and um and yeah it's it's really it means a lot it means a lot to hear that so thank you thank you so much I love that we were able to carve out this time and me too you know have this connection thank you same here thanks Sharon bye thanks for listening if this episode spoke to you I'd love for you to join our creative tribe follow like and subscribe to help this community grow your support helps me to tell the stories of the creatives who bring soul to our world and create meaningful experiences thank you for being here and keeping the circle of creativity alive and connected I'm so grateful to each and every one of you