I miss being a kid. If that is not a truism then
I don't know what is...
I remember being a wee lass of 5 or 6 looking up
in wonder at kids who were in the 2nd grade and who could multiply with two
digits- what was that sorcery?! Then I learned how to do that and I wanted to
be able to do geometry and then I wanted to own big notebooks with metal spines
instead of my boring tiny A5 stationery.... then I wanted to go out with
members of the previously-disregarded gender, then I wanted to own my own
lipstick, then I wanted to leave home and go to school in a big city and feel
cool and mature, then I wanted a job and then I wanted to travel and now I have
a list of stuff I want to do that could cover the walls of my room in some sort
of weird, tiny written and personalized wallpaper.
The only problem is that I think I've lost that
sense of wonder I had when I was as tall as pot plant.
When Mariana moved back to Romania, her
idea was to teach people her craft and give them the chance to make stuff they
would wear- stuff that would be THEM- stuff that would be cool and unique!
Sadly, whenever something does not have a practical application, around here
it's filed under useless shenanigans and people move on. Why spend hours on a
trinket when I can go to a shop and buy something already made, give them my
money and it’s a done deal?
But do you know who does not ask such a pragmatic
and realistic question? Children.
Mariana sent over some photos from last summer,
when she set up a booth of sorts in front of the town museum. One of her
friends is an architect who brought over her kids to look at Mariana’s finished
work and her materials and technique. I’m pretty sure that at no point did any
of the kids ask why they should be learning knots or making necklaces or being
intrigued by beads. All they knew was that they were given free reign over a
kingdom of shinny, colorful stuff that they could shape and mold in any way
they chose.
I am almost 25 years old, but
when I met Mariana and saw her little workshop I got a little giddy inside. I
mean there were boxes and boxes of stuff and I don’t even know how to knot or
knit or how to properly sow a button (don’t tell my mum! J
), but I thought that it was awesome that someone took something so mundane and
so dismissed and turned it into literal head-turners.
Not only does Mariana knot the
whole bead thing, she is also moving on to wooden accessories. Who else would
see a tiny cherry wood twig and decide to make a hair pin out of it? One that shines
brilliantly under New Year’s Eve fireworks, by the way!
So I guess what I’m saying is
that it’s a shame when people lose their inner child or tune him out with too
much pragmatism. I don’t mean we should all act as children- that would be
really creepy. I just think that from time to time, we should listen to that
version of us from ye’ olden days and let go for a while of the boring and the
mundane. And maybe wear something fun
and one of a kind or why not even make something with your own two hands? Mariana
does and I have rarely met someone with more optimism and more drive for
something she truly believes in.
So what if people might think it’s
a wacko endeavor? So what if people think it’s useless and with no practical
application? Just look at kids and the stuff- it’s like freakin’ catnip without
the frowned upon side-effects of course.
Added bonus to the impromptu
photo shoot: photo of a really cool piece Mariana designed and perfected also a
sneak peak at her treasured aloe cove.
So that's it from me you guys. Be good, stay safe and keep an eye out for things that may seem boring but who knows? will actually become something new and amazing.
