Between the pandemic, dissertation writing, and a stint with crutches, I’ve spent much of this year at my desk beside a window, looking over the road in front of my flat. As lockdown progressed, I started recognizing the daily parade of people, dogs, and bicycles gliding past the window as they made their trek down my street. For myself, as mundane as it may sound, joining in with the daily procession of London walkers became an anchor in 2020. Continue reading
How it started / how it started again
My 2020 started with finding out that US and Australian crafters were “sharing” a calligraphic mandala I had created as a background pattern for a portrait.
I had quickly drawn it in Sketchbook Pro and thoughtlessly posted it on my portfolio.
No big deal.
It became a huge hit in the crafters scene. I found it badly traced, printed, cut in vinyl, laser-cut, stenciled, carved, and etched in glass. Not where I wanted to be, but there I was. Beware what you put out there, you might be known for it.
So my 2020 continued: fixing that mandala, hiking, creating more calligraphic mandalas, masking up and hiking, vectorizing them in Illustrator, keeping healthy, and selling the files on Etsy.
Calligraphic Mandalas
Little moments of community
Something particularly cruel about this pandemic was being separated from people we love during the time when we needed it the most. But paradoxically, this isolation itself was something we have shared collectively, a communal experience.
What got me through this year were the moments of community that reminded me that, although we are isolated, we are not alone. I have selected three, in chronological order.
Continue reading
Winnie Time
In late May our backyard neighbors adopted a two-month old lab puppy. They sent a text announcing her arrival and within minutes my husband and I were standing by our shared fence, waiting to hold the snow-white rolls of fur and floppy ears. They named her Winnie.
Continue reading
Baking decadent stuff with my best friend, Kári
What can we do if we are stuck at home 24/7 besides swallowing Cheetos in bed? The answer started with painting each other’s toenails in multiple colors but it was only funny once. Cheetos weren’t appetizing anymore thanks to my sudden all-day-long-sickness. Yay pregnancy! For four months, I could either eat blend pasta or sweets. So, with my best friend and partner, Kári, we baked to put a smile on my puky face after drooling on the Great British Baking Show. Continue reading
Afloat 2020
Really stoked to have survived this year and happy to share some of the coping mechanisms that have bought me lots of comfort and solace.
Very early in the quarantine, a friend started a book club where we read books that were set anywhere but our city Bombay. This way we got to travel while staying safely in our homes. Our meetings on Zoom connected me with strangers who also joined the club in hopes of similar travels. We would chat about the places but also how the books made us feel. Continue reading
Jigsaw Nightmare
“Shall I bring Jigsaws? I might be able to fit two in my backpack.”, she asked.
“Perfect, I have some as well. We can exchange!”, I replied.
Little did I know that this naive message exchange would turn out to be one of my worst nightmares. It was mid-June and the measures had relaxed ever so slightly, when my friend Elena texted me to say that she was going on an allowed bike ride. She suggested exchanging puzzles, and so it happened. I got to see her from a distance — mask included — for some limited, yet very much needed, human interaction. We traded puzzles, disinfected them, and parted ways. Continue reading
Bette(r) together
The quarantine came quickly and forced us to stay home, isolated, away from the social contact we are used to. You might think that typeface designers were already stuck in caves before the pandemic anyway, but as I mentioned in an email exchange with one of my great teachers, Rubén Fontana, it’s one thing to choose solitude and another to have it imposed on you. In his own words, “It seems that humans cannot accept anything being imposed on us, not even for our own convenience”. So the question arises, is it possible to transform a situation that is imposed from the outside, into the protagonist of opportunity? Continue reading
Pet views
My husband and I live in a fourth floor apartment, with roughly 20 meters separating us from the row of apartment buildings in front of us. During the uneventful days of the confinement—which in Spain meant you could not leave your apartment except for necessary errands—every small thing became an event. Looking at the same scenery day after day one starts noticing details one hadn’t noticed before—the type of plants someone grows, the color of the brick of a certain building, and, the surprising number of pets inhabiting those buildings. Continue reading