The Clutter and The Color

If someone needed to know me instantly, I would tell them to look at my room / studio.  In my place, projects and inspiration are scattered across all corners of the room. It is where I work and play and dance about to my favorite music. By living alone, I have outwardly manifested my vision everywhere. It is cluttered and colorful and it took me a while to learn to love myself for this. There is part of me that wishes I could be more minimal; less attached and emotionally connected to my possessions and to have a more simple atmosphere. I have realized I will never be able to live without the clutter because it isn’t clutter ~ It is collected inspiration!!! 

By living this way over the past three years, I have cultivated my authentic and artistic self. I live according to my own rules. 

I’ve realized that home is not a place, home is what we bring with us wherever we go, the books that we read, or music we listen to. Home is a certain kind of smell. To me home smells like a combination of sandalwood incense, tobacco/vanilla perfume, and pikake.

Sometimes here it becomes difficult to separate dreams from reality. 

I bought this dress at a vintage shop in NYC called Hamlet’s Vintage. I love collecting vintage pieces because it is always a treasure hunt. Usually when I see certain pieces I just know that it is already mine instantly upon looking at it. I could barely fit it in my suitcase coming back and now I can’t fit it in my closet, so yeah… it goes on display for now!

My favorite lighter has Frida Kahlo on it. My friend Andy Casanova gave it to me. 

I love belts and I keep my favorite ones on my chair because I wear them so often.

I still haven’t gotten around to hanging this picture up on the wall. It’s been this way ever since I moved here, but I kind of like it more this way. I like when things are left unfinished and not perfect. 

I have collected many books and they all sit stacked at the foot of my bed. 

I bought this vintage dress at Wasteland in Santa Monica. 

I appliquéd onto the front neckline various remnants of fabrics and trims that I have collected. 

It is quite a mystery to me how there can be no more room in the closet, but yet sometimes nothing at all to wear. “I would go out tonight, but I haven’t got a stitch to wear” ~ The Smiths

I am a shoe hoarder and I have no shame. Oh and yes those are bowling shoes to the left. 

Next to my bed is my desk and I would say that the two are closely linked because both involve wild dreams. 

“En matière de dessin, rien n’est meilleur que le premier jet” ~ Pablo Picasso

When I was around 7 or 8 years old I made this framed piece on the right. I took scraps from magazines and candy wrappers and folded them into 12 dresses. I guess you could say this was my first attempt at a collection. 

In my room, poetry flows through me.

I call my kitchen the hippie kitchen because it is very unconventional. I am not much of a cook yet. 

Here are some of my favorite products. (I recently bought a moisturizer by Ole Henriksen called Sheer Transformation Perfecting moisturizer and it has tremendously improved my skin)

For the beach. 

Some collected treasures.

I bought this feather eyeball earring in a vintage shop in London for 5 pounds. 

Some art from my childhood.

I hope that you also find treasures in life. Not only things, but people, places, and moments. Collect them all. Be grateful. Life is short, but your soul’s journey is beyond time. Embrace yourself as you are with all of the clutter and color and always say yes to anything that makes your soul feel alive. 

With Love,

Hanna