Much of the art seen today whether it be in the form of paintings, furnishings, fashion, movies, music, photography, or writing can be attributed or inspired one way or another by travel. In fact, the reason for this article was to show or prove how travel can be a link between creativity and inspiration.
I was reading an article on Departures that coined the term WANDERLUX, which I found wonderfully charming! WanderLux by definition is a very strong or irresistible desire for luxury travel. The story is about how fashion icon Stephanie von Watzdorf found her inspiration for her fabulous spring 2015 collection, which just so happened to be on a trip to Nairobi, the Masai Mara, and Lamu in Kenya. This inspired me to think of the correlation between Travel & Inspiration. As a creative, inspiration is something you can’t plan to find, but something universal that will only find you once you open yourself up to it. One way to open yourself up to the universe is travel, which is a force of inspiration in itself for many creators whether they’re in the realm of writing, art, music, or in this case fashion.
Another wonderful example of travel inspiring art, is Barcelona via Taiwan. Since founding her brand in 2004, the Taiwanese born sculptor/jewelry designer Cindy Chao has built quite a following of serious collectors with her awe-inspiring jewels, which brings us to her fabulous 2012 Equinox Cuff, a piece which took over 18-months of work to create. Her design, which consists of 11 sugarloaf-cut emeralds and 2,000 diamonds was inspired by the eccentric Spanish architect, Antoni Gaudí (Park Güell, La Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera/Casa Milà, and La Casa Batlló in beautiful Barcelona, Spain). The shape and look of this magnificent piece of jewelry resembles the shape and look of Park Güell, which was built between 1900 & 1914, and is located on the hill of El Carmel in Gràcia, a district of Barcelona. The park itself was named after Count Eusebi Güell, who interestingly enough was a Mediciesque patron to the architect. The park is also a UNESCO site.
Morocco, abuzz with vivid color, animated souks and architectural wonders has also served as true inspiration to well-known fashionistas such as designers Stefani Greenfield and Desiree Gruber of Theodora & Callum took a trip to what Gruber calls’ “Yves Saint Laurent’s adopted city of Marrakech”, where they found their inspiration on the geometric wood and glass ceiling of the Royal Mansour, a leading hotel of the world, which motivated them to design a linen-viscose scarf, but not before finishing it with the cobalt blue colors of Saint Laurent’s Jardin Majorelle, which took French artist Jacque Marjorelle forty years to design this calm oasis in the heart of the “Ochre City”, during which time Morocco was under the protection of France. The garden, which has been opened to the public since 1947 and owned by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé since 1980, hosts more than 15 bird species native to North Africa, marble pools, raised pathways, banana trees, groves of bamboo, coconut palms and bougainvillea. Jardin Majorelle is opened every day of the year.
As you can see, travel serves as the essence to all possibilities as it leaves us all in awe at one point or another in our journey. It can either lead us to a wonderfully surprising conclusion, or can captivate and unravel itself from within. Either way, whether we are on a tour, cruise, or on your own, travel has a way of encouraging us to bloom like a flower in order for inspiration to reveal itself.
