How do you find a handle in the middle of a big, explosive dose of inspiration and channel it towards anything useful, floundering?
I'll be honest with you, I'm so inspired by company Hiut Denim on themes of wisdom, craft and their motto to do one thing well that I haven't a clue which one thing to begin with here. But then this is the way with inspiration – it's like an explosion going off, and by definition ideas fly without restraint.
Well, this is one of the big reasons I love what Hiut Denim are doing, and how they are doing it. It's the story of a couple of lovely, soulful individuals who got really excited about resurrecting small town Cardigan's jeans-making industry, which met severe setbacks in recent years. They were determined that humans working together and for each other would create something good out of rubbish:
Hiut Denim built a workshop, they sourced fabric, thread and machines, and a talented bunch of workers.
Inspiration, explosion, boom!
But here's the really good bit. In the aftermath of the explosion and the safety of that workshop, they settled in to a patient discipline, proud of doing one thing well—making beautifully designed and crafted jeans—and treasuring the seamsters who make them. The workshop is where they calm down and forge some order from the wildness of that first explosion, and the love of this experience has turned into a blog on their site.
From out of a thriving business, they share collected insights as Workshop Wisdom:
"The things we make, the things we think-up, we do them from a special place. We spend a lot of time in this place. We get to learn a lot here.
This blog is here to share some of that wisdom about life and work that we learn from hour after hour, year after year, spent toiling away in our humble workshops."
Space, patience, discipline, time to reflect, and commitment to a purpose, this is how wisdom comes.
And Hiut Denim communicate their wisdom without bells or whistles on their elegantly designed website. There's no need for frills here. Simple, direct language echoes a quality of thought that hours of workshop focus have afforded, while evocative black and white photography poetically speaks of hearts and bones hard at work.
Pared back—in design, in language, in image, in vision—Hiut Denim bares its wise, dignified soul. That's where I want to be.
I am massively encouraged looking at this company's site and story. It's about people being real, letting a creative explosion happen, then celebrating that workshop as the place from which wisdom, clarity and focus pour out and make their business shine.
Craft is so important. Settling into workshop ways with your craft—whether fabric, words, images or numbers—is about one of the most precious things you can do to enrich your work. At least, I think so.
Take time to craft something, and you will discover a true quality of thought.
It is a quiet welcome to wisdom.
It says 'no fear' to the creative explosion.
Thank you Hiut Denim. We need more of that in the world.
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Read more about the Hiut Denim story here: "This town is going to make jeans again!"