LFC - The dream. The reality.

Ok, so I'm shamelessly blogging all about myself these days, but I've been away too long as I've been busy setting up my own business. Design is still a very big part of my life, but something's changed.

Those of you who have been following my blog will know, I am a graphic designer. Working for someone else in Cyprus just got too difficult during the crisis. After working in advertising at Pandora Ogilvy & Mather, under the direction of my beloved CD Nikos Zozos, I moved to Dimco as an in-house designer where I rebranded the exports department (One Light) and designed their packaging templates and catalogue templates, where I was unceremoniously excused. It was a wonderful experience (wonderful in terms of personal growth, not actual experience), and I learnt so much about myself, about business, and about bosses from hell. What a great film! I once heard that you have to get fired at least once in your life, and it never made sense until it happened to me. It was my ah-ha! moment.

I then went on to work as an in-house designer again at a software design company, which was the best work environment I experienced in Cyprus (I try not to compare to the great studios I worked at in London... my heart aches). I learnt so much from my colleagues and bosses. Big thank you to everyone at Qobo.biz, it was a great year working with you all.

I'm a restless sole, and once I get something in my head, unfortunately / fortunately I cannot let sleeping dogs lie. I've been working nights and weekends for years now, to slowly build my brand, literally from the ground up (to the second floor, currently). This is my second official summer trading as Love From Cyprus, but my first full-time year. Slowly but steadily I am adding to my range of products and introducing new collections. As I am a one-woman business - designing / making / branding / marketing / customer service / sales / coffee making, these things take time. But in the not-too-distant future, I hope to have a small team who are as excited about what LFC is, and what it stands for, as myself, and together we'll be leaving a small footprint (low-carbon) in the world.

Love From Cyprus, is not just a business for me. It's not the products, it's not the brand...it's a lifestyle. It's a way of thinking and a way of seeing things. It's about being inspired by life, nature, materials. Loving where you are and what you are doing! LFC may be based in the small Mediterranean island, but it's that small calling some of us have inside our soles, for the ocean, the need to be free, while always remaining grounded. it's about creating with your hands, and working with others to achieve something bigger than ourselves. I can now say with 100% certainty that I love my job, and I love where I am right now!

Working for yourself is a challenge, but working for someone else that only sees you as an employee is draining - for a sensitive soul like myself, this does not apply to anyone else. I know nothing about business, but I know everything about love, and if you love what you do, how can it it be wrong to do it? Certain things come naturally, others you have to learn and outsource. I'm learning something everyday, and I finally feel like my brain is working again, after a long period of being on autopilot.

I still work morning to night, but I know that to make a dream a reality, you have to work for it. Easy come, easy go, after all. I hope all of you reading this can take something from it.

Memoirs of a Friday night at the office
xoxo