We moved to Hawkes Bay eight weeks ago. And I have to say, it's the best thing we could've done for our family, and the timing was just right. Yes, my husband got a great job, at his old primary school in fact, and we are now living on the beautiful Cape Coast where he grew up. But there were also much deeper reasons for our move.
I needed change. Not just redecorate-your-house get-a-new job change. But a complete change of scenery and lifestyle. Not just a makeover, but a fresh start. A new beginning. A place to breathe, reset and recharge. A place to regain my footing, be the wife and Mum my family deserve, and find my little piece of happy. Well, I've definitely found some happy. Yay! It certainly is welcome relief. It's been almost two years since I was genuinely, whole heartedly, happy. I can't begin to describe what this move has done for me. I feel like I can breathe. Being able to breathe is very handy. And as we walk along the beach with the family, which just so happens to be across the road (win!), I say to my husband, "I feel like we are just where we're meant to be, right here, right now".
It's coming up two years since the tragic death of my dear brother, who lived in our hometown Feilding, along with the rest of my whanau. Life was good, cruisy, beautiful. Awesome even! Until that dreadful day that forever wounded our hearts. I won't go into detail, but I might write a post on grief one day, when the time is right. Let's just say grief and trauma are unfathomable, unthinkable, often unspeakable. There are no adequate words, really. And it's something you can't side step or "get over". You don't "move on", but you can slowly move forward. There is only one way through grief, and that is straight through. About one year of darkness for me, followed by a year of all over the show. If you've been hanging around my little online neighbourhood for a while, you probably would've witnessed my bouts of intense grief, my moments of inspiration as I fought so hard to see light amongst the darkness, my sudden disappearances (how many times can one deactivate all social media?!) and my ever changing online presence as I tried to regain my footing, whilst simply trying to put one foot in front of the other.
Now Facebook has so kindly invented this 'memories' function, so I now get daily reminders of some of the best and worst moments in my life. Thanks Facebook! Including some of the crazy ideas I had as I purposely set out to make my life 'busy'....my way of trying to push forward, and often to distract from the pain. This month last year, I wanted to buy a food truck! The month before that I had this dream to open a whole food eatery. Oh imagine it. The month before that I started my very popular creative business posts, and had almost finished my dream mapping and creative business planner that I was so eager to launch. Until I fell flat as grief took hold again, and I lost my confidence and spent the next wee while just trying to keep my head above water. I still have that project on the go by the way. I'd still very much like to launch it. I like to think of that project (along with many others) as simply 'marinating', waiting for just the right time. ;-) I also started a nutritional science diploma (which lasted one paper before I realised the whole science side of things wasn't really for me), looked into buying an organic produce nursery, started a complete renovation on a villa (still going with that), and even seriously looked into Masters study. Now I'm normally pretty 'idea active', but wowsers these past two years my active little mind has been in overdrive!
I've always been an ever evolving, dream chasing, happy seeking, inspiration crazy, nature loving, kitchen experimenting, project junkie. And I also seem to have this habit of rebranding myself on an annual basis. But I think everything has finally come together, in such a beautiful way that I simply can't describe. Right now, everything is feeling very 'right'. I decided to rebrand my online presence - my Instagram, Facebook page and Blog. I changed my Facebook name from Christall Lowe :: Maker Curator, to Christall Lowe :: Design Nourish - thinking that I wouldn't be able to as I'd already changed it once before....but it worked!! Still updating all my online bio's and what not, I will get there :-)
Why Design Nourish? These two words sum up what I love and what I do. My life and design philosophy has always been:
DO WHAT YOU LOVE, LOVE WHAT YOU DO.
And this is me. I design. I nourish. I love design. I love being nourished, and nourishing others.
DESIGN
I'm an interior architect, but I just say interior and architectural designer, as no one really knows what an interior architect is. I graduated with a Bachelor of Design at Victoria University School of Architecture and Design back in 2001, and halfway through the degree they changed the name of the major from Interior Design to Interior Architecture. To sort of differentiate between being an interior decorator and an interior designer/interior architect. Interior architect also = architectural designer. It's confusing I know. Let's just say we didn't learn about colour wheels and curtain choices. Rather I spent four years conceptualising and vignetting and designing everything from theatre sets to boutique hotels. I've also owned two design companies, my first Aria Design Limited, which I took over with Hapene Flax NZ Limited - an innovative flax design company, and I sold this a few years ago. And my lovely Maisy and Grace Limited, an online store selling vintage and vintage inspired homeware - which I sold last year. Now I own Lowe and Co Limited, the company I do all of my freelance design/styling/interiors/art work through, as well as my renovation project. See here for how I accidentally became a property developer (!!!) and keep watching my spaces for when this villa is going on the market :-)
NOURISH - your body and soul
I call myself a foodie, and a nutrition passionista (<<< Made that one up). Basically someone who is passionate about nutrition. I've studied at the Institute for Nutritional Leadership (Dr Josh Axe), and am about to start at the Academy of Culinary Nutrition (Canada). I'm passionate about nutrition and nourishment because 1) I love cooking, 2) I love coming together to share good kai, and 3) I have seen the incredible effect that good nutrition has had on my family's health. I'll go into that another time, but when you see first hand what gut healing and nutrition do to help your children's eczema and asthma, when you've tried everything else in vain, there is no turning back. Not to mention what it did to me. Now, I was going to start a dedicated Facebook page/Instagram solely on 'Nourish'....but I held back. Probably because it's only one part of who I am, and I am definitely not a whole food/nutrition purist. I just try my best. But I still love chocolate. And I'm quite partial to fish and chips. And we have budget restraints. I just try my best. (Also, ain't nobody got time for two separate Facebook pages, Instagram accounts, blogs and websites!) I am all for real food, made from scratch, locally sourced, organic where possible, free range, no preservatives or added nasties. And I love to share my finds, recipes, experiences and culinary creations. And I also have a(nother) very exciting project in the pipeline, which involves nutrition, education and the interior/exterior environment, called PAI: Gather, Prepare, Share. So so SO excited about that one. But more on that another time!
My food philosophy is similar to my design/life philosophy:
EAT WHAT YOU LOVE, AND WHAT LOVES YOU. Bio-individuality. What works for me, may not work for you. We all love different food, and respond differently to everything. There is no one size fits all.
And this blog is about to get a lot more action! I have about fifty draft blog posts almost ready to be published. It's about time they stopped marinating, and I let them out to the world. One at a time I promise.
So welcome, to my little space on the www. I look forward to sharing with you.
Christall xx
Christall Lowe :: Design Nourish
+ Interior & Architectural Designer
+ Foodie & Nutrition Passionista
+ Blogger & Mama
Hawkes Bay, Aotearoa
Labels: BUSINESS, design, LIFE, nourish, nutrition
We moved to Hawkes Bay eight weeks ago. And I have to say, it's the best thing we could've done for our family, and the timing was just right. Yes, my husband got a great job, at his old primary school in fact, and we are now living on the beautiful Cape Coast where he grew up. But there were also much deeper reasons for our move.