Leto & Ariadne takes flight

Almost a year on from my last posting on this blog I am finally able to sit and write about the journey it has been over the last twelve months. From starting with an idea based on a name pulled almost from thin air, I now have a fully formed idea of what 'Leto & Ariadne' actually is.

Collections have been woven and are on display for people to see, the first time I have had any kind of show since my graduation exhibition at University. I watch people stopping outside the window and looking at the silk handwoven by me and feel proud that I have created something all of my own and it is now almost a living breathing thing.

Do I have regrets that it has taken me 10 years since graduation to set up a label? The honest answer is no. The last 10 years have expanded and changed my world more than I could have imagined, and much of this has gone into the work. As a 23 year old I think I would have hesitated at the challenge of making a website without someone to help me. The older me went online, learnt how to write the code and created it. Whereas I used to allow myself to be defeated by challenges at University when they seemed too large to overcome, for 'Leto & Ariadne' I pushed more than I ever have in my life to get what I wanted.

I have to say thank you to the people that did help me along on the journey to the launch. Gemma Sangwine, who was there on the first day of University and has been ever since, helping me up when I would fall down, and providing those select few words of Virgoan encouragement at the right time. My friends, otherwise known as the long suffering models on the website, who allowed me to commandeer their Saturdays (and sometimes houses), who didn't complain when I shoe-horned them into clothes they would not normally wear, and who struggled so hard not to laugh in front of the camera. To Nick, Tessa, Alex, Emma, Helen, Suzy, Gemma and Victoria, who put up with my novice directions and endless requests, even to the point of standing at the top of an exposed hill 3 days after Christmas in what must have been -5 degrees, you have my eternal gratitude and thanks.

The fact that 'Leto & Ariadne' has launched is almost a small point. It is simply the first step on the road to what this will become. And now to work.........