“We have to keep learning through everything,” says furniture and wallpaper designer Brett Beldock, describing herself as a student, with a deep love for research and the discovery of new things. “I just bought myself a Japanese Marbling Kit and I will be learning marbling all afternoon,” she shares with a joyful expression. We are zooming from her home office in Southampton and I can spot her beautiful New Anemones wallpaper in the background.
This quote is one that we have always kept close to our hearts, but fear that it is often oversimplified. It’s beneficial to understand the history and context behind Audre Lorde’s words before diving into our own interpretations. The first step in building a foundation of understanding for this quote is conceptualizing ‘radical self-care,’ an act that calls for the attentiveness to one’s individual mind and body. Speaking within social norms, women are socialized to care for others. By caring for oneself, a woman can confront the stereotype that she solely exists to give her time and energy to her surrounding environment. Self-care builds sustainable revolutions and social movements—ones that are upheld by individuals built to last. Self-care is ‘revolutionary,’ because it works against oppression and forms of discrimination that attempt to undermine particular identities.
