A London Minute: Leila

So it’s been about a year since I was abroad in London and I couldn’t help but think back to this time of year when I was over there.  In fact, it was probably around this time that I went to the Bloomsbury Festival in Russell Square.  Man that was an awesome gathering.  I happened to stumble upon it while going on a walk and had a great experience.  The Bloomsbury Festival is essentially an expressive bohemian’s dreamland, full of live performances, readings, art and other fun things.  I definitely recommend looking at their site for more information here: http://bloomsburyfestival.org.uk/.  For those who might be traveling abroad soon and for those who could only wish they were there.  But I wanted to talk about one specific tent that I found in the part on one of the nights there.

There was a tent with some of the most interesting looking jewelry I’ve ever seen.  There were charm necklaces, chunky rings, ribbon necklaces with gemstone pendants, hair bands and more, I just had to check it out.  Sitting behind the counter was a woman with thick brown hair pulled in a high bun and wearing a red hair flower that looked like the ones on display.  She looked tired, but interested when I approached her table.  She told me she made every piece that was there.  I was impressed.  I asked her about some of the pieces, the charm necklaces to be specific.  She pulled out some necklaces from behind the counter and held some out.  The woman had charm necklaces that embodied, spring, the ocean, modern surrealism, flowers, animals, broad colors and more.  One in particular caught my eye: an Alice in Wonderland necklace.  It was the only one of its kind.  She told me that she had more at home but didn’t have enough charms to finish them for the festival.  When I said I was interested in buying the necklace, she offered another charm free of charge: a white rabbit that she only had one of.  I had to have it, along with her Starburst necklaces.  They were an exclusive design for the festival that looked like a cascading firework with different colored beads at the end of each cord.

We started talking to each other for a while after that and it turned out we have a similar taste in style when it comes to jewelry.  She told me her name was Leila and she invited me to her next art show where she would be selling more of her jewelry.  I helped her clean up her tent before going home that night.  She gave me her card and said she would be looking forward to seeing me next time.

Now I wasn’t expecting her to remember me from the Bloomsbury Festival being that this show was a month after that, but I went anyway.  It was this very odd event where different artists would open up their homes and display their artwork and let the general public come in and view or buy their work.  This was outside the city and in the suburbs of London in a place called Hither Green.  If you ever thought SLU had alot of fall foliage, you haven’t seen Hither Green.  It was the most stunning display of Autumn I have ever seen.  The town was quiet, the leaves were falling all around in different hues of orange, the cobblestone streets beneath me were damp from rain, it was beautiful.  It took me a while, but I eventually found Leila’s tent.  She was so excited that she came out from behind the tent to give me a big hug and told me she was happy that I made it.  She asked me how my trip was, how I was liking the event and even suggested some artists I needed to check out.   I spent all day in Hither Green, even found a really nice tea cafe with a weird peanut butter and banana scone that was delicious.  But I was really surprised that she would remember me, a random American after seeing a whole horde of people at a festival.  Made me feel kind of special.  You never really know who you’ll meet in life, some people turn out to be some of the most interesting people you’ll meet.

To check out Leila’s work, visit her website at http://www.eyedrop.net/leila/start.html