How To Be More Materialistic.
Fast. Faster. Fastest.
I generally dislike the idea of ‘fast fashion’. But it’s never that simple.
This week has seen a deluge of emails and ads in my periphery, advertising Black Friday sales and I’m so conflicted. Like all of us, I love a sale, but I equally resent the culture of over-consumption.
I hope again this year, I have tried to strike a balance between these two conflicting ideas by offering you access to the archives of my pieces that are not-quite-perfect at reduced prices for this sale period. To give them a loving home and enjoy them in their imperfection.
I have just added new items for you to browse.
Before Covid, I spent many years travelling as a photojournalist to some of the most remote and financially poor communities in the world. I saw first hand the impact the ruthless supply-chain models of many manufacturers had on the people who create our products with their bare hands. I remember sitting cross-legged on the floor of a kitchen in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, with a family who made rugs for the tourist markets and learning how much time, effort and risk goes into creating their product - but then also learning the huge mark up that the vendors took that seemed vastly disproportionate. And yet, even what I saw as tiny margins had succeeded in lifting many of these families from extreme poverty - but could or should they have earned more for their skills in a global marketplace? I’m still not sure what the right answer is.
But, I laid there that night on a mattress on the same kitchen floor, thinking if I ever had a business creating products, I would do my best to honour a system of transparency and foster a respect of what went in to the creation of that product.
I don’t know the answers, it’s a hugely complicated concern, of course, and the reality is, often people everywhere are just trying to do their best and stumbling through a variety of complex issues while trying to put food on the table. I certainly don’t preach from a place of knowing any better way. But I would love to hear your thoughts, or any suggestions on how you would like sale periods approached by Clay By LB. The figurative-door is always open at lilli@lilliboisselet.com.
As Leonard Koren says, it is “…about the delicate balance between the pleasure we get from things and the pleasure we get from freedom of things,” and I strive to always strike that careful symmetry.
I remember someone once telling me, the worlds’ problem is not that we’re too materialistic, it’s that we’re not materialistic enough; we don’t value the things we own, cherish them and enjoy their long term addition to our lives.
With curated, materialistic love, freedom and pleasure - and deep thanks for all of your orders and support -
Lilli. xx
