Sarah Sansom (London)

By Sarah Sansom
01.04.14

Sarah-Headshot-Colour-SmallMarch 2014. It’s a sunny Sunday morning in Holborn, London. Swarms of curious people have turned up with coffees in hand, excited to experience Street Wisdom for the first time.
There is a real buzz in the air as strangers meet and begin to exchange ideas about which streets in the world they remember, are inspired by and why.

We are invited to take to the streets with a few key questions in mind and as I start to slow down I wonder what’s been preoccupying me lately, what I haven’t given enough time to, what could do with some thought, some care and some attention.

I was due to move house soon, back to a flat I used to live in years ago.
I was feeling a little apprehensive about the move, so needed to consider how to make it something I could look forward to instead. So I asked the street – How can you inspire me with design ideas for my home, so it feels exciting and new again?

photoAs I slowed down, the sounds of the traffic disappeared and the colours and pictures of the street opened up before me. I began to notice the layers of the streets within streets, reflections in windows and the sun peering cheekily around corners. There were lighting designs under my feet as a passed over shops, trees standing tall amongst buildings and neon slogans with commands telling me ‘This Way’ jumped out of walkways. It was as if a guide was walking me through the city, egging me on, to turn right or left onto the next inspiration. All kinds of different perspectives on the structure, form and composition of London’s cityscape came alive for me that day. I took photographs of patterns, textures, colours and ideas, a canvas of yellows and greens, concrete and metal.

It’s a month since that Street Wisdom now and I am packing boxes ready to move. I have been throwing things away and spending time looking through design catalogues planning ahead what I want to buy. I find I am still drawn to these same colours, textures and lighting ideas.
My home will have yellows and greys, with plants instead of trees. I am designing my home with my experience of Street Wisdom still in mind. From the street, into the home, that day will continue to shine light on the inside and that leaves me with a smile!

The street is somewhere that offers us ideas, answers and suggestions. We just need to hang around long enough to take care.

Sarah Sansom, Time Won’t Wait