Without 3 am walks there wouldn't be eco printed dresses. Without the neighbor throwing away used bicycle tires there wouldn't have been the original Maouse Mini. Rummaging through the bargain center, the damp and overcrowded chaotically organized warehouse is akin to digging for treasure. The weeds and invasive species growing out from under houses, from cracks in the concrete create impressions on fabric that resemble the spine of a lizard, the kind that occasionally get trapped in the house and need rescuing from two formerly feral street cats.
This urban swamp, where the garden and the forest meet is where I find the inspiration, materials and purpose fueling a small studio on a lively street in Bywater. Inspiration in the greenery and insects, the way nature creep exists uniquely in a place like New Orleans. Flowers and weeds and discarded tires provide the materials that fuel a material focused approach to design. And purpose, the same thing that inspires and supports life: nature, the ultimate inspiration is the reason for creating artifacts, objects of affection that honor nature rather than contributing to it's destruction.
Nature is not just here to be used for inspiration and backdrops.
When we honor nature we honor ourselves, we preserve the part of us that was never designed for borders and boxes. The inner wilderness is alive in every highway woman.
