Yesterday at Leo & Lotus we spent a lot of money on some stunning marble slabs that we are going to make into tiles for a home. We ordered 40 metres of the most divine silk velvet  I have ever seen. We finalised a few bathroom drawings that have gone in for pricing .. . so much money spent in one day on some gorgeous homes. Today we will spend more.

At 8:45 pm last night I sat down at my laptop to read the emails I missed while I was at puppy school with our newest addition. 

Loading, loading, scrolling, I stopped, I knew what was in the attachment.

My eyes burned, I didn't want to cry, my arms ached, that familiar sick feeling smothered my body. Did we get the right ones? did they look the same? would they smile? How would their eyes look? 

I had been sent photos from the Mahaguthi Ashram in Kathmandu. Photos of the newest intake receiving the sewing machines Leo & Lotus had bought for them. I know the sewing machines wont fix the wrongs, but they give the girls a start. These girls could work hard, they were determined & they had the emotional skill to survive. Leo & Lotus had just given them a small hand up.

It was a year ago that I had met them with Amanda Jane Fox (Dames & Divas.) These girls we met are some of  'The Abandoned & Destitute of Nepal.'  

I remember when we were introduced, the desperation &  fear in their eyes, their hurt & their courage. I remember going back to my hotel room that night & allowing the tears to silently flow down my face. I had been fighting them all day, these girls did not need my sadness, they needed a voice.

All the girls we met that day had no human rights, few people would care if they died. They were the same as the girls I had meet on previous years. Their only mistake was that they were born female in a developing country.

This is why I love design more & more. It gives me an opportunity to slightly balance the scale. 

At Leo & Lotus we create gorgeous interiors for some amazing people with extremely successful careers. Their careers are not a birth right, they are because of persistence & hard work. A beautiful home is something they are proud of & have worked hard to achieve.  

Leo & Lotus Interiors all come with a guarantee that you will change some ones life for the better. You will give someone with no human rights an opportunity to support themselves, to educate themselves, to sleep in a bed at night & live close enough to a clean water supply. This is because Leo & Lotus gives 100% of our profit back to the artisans or communities they come from. We receive no salaries, we simply give all our profit back. 

Imagine sleeping soundly in your beautiful Leo & Lotus home, knowing that you have given someone with no human rights a chance. Just like Kusum, Samjhana, Melina, Nisha, Sangeeta, Pushpa, Rupa, Rama, Sarita  ...

 'Be the change that you want to see in the world'  Mahatma Gandhi

 

A home never just happens, it evolves with inherited pieces, gifts & new things.

When our children were little we moved 9 times. It sounds nauseatingly chaotic, but luckily for my husband I love setting up 'homes.'

The chaos of moving has always been balanced by the joy of finding the perfect space for my Grandmothers deco liquor cabinet, the chest given to me on my 21st birthday, the old Afghan rug (that I keep mending.)  I love our old sofa that has seen 4 babies, 4 dogs, 2 cats, 2 birds & briefly a lamb ..  it holds so much love, laughter & memories in its fabric. These stories are what make our home, no matter where it is.

When I am invited to design the interior of someone else's home, this philosophy of something old, something new comes with me. Over the past 20 years I have been designing interiors for some very special people & I am very grateful to them for allowing me into their lives to create their 'homes.' Their homes are beautiful because of the stories they tell. 

I have been asked so many times why some homes you can never quite relax in. They can be visually stunning, they photograph well, they just don't welcome you inside & wrap their arms around you, like a home should.

Part of the answer comes down to the story your home tells. I am a lover of 2nd hand & antique shops. Not to hunt out 70's veneer, but to find the cabinet with the dovetail drawers, or vintage glass that has been hand blown, painted or etched. You know someone has spent hours crafting or restoring them. These pieces have been loved, they have been waxed & dusted by someone who cared about them. They are 50 plus years old & still look fab. We know that takes skill!

Please don't misunderstand me NEW is hot too. New furniture, wallpaper, paint, kitchens & bathrooms are all exciting additions to a home & I love designing them. They are the beginning of a new chapter in your life. Don't forget you came with a few chapters behind you. Your magnificence didn't just happen, all masterpieces take time & perseverance. 

A home should be an eclectic collection of you, your history, your new beginnings, what you love, your adventures & what makes you smile. These pieces are your friends, they know you, they know where you have come from & where you are going. Your home should tell a story.

Crayon art bought off a very clever surfer/artist in NZ, framed in a vintage gold leafed frame. This hangs above our bed! 

Vintage champagne flutes & smokey green cut glass, a Tibetan Incense burner & Nans' crocheted glass doilies.

I do have a wee giggle when I notice the horror in peoples eyes when I suggest a small amount of red would lift their colour scheme. You would think I had suggested they bath in blood then smear it on their walls!

Red has the most complex and symbolic history of all of our colours. Cardinals robes are red (for the blood of Christ) the flames of the devil are also red (perhaps they should have had a few more communication meetings before they locked their colours in ..)

The red pigmentation on Pompeiian walls is still holding on, medieval stain glass windows wouldn't be medieval without their flashes of red. John Constable one of the greatest landscapes artists of the early 1800's, said everyone of his paintings needed red to balance the eye. I could continue but you may get bored. The gist is that red is soo necessary in every interior, whether it be blue or orange based you need it somewhere.

Red is definatly not a predominant colour in our home, but It is used to bind & link other colours. I've taken a few pics around the house to show you how to do it well without looking like Moulin Rouge. 

Red it is the key to an interior teetering on the brink of extraordinary or moving into plain old boring. You need no longer be afraid ..

Silver, black & blue would never look this good without a bit of heat to balance it.

Cool white walls with scarlet ribbon & velvet vermillion flowers 

Corner in our kitchen with a red kettle, a lone red knife & the underside of a skillet

See what I mean  .. its only a flash of red & what a difference it makes! 

Sometime in June 1977 ..

“I had prayed for this day to come for as long as I can remember.

Today my Gogo (my Great Nan) is going to make me into a big girl.

My Gogo is famous in our village. I am so proud to have a Gogo like her; all the mammas want my Gogo to make their daughters special.

Gogo has just arrived with her friends; I know some of them from another village. They are singing, today is a very happy day they say. My heart is joyous; I cannot wait for them to perform the miracle.

We walk, dance & sing together as my Gogo & her friends take me away from the village, away from prying eyes & ears. This is my special time with my Gogo & her friends.

Beautiful Gogo asks me to lie on the ground. One of Gogos friends holds my arms above my head & kisses me on my forehead.

“Be brave little one,” she says

The other two, hold one leg each.

I close my eyes, this is it, finally it is my turn. I cannot wait.

I feel Gogo lift my skirt. My body tingles.

Then,

My body screams   ..   screeches in terror & my heart violently strangles itself inside my tiny chest.  

A searing   burning    brutal     tearing 

Horror 

Warm liquid sobs between my legs

No words can come from my mouth. My heart is sick.   

My Gogo is a monster.

I have been circumcised 

I am 5 years old.

She did it to keep my honour.”

FGM is practiced in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Oman, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, amongst others, FGM is carried out with knives, scissors, scalpels, pieces of glass or razor blades. Mortality is high.

The practice has dreadful costs: many girls die afterwards, the survivors suffer their whole life from the psychological and medical consequences of the operation. All are traumatized and suffer from adverse health effects during marriage and pregnancy.

This practice continues today.

The proceeds from the Leo & Lotus Fandango have gone to an incredible woman who is a victim of circumcision and other horrific crimes. The money is being used to reunite her with her son. Her identity is secret, she has been humiliated enough.

Melanie Strathdee

Founder – Leo & Lotus

Kate McGregor from Aphrodite's Inheritance came to HQ with a very special gift last year, she just needed to borrow one of our Fandangos...

Kates' gift was to recreate the Fandango then donate the proceeds to a Leo & Lotus cause. 

That she did, beyond our wildest dreams. Our Fandango was returned dripping in gold & exquisite pearls, she had never looked so hot. 

Then .. 

Last Friday night amongst hoards of glamorous champagne drinking art critics, our Fandango was exposed to the World, she was looking stunning.  Our hearts were tight we were so nervous for her, the mere mention of the F word sends nice ladies & gentlemen into blushing hyperventilating spins! 

Our Fandango had a brutal story to tell, we had to be strong.

A crowd had gathered around our Fandango. 

"Is that what I think it is?" 

We had to look away, for fear of judgement. Aaaghhhh why do we always do that????!!

We looked back, our gorgeous Fandango had a RED sticker ..

Tears, mascara running, blowing air through our lips to gain composure ..

The Great Fandango had been sold to a wonderful woman who thought its story should be told.

Please let us take a breath & compose ourselves. We have a story to tell you .. it is difficult to write. We'll post it when it is done. In the mean time, check out our Great Fandango ..

Thank you Kate McGregor what you did for Leo & Lotus has made our voice a little louder.

xx

 

We at HQ often struggle to find the beauty in a low maintenance easy clean white bathroom. Before you shout praticality is better than beauty!  READ ON

Either sitting down or standing up you will have experienced a few light bulb moments in the bathroom. Presumably the bathroom where the event occurred was extremely boring, low maintenance & the door was locked. Would your light bulb have turned into a solar flare if you were sitting or standing in an inspiring stimulating avant guard environment? 

Dental clinic bathrooms don't encourage a good read, contemplation, or creative flow. 

These divine brass swans will get those neurones pulsing. They attach easily to your cabinetry. Each feather is poured into a hand carved bone mould, then individually pieced together to create a gracious Swan.

Who said practicality must be boring & unimaginative? 

Imagine what we could do next when another one of our solar flares goes off..

Aminata was about 5 years old when life turned on her.

The world as she knew it, abused & tormented her, her loved ones were brutally & horrifically murdered.

Aminata did not ask for this, she was born into the Sierra Leonean war.

Aminata ran ... she ran & ran .. she had to, to survive.

Aminata, a dear little girl then, lived on the streets, in the jungle & eventually in a camp in Ghana.

Aminata is not bitter, she is not angry .. she survived.

Aminata is grateful for every breath she takes.

Aminata now lives in Australia. She works & studies hard, so hard.

Aminata has saved & saved to get an Australian passport (she had no birth certificate .. her history was destroyed.)

Aminata saved with a goal in mind, to buy a return ticket back to Sierra Leone (she is good at living frugally.)

Her grandmother & brother & sister now live in a village outside of Freetown, she hasn't seen them for 15 years.

Aminatas' grandmother is very very sick, her knees are swelling & her heart is bad. 

Her brother is loosing focus & not going to school (agh teenage boys!)

Aminata feels responsible. 

Leo & Lotus are collecting toiletries, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, deodorant .. all those things we take for granted .. to ship to Africa, to Aminatas families village. You all know how much better you feel when you smell nice & have clean teeth! imagine all those gorgeous smiling teeth & sweet smelling people after they open the container!!

please message melanie.strathdee@leoandlotus.com     if you have anything spare that you think may make a precious human beings day.

xx

A barrage of words & emotions are circling my head, it is very difficult to order & make sense of them because of the heart wrenching emotion I feel when I think of 'what to say'

The eyes of the girls inside the Mahaguthi Ashram haunt and tear at my soul.

Think of a stray dog in Bali, not one with rabies & full of anger, but a dog hunched with its tail down, misery in its eyes from a life of extreme cruelty, abuse & abandonment. No one wants to go near them for fear of disease or simply because they are hated. A kind soul may see through the fear & try to rehabilitate them, more often these dogs are euthanised.

Some of the girls in the ashram have the same eyes, these are the eyes that haunt me. They aren't addicts, they aren't criminals, they have just been born female in a rural area of a developing country. Their stories will make you hold your daughters tight & be so grateful you live in the country you do.

Leo & Lotus is going to support the girls in the Mahaguthi Ashram with the help of some wonderful women living in Nepal. We are going to identify & nurture the talents these girls have. Most importantly we are going to teach them a future of kindness, respect & dignity is possible.

When you buy a piece from Leo & Lotus that is made in Nepal, all the profit made will go into a fund that will then be distributed to give these very precious souls hope for a future. A future where they are not ashamed to have been born.

Rise & Shine. Leo & Lotus and Dames & Divas have landed...

What an experience so far.
Dames & Divas tested positive for explosives (OMG 3 times) we think it was too much perfume .. or that is the story Amanda came up with when she was released out of the interview/frisk room! (check the insides of your shoes ladies.)

After landing, (very smelly & sticky) but still looking extremely glamorous, we had a hair raising ride to the Mahaguthi offices, brushed ourselves off & started work with racing pulses. Not sure if this was an indication of design enthusiasm or total exhaustion.

One mind-blowing cocktail later the 2 Nanas callapsed into their respected beds ...

Two thick double espressos & a few down dogs have our chi and chakras in line ready for Day 1 - BHAKTAPUR ...

In 5 days time we will be writing to you from breathtaking Nepal. Updating you on the recovery of some of our artisans during the traumatic & very recent rioting. If you are lucky we may even give you a very sneek preview on the newest Leo & Lotus collection they are working on. It is very special & is full of so much hope & dignity.

Will keep you posted!