Afro-Urban Beat

vinny_chic (@vinny_chic) | TikTok

This is when I first got my 3d Printer. I use an Elegoo Neptune Pro 3. I bought it while I was living in the UK. This video is of me assembling it and just sharing my thoughts on what I want to do with it.

I bought it and actually kept it in the box for a little while before I actually put it together. I had it for a few months. At the time I was job hunting and I had just graduated from doing my M.Arch and was applying for jobs (rather unsuccesfully), and so I started looking into alternative.

I thought of opening an Amazon Storefront or an Etsy Shop and selling prints and even tried to set all those things up, but I just didn't really know what I was doing. Espeecially when it came to the business side of things.

Welcome to Portal 154 3D Print Design Studio

At Portal 154 3D Print Design Studio, we are committed to providing high-quality 3D printing and design solutions tailored to your home, business, and personal needs. We specialize in creating unique, carefully crafted products that combine functionality, creativity, and exceptional craftsmanship.

Browse our catalogue to order from our growing collection of designs. If you're looking for something more specific, we also offer custom design services to bring your ideas to life. Whether you need a one-of-a-kind gift, a business solution, a prototype, or a bespoke product, we're here to help.

In addition to our 3D printing services, we provide:

Custom 3D product design

Bespoke 3D printed models

Architectural 3D models

High-quality architectural renderings and visualizations

If you have a project in mind or require a customized solution, we'd love to hear from you. Please contact us at [email protected] to discuss your requirements.

So a little while ago I created the Portal 154 Design Studio, the brand which I use to share my designs and so my freelance work under. I've been operating from the point of a freelancer but I've decided that I wish to build and scale my business into a six or seven-figure business. I really believe that my studio has the potential to reach that level. The goal will be to scale Portal 154 Design Studio into a seven-figure business and then to sell it. So that is my goal. I wish to document my journey of building my seven figure business. So this will be like my journal entry into this journey so that hopefully any other young entrepreneur can follow the same journey and find financial success and freedom.

3D Printing or creating a design studio is not a new business model, and many people are running very successful businesses all over the world, but I believe that my business faces unique challenges in the Malawian business landscape and I wish to explore those hurdles through my blog and through this page. I want to feel free to express my thoughts and just share what the journey will be like. So follow me as I build my 3D printing business here in Malawi.

I have a few other social media platforms and I wish to share my content across all of those platforms as well. This is my first post. My next post will be about registering my business and going through MRA (Malawi Revenue Authority), getting a TPIN and what that process is like.

One thing that I believe will genuinely be a challenge for me is time management. I'm currently working as an candidate architect, i'm a mom, I also do a lot of freelance design work behind the scenes as well as church and other related activities. So it's safe to say my plate is more than full, so finding the time to build and scale a small business will be quite the challenge but I'm up for it.

For my 30th Birthday I went to Barcelona, Spain. It was life changing. Aside from the food, the beauty, the culture the language the people, what I fell in love with was the Art in the city. Something that I just love about Europe is their appreciation of the Arts. I went to the Picasso Museum and I don't even have words to describe what that expperience was like for me. I love art and to be able to view actual works by Picasso was something I'm grateful I got to experience in this life. Anyways, with the busy days I have, I barely ever have time to create any art. I know in my heart I was born to be an artist, but just trapped in this rat race. I told myself to be more conscious about making art or drawing or doing something creative. Anyways this is what I got to do today.

Strange Dream: An Introduction to Zamrock 1972 to 1979 – The Cosmic Clash – The Cosmic Clash

You guys know I love to put you on to cool shit that I like, so I was on TikTok the other day and I came across this post about Zambian Fashion in the 70's and how it was influenced by the music scene at the time, which was psychedelic rock with the most notable bands being WITCH and Ngozi family. To say I'm obsessed is an understatement, but honestly with the aesthetics of it all, more than the music itself if I'm being honest. But that's only because I'm a visual person and the aesthetics of the whole psychedelic rock album covers and even the fashion is what drew me in, the fact that this movement took place in Zambia, the country that literally neighbours my own was even more of a selling point for me with the whole Zamrock genre. And I think what I love the most about Zamrock is the sound, because, I believe it's my first time listening to African Music that is of Psychadelic Rock. I don't feel like African artists explore music genres a lot, so it was really refreshing to hear African lyrics to a rock sound.

I've linked below some more videos on the topic. Feel free to explore and enjoy.

Keith Haring is one of my favorite artists of all time. I love pop art and he's one of my inspirations in his approach to his minimalist stylization of figures in his work. As simple as the carichatures are in his work, theres a vibrancy and energy and movement that you feel in his work. In my journey back to finding myself as an artist, I believe that I'll be taking inspiration and studying the works of the artists whose work inspires me, and hopefully find my own voice and style as an artist. The following images below are a simplistic depiction of life, family and love, and all the stages that I've gone through in finding and building love and family.

Below are the titles of each frame.

1. Keith Haring Dupe #1

2. Night on the Town

3. Keith Haring Dupe #2

4. Keith Haring Dupe #3

5. Carrying You is Buckling Me

6. Family

7. Everything is Love

Hey Guys, when I get overwhelmed I somehow always find myself coming back to this blog. It's somewhat of a place of safety for me here on the internet. I feel like on most other social platforms, I don't feel as free to share my thoughts or the things that I want to post about because, I don't know, too many eyes or something. But here, I find it's my quiet place on the internet, where I can share my thoughts, post about stuff that I like and find cool and not feel the need to curate or impress anyone. I can just be, and just be me. But lately, I havent been feeling that way, if I'm being honest. I don't even know who 'Me' is. I've weirdly lost the sense of who I am.

I used to be so sure and so certain in my younger years, and I passionately pursued my goals. And then a strange thing happened. I acheieved them all. Funny right? One would think that in acheiving one's goals, that it would draw you closer to your purpose and ground you even deeper into your character, but I find as I completed more of dreams and more of my goals, I found that the dreams that I had had for myself were nothing more than a mere illusion. I always thouhght that I would feel fulfilled if I acheieved eveything I ever dreamed about, but to my great surprise, it's left me feeling even more lost and confused than before I had ever even had a goal.

I was one of those people that had set out a life plan for myself. And I wish I had taken a picture of the document where I had written out my life plan. I had broken it up into Short Term Goals, Medium Term Goals and Long Term Goals. I wanted to travel, and had even written the destinatons, I planned on travelling to Asia, Europe, the Middle East, I wanted to become and Architect and Town Planner, I wanted to have a family and also do some charity work. All but the charity work, the rest of those dreams were fulfilled.

I got a Masters Degree in Architecture, I ended up working for the Malawi Government at the Ministry of Transport and Public Works in the Buildings Department, literally designing and creating buildings and spaces for public use in my country. I had acheived my dream of building Cities and contributing to the building of my nation.

I've travelled extensively in the past 10/15 years, to all the countries that I ever dreamed of and more. I've seen so much and done so much, and yet why does it feel empty? Why does what I feel like I've done with my life feel like nothing. I mean, I genuinely feel gratitude for all the wonderful things that this life has offered me and that I've worked to acheive, but I can't help but feel bitterly disappointed in how unsatisfying acheiveing all my goals would feel.

I now find myself in a new chapter of my life where I have completed all the tasks that I had set out for myself in my 10 year plan and find myself wondering, 'what's next'? At first I had taken the approach of just kind of going with the flow, and seeing where the wind blows me with each day, because the past 10 years had been dictated by a life plan, but in as much as the unpredicatability of each day can be exciting, my mind is used to striving and following a structured plan in order to acheive an ultimate goal. But now what is the GOAL?

What is my purpose? A question I thought I had answered many years ago. Hence the 10 year life plan. But what I did not anticipate in that life plan is that life is not linear and in life we grow, we evolve and we change. And part of that life plan that I had created all those years ago for myself was done under the guise of what and who I thought would make me a 'good person' on the outside. I had curated my life as sort of this picture perfect story for the outside world. That if I could be this person, then I would be loved, respected and would find all the happiness that I was searching for in the world. As you can imagine, that did not happen. I silently achieved every milestone I desired and then life went on. There was no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, there was no prize for achieving those milestones, no award, no one to clap for you or give you praise. And a painful realisation hit me, that I had designed and curated a life that in truth no one really cares about. Everyone is busy and has the things in their life that matter to them and that they care about. I had designed my entire life to please people that weren't even in the audience. No one was watching, no one cares and no one rewards the efforts of your life.

And now as I am back from England, having acheived one of the greatest milestones of my life. I find myself having to re-write my identity, due to the quiet discontentment that I feel about the life I've currently built for myself. I find myself entering a new era, but somehow find myself re-visiting an old one. In this place where I sat with this quiet discontentmemt, I stumbled upon a piece of my history. My old painting. My heart had been crying out for me to beign to retreat to my mind and create my art again, and this for me was confirmed when my daughter walked into the room and she brought me one of my old painting. I took that as a sign of confirmation. That I've always been looking outward for the meaning of my life, but maybe the place to look is inward and to bring out all the thoughts and things that I've learned over the years and begin to tell stories through my art. It feels weird considering an art career at my age, and I don't even know if I would consider it a career, but for the moment, I believe it's where I desire to put my heart, my soul and my mind.

So yeah, that's really it for now. Here is the painting that my daughter brought me.

Lenny Kravitz Feature in AD and Kravitz Design Studio

Run! Don't walk! AD (Architectural Digest) just dropped their latest feature on the one and only Lenny Kravitz's stunning home in Paris. I am lost for words at the level of regality, glamour, splendour and overall amazing black soul deliciousness that his Paris Maison showcased. The design intention behind every space speaks to how meticulous and thoughtful he was in creating his forever home. He said that the way it is now is perfect and it encapsulates everything about his design style and an omen to his legacy as a creator.

You know that I love when design, especially architectural and interior design incorporates the use of black culture, so it's no surprise that I'm obviously obsessed. But what I loved most was finding out about his design studio, Kravitz Design. They showcase a number of projects they've worked on and it is evidence that you cannot deny that this man is truly one of the most talented creative geniuses of our time. I've shared the links below to the IG page for Kravitz Design and also the website for you to indulge,

Enjoy!

https://kravitzdesign.com/

https://www.instagram.com/kravitz_design/

You can watch it here

How studying the past can guide the future of design for black urbanisation

Design is about solving problems through the process of analysis, and ultimately coming up with a concept or solution for said problem and presenting the idea. There has been a question that has been plaguing my mind for a few years now and that question stems from my studies of architecture and urban planning, it is 'What does a utopian black society look like?' I was trying to conceptualise the perfect world in which Black people and people of African decent would thrive in. This question came about because ultimately I studied architecture in order to learn how great cities are built, and what I've always been taught has always come from the viewpoint of western civilization. All the 'great' Architects and thought leaders in Architecture, Urban Planning are white or Asian and more often than not men. In all my studies there wasn't anything that I learned that was taken from black or African culture and to be fair, African cities have a lot of deeply fundamental problems that they are facing with many dealing with overpopulation, informal settlements, lack of planning, poor drainage system, inadequate roads and transport infrastructure... I could honestly go on. Strides are being made to develop African cities but things are still a long way for a majority of major African cities to be called anything even close to a utopia. I sat down and wondered why that was the case and even tried to conceptualise my own vision of what the ultimate utopian African civilization could look like and function like, but I couldn't even allow my mind to go that far with my thoughts because even if said utopian society was created, 'the perfect African city' there are so many foundational fundamental ills within black society that must first be addressed before a perfect city can be created. Because lets say the perfect African city is created, how long before corruption starts to seep in by it's leadership? how long before the roads start being ill maintained? before informal selling of goods on the side of roads starts happening? before gang violence, crime and drugs start to destroy the community. It sounds very cynical and almost even racist to start saying some of these things, but I believe it's the very fact that these issues are not being addressed openly and honestly in the black community that they stay being problems.

Now, what does this have to do with the book Sapiens? There is no easy way to say this but black society is highly dysfunctional and there are many reasons we can delve into as to why and how that is the case, but ultimately surely a black utopian society would be one that would combat those ills and challenges faced by black citizens of the world. And when I say black, I refer to all black and African people of the world, on the continent of Africa, in the Carribean, America's and all over the diaspora. Regardless of where black people congregate, the same patterns emerge within their societies: poor living conditions, corruption, violence, substance abuse, crime, poor leadership and governance, greed. A lot of African's are trying hard to escape the realities of these ills in their community and more often than not through any means necessary. Huge strides have been made in things like access to education and infrastructure development etc but the fight is still very far from over and I believe it is through tackling those deep fundamental ills that are plaguing black society through which we can even begin to start creating black utopian cities. But HOW? did black society come to be the way it is? And that is how I ultimately came to read Sapiens because before I could even begin to tackle and breakdown and understand how colonialism impacted black society, I felt like I had to understand the story of how western civilization and it's systems even came to be in the first place, and Yuval Noah Harari's historical breakdown of human civilization actually takes it all the way back to the first peoples, homo erectus, neaderthals...etc all the way down to modern systems like capitalism and their impact on today's world.

Now, I would hardly call Sapiens brief, but if you consider it with the context of the story of how human society as we know it came to be, I would say that Yuval Noel Harari did a wonderful job at really breaking down the key events throughout the history of the civilisation of man that has shaped where we are today.

I know this blog is mostly about architecture, design, urbanism, art and creativity in general, and more especially within the confines of the black/African experience, so Sapiens seems a bit out of context to be talking about on this blog - but someone said something on X (formerly know as Twitter, Twitter to the ones who know) that has not left my mind, and I find that I get the most out of writing when I’m analysing something that I’m already thinking about, but the thing that the person said was that they didn’t understand racism and that when the Tower of Babel happened it brought in racism. And when I read that I knew that this work that I'm doing is very important because it's tackling very deep and fundamental problems that hold black society back from ultimately prospering, and that is my goal in this life, to see the upliftment of black people and elevate suffering and poverty from black communities and no longer let that be our story or our defining factor. So back to the person who said that they didn't understand racism and linked it to a biblical story. That right there is already one of the foundational problems that black people suffer from, not understanding history and how actually intentional and systemic racism is, and how it has been woven into mainstream culture over hundreds of years. And that's why I believe Sapiens is such a fundamental book for Africans and black people to read, in order to understand where they stand within the context of modern-day civilization. But one cannot understand where they are now, without understanding the past. And the problem with the past is actually such deeply fundamental crux within black society, and more especially if you are a Bible believing Black or any type of black person that subscribes to any of the Abrahamic religions, which is indeed, most black people, including myself. There is the ongoing debate of God vs Evolution and if you are a good chrsitian, you do not believe in evolution. You believe in the biblical account of creation of how man came to be. And that was the case for me. I never engaged at all with anything to do with evolution, I understood that it was the scientific belief of how man came to be, and learned about it in school but beyond that I never subscribed to it as my belief system because I felt that if I believed in evolution, that meant then that I don't believe the Bible. And judging by what my friend tweeted about the Tower of Babel and how it is linked to racism. I truly believe that this is the thinking and the mindset for a lot of African people.

Colonialism did a lot of damage to black society, but none as impactful as what Christianity and Religiousness has done to the black society, and this I say as a God fearing Bible believing woman. Because African and Black society is so rooted in Faith in God, they fail to critically analyze the world at large around them, because their full and entire reliance is on God. And there is nothing wrong with praying, but they spend more time praying for things to change as opposed to working towards changing things that are within their power to change. They pray for a better quality of life but do not invest in schools, education, infrastructure, healthcare etc. Too much reliance is placed on having faith, but having the faith to ACT on the things they believe their world should be lacks. They believe there shouldn't be sickness, and yet, they don't work to improve healthcare infrastructure, they believe they should have wealth and prosperity but don't work on creating and developing industry in their own communities, they believe that crime, gang violence and substance abuse shouldn't have a place in their society but make no efforts to improve law enforcement or criminal rehabilitation in their communities. Ultimately you can get down on your hands and knees and pray everyday for things to change, but at the same time, if you do not use those same hands and feet that God gave you, that you use to pray with, to stand up and build, there will not be a safe space and utopia for black citizens to thrive in. I love the book Sapiens so deeply because for the first time in my life, it truly made me engage with evolution and the idea of a 'master race' etc. It made me genuinely critically analyze very certain deep and fundamental beliefs I had about myself and my faith and black society etc. It made me engage with history, and even my own beliefs about my own history from a very different viewpoint, and it's honestly been one of the most life-changing and paradigm shifting books I've ever read. And even especially as a designer, because ultimately the role of the architect and designer is to serve the needs of people, but in order to serve people and design for people you must understand people. And understanding the history of human kind from this perspective has helped me to gain new insight into certain motivations behind certain systems that are in place that exist, like racism. And so by understanding how certain ills came to be, it can be the first steps in pathologozing black society and ultimately finding the solutions needed to cure the ills in the black community. And so, just as I recommended to my friend, I recommend you read Sapiens as an architect, urban planner or designer. There's much more reading I'll be doing and I'll be sharing my thoughts and ideas as I encounter them. But Sapiens for me was one of the best books I've ever read and I highly recommend it, for anyone who has any pressing questions about our human civilization and how we got to where we are now.

You can listen to this very interesting conversation on the What Now Podcast with Trevor Noah, between Trevor and Yuval Noah Harari. A very great episode and my favorite podcast!

Solange's Apartment in Los Angeles, photographed by Jody Rogac (2023)

A Creative Visionary, Icon and Inspiration

I often look to other creatives to find inspiration. When people are passionate about their craft and creativity, it inspires me to continue creating and believing in my ideas and in my work. One such creator who holds a special place in my heart is Solange Knowles.

I recently read an article about her home in Apartmento Magazine, and I really connected to the process she shared on how her space came to be. Everything from the photographs taken for the article, to the stories she shared on how she made a home for herself that was grounding and also her space for inspiration, is a true testament to the intentionality she puts into everything that she does. She emphasised on her space being a place where she felt connected to her roots, while also being a vehicle for her to express herself through her exploration of architecture and space through the designing of the furniture in her home.

https://www.apartamentomagazine.com/stories/solange-knowles/

Not only is she a talented Grammy Award-winning singer, Songwriter, Producer, Composer, and Actress, but on top of accomplishing all that, she adds designer to her list of creative talents, of which she releases her work through her studio, Saint Heron.

I don’t even know where to begin with Solange because she’s such a creative behemoth. But I think I’ll start with where I first personally connected with her, which was through her cover of Elle Magazine South Africa which she was on the cover of in 2013 and at the time she was in Cape Town and I was there too studying Fine Art at the University of Cape Town. It was at the height of the Natural Hair Movement that was sweeping the culture and Solange was one of the loudest voices championing it. There was a large shift in black media and entertainment towards Afrocentricism and black expression and the things she was saying resonated with me and the fearlessness she moved with drew me to her as a person.

A Seat at the Table

If you have not, I urge you to listen to A Seat at the Table. This is one of my favourite albums of all time. Solange really used this album as a vessel to truly encapsulate the complexity that is being black, through highlighting the struggles and challenges faced by the black community but while still celebrating the beauty of what it is to be black and ultimately is an empowerment album that says that black people should create and celebrate themselves even if the world at large doesn’t see the beauty and value in what we bring to the table, we ourselves should. I love this album so deeply and whenever I listen to it, it reminds to be fearless in my blackness and stand in my creativity. No skips. A 10/10 album.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/a-seat-at-the-table/1159507212

Saint Heron

https://saintheron.com/

Saint Heron, founded by Solange Knowles, is a multidisciplinary creative group that seeks to expand cultural art, music, design, conversations, and communities. In collaboration with glassblower Jason McDonald, the studio released a collection of glassware —drinking Glasses. As of the writing of this article, all the pieces are currently sold out.

IG: jasonmcdonald42

Her Fashion Sense

Some of my favourite looks by her

This youtube video I watched below really opened up my eyes to her visionary fashion sense and truly made me fall in love with her as an artist. She has been one of my greatest inspirations since watching this. I highly recommend you watch this video, it's a deep dive into her style and fashion influence as well as a discussion on her creativity and influnce.

All in all, so much can be written about her. And I hope she some day releases either an autobiography or documentary about her journey through her creativity. I love her and will continue to study her as a creative. But this is a good collection of materials to look through if you're interested in Solange.

I wanted to spotlight some content creators whose lifestyles I’m fascinated by. In the hustle and bustle of our fast-paced city life, I often admire people who choose the alternative route and seek to live more slowly and intentionally and return to a simpler way of life.

We live in a time when there’s a lot of societal pressure to keep working more, so that we can keep spending more and buying more. I believe that this toll is being felt by a lot of young people who are plagued with an unfavourable job market and who find themselves striving to upkeep urban lifestyles rooted in consumerism. So it’s not surprising that there’s been an uptick in more slow living and country lifestyle content emerging. People are seeking lifestyles that find them connecting more to their heritage and roots and living more intentionally and with more focus on being in harmony with the environment. 

These 3 Content Creators I love. Their content revolves around homesteading, returning to indigenous ways of living and living more intentionally and sustainably and finding ways to live more in harmony with the natural environment and living more healthy lifestyles. And what I love most about this is that they are African creators. These are some interesting examples of what living as a modern day African can look like while still maintaining connection to our cultural roots.

IG: Countryside_lifer (Kenya)

https://www.instagram.com/countryside_lifer/

Angelasummernamubiru (Uganda)

https://www.instagram.com/angelasummernamubiru/

Livetolearn_learntolive (Ghana)

https://www.instagram.com/livetolearn_learntolive/

Is it the future of design in Africa?

3D Printing Concrete Structures in Angola

I recently came across an article on Arch Daily about the nation of Angola using 3D Printing Technology to address its housing shortage.

Like most other African nations the population boom happening across the continent, combined with the rapid urbanisation of previously rural population, a large demand has been placed on services to meet the needs of the ever expanding occupants.

One of those demands being housing. The culture of Africa is shifting, in a not so distant past, housing needs were met simply by building a hut in a rural community and most often by were built by the owner of the home. Fast forward to today where there are things now like zoning laws, building codes, health and safety regulations and by-laws that must be upheld by registered and qualified architects, engineers and other specialised building service providers, not to mention the evolving styles and need to meet contemporary design standards as well as the considerations for sustainability and environmental considerations and conservation efforts.

No longer is Africa like the past where basic housing needs were met through cultural designs that often fell into a community. In fact, Africa is growing even further away from its roots of cultural communities and adopting more individualistic mindset shifts which coincides with the growing urbanisation of the African social landscape. 

There is no doubt that with the rise of technology that there is a shift being made to things becoming more automated in turn making 3D printing the future of where the construction industry is heading, with recent showcases from BIG and other large architectural practices envisioning the future of architectural design through 3D printing structures for space colonies on the moon and mars. 

Design and the construction industry is changing, but is Africa set to keep up with this rapid pace at which the world is shifting? 3D printing still considerably in its early stages can hardly be considered to replace the labour force just yet, but the strides that have been made in the field have a considerable impact in the shift of contemporary design thinking.

The Angolan government has made a very progressive step in taking this bold approach in using this innovative method to meet the housing shortage needs of its nation. But would this significantly make a dent in the speed at which the houses are built? And if other nations were to follow suit there are a myriad of challenges that would need to firstly be overcome in order to effectively adopt this technology and incorporate it as a viable construction method to facilitate rapid construction for projects, those being

Lack of Consistent Power Supply

Skilled Labour in designing, operating, and maintaining the 3D printing equipment

Corruption and lack of accountability in meeting project deadlines and misuse of project funds, as well as nepotism within the Government.

The loss of cultural and individual identity of nations as designs and architecture become more homogeneous, using modular design to easily replicate and mass produce homes

Long-term environmental and sustainability impacts of these types of housing projects and their ultimate carbon footprint and lifecycle, as well as the impact on the circular economy

All in all, Africa has a long way to go before adopting 3D printing technology as its main mode of constructing housing and other projects, but these conversations can begin to take place among leaders and policy makers to ensure that African nations are keeping up to pace with the rising urbanisation and the growing advancements in the technological sphere of the construction industry. 

The Organized Mind, Daniel J. Levitin (2014)

Wow, so I've still been on this journey of trying to get my life back in order. And I realized that the problem was that all that external chaos that was going on was just an outward manifestation of the inner chaos that I had been experiencing for months and months on end. If someone could take an inner screenshot of what was going on in my mind it would look like a combination of a psych ward, a war zone, a vast and bone dry desert. I felt so empty, so angry, so disappointed, so lost. I felt so many things that I had not felt in a long time in my life, because I had had a lot of direction, focus, ambition and most importantly HOPE! I had lost my hope in my future and in anything pertaining to building the life that I had always dreamed of, and I had been feeling this way because of all the rejections I had faced in the job market and trying to carve a path for myself after working so hard to get my M.Arch Degree and just finding every door shut in my face.

I had sacrificed a lot, personally (leaving my daughter and fiance behind), financially (so much money was spent on applications, visa processing, flights, accommodation, etc), physically and mentally, because at the end of the day, Architecture (as any other creative endevour, is very draining pursuit, draining but also very rewarding, but it requires a lot of hard work, sacrifice and mental grit to keep on the path.) You say no to a lot of things to work on your design work. No to parties, friends, hanging out, going out and socializing, you have to buy things, software, model making materials, pens, computers, ipads etc. It takes so much out of you, but ultimately you do it because you desire to fulfil your dream of becoming an Architect and I had crossed a lot hurdles to get to the end of studying M.Arch and to just have every single job application that I made shut in my face, broke my spirit in a way that I never even knew was possible. And ultimately leading me to my giant wake-up call. And that changed everything. I still believe that I'm on a path of healing and regaining my passion again for architecture. But it has been a long road.

And one of the critical steps I believe in order to get there is to get organized. My thoughts have been jumbled for months, since possibly last summer. My design thoughts, my artistic thoughts, my creative thoughts and my business thoughts are all swimming around in my brain. And so I am on a mission to get organized mentally and the first step is in actually bringing order to all my work.

Funnily enough, even though my brain and all my thoughts were in turmoil and in chaos, it never actually stopped me from still creating and drawing and painting and designing. To be honest, it felt cathartic and so I found myself in a place where I had all these projects, designs, ideas, artwork, etc. But it's all in sheets or sketchbooks or random folders. There's no order to anything with regards to my design work. And so my mission now is to order all my work so that I can begin to pick up the pieces of what I thought my design career would be and begin to build something new from the ashes.

As for my career right now, ultimately I still desire to work at a practice and eventually become a registered architect, but in the meantime, so long as that door is not opening, I don't want to let my fire burn out. I have a job, I am employed and I make a decent living but I don't feel satisfied or fulfilled that I am living in my true calling and so I am taking steps to remedy that. I've decided to work on creating design content online. I have a great backlog of work and projects and just cool ideas I want to work on and I also just do love sharing on social media and connecting with people. I figured I'll do it through design, while at the same time trying to build my company's brand and business.

I really feel like new life has been breathed into me. And I will continue on this trajectory. But now, back to the topic at hand: Getting Organized. I love reading, more especially, I love self help books (do not judge me!). I also love autobiographies and biographies, those are literally the only type of books that I read and I do tend to find they help.

And so if you're following this journey with me, I'll share what I've been doing to get myself organized in order for me to start creating and sharing my work more effectively.

I bought a printer a couple of months ago, I hadn't opened it because I wanted to film an unboxing video, because like I said I love sharing online and one of my favourite types of content are unboxing videos. I bought the printer because ultimately I want to print and share my work with my followers and customers, I want to more easily be able to share my design work with my clients and also to work on drafts of my work and also to print out all my old project files and actually have them in packs as folders so that if I need to update the folders I can easily pull out a physical reference for my work. This will be an on-going process.

2. Reading! Sometimes we just don't know how to get things done and that's ok. That's why it's good to learn from others who have mastered and conquered the areas of our lives that we are struggling with. You will find that they have some very useful tips that could change the entire trajectory of your life. For me, Atomic Habits by James Clear was one of those books. Game changer! And given by how popular it is, I don't think I need to say much more.

Another good one (although a difficult read) was The Organized Mind by Daniel J. Levitin. This one really helped to truly break down every single aspect of my life but more especially my career and work life goals into thinking about how to easily access all my designs, drawings, sketches etc, and to think about creating an effective system that manages all my physical paper as well as digital files. So I'm working on creating an integrated system that will make that process a lot smoother and more orderly. I highly recommend this read.

3. A filing system. It's a very simple one but sometimes it's just basic organizing of documents and drawings in a filing system that is needed to bring order and drown out the noise of the chaos in your mind. So I went and bought a simple binder and some sticky notes and voila! Order! I managed to organize all the lose drawings I had been doing over the months and now I can clearly see what I've been working on and properly organize my artistic and design thinking and with the printer I can keep track of all my digital drawings as well as scan and print out other work so that I can properly keep track of my work process, my art and my designs for myself and for my clients. One folder is for my art and design work and the other is for my other important personal documents, business documents, financial papers etc.

4. Google Calendar! I cannot stress this enough. I've shared a lot online about how I love my google calendar so much. Committing is hard but I'm very good at planning and scheduling things on my calendar. For me this is one of the most effective tools in my arsenal of getting organized as a designer or creative, and it helps you keep track of all your meetings, deadlines etc because you can put everything in different categories and color code everything. Here's a sample of what mine looks like if you'd want to take any inspiration from it or figure out the categories you want to use.

5. And lastly, Be Patient! Be gentle and kind to yourself. I think that is my biggest lesson that I've learned this year, not to talk badly to myself when things aren't perfect, giving myself grace and allowing things to naturally unfold through their process. Learning not to rush things is my biggest lesson this year and it's alright if you don't have everything figured out. I'm learning more and more that life is a marathon and we can genuinely take our time through our phases of growth, healing, creating, etc. Everything in time.

So far what I've read is that God gave Daniel and his friends supernatural wisdom and aptitude for learning. Don't know if there's a correlation between the food and the wisdom. But I think that really opens up a conversation about diet and having a sound mind. Daniel sounds like he was greatly admired and respected. But anyways the passage is in Daniel chapter 1.

CLM Church, Coventry (October 2024)

Step 2: Give it to God

Something I believe wholeheartedly is that just as much as mental health issues are physical, in our brain or with our brain chemistry, I believe issues of the mind are spiritual as well. A lot of people suffer mental afflictions due to spiritual influences (demon possession, unclean spirits, etc). It is important to ask God who created our minds to show us how we can tackle the mental issues we face.

I went to church today, and in the service, I was reminded that it is important to stay planted in God (John 15). I haven't been planted for a long time. I still had my faith, but I was not active in the spiritual disciplines, praying, reading my Bible, studying the word. I believe my spirit really grew weak over these past few months and in that weak state that I was in, the devil was able to attack my mind.

In the Bible it says that there is an adversary who is after us.

'For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.'

Ephesians 6:12 (NLT)

Sometimes the mental battles that we fight aren't even coming from this world, but is a battle you're fighting with demons and devils. I know that can sound really scary, but we can take heart that God says that we do not have to be afraid.

'For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.'

2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV)

Power, love and….A sound mind! God has given us already a sound mind, this is his portion for us. And if you're not having peace or sanity in your mind it's a clear sign that you're out of the will and desire of God for your life. It is a sign you are under attack.

There are people who suffer many sorts of mental afflictions and some of them brought on not even through their own doing. Things like violence, sexual abuse, verbal and mental abuse, bullying, neglect, poverty, financial issues etc have an ability to affect our mind physically but those battles are spiritual as well. So I believe digging deep and confronting certain hardships and abuses that you've experienced in your life can begin to expose the root of where certain mental issues are coming from.

Often things like alcoholism, substance abuse etc are used to mask or numb the effects of these mental issues, and therefore even start causing more damage. So beginning to tackle the root of your pain and giving it to God and asking him to expose it and help you find the necessary help to tackle it are an important step in this journey. And that is a step that I am taking. I'm committing all the things that I've suffered from my past that I'm not fully healed from, I'm bringing them before God and I hope that in doing so it will help me in finding peace and mental clarity.

Walking in the Park, Coventry (October 2024)

Step 1: Touch Grass

Mental health is not taken as seriously as it should be in our society at large and that is evident by the lack of access to mental health services and facilities in our society. It's easy to find a hospital as the body often suffers from illness or injury, a lot of people are taught at the very least about the basic functions of the body and how to keep it healthy and functioning properly but can we say the same for our minds and our brains? And yet they are the root of us being able to function well in society. Just like the body can get sick if you don't care for it and neglect it, so can the mind. But how many people are even aware of how to care for their mind and mental health. We know how to describe our bodies and body parts and identify if there is an issue and where it is, if it's a sore throat, a broken leg, a burn etc, it's easy to identify. We know how to feed our bodies the food groups that it needs to function healthily but do we even know how to feed our mind? Do we even know how to heal our mind? How to even describe the things that are troubling a part of our daily functioning that we cannot see, but can definitely feel. We can feel when our mind is not alright, we can see it in others when their mind is not alright but it's difficult to even pinpoint what the problem is or even how it came about or even how to treat it. With mental health services from professionals often costing and feeling seemingly inaccessible to the average person. Not to even mention the lack of access to mental health education, facilities, professionals, treatments or even medications. In truth the mind is extremely complicated and every single one is different, although they all do share some similarities, but every single individual mind is different therefore making it difficult at times to treat the same as say maybe a burn wound, as the treatment would be the same regardless of the patient (with certain exceptions in different cases of course).

Where does one even begin when it comes to mental health and understanding the mind? And how it functions and how to keep it healthy? A lot of people don't even know anything about their mind or their brain. Myself included and this is why I am writing this and taking this journey and hopefully sharing with others what could be of help, because recently I found myself in a space where I genuinely believe my mind was sick/not alright. I suffered a very severe nervous breakdown and I didn't even know where it came from or how it even happened to me and in that state of psychosis I got into an incident that could have resulted in myself and several others being severely  injured or even dead. It scared me so badly that something like that could happen to me and I don't even know how it happened. And I'm even lucky that I managed to make it out alright and be able to know that I need to seek some very severe professional mental health assistance, as others are not so lucky, but my question is how did I even get to that point? Because I believe a lot of people find themselves severely depressed and even end up dying by suicide or even causing harm to others due to severe mental health issues, and I believe in this day and age we live in, it's a very serious issue with suicide rates so high among the global population. Something needs to change and more awareness needs to be generated with regards to mental health and healing the mind. And I hope to share this journey with you all.

I've taken the first steps to start healing my mind and practicing having a healthy and sound mind as well as a healthy body. The term touch grass is casually thrown around on the internet, but I realised that for months I had been indoors and had not even seen grass in a long time. I have the privilege of being able to work from home, so I don't have to leave my house to make money, so I don't go into an office to work, I set my own hours and schedule. So for a few months, I had set a goal that I've been saving up for, and I told myself to cut back from outings, shopping, eating out etc in order to save for that goal. So for several months, I would wake up work, sleep, maybe go to the grocery store at the corner once in a while to pick up things or buy take-out but beyond that I was barely doing anything social, even worse still, I would work at night and sleep during the day, so I barely saw any sunlight. This was my routine for weeks and weeks on end.

What was worse was that I would reward myself with a glass of wine after working, one glass turned into a bottle, a bottle turned into two and before I knew it, in a few short weeks, I was severely abusing alcohol. This is a very difficult thing to admit, but it is the truth and it in turn led to a lot of chaotic and destructive behaviour, after one night when things got really out of hand and I realized the next day that I could have severely injured myself and others, I realized that I needed to fix things in my life. I realized that I hadn’t been outside during the day or had sunlight on my face for several weeks, and I decided as step number 1 on my road to a healthy mind to force myself to go outside for one hour every day and today was the first day. I woke up this morning and took a walk and bought a coffee went to the park near where I live and I broke down. Nature is so powerful. I didn't even realize that the lack of connection to nature and greenery could severely affect my mind the way it did. We take it for granted being able to go outside and be connected to the natural environment, and more especially those who live in heavily urbanized areas. Our environment I would say is the number one step we can first take with regards to recentring our mind and finding our way out of depression and darkness. Sitting there in that park, I can't even describe to you what it did on the inside of my soul but nature has an ability to heal that I cannot explain. So I think my first lesson in maintaining a healthy mind is to re-connect with nature. Today is only day 1. I'm also going to seek out professional mental health services and possibly a support group for alcohol or substance abuse. So that will be my next task. I will share how that goes.

All this is all well and good, I'm not a mental health professional in any capacity, I'm a designer. But this  journey I've started has me interested in really studying the mind and how our environments and spaces (and more especially access to green spaces) can affect our mental health and I think that it's a topic I want to look more into. Especially with regard to underserved and underdeveloped communities in ghettos and slums. I was lucky enough to have access to a park, but this isn't the reality for a lot people. And I believe the first step in creating healthier societies is that everyone should have and be able to access green space and nature. It should be mandatory as it clearly has an impact on our mental health.

(Lake Trip to Mangochi with Aeysha 2019)

Take a trip with me down memory lane, to one of my favourite beach vacations that I ever went on, it was with my friends and we stayed at one of her friend's family cottage by the lake in Mangochi. Just a few picturesque shots from my archive. I really miss my tumblr girl era, I think I'm gonna just get back at it. I used to love blogging about spots I went to and trips I enjoyed. Looking back at these photos just kind of reminded me of that era of my life and how much I loved it. Returning back to who you were after you've been lost is a funny thing. Cheers to finding me again.

But yeah, if you're ever looking for an amazing beach vacation, I highly recommend The Makokola Retreat, Mangochi, Malawi.

P.S.