I just returned from Belize abuzz with new ideas and envious of all the Belizians I met— expats and central-Americans living off the land, long-haired hammock-set retirees, and free spirits sailing the turquoise waters with but a solar panel and a fly rod.
A quote I will carry away from this trip—seen spray painted on crumbling concrete breakwater—“not all those who wander are lost,” is befittingly a J. R. R. Tolkien sentiment, penned for The Lord of the Rings. Two such wanderers I encountered were stationed in Caye Caulker—for a hot minute—selling handsome handmade macramé jewelry and enjoying the current surroundings of what Belizians call the “island of hippies” (detail shot above). Originally from Spain, Alejandro travels endlessly, hawking his unique wares wherever the wind takes him.
His work made me think of these outrageous necklaces (below) that I saw in a little shop in Sayulita, Mexico 2 years ago (pre-blog). Despite my match-making hopes, they were not Alejandro’s pieces. He has not yet traveled through Sayulita—but hopes to, as many people (not just I) have recommended it to him—also a haute hippie hotbed wrought with west coast (US & Canada) expats.
On the macramé note… Eleanor Amoroso, a young London-based designer is doing some crazy shit with macramé and knotting. J’adore her work. Here are a few of her pieces from Spring/Summer 2012 (top) and one (literally) from her graduate collection in 2011 (bottom) that she launched her brand with. Check out more of her 2012 collection in British Vogue.