Humans of Portobello

‘Everything happens for a reason. Trust the signs. Trust the process. Trust what life gives you.

I’m from Leicester and an account exec for a marketing agency back in Leicester. I’ve never been to Notting Hill before so we came for a city break.’

Jess (right) - wears hoodie by @lslapparel

I’m from Brighton, just finished uni and hoping to start at law school’

Jana

Why the cats?...

They’re cute and adorable.

I have cats and love them.

The business theme is crown ivy so its got a bit of evil touch to them and cats are a good representation.

Hadi

I’m born & bred in Oz and my dad is Persian.

I’m a vintage collector and growing my own collection at the moment. It just takes time to get a successful collection that I actually want to start selling from. There are a few little pieces and some really major pieces I want to hold onto for a while. It’s coming, fingers crossed.

The reason why I moved here was because of this particular vintage shop actually. I came to Portobello and visited this shop about 15 times until I got employed, basically.

This is the main place I love about Portobello and the markets on a Friday are good too.

I do most things myself. The creativity is in my head, the ties I make myself, the board and stands i built myself because I wanted something that looked a bit like going to Westfield but because I don’t have walls I had to think of something so I built it all myself and it all locks up.

Bow ties are my brand. I studied at Middlesex University and also overseas. I work from home and have 3 kids, 11, 9 and 1 year old. They all grab me when I’m working but I do both because I’m passionate.

The shirts I designed myself and you won’t find this fabric anywhere else I guarantee it. They are from Ghana and are called Akan Kente and they represent every culture, diversity and ethinicty. I’m Nigerian but was drawn to Ghana because of these fabrics. Kente itself is the most popular fabric in Ghana, it’s woven and very expensive. The thing about Kente is they have this colour, this outstanding brilliant colour, all cotton. It takes a lot of boldness to pull them off if you want to wear them and in summer it glitters.  

Stanley

I’m originally from Verona in Italy and came to London in 1989 so I would say I’m a Londoner, yea why not! I’ve been here 30 years I own it! I own this place! When I go around London I feel like it’s my home. I feel like ‘look at me, you, look at me!’ This is my home. I dress this way, I do what I do because this is my home. 

That’s my stall there - Organic, Natural, Ethical. I’ve been doing this for 10 years actually now. I go to India for the goods - you don’t see me for 5 months!  India is really hard, sometimes I go to Indonesia and sometimes other places but I mainly go to Goa which is quiet and chilled, not so touristy. So I just go for 2 to 3 months and stay on the beach, then I work for another couple of months and do my production in Rajasthan. 

I work with block print which is originally crafted from Rajasthan along with all the textiles.

I’ve done Portobello markets for 10 years now from May to September and I sell because I’m very niche. Nobody’s got the stuff that I have.

My name is Anna P. 

I make everything. I’ve been making bags for years, was a fashion designer previously so I had a proper job at some point! Then decided I wanted a fun job! So I went into handbags and did a course and learnt to make handbags and worked for a sampling company for years. Then left and started doing hair bands, handbags and all sorts. I work from my dining room, that’s my studio. 

I’ve always collected vintage fabrics so I now add modern fabrics for the hairbands but I just love all the vintage fabrics.     

(’You have a good haircut for them’) 

I am visiting from Hong Kong with my husband. We have been together for 18 years. He’s my slave, I‘ve trained him to be my slave. Actually being a slave means that he loves me much more than he loves himself. 

He’s my husband and he has to work to earn the money for me so that I can do everything i want.  This is more common in Hong Kong than in London but it’s not really common  nowadays because our living costs is too high in Hong Kong. Even higher than in London because of the rents, they’re ridiculous! I think earnings are the same as in London but we spend more than half our earnings for a little space.

I love the atmosphere in Portobello. You can find something to eat, something to buy and something to have fun. It’s safe and it’s clean. I can see the culture diversity here. You can buy something very expensive and very affordable.

We also love London because there are lots of museums for free!

Denise Lee 

- Memo Halliwell - 

I’m an online fashion designer from Roma living in London and I love it here. London and Portobello is wonderful with different nationalities. 

- Dew - 

I’m known as Dew, like morning dew. 

I’m a photographer from Spain. I lived in Chicago and just moved here. I photograph mostly musicians, live gigs and in the studio when they record. 

I’ve never asked myself why I do photography but I really like to capture peoples characters. Musically I like Craig Ross who I worked with and think is really amazing and a band I started with called Los Labios.

- Angel - 

I’m a social worker and actually at uni doing social work management. I live in south and here because it’s a good place to hang. We like the quirkiness and the fact that you can get old school vintage things with a mix of people and cultures. 

- Charles -

I’m writing a book - about 300 years ago in April was the first publication of Robinson Crusoe....who as far as I’m concerned is largely responsible for the racism and sexism embedded in society, so that’s what my book is about and I’m quite enjoying it. I begin with 300 year old Robinson just sitting in a cafe in the Uxbridge Road in Shepherd’s Bush where I live, who doesn't quite know how to deal with life these days. Another slightly odd thing about it is I have a Polish woman friend and we’d decided it probably needs to be written not by an old white English man but a non English born woman as well so we’ve been trying to find ways to collaborate on it.

- Talisa & Marcella - 

Florence (and colleague/mate Camilla off screen:)

It’s my 60th birthday today!

I live down the road and I used to buy and sell jewellery at the market here years ago. Antique jewellery and army surplus gear, mixed up but really nice. I still sometimes recycle furniture and bits and bobs like that but the money thing has gone down, you just can’t make money from it. I mean I’m talking in the 70’s I was making a lot of money. I’m an artist and now do music promotion. Currently I’m promoting a reggae artist but I like all genres of music.

‘I’m born here and have come and gone but my parents came here in the late 50′s. I’ve got a photograph of my mother in 1972 on Lancaster Road when she was 18 years old. This was the part of the world when they used to come and say no blacks, no Irish, no dogs. 

I remember I went away to the Caribbean and came back and carnival had started but it had started before that, back in the 50′s with only a few people just doing their little thing, nothing big and then when I came back in 1967 carnival was here. So 50 years in this country and carnival is still going. In the early carnivals my friends used to come along with coats and raincoats on and I’d say ‘what are you doing?!, that’s not how you come to carnival bredren! They didn’t know, they were youngsters and never experienced it.

I walk up and down here and think to myself, this is my town, I’m the king of this place, from creation.

That’s how we roll in Portobello. That’s the vibe’

Every now and again I pop back in and see how people are going. You see the faces of people that have been here since whenever. You see some old boys from way back. But it’s changed now and it’s lost some of its essence. When you come here and do some cleansing it becomes a bit sterile.

My father used to sing at what used to be the Kensington Park Hotel back in the 60′s. So you go around and see things changing.

Daddy Vego, the guy who had the record store on All Saints Road died last year and I went to his funeral. That’s what happens. Generations. The sad part about it is there aren’t new generations to follow it up. No one to replace it. You get people that come here and they think they own the gaff! 

This is our first meet today, we met on the internet.

It is called Lolita style or J fashion or Japanese fashion and it’s really big in Asian countries and quite big here as well though kind of a small group.

We always have a lot of clothes. Animation culture is our inspiration. We decide what to wear the day before and is usually pink or blue.

‘I’m an artist, an oil painter. In China. 

My artist name is Gao Yu.

My nickname is Panda because I always painted a panda. 

Portobello is wonderful because there’s plenty of style here.’

(his friend Michael states)...He is one of the most famous young contemporary artists currently in China.

Gao Yu/Panda