Guest

Årets business-Rookie

2009-09-20T06:30:53Z

Kära ni,

I helgen har jag och Reflective tagit emot det årliga priset för bästa affärs-Rookie i Göteborg! Det är föreningen Företagarna som delar ut priset i samarbete med BRG, och motiveringen som står skrivet på diplomet lyder:

"Reflective Circle International och Josefin Lassbo, har med stor kreativitet och drivkraft brutit ny mark genom att kombinera mode och dessign med ekologisk inriktning."

Så sant som det är sagt och jag är enormt stolt och glad- en arbetsseger indeed.

Han som vann priset Årets Företagare, heter Ali och har grundat Hagakliniken, som erbjuder specialistsjukvård utanför sjukhus. Han var så fin och tackade särskilt sin fru från scenen. Skall lista mig och ungarna hos honom. Jag tänker på det, hur viktiga de människor är som man väljer att omge sig med. Det finaste priset för mig, var att mina kära vänner var där med mig och firade med lyxig lunch i solen på Avalons uteservering, med vin mitt på dan och många skratt. Tack, tack, tack, tack.

Interviewad av Mia och Klara blev jag också! De är ju fantastiska, tänk att kunna ställa sig på en miniscen inne i Nordstan mitt i lördagstrafiken och berätta om småföretagande på ett så generöst och roligt sätt. Hörde att de kanske skulle till Dramaten snart...go girls! Vi behöver fler som er.

Kram, Josefin

Reflective hjärta Mecenat!

2009-05-13T13:38:54Z

HURRA!

Från och med idag kan Sveriges studenter köpa Medvetet Mode från oss med 20% rabatt på allt! Vi är jättestolta över att få introducera ett ”grönt” alternativ till alla unga, vetgiriga studenter och vill gärna stötta medveten konsumtion i dessa bistra ekonomiska tider (även om experterna visst börjat skåda ett visst ljus i horisonten igen…? J). Vi här på Reflective Circle tycker att det är både roligt och viktigt att ha kontakt med den unga generationen, som är på väg ut i arbetslivet –det är ju ni som kommer sätta normen för vår gemensamma globalt hållbara utveckling. Det är vår absoluta erfarenhet att Sveriges studenter generellt är en mycket medveten målgrupp, men som student skall ju lite pengar räcka till mycket...så genom det här samarbetet kan vi alla stötta varandra! Win-Win är ALLTID bäst.

Vårkollektionen består av trendiga sommarfavoriter med fina bearbetade detaljer. I vävd 100% ekologisk bomull finns klassiker som shorts, vida byxor och en sommarkavaj samt en figursmickrande förklädesklänning med bar rygg och en vid topp med fyrkantig ringning. Trikåplagg, som singoallaklänning, t-shirt och omlottkjol finns i fyra snygga färger i ton-i-ton randad ekobomull/bambu med vackert fall.

Så, grattis till alla med CSN- och Mecenatkort, grattis till oss, grattis till Mecenat och grattis till alla som nu går en litet bättre framtid till mötes!

Vi hörs snart igen,

Kram, Josefin

Etiskt smink

2009-05-11T08:01:01Z

Etiskt smink

Hej alla Reflectivevänner!

Som ni ser bloggar vi nu även på svenska, vilket känns helt rätt med tanke på att vår dagliga bas är Göteborg.

Vi vet att många av er är intresserade av etiskt smink, och tänkte köra igång med en förteckning över märken som inte testar sina produkter på djur. Förekomsten av djurtester har visserligen minskat betydligt de tio senaste åren, och sedan en månad tillbaka är det förbjudet att sälja djurtestat smink inom EU. Frågan är hur det kommer att fungera i praktiken. Förhoppningsvis kan denna lista hur som helst vara till hjälp för er i kosmetikadjungeln.

Arbonne International www.arbonne.se <http://www.arbonne.se/>
Bio-Bee Natursalva www.biobee-natursalva.se <http://www.biobee-natursalva.se/>
The Body Shop www.thebodyshop.se <http://www.thebodyshop.se/> Dock ägs The Body Shop av Loreal som testar på djur. För att förtydliga så betalar du för Loreals djurtester genom att handla där.
Camillas Naturprodukter och Ört Terapi www.aromaterapi.nu <http://www.aromaterapi.nu/>
Ceres Aromaterapi, säljs genom egna försäljare.
Chanel
Clemon www.clemon.se <http://www.clemon.se/>
Crazy Rumors www.crazyrumors.com <http://www.crazyrumors.com/>
Crearome www.crearome.se <http://www.crearome.se/>
Dermalogica www.dermalogica.se <http://www.dermalogica.se/>
Dior
Eilas www.eilas.se <http://www.eilas.se/>
Forever living products
Föllinge Nature of Sweden www.follingenaturprodukter.se <http://www.follingenaturprodukter.se/>
Gucci
Hälsingehonung www.halsingehonung.se <http://www.halsingehonung.se/>
Isadora
Kingfisher www.kingfishertoothpaste.com <http://www.kingfishertoothpaste.com/>
Kiss My Face www.kissmyface.com <http://www.kissmyface.com/>
Lumene
Mary Kay www.marykay.se <http://www.marykay.se/>
Make up store www.makeupstore.se <http://www.makeupstore.se/>
Montagne Jeunesse www.montagnejeunesse.com <http://www.montagnejeunesse.com/>
Nivea
Oriflame www.oriflame.se <http://www.oriflame.se/>
Organic Make-up Company www.lumiruusu.com <http://www.lumiruusu.com/>
Paul Mitchell www.paulmitchell.se <http://www.paulmitchell.se/>
Pureskin Sverige www.pureskin.se <http://www.pureskin.se/>
Rejuvi www.queenofbeauty.se <http://www.queenofbeauty.se/>
Rosagården www.rosagarden.se <http://www.rosagarden.se/>
Rosen Serien www.rosenserien.com <http://www.rosenserien.com/> ,

Focus Group

2009-04-09T10:22:29Z

Dear reflector,

Last week Dalia and I had a first meeting with our new focus group. We’ve invited ten women with a genuine interest in sustainable fashion to help us develop our artistic and business strategies. And to have a good time.

We started the evening with some good food and a glass of wine, and just mingled for about an hour. Then we had a long and interesting discussion with our guests, who turned out to have a lot to say.

The Reflective focus group is supposed to represent our customers - well educated, urban women between 20 and 60. And our new friends indeed turned out to be reflecting people, who don’t agree on everything.

One of the evening’s main issues was internet shopping. Since we’re in the middle of developing the Reflective Circle Web Shop we were very interested in what our customers had to say. And even though none of our guests buy their clothes online regularly, they all claimed to be positive and curious to the idea. They just haven’t made it a habit.

Our conclusion is that since people just aren’t yet used to buying clothes online, we have to create an irresistible eco fashion website. It’ll be easy to navigate, really nice to look at and course full of information. According to our focus group, two common issues are that fashion sites are dull and complicated. Hence we want to create a shop that is so attractive and accessible that women, who never even thought of shopping online, will try it.

The focus group discussed the fact that you can’t try the garments on, or feel the quality of the material while e-shopping. To us this is a question of communication. Reflective Circle simply equals good quality, which our costumers will know and feel when visiting our site. We’ll also to be accessible in a way that’s new. More about that when our new web shop opens in 2009.

So keep on visiting us online, all reflectors. Next year we’ll introduce the eco fashion web shop you’ve wished for.

New assistant and co-designer

2009-04-09T10:27:08Z

Dear reflector,

Today I’d like to tell you about Dalia – my new assistant and co designer, to whom I’m really grateful! Dalia just joined us, but she’s already made my work a lot more efficient, and much more fun! It’s such a pleasure to work with somebody with similar thoughts and values, but not without integrity and new ideas.

Dalia was born here in Gothenburg, Sweden, only 27 years ago. She just completed her BA of design and technology in Manchester, U K. She’s specialized in Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights in the fashion industry. She’s always been interested in sustainability, and just like me she likes genuine, minimalistic design with nice details. We’ve known each other for several years, and Dalia has always shown real interest in what I do. In other words she’s perfect for Reflective Circle!

As my assistant Dalia is involved with pretty much everything I do - from designing of course, to regular administration and every day communication with manufacturers customers and photographers. She tells me she’d probably be bored with “only” designing all day long. Suits me perfectly!

Dalia has worked as a trainee at a shoe manufacturer in England, where she learnt a lot about the industry. The experience of working in a larger company is very useful, Dalia says, but your creativity as a designer tends to die if you stay too long in a big organization. That’s one of the reasons why she’s now with us. I better make sure she has lots of artistic space as Reflective Circle continues to expand!

More about Dalia when I tell you about our recent trip to London.

Until then – Stay reflective!
Josefin

Good Shoes

2009-04-09T11:09:37Z

Dear reflector,

Why aren’t there any ecological, fashionable shoes? I wish I new. For some reason shoes seem to take very modest place in the world of sustainable fashion. A big, depressing problem, if you ask me.

A good thing is that Swedish media seems to be waking up. Our local morning paper just found a terrible, toxic truth when letting a laboratory analyze a number of different shoe labels. All shoes contained heavy metals like chrome, cadmium and lead as well as about ten different kinds of toxic solvents and a number of fluorides. In other words, conventional shoes cause contact allergies, and also have a very negative, environmental impact when thrown away.

If I can’t find any eco shoes I simply go vintage when showing my collections. That way I know that at least I’m not adding anything to the toxic shoe circus. Currently there are a couple of green labels that I like, so I’ve listed my favorites:

First of all I simply have to mention actress Natalie Portman’s amazing vegan shoe line, designed with a little help from Te Casan. Portman’s collection has a cool, couture feeling to it. Quite unique, in other words.

Otherwise I really like British ´Sui Generis´ by Beyond Skin - especially their new, rural, romantic collection.

Veja is quite big in France and now also available here and there across Europe. An almost infinite variety of nice sneakers.

And we have Bourgeois Bohème. I can’t say I’m in love with all of their design, but some of it is really cute.

Green, Swedish shoe design is not easily found, but there are some nice things at Berthas Eko.

Finally, I really like Green Shoes and their every day collection of sandals, simple shoes and boots.

All labels mentioned are sold on line, if you can’t find them where you live.

Good luck, and stay reflective!
Josefin

Clean Sportswear

2009-04-09T11:30:51Z

The Swedish organizations Fair Trade Center and Rena Kläder (Clean Clothes) just released a report about the sportswear industry, focusing on the three biggest Swedish companies Intersport, Stadium and Team Sportia. For some reason these manufacturers seem to be slow starters when it comes to corporate social responsibility.

For years ago FTC scrutinized the sportswear companies for the first time, apropos this year’s Olympic Games in China:
“A worker making Adidas shoes in China has to work for more than four months to be able to buy a ticket to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games” was one of the conclusions then.

FTC/Rena Kläder means that lousy labor conditions have been one of the big, structural problems of the international sportswear industry. This is still the case, even though several of the international manufacturers are becoming more aware and transparent. Unfortunately the three Swedish companies have not reached the same level. FTC/Rena Kläder even reveals that the three companies became less and less willing to answer questions!

The new report reveals that the international as well as the Swedish companies have learned how to identify problems, but not how to deal with them.

According to FTC there are several, main structural obstacles that have to be addressed in order to make real changes, like:

lack of respect of the freedom of association
unsatisfactory employment deals,
minimum wages that are too low
environmental dangers

As long as the sportswear industry doesn’t address these issues the companies won’t be able to take their full corporate social responsibility. The FTC and Rena Kläder report stresses that this especially concerns the three Swedish companies, since they’re far behind the international average.

The report also contains very good advice to consumers interested in green sportswear.

So go ahead and read it, while waiting for the new Reflective Yoga Collection!

http://www.fairtradecenter.se/
http://www.renaklader.org/

Stay Reflective!
Josefin

New York report

2009-04-09T10:48:50Z

Dear reflector,

New York was absolutely great, fantastic and amazing!

A friend once told me that New York City it is the place for the restless, the rootless and the different. No matter who you are or how you look, you’re welcome here. I can easily agree with her. Walking along the streets of Manhattan, experiencing the urban vibe and seeing all the different faces, I got a soft feeling of being included in the community.

My new friends Styrbjörn and Jessica from Valentin & Byhr stayed at the Chelsea Hotel. As you may well know this legendary place has hosted many well known artists, musicians and actors.

The walls are covered with paintings, pictures and dedications from people like Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and Arthur Miller – before and after they were famous. To me the hotel is like the essence of the city, and I’ll definitely stay there during my next visit.

New friends! Styrbjörn and Jessica from Valentin & Byhr, the advertising agency behind our folder.

Me on the balcony at Chelsea Hotel

The stairs, inside Chelsea Hotel

And the fashion show went really well! I’m as happy with the setting as I am with the choreography and the models. They turned out to be just perfect: very reflective with their strong personalities and natural beauty. I especially appreciate that they appeared as individuals and not as anonymous dolls. They managed to unify the feeling of Reflective Circle with the feeling of New York. Go ahead and check it out in this clip, made by Anna-Karin – a Swedish journalist in New York:

A few pictures from the fashion show:

My friends from Saab and I were all impressed by the organization of the New York Car Salon. It is a pleasure to work with people at a certain professional level. It seems to me that truly successful people don’t have the need to compete. They’re aware of their value anyway!

Me and Göran Andersson from Saab

I had the opportunity to talk to media as well. Of course I enhanced the fact that our collection is made of a hundred percent ecological cotton, which actually is something unique! In the EU for example, the label “ecological” sometimes means that a garment contains as little as ten percent ecological material. I talked a lot about the cooperation between Saab and Reflective Circle, which also is unique. See for yourself, right here:

What more? The party was just great! And lots of love to all new and old friends: Styrbjörn and Jessica, Göran, Anna-Karin and Gunhild – a wonderful, Norwegian Yogini who interviewed me. I’m very happy to have met you all!

Until next time -
Stay reflective,
Josefin

Opening party

2009-04-09T11:05:44Z

Party!

It’s been a few days since our opening party. I’m still all happily exhausted, but even more fulfilled with the warmth coming from all our guests. Thank you everyone!

The party started with a drink in the lobby of Teater Uno - an independent theatre company residing next door to our studio in Gothenburg.

My business partner Ulf opened the evening by giving one of his witty speeches. He introduced some of our key people, including my mother Kristin who’s been my great support and role model during all years.

Then we had the pleasure to listen to Magnus Rosén, former base player of Hammerfall who’s now working in various artistic spheres; last autumn he performed live with the Gothenburg Opera Ballet. Magnus made a great entry on the very smoky stage, giving us a smooth fusion of blues and jazz. The performance was mesmerizing, but suddenly interrupted by a fireman entering the room. The automatic fire alarm had started due to the smoke!

The evening continued with a Reflective Circle retrospective show. I had picked out my favorite creations of my different collections; from my first award winning dress of 1990 to the latest items from the new Saab Reflective collection. In stead of models I used mannequins that seemed to float in the air.

After that we climbed alls the stairs to open the studio for real. I got to cut a band like a real princess! ;-) Two musicians welcomed us with a quite surreal performance. I’m afraid I couldn’t describe it to you even if I tried!

Finally we all had a glass of wine and a nice, vegetarian buffet at Språkkaféet, also our neighbors.

Once again; many thanks and lots of love to everyone who contributed to a spontaneous and charming evening. I’m already thinking of the next reason to celebrate. See you then!

Stay reflective,
Josefin

Earth Pledge

2009-04-09T11:04:40Z

Dear reflector,

In a few days we’re having a big opening party at our new studio in Gothenburg. I’ll tell you all about it of course!

Meanwhile I´d like to introduce you to Earth Pledge, an innovative company that cooperates with all kinds of organizations and institutions, helping and teaching them how to think and work in a sustainable way. I met some of their representatives at our fashion show in New York, since SAAB USA is supporting Earth Pledge’s information campaigns about ecological clothes.

Do have a look at their web site! I specially recommend their latest publication Futurefashion, a collection of essays on different aspects of the sustainable fashion industry.

http://www.earthpledge.org/ep/publications

Stay reflective,
Josefin

New York report

2009-04-09T10:30:42Z

Dear reflector,

New York was absolutely great, fantastic and amazing!

My new friends Styrbjörn and Jessica from Valentin & Byhr stayed at the Chelsea Hotel. As you may well know this legendary place has hosted many well known artists, musicians and actors.

Until next time -
Stay reflective,
Josefin

New York prelaunch

2009-04-09T10:25:05Z

Dear reflector,

At last I’m back in the blogosphere!

During the passed months we’ve been working intensely. It’s been a tough journey from time to time, but most of all I’m happy to see that people are discovering Reflective Circle, for real. We’re doing our best to fulfil all your wishes!

I’m currently in New York to prelaunch our new Pure Bio Power Eco Clothing Collection, awaiting the New York Motor Show. And no, we’re not suddenly designing cars! The line consists of t-shirts, jersey, blouses and dresses. At the fashion show I will also use some beautiful vintage accessories that I found just before leaving Sweden. The style will be minimalistic and clearly Scandinavian. Pictures are coming up, soon!

The collection is the first result of our partnership with Saab, leading manufacturer of bio cars in Sweden. So keep an eye of www.saabexpressions.com, where all the garments will be available, in late May. I strongly feel that our companies share the ground values that are so essential to Reflective Circle. I’m eager to introduce our way of thinking and of course our design to a completely new business area.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll be back as soon as I return from New York.

Stay reflective,
Josefin

Fashion Shoot

2009-04-09T10:20:08Z

I feel jet lagged! Yesterday I got up at 2 o’clock in the morning to get everything ready for a new fashion shoot. At 2.45 my sister Åse who’s a model arrived with our stylist Christine, and we started doing hair and make up. Two hours later we hit the road for Särö, a beautiful coast village south of Gothenburg.

The place turned out to be the perfect for a crew of seven people with loads of equipment. We found a number of different locations at a walking distance of five minutes.

We started at sunrise with Åse balancing her high heels on a little cliff above the water. One or two early joggers looked really surprised passing by… As we continued with a shot in the middle of the wild beach grass the light was amazing – I’m already in love with that picture! I also like the classic scenario with Åse standing in the water wearing rubber boots, and of course the close ups in the woods.

My artistic vision when planning the shoot was to add an arty touch to our Saab Pure Bio Collection, and to enhance the Nordic feeling by using natural locations. I brought some vintage accessories from the fashion show in New York, and made Åse look like an edgy ferry with her dark eyes and her rough, curly hair. My idea was to show how to make fashion out of our quite basic collection . Of course I haven’t seen the final result yet, but I’m quite sure we’ll get at least three amazing pictures.

Everyone worked constantly for about seven hours without any major problems. Or, almost everyone - I took a nice break by myself, watching the sun and gasping at the amazing villas around the bay.

At about eleven we wrapped things up and returned to civilization; me and Åse went for a big brunch!

Stay reflective!
Josefin

So So Ethic at P.A.P. Paris

2009-04-09T11:33:05Z

Dear reflector,

By the start of February I went to Paris to check out So Ethic.

So Ethic is the name of the part of the gigantic fashion fair in Paris, Prêt-à-Porter, where ethical and ecological fashion brands from all over the world are exhibited.
A small corner including about 70 brands is probably a fairly good visualization of the fair-trade percentage on the global fashion scene. Natural woods, green details, offering ecological coffee and juice…so very ethic!
But still- this fashion monster in Porte de Versaille, containing 12 sections divided into 9 fashion- and 3 accessory- “universe”, all together 65.000 square meters exhibiting 1.500 brands for 43.000 visitors and 1.100 journalists, after all choose for it´s 103:d season to show ethical fashion.
As a matter of fact, the number of exhibitors at So Ethic actually increases about 100% each season, and now, for the 3: d season offers over 70 ethical fashion brands.

As far as I know, it is the first time we see a conscious gathering and exposal of ethical brands at a fashion faire, and this time it is not even a small local version, but rather one of the biggest and most established fashion fairs in the capitol of fashion. I remember, a couple of years ago, asking for a separate division for sustainable textiles at the big textile fair in the same city, Premiére Vision, and got a really unfriendly answer, that if I wanted to find out witch suppliers who carried eco-textiles, I had to go through the exhibitors list, and check their individual homepage out. Totally cold, so to say.

But those were the times. Today we see a whole new branch of the fashion tree about to establish itself, find its form and actors. We see a calf-legged structure about to form. So far, ethical fashion has been forced to live side by side by “usual” fashion, being exposed at the same fairs and meet the same buyers. One of the big difficulties has been to integrate the ethical brands along with their more established cousins on the hangers of the shops. They didn’t quite fit in; the buyers thought it was a bit too hard to guide their personnel in this hard defined jungle and the costumer maybe just didn’t think about asking for fair-trade or even read the text in small print on the hang-tags. Completely understandable!

David against Goliath in the second most money-generating industry in the world.
Now, as a change, it is being talked of”green as the new black”, meaning ecological fashion as a standard. We experience a deficit of raw material and fair-trade products, the costumers want it and all the big fashion magazines with self-respect publish “Green Special”.
What happened, really? Are we riding a tsunami trend invoked by the Weather Gods? Or are we floating in a new IT-bubble? Or is ethical fashion really getting established as a new global economy? Or what?!

In building nr.7, on the third level, it is situated.
All the companies exhibiting their clothes at So Ethic, have to make an application and fill in the ethical questionnaire, where it is described why the collection is ecological, how and where it is produced, textiles used etc. There after the paper is signed to certify the honesty and that the participants fully understand the meaning of Ethical Fashion.
Some brands are not approved.
The 70 brands that exhibit this season, has accepted the following “playing rules”:

Limit the environmental impact involved in the processes of manufacturing and commercializing the product, especially by using organic or recycled raw materials.
Give preference to production (spinning, weaving, dyeing) and manufacturing networks which respect fundamental human rights and the norms established by the International Work Organization.
Collaborate with small producers according to the principles of fair trade (fair prices, developmental aid, pre-paid orders, long-term relationships and respect for the environment.)
Management and functioning of the company in agreement with responsible citizenship (reducing transportation and CO2 emissions which cause the greenhouse effect; energy management, recycling).
Transparency of the company and its activities with regards to its various contacts (suppliers, distribution networks, clients, the media).

On the spot I experience some sort of pioneering spirit, and I get that feeling confirmed by Matthew Allen, the man behind So Ethic. We meet over an ecological espresso, for a small talk about fashion and ethics.
He is a slim man in his 30´s, dressed in a trendy suit and pointed shoes. His eyes are glowing as he explains.

- There has been a good vibe here from the very start, the exhibitors help each other and get together and we have got amazingly positive feedback both from the world press and the head of our organization, Prêt-à-Porter. I am so pleased and proud of the success it has become!
Matthew Allen is an Englishman in Paris. He used to study arts in N.Y. and came to Paris to work with Maison Martin Margiela. That was where he fell in love with the line 0 10, designed exclusively of recycled fabrics.
All the pieces fell into place as he met with the sales manager of Prêt-à-Porter in N.Y. and they decided to establish So Ethic.

- Each season ethical fashion gains more importance, every week I discover existing labels who are proposing their new ecological or socially conscious line and new designers and labels are appearing regularly who propose positive fashion alternatives. Ethical fashion is rapidly growing in importance in the industry. The big French department stores are starting to catch-on and even H&M are bringing out an organic cotton line in March 2007. There are so many examples of growing interest in ethical fashion including a VIP key audience: teenagers!! Ethical fashion is a broad spectrum of all of the styles and genres you usually find in fashion: From sports wear, street wear, urban wear, sneakers, high-end shoes to Haute Couture etc. Everyone can dress ethically and its becoming more and more possible, the world over.....

- Its not a question of style, it’s a question of making every aspect of a given business ethically sound; it’s the moral aspect, a question of respect. Respect of other human beings and their future and the future of those not even born yet and the respect of our earth and nature which are in terrible danger....
The difficulties with ethical fashion is still that it is usually more expensive and many people still think of it as un-stylish and boring.

Matthew has to move on in his fully booked agenda so we have to finish our discussion.

- Until the next season we will try to grow even more and still keep the high standard of exhibitors…alongside I am trying to exchange all vehicles used by Prêt-à-Porter Paris to Hydro Mini Coopers.

We say thank you and goodbye. I stay a while watching the video installation that high-end ecofashion brand Edun produced especially for So Ethic. Matthew is already involved with a new group of people. It is the President of Prêt-à-Porter, Mr. Mocho, and a French minister, who officially agree about norms and guidelines of ethical fashion in front of the gathered Medias.
`Cause here, in Paris, people are very aware of the power of fashion, and now it is ethics that rules.
So so very ethic.

Inspiring ethical fashion according Matthew Allen (in alphabetical order):

Anna Cohen
Article 23
Beyond Skin
Ciel
Deborah Lindquist
Del Forte Denim
Edun
El Naturalista
Enamore
From Somewhere
Gossypium
Howies
Ivana Helsinki
Junky Styling
Katherine Hamnett
Les fées de Bengale
Linda Loudermilk
Loomstate
Misericordia
Mumo
Nahui Ollin
Noir
Pants to Poverty
Patagonia
People Tree
Reflective Circle
Stewart + Brown
Terra Plana
Trash Couture
Undesigned by Carol Young
Veja
And many, many more...

Talk to you soon,
Yours, Josefin

Two ways of creation

2009-04-09T11:38:38Z

Dear reflector,

This is my first letter to you in this form. My first blog text, and how I have longed for this moment! ?
Outside the wind is moaning, and the black, bare branches of the trees are dancing- it is astonishing beautiful.

I take the chance to be still and silent and connect – putting out the direction for the week to come and the work related tasks to be performed. I see a lot of people at the moment, looking for the right Reflective Team, and need a good focus.

Yesterday I woke up, after a late night out dancing with my friends, to blue skies and an uncommonly mild weather. I immediately wanted to get out, and opened my window to find out witch coat to put on. There, just by my side was my neighbor, taking the opportunity to clean his windows. I said good morning, and we had a really nice chat hanging out the windows. Since the conversation was getting more and more interesting I told him I’d come over. There in his kitchen, with his kids around, playing online games, we had a wonderful talk about life, the meaning of it, work and play and suddenly it stoke me that this man, my neighbor for many years, who I had many nice, neighbors smalltalks with and with who I spent many times in the backyard with my little ones playing, was also a perfect member of the Reflective advisory network, with unique and broad skills within fields appropriate for my business. Found next door!
Thank you!!!

This made me more aware of the different ways of creating things. It is a really old one, and still…dig where you stand! I just couldn’t get it more obvious, could I? Either you create through really hard work, afraid of what might happen if you fail, or you create through asking and receiving.

The subject of work and rest has been central for me during the last year. Being one of those people who is truly passionate about their work , and adding to that an old inherited gene of performance anxiety, I have used half my life working too much, being quite badly burnt out a couple of times. The difficulty is always to keep the balance, to get the job done, working up the high energies, but then to be courageous enough to stop…and get some rest.

I new there had to be other ways to manifest, but once you are there, riding the high waves of creating, working, getting results, it is hard to let go. You keep pushing and pushing and you WANT, you DESIRE you ARE GOING TO MAKE the result that you fantasize of. It is like a drug and makes you the addict. The strange thing is that you believe that that condition is your natural and true self, but when you fall down (witch you always will) or when (God forbid) some other part of your life calls on your attention, like family, friends, your health or else, that is nothing but a distraction steeling that precious time of yours. And following every high, comes implacable a down. Then”something” is wrong. Most probably it is someone (or something) else’s fault and you are a failure and a looser. After feeling sorry for yourself cursing the unfair circumstances you get back to it. Fight it.
Does this make you a more interesting person?
Does this make your working results better?
Does this make you happy?
Of cause not.

I will give you an alternative picture:
You decide for yourself that everything you need is there for you at the right moment. You dare to let the space-in-between, time for reflection, into your life and see how time is suddenly expanding. Once you accept not to identify yourself as the one carrying everything onwards (seriously, you can’t really believe that you carry everyone around you?! ? Superman or Superwoman) you can simply accept the assistance from life and people around you, and do YOUR PART when the time is right. In this way you don’t get drained of energy, but rather get new energy from doing your job, you let other people be and feel important, witch will make them grow and you will get truly giving relations. Instead of constantly keeping your brain solving problems, you will be present when you spend time with kids and family. And with yourself.
This is courageous!

It is very hard and very easy at the same time. Very hard because our western society is built on the opposite structure, and no one (or very few) will applaud you. But it is also very easy, since this is the most natural way to create, and the earnings you receive is so rich- a more joyful, vivid, loving and fruitful life!
Suddenly it is hard to know whether it is job or rest you are performing. I believe sometimes resting is the greatest work you can perform.
Is”work” to be defined after effort made or after results made?

Was that work or rest in my neighbor’s kitchen yesterday?

Talk to you soon,
Yours, Josefin