Testing organic growth, not just organic cotton.

Close-up photograph of my dirt-covered hand placing small marbles on asphalt, symbolising starting from zero and organic growth.

Part of my early strategy is to test organic growth. Our small social accounts have only just found their full vocabulary, and testing has started.

Instagram stats are not a healthy place to live in.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun. I’m up for the challenge. But, playing a medium-to-long-term game while looking at daily stats is a bit like watching an hourglass fill, one grain of sand at a time. That part is dull as anything. Luckily, not tied to my personal sense of power or validation, but absolutely tied to planning and upcoming projects.

A Game of Follows.

Sorry…couldn’t help myself. Why am I being such a dick about doing it the hard way? Well, I can’t fully test the financial sustainability of the system without starting with zero.  It’s a lot to explain in a short blog, but part of what I am testing is the zero-start-up (or near zero, let’s face it) cost philosophy as well. But I did start the blog, before all of this was born, with nothing. Free documents, free versions, free everything.

How am I avoiding burnout?

I’ve planned. Most of the end of 2025 was spent documenting, taking pictures of our prints and garments in real life. I have endless content to use; the hard part is putting it together in a way that is legible.

I’m not so good with patience.

I wish there were another two of me. But we’d need to be able to tell each other apart so one of them is a cyclops and the other has snakes for hair. Read into that, what you will. I just mean sheer workload and ability to make time to be able to separate myself from it for long enough to have a good idea. That’s tough.

Speaking of good ideas.

I’m currently working on the latest design. I’ve been recording some of the process, not sure what I’ll share yet, but, fuck ja, if organic growth and slogging sounds familiar to you then join me why don’t you?  

A Carnival of Creation.

Black and white photo of the studio desk.

This is what this has felt like.
In a good way…And now I have Dimmu Borgir stuck in my head.

Acrobatics aside…

(Carnival.) I forgot to put worms out for the birds. Ah well, tomorrow.
There is something freeing about being this early. No one’s watching, really. Which makes developing clarity a lot more fun because there is zero external pressure. Nothing breaks, you know?

That doesn’t mean that fuck-ups are never a threat.

I have sat here till 2am fixing errors, only to notice at 11am, that 2am is no time to bloody fix errors. But it does mean that it’s basically me, the dogs and the cat that know about it. Phew.

There is no time like now.

Most of the time now is spent removing, not adding. Which is strangely much harder to do. In practical terms. Less is more but knowing which less is less is much harder to do.

Circus Tent is up.

Oops swapped continents. But it’s fully erect. (Clears throat.)

Bally, bally, bally.

All this circus talk. Step right up. What’s inside?

Designing for Endurance.

Timeless used to be a look that stood the test of time. A quality piece that survived seasons because it outlived its moment. That definition no longer holds.
The quality no longer holds, and the silhouette has gone from timeless to time stamped.

Endurance is practical, not poetic.

Founder working at desk

Designing for endurance begins when you accept reality as the client. Use, time, money, labour and consequence. It shows up in stitching that doesn’t come undone, zips that don’t fail. And it extends beyond the object to the grower, picker, maker; if you’re forced to undercut yourself to remain viable, that fragility is built into the product from the start. Calling something sustainable doesn’t correct that. Paying properly does.

Endurance forces business change.

Most design avoids endurance because it forces long term thinking and costs short term gains. Designing for endurance means not offloading these questions onto the customer. It means building systems through aftercare, design and partnership, where responsibility remains with the maker. Where products can be returned, reused, recycled or passed on without becoming someone else’s problem. Where a product can become an heirloom rather than landfill.  This way of working doesn’t fit neatly into traditional business expectations. It doesn't align well (yet) with shareholder pressure or growth that depends on constant replacement. That friction isn’t accidental, it’s the point.

Endurance changes the customer relationship.

Not through constant novelty, but through trust. Inviting return not just to buy but to see what has been built next.  Through meaning, innovation, and designs that aren’t shaped by hype but instead carry weight, story, ethos and credibility. Ultimately, it’s about responsibility. About refusing artificial exclusivity. And not treating the customer like a cash cow or dishonouring their custom.

Endurance is non-negotiable.

Designing for endurance is not a claim of purity or perfection. It’s a commitment to build under real constraints, economic, material, human and to redefine those choices and the consequences. Redesigning them so there is meaning and reward instead. Selling products that aren’t a lie. That thinking is already being tested in what we’re building now, under real constraints.

Sustainable Streetwear Isn’t a Trend; It’s a Systems Problem.

Systems don’t change themselves.

Sustainability is being treated as a consumer responsibility instead of a system responsibility.

We’ve outsourced accountability downward, to customers, to workers, to suppliers, while profit stays safely at the top. It’s infuriating. And it’s everywhere.

Sustainability talk is booming while quality collapses.

Choice is increasing. Longevity is not. You don’t need to be a designer to notice it. Groceries shrink. Clothes thin. Products fail faster. That contradiction isn’t accidental, it’s engineered. And it shouldn’t be acceptable.

We are not at the end of a solution. We’re at the start of a very long curve.

Sustainability fails the moment it asks the weakest part of the chain to carry the most responsibility.

Fast platforms. Endless drops. “Capsule wardrobe essentials” released weekly. Externalised costs dressed up as innovation. Profit-first systems with zero consideration for product lifecycles, and even less for people.

This is why Mongrel Logic exists as an outlier.

When I first sketched the Designer range, the goal wasn’t to make a cap. It was to make something that lasts a lifetime, with a traceable lifecycle and no future landfill. Not just something you wear, but something that rewires how you think about what you wear. That thinking is already being tested quietly in what we’re building now.

True sustainability isn’t boring.

Yes, it can be slow. Yes, it can be unsexy. It involves trade-offs. It involves constraints. It involves admitting what you don’t control.

But working inside limits isn’t a compromise, it’s a test. A test of whether new ways of thinking, working, and creating are possible without pushing profit upwards and damage cascading down.

Most systems won’t even try. I will.

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.

A Christmas Of Refinement.

Lilith’s Corsage in progress

Much to the annoyance of everyone around me, the amount of work I have been doing to build this little engine that could, has kept me up so late that I almost saw Santa.

Have you ever dreamed in ctrl c, ctrl v?

Neither had I, until I started building the shop. I now find myself waking in the night with tension from holding down Ctrl +C and not pasting it, because technically, I’m asleep. This should give you some indication of how many alt texts, descriptions, documents, versions, oh my!

The little engine that could.

Four days of drawing later, our latest design, Lilith’s Corsage, is now on the website. I wanted to do a lily, but not floral in the traditional sense. I pulled elements from older drawings and folded them into the piece; that’s where the checkerboard petals come from, for example.

I guess now the test of the dream begins.

Not the ctrl copy and paste dream. The whole thing. I’ve tried breaking it, and it stands. And now I’m about to roll the proverbial boulder down the hill.

Too many metaphors?

This is the first chance I’ve had to flex in two weeks of product design, store development, and endless strategy work. So yes, too many metaphors. My brain is trying to wake up after long hours of repetitive tasks. It’s not quite there yet.

A refined store front and some new pyjamas.

That’s really…a wonderful thing.

Verbal bondage and visual systems.

AI visual showing the three characters to Mongrel Logic, a small part of the process of developing our visual system.

The tiny problem when you build like I do is the language evolution as I progress. I’ve changed the website more than I have changed outfits this year.

Defining what hasn’t been defined.

Learning how to talk about the three characters I inhabit in this world has been extremely challenging. Every time I refine even the smallest phrase, the knock-on effect of clarity in one area means a complete rewrite in another.

It’s ok, I won in the end.

I have emerged from the wilderness of my own mind, covered in moss, dirt and ichor. But I think I might have finally moulded all these things into one coherent, cohesive story that finally has its visual shit together.

The evidence of our evolution is here for all to see.

I don’t mind that. At all, actually. I have built this from scratch. Whether it’s finding identity in wording, or arguing with myself over flat felled seems and GSM, pattern makers, choosing our manufacturers for the limited editions; it’s been one hell of a journey to be able to stand here next to a thing that looks like a thing. The beginnings of a thing. A ‘th’ if you will.

Mongrel Logic has found its stride.

Which is good because I walk fast. I have not stopped in months. The tiniest bit of wording on the website, image, description, product seen and the coming soon limited-edition range is all occupying my head. All trying to find its mark.

It took a minute, but this is the first time it’s felt like it can breathe.

There is much more coming. And so much more to do. I’ve just finalised a visual identity system. And our next hoodie design is under construction. I’ve just finished rewriting the website again, and for the first time, I think I have a plan for our socials. The AI image above was part of that journey, trying to articulate the three characters of my business. I needed a visual way to help me delineate language and this helped quite a bit.

A Quick Note on Our Studio Hum

DJ at work

Since changing all my social profiles to business accounts, I can no longer post my videos to my favourite songs, boo! And no disrespect, but it’s hard to find something royalty free that is incredible.

I became an overnight sound designer.

Which was a lot of fun. Finding sounds, editing them, finding samples playing around with layering; weird, random sounds coming out the office. The problem is, it’s very time consuming. And I am all about time saving. So, I made a sound. We have an official sound. My days of sound designing are over.
Our base layer came from a Sample Focus clip called “Gospel Choir Hum” by user2866535286451.
We adjusted it, shaped it, sped it slightly, and paired it with a bark that sounded exactly like Zen; turning a simple sample into the signature Mongrel Logic™ sound.

The shortest career ever

Well, it was fun while it lasted. But I can’t tell you how relieved I am to just be focused on visual content again. It’s cut my content creation time in half. And I’m rather proud of it. Woof.

Logic Descends: The Origin Story of the Second Design.

It was 2002. I was 23. Aw. Or Aaah. Not sure which.

A night of Skull Monkeys & Resident Evil

I was housesitting and spent an evening drawing, playing Skull Monkeys, and watching the first Resident Evil. That’s when I drew Logic Descends. She didn’t have a name then. I drew two versions that night. I kept both

Enter: Attempted Burglary at 3AM

Much later, I was woken up by the sound of a crowbar hitting a metal gate. I switched the lights on. They ran. Cops came. Life went on.
Make of that what you will.

Logic Descends… or Angel?

You decide. When I revived her for Mongrel Logic, I kept her mostly as she was, her face is new, the animalistic stance, the sharp energy, the slightly feral wings, they’re the same.

She’s a piece of my early creative DNA.

2002 Time Capsule

This is me from the same year (and my brother); oversized jumper, corduroy’s (I know) too big. Basically… still me.

Some things change. Some things don’t. And sometimes, the things you made decades ago find their way back home.
More designs (and more stories from the vault) coming soon.

Bathroom Floor Brilliance: A Late Night Thought on Mental Health and Ingenuity

AI artwork of a woman dreaming about bright ideas; a reflection on mental health and ingenuity

Ok, full disclosure. It’s 00:01. I am sitting on the bathroom floor whilst running a bath trying to finish everything I needed to get done today. This short blog post being the final task. So, with one eye open, I wanted to share this quick story.

Mental Health is still a taboo topic.

More in certain parts than others. I read about an initiative in Africa over my morning coffee, where they are training hairdressers, salon owners and the like in counselling. How to spot domestic violence, depression and what to say or do when people confide.

Brilliant solutions to complex problems.

There are nowhere near enough mental health workers in Africa, I admire this kind of ingenuity. I’m no expert, I read this in passing but thought these are the kinds of things we need to see, not only in Africa, but arguably everywhere there is a need to upskill those already in a position to do something about it. An inspiring idea that so far seems to be working. Pleasant dreams.

Chasing confidence down the rabbit hole.

AI artwork of a multicoloured rabbit inspired by Alice in Wonderland, symbolising creative confidence

Confidence is never a constant companion. It’s like a magical rabbit that appears occasionally and then vanishes, leaving behind the smell of rainbows. Confidence is hard and no one can do it for you.

Self-help or imaginary rabbits?

I was the type of person to read every self-help guru out there. In my fixation I have been down more rabbit holes than I care to admit. Positive affirmations are cute. But they will not change your monthly income. Doing something about it will though.

When I started The Pavement Special, I didn’t put my name up. I didn’t post photos. I had no confidence in what I was doing; because I had no idea where it was going.

I was extremely fed up of thinking about all these ideas that I couldn’t fund. I was sick of thinking that I can only start something when…when I have the money, when I have the right job.

I’m still waiting for those things, if I had continued to wait, there would be no Mongrel anything.

Confidence isn’t always flowing

I am not sitting here the other side of a bank balance that affords me this opportunity, dictating to you. Quite the contrary, I’m sitting here fighting for it. I work 7 days a week.

My husband always says, “You need to chill, you never chill”.

Despite having tons of ideas and projects upcoming and a to do list longer than Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall; I still sit here staring at a blank page for two hours and wonder what the hell I am doing.

If I am doing it right, if I said it right, should I have done that instead, turquoise or amethyst? Confidence isn’t always flowing, and I literally can’t afford for it not to.

That clock doesn’t slow down for anyone, not even a magic rabbit.

When you realise you put your laptop-stand upside down.

My husband might not be wrong.

Case in point; I spent the past few months using my laptop stand upside down. Don’t ask, but yup.  You know that feeling when you realise you are an idiot? 

Rainbow coloured rabbit droppings

While the magical rabbit Confidence is not a mainstay feature. It’s crucial to learn off that rabbit and be your own cheerleader. No one is going to tell you that you are magical, and if they do, well, lucky you. (Now I’m thinking of Aurora, the singer not the borealis, lol)

So, I guess I’m hunting rabbits.

Metaphorically speaking. That’s the only rabbit hole worth playing in. Confidence isn’t “I think my cap is the best in the world”; it’s working to design the best cap in the world. I might not do it, but maybe, that bloody rabbit pops up while I’m working on it.

Chase the work. The rabbit shows up when it wants.

How to Start a Business When You Don’t Even Know What It Is Yet

Designer drawing with a dog sleeping nearby ; early days of building the Mongrel Logic brand from scratch

There’s this peculiar phase at the start of any venture; a time when your ideas are still nebulous and even you struggle to make sense of them. You’ve technically started a business, but you don’t know what it is yet, it’s like trying to solve a puzzle with half the pieces missing. When I first started, I felt like I was wandering in the dark. You kind of hope people don’t ask you what you do; because you still don’t know and by now, you feel like you should have it all figured out.

Why did I start out with nothing?

When I started The Pavement Special, I had no capital, only a basic skills assessment, and a gut feeling. I had an eight-year-old phone that was so outdated that watching a video on YouTube was a frustrating experience, with ads overlaying the video and audio for both playing simultaneously. My laptop, with just 3GB of RAM, was barely functional. I could only afford free Google docs. I had no job at the time. I did have a closet full of the skeletons of dead dreams. And I was determined not to add to it. I had no idea what to do, I just knew I had to do something.

Not knowing what to do and doing it anyway.

I knew I liked writing, but I had always kept the idea of writing for a living hidden away, so I dug it out the closet and put a pretty frock on it and dragged it to work. I spent a year trying to be consistent and often struggled. During this time, while I worked through my existential crises and endless questions, various ideas came to me. Some ideas were fleeting, and with hindsight, not good. Others took root and are growing into projects that are now in development. For example, the birth and development of my brand, Mongrel Logic, a cap designed as wearable art. It’s a first step toward a broader studio vision.

What have I learned from this?

I aimed to achieve small technological advancements and growth whenever I could afford it. Thankfully, I found a job during this period. This job became both my investment strategy and my biggest time obstacle, which I still battle today. I have learned that doing something is better than doing nothing and waiting is pointless; regardless of what you think you need to get started, begin with what you have. I had no idea I would be sitting here with a cap and a studio six months ago. The way it all came together, one stone at a time, is still incredible to me.

Why did I do it like this?

I decided that acting was better than sitting and thinking about what might be possible if I had a thousand dollars. Or ten thousand, or fifty, or waiting till things were right. I decided that I could no longer wait until I had the money, the information or the hardware. I’ve already spent over ten years researching. I just didn’t know that what I was doing at the time, was research. After living through the worst decade of my life, I felt angry at everything. I had expected things to be different by now. And we still don’t have hoverboards. I relied on my gut instinct, trusting it for the first time in a long while.

Ok, but how does building this business, in public, help you?

Well, I’m failing for all to see, forging in the fires of…gawd…Sorry. I’m proving that it can be done, whatever that thing is you want to do that you don’t know what it is, but you know you can’t stand it here, so it’s better than not doing it. (Surely?) I’m proving that you can achieve your goals, even if you’re not entirely sure what they are yet.

The Unexpected Journey to My First Product

Concept artwork representing the early, unexpected journey to Mongrel Logic’s first product; the Signature Cap.

I have always wanted my own business. I’m inspired by creativity and art. I’ve always been an artist but never saw it as a profession. I got caught up in corporate and confidence got lost. I’ve started and failed a few businesses, like previous blogs. I have wanted to be everything from a vet to an astronaut. While picking turnips and taking ballet lessons.

Knowing the ‘don’t want’ before the ‘want’

When I started the blog; I didn’t know what I wanted to write, but I discovered what I didn’t want to write. I knew I wanted to make products eventually, but I didn’t want to make products that would end up in landfill. I didn’t want to just be out there making noise on social media trying to compete for attention. Hype is not my thing. Lemmings. Realising what I didn’t want to do, I began experimenting with different approaches.

MacGyver-ing my way through my business’ first year

I threw the rules out. There was no SEO in the beginning. Nothing. Then I gradually started incorporating which rules were for me. I grew in consistency…more or less. When it was less, I was behind the scenes figuring it all out, planning, strategizing, calculating, plotting. Forgetting to take pictures for social media. Learning and growing.

Pivot, Pivot!

What has been key is changing direction when something didn’t feel right. I was still trying to find what “it” was when I came up with the caps. But what started as a print on demand idea for a side hustle ended with me designing a cap that only a highly skilled atelier can make. Even after this, I still spent time messing around with other ideas before I was able to recognise it for what it was and focus in on it. I was almost done with designing the cap but still trying to develop a Manifesto for buildings giving back energy. I don’t know shit about energy, anthropology or infrastructure. But I do know about caps, design and fashion.

Product design by accident

Often, I find what I am looking for in the cracks. In the dirt. In the uneven surface. It’s not because I sat down, followed some steps and planned the perfect product. It was by accident. Not by careful design.
Ok, now it’s being carefully designed but the birth was completely ‘winged’ into existence.

One small cap, one giant leap in development

The products I develop will always have a real-world benefit attached to it. The goal is to build something completely regenerative. That has been my modus operandi from day one, even without a product. We need new businesses that work differently. This is an ongoing personal battle and something I am working to define.

I don’t have it all figured out, but I do have caps, so it’s probably okay. Looking back, I’ve learned that embracing uncertainty and following my instinct led me to create something meaningful. If you’re on a similar path, remember it’s okay not to have all the answers, sometimes the best ideas come from unexpected places.

This Got Out of Hand: How a One-Month Website Move Became a Beast of a Business

Concept artwork symbolising Mongrel Logic growing from a small blog into a full design studio.

I’m back baby!

Remember when I said this would take a month?

Yeah…try three. But it’s not because I ghosted. It’s because the tiny thing I thought I was doing decided to grow teeth.

I was just planning on moving website platforms, moving my domain, I have reasons.
Since then, things have escalated. Fast. Somewhere between “I don’t know what I’m talking about” and “I think I designed a cap”: I created a beast.

It's not just a cap. I’m now thinking about ateliers, military embroiders or Japanese, maybe even an upholsterer. All in the pursuit of what might be the coolest cap ever made.

Sorry I took so long…

The timeline blew up. But so did the dream. What started as a blog shuffle is now pointing towards building regenerative, limited, luxury products that actually mean something.

Why I Named it that: The Unexpected Story Behind My Brand

The Pavement Special Logo designed by Kerryn Hewitt

This is the story about how my brand names came to be. How a solo, self-discovery voyage turned into a design studio. It’s also an example of why doing something is better than doing nothing.

What’s with the name?

After years of starting blogs then abandoning them; I finally came up with the name The Pavement Special when planning blog number five. A pavement special is South African slang for a mongrel dog. I’ve always found it funny because I identified. That’s a bit like me.

The Pavement Special was born

I chose The Pavement Special because I needed a place to talk about anything and everything until I figured out what I was making or doing, so it seemed appropriate.
I had no idea what the blog was about. I didn’t bother with SEO at all for the first year, I just wrote whatever I wanted or thought I should write. I had two starting points. I can write (ish), and I can draw (hmm). Everything else was in the dark. I’ve felt like a pavement special my whole life. I decided to own it.

I had no idea that I would be getting puppies shortly after, who were, coincidentally, mongrels.

Mongrel Logic and Mongrel Studio soon followed.

After a year of writing I finally planned my first product off the back of a dog attack. Sounds worse than it was, I was trying to process it and deal with two extremely anxious dogs when I thought of my signature design.

None of this was planned, it was discovered in the moment.

When I wrote my first blog article, I thought it might be a blog about helping spouses of partners with PTSD. Turns out, I really hate talking about my problems. I’m more… solution oriented as a person. I tried writing reviews, I wrote about things I’d seen but after I came up with the cap, I wrote about business. That’s when everything changed. That was roughly six months ago.

Welcome to The Pavement Special, a blog about my brand Mongrel Logic and my design studio, Mongrel Studio.

If you had asked me two years ago if I would be sitting here doing this, I would have told you, you were crazy. I planned to do the blog, but I went in blind. I was going stir crazy thinking about it and I had to start just doing it. The hardest part of that has been spotting the patterns in my own mongrel madness to discover what I was making. Now? I’ve designed a cap I cannot wait to wear. What started as a humble blog and…really me thinking out loud, has turned into a signature edition premium cap.