At home with Studio Corkinho

At home with Studio Corkinho

These last few weeks have been challenging us all to stay connected and, above all, to stay creative. In our ‘At Home’ series, we catch up with our favourite brands and makers to see how they’ve spent these weeks of reflection. One person who inspired us to reach out, connect and share stories during these difficult weeks was  asked Cédric Etienne, founder of Studio Corkinho.

We connected with him to see how this new pace is affecting his creativity and daily rituals. 

How are you spending this time of reflection?

'' The first two weeks weren’t that easy to distance myself from. My mind was constantly busy thinking 'what’s going on' , 'what can I do?'. There were so many impulses from media, friends, clients… very chaotic. Our priority was to organise ourselves to follow the government’s guidelines; making sure to take care of ourselves and our beloved ones.

It made me realize I really needed to 'step away' to enter 'reflection' mode: to organise a different schedule in order to allow reflection and let it flow. I also had the desire to keep on going with the business, of course, but in an 'adapted' version of life. I felt the need to create some sort of platform to collect the collective mindset of our circle of trust; a kind of 'collective field' of creatives to share insights, feelings, visions about what’s going on and how to join forces in our future challenges

I have named the project STAND STILL. After all these weeks, it has resulted in a beautiful collection of thoughts that we are sharing on our IG stories and later will be bundled as a journal on our website.

Since Easter I have also started to work on a couple of new ideas. Every  week I go 2 afternoons to the atelier to make prototypes. It feels so good to be able to go in full drive without any distractions. ''

    At home with Studio Corkinho - The Loft Magazine
    Burnt Cork Vase Medium by Studio Corkinho.
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    At home with Studio Corkinho - The Loft Magazine
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    What does it mean for you to work at home?

    '' To welcome love every day at a very intense level. My girlfriend and I became part-time teachers of our private kinder garden, to keep our sweet princess happy and active. Playing together reinforces our connection. Being that much closer emphasizes the love we feel for each other. ''

      What are your daily rituals?

      '' I really enjoy waking up earlier and start the day with a 40min meditation, then doing some physical exercise to balance mind and body. After that, I usually take Cézanne ( our daughter ) from her bed. We greet the day together, I prepare her morning milk, she prepares coffee for her mom and then we share breakfast together, the 3 of us. My girlfriend and usually split days: half a day creative activity or workand half a day with Cézanne. We combine games at home and time in nature. During Cézanne’s mid-day nap, I go outside – in nature – walking or biking. Before going to bed it’s reading time at home— with classical music on the background. ''

        At home with Studio Corkinho - The Loft Magazine
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        At home with Studio Corkinho - The Loft Magazine
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        How is this new pace inspiring your work?

        '' Very intensely. I took a considerable distance from screens and devices to limit external inputs and replaced them by playing guitar, drawing, reading, biking , walking in nature; this brings my mindset in a kind of stillness.

        I also find myself in a very natural creative flow, where music inspires space and where words brings me to certain landscapes.But I can describe this new pace,  most of all, as “going nowhere”, sitting still , allowing the present to be as it is or feeling like “being now-here”, keeping the mind still, travelling inwards on discovery of that inner space. ''

          Biggest Challenge? Now and future?

          '' For now, the challenge is to re-consider the way we live in order to bridge the “lockdown” situation. Keeping a close eye on how to book progress respecting the guidelines and learning from this situation.

          Then we’ll have to activate new patterns of life in order to show respect for Mother Earth’s resources. The danger is that humans tend to forget quickly. The biggest challenge will be to translate consciousness into actions. Focussing on markets will drive you double-crazy; the market won’t disappear but there’s a huge potential to invest in projects that will be in resonance of today’s call. Replacing the ego-centric capitalism with something “bigger” than fast money, a system that will be more consolidated in terms of collective benefits: from investor to nature.

          According to us, our challenge is to keep on developing self-growth in order to serve the world with creations to illustrate stories of the conscious mind. It’s important to continue to find ways on how to close the loop even more. So that we can connect the work of a craftsman with a service that feeds global awareness and that, in the end, doesn’t leave any trace of wasted energy or resources.

          Life is a magical path.''

            At home with Studio Corkinho - The Loft Magazine
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            At home with Studio Corkinho - The Loft Magazine
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            Interview by Sara Martin Mazorra

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