Baaplrvlsrsppdtedpdspot.
Founder (me) drawing the latest design, Lilith’s Corsage
I know it’s not a word, but it’s the best one I have for everything I have been doing over the past month. Brand architecture and authorship, practice-led research, visual language systems, reflective studio practice, platform dynamics, threshold and entry design, process documentation, and sustaining practice over time.
Which all sounds very fancy for a fuck-ton of work.
And it has been. But every month that goes by, I refine this little system and fine tune it and it’s really starting to look like what I had in my head. It’s been hugely frustrating at times. Some research is still going nowhere due to the nature of what I am trying to build, I am early. Being early means I need to define, not copy. And do it in a way that I can stand by proudly. When you are the first to do a few things, there is no one else to ask.
Which is equally Great! And terrifying.
Luckily, I am that busy I don’t have a lot of time to think about the terrifying and just focus on the next thing, and the thing after that. It sounds cryptic, and it’s not meant to. Inside my little brain is everything that we are about to launch next. We have three upcoming projects, one of which is the designer range.
All the designs, web development, copy writing, trademarks, legal, fulfilment, packaging, that list above, are all juggling for top spot. I can only pick one thing at a time.
Not to mention Insta, which for the first time is starting to feel like a thing. I can’t tell you how much work has gone into that, far too many 2am finishes.
A strong finish to 2025.
We got our first orders through and our first reviews, I’m living in a world of firsts now. It’s quite fun. And we’re off to a hell of a start for 2026, having ironed out my Baaplrvlsrsppdtedpdspot.
What’s coming in 2026?
This year I’m planning to launch the designer range, where this all started, with Mongrel’s first design, before any of this was a thing, our signature cap. A cap isn’t really a winter thing. I have another two big projects lined up for the next month to three that are in the wider Mongrel universe but not linked to the designer range, more on that later.
Deep breathe and plunge.
As I stand here, right on the edge of the precipice, it’s a very cool place to pause. From this vantage point I can look back and still see everything I have built, to get me where I am now. And I am about to jump off the proverbial cliff (suited up) where I will lose this perspective and gain a new one. I can see everything laid out in front of me, or the possibility of it, and the hard solid ground behind me. It’s still quite peaceful, despite the noise in my head. All of that is about to change.
