Loose Lips; Let 'Em Talk

While 2019 wasn't the most productive year for me, the work I did complete was around marketing and branding; learning how to refine a brands message and focus. Understanding the notion that a product or company exists to solve a problem for a certain user base.

When I first heard this I was at a loss. I was in a down state and my confidence was shot. I suddenly saw what I'm trying to do as frivolous and wasteful. Am I just adding unnecessary items to the world?

Then I remembered the feeling I get when I put on one of my accessories. The confidence it imbues me with, the power and sensuality I find within leatherwear. As someone who has suffered with depression and anxiety on and off since I was 12, that shit is a big deal.

Plus the incomparable pride I feel in creating something with my own two hands, knowing each and every part of the process. Trusting where the supplies are coming from, building relationships with other independent businesses. Knowing that the things I made are done with such anal attention to detail that they should last the next 10 years without fail, longer if cared for properly.

There is a William Morris quote  'Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

I firmly believe the things I make are beautiful. I just failed to acknowledge the practical purpose my pieces provide as honestly? It's an intangible thing, felt rather than seen.

And that is confidence.

Growing up a dorky art kid who moved from the countryside to the south east London suburbs, I often felt out of place. Add to that the all consuming depression I entered as I left everything I had ever known? I was lost. Initially I tried to struggle on but when the style and attitude I sported from my hometown drew hostility from my new school mates I buckled. I changed my hair and begged my Mum for hoop earrings, the 'Ranger' shoes, the 'Bon Bleu' tracksuits (if you know you know)... I wanted to be left alone and blending in seemed the best way to go about it.

Later when my tastes started to lean more towards the alternative I embraced the notoriety being different gained me. While I still considered myself  'ugly', I vividly remember the day I looked in the mirror and thought, "well my face isn't going to change any time soon so I should just get on with it". I began to stick up for myself more and - no longer an easy target - got left alone more. By the time I was out of school and in my late teens I was thriving; more content in myself than I ever had been... Until subsequent bouts of depression and anxiety in my 20s caused my confidence to come crashing down again.

I was still in the process of rebuilding myself when I first learned leather crafting. A week after a break up, I attended a workshop with Tamzin Lillywhite and Melissa Tofton and was confronted with these bold, talented women both teaching and taking the workshop. The course gave me a skill to practice and hone, a route back to confidence and creativity.

It makes perfect sense now, that my products do the same for those that enjoy them.

We deserve to feel good about ourselves. You deserve to feel bold and beautiful and it’s my mission to ensure you are never left wanting. No-one should ever be made to feel less than. So let Loose Lips be your armour and if someone has shit to say? Screw it. Let 'em talk.