Posted: by Jo Tuesday, 21 July 2020 @ 10:38
July has, in the end, felt quite a normal month in lots of ways, with our website busy with orders, the team all back at work, and lots of planning for new designs for later in the year. The only real difference for us has been the lack of events, as we should have been at yoga/running/meditation festival, ‘Wanderlust’, and then getting organised for Fearne Cotton’s three big ‘Happy Place’ festivals.
We definitely miss events, as they are such a lovely opportunity to meet many of you face-to-face, and hear your stories. We love finding out why you chose a particular mantra, or what your engraving means to you. We all hope events are back next year, so we can get back to those face-to-face conversations.
Personally, this month, I should have been in Peru, visiting Machu Picchu. It is a long-held dream of mine to visit, so we had planned a 2-week trip in July, travelling all around Peru and culminating in 2 days to see Machu Picchu. As with many of us, however, plans have had to be re-made and priorities reassessed, so we have put it off to a future year.
Not quite the same – but instead, I had a lovely long weekend by the sea in Cornwall, and a short weekend by the shores of Lake Windermere, visiting my 90 year-old aunt. I also had a lovely dinner out with my friend Luci – the first chance to dress up a little, in a while! Just spending time in different places felt refreshing and exciting, and I came back feeling grateful that we have such beautiful places to visit here in the UK.
We have been loving reading your entries for our July competition, where we asked you to suggest a mantra for us to bring to life as a necklace this year. As I write, there are still a few days left of the month, so we are still receiving entries – but I am very much looking forward to going through them all in detail next week, to see what your suggestions are.
Already, a few have caught my eye, as they chime with some ideas we were already considering. Whereas others are completely new suggestions that we have never thought of. It’s going to be extremely challenging to pick a winner! [Added 4th August: we have now picked a winner, so head on over to our blog to find out more.]
We are already working on new designs to be released in September. I am thrilled to have recently agreed a charity piece for NHS Charities Together, which we are just finalising. During Lockdown, we focused on our ‘Lockdown Heroines’ campaign, to enable you to thank someone who had been a real heroine for you during that difficult time. We didn’t want to rush into designing a new piece, until we were clear what the message should be.
Now, with the benefit of looking back at those difficult and frightening weeks, it is clear to me that what we all wanted and needed, was hope. Hope that we wouldn’t catch Covid; hope that, if we did, we would be OK; hope that we could get through lockdown; hope that the nation, collectively, could make a difference to the outcome; hope that Coronavirus would eventually be beaten; and now – hope that the world can learn from what happened, and make changes for the better.
So, we have designed a new necklace around the theme of hope, with 25% of the sales going to NHS Charities Together. We’ll be launching in early September, so look out on our social media and website for more information soon!
We have also created a necklace based around gratitude, as the crisis has reminded many of us to be even more grateful for what we have; and a necklace around finding balance in your life, which I think many of us felt was missing before lockdown. For me, I felt I was spending too long at work before lockdown – staying in the office as much through habit as necessity. This has taught me to use my time more wisely, and free up space in my life to create a more balanced approach.
So, as July draws to a close, and August is around the corner – our thoughts are turning to planning for Autumn. Mostly for us, that means new product launches, but also – some early planning for the Christmas season. Production is around 5 weeks for Mantra, as we have our lovely jewellery made in Thailand, one of my favourite places in the world. It combines amazing craftsmanship and heritage in Silver jewellery-making, with the friendliest people, and a calm and beautiful vibe.
Enjoy August, wherever you are and whatever your plans. Life continues to be very tough for so many people, from all sorts of consequences of Corona – so our thoughts are with everyone, as we hold onto hope, and trust in a better tomorrow.
Bye for now, and take care.
Jo x