sibella court, objects and memories

Earlier in the week I heard Sydney stylist, creative director and author Sibella Court speak at Riverbend Books to launch her new book, Bowerbird. She is such a sweetheart - down-to-earth, passionate, grateful - and clearly a go-getter. She works constantly ("there's no loitering by the water cooler for me", she explained sweetly) but like most creatives and entrepreneurs she doesn't see her job as "work" because it feeds her soul. 

This year alone Sibella has traveled to 20 countries (she noted Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands were standouts) for design inspiration and research for her books. 

Ever the collector, Sibella made me smile when she said: "I'm not great at remembering what happened last week, but I can tell you about the people I was with and the place I was in when I collected an object from many years ago. It's just that I don't record my life chronologically but rather by the objects I treasure." 

Sibella also commented that collecting objects on her travels and through her life is her way of slowing down, of focusing on the little things, of finding calm within the chaos. I guess this theory rings true whether you are globe trotting or simply pottering in your garden.

I love how memories are hinged to special objects, whether they are found or purchased, received or gifted. When I look around my home and dig through my cupboards, drawers and my great-grandfather's wooden war chest, I find so many precious memories hung on walls, tucked in boxes and wrapped in fabric. 

Last month, I found dried flowers and seeds I had saved from Spain when I lived there 10 years ago. Pressed inside a folded piece of paper, their spicy scent took me back to the cork oak tree farm where I stayed alone in a yurt for a month over summer. There I would read books outdoors for hours on end until the sun slipped behind the hills beyond. Feels a lifetime ago. 

Sibella's book will inspire me to display my treasured objects - perhaps to pop the dried seeds in a tiny glass bottle on my desk, rather than stashing them in cupboards and folded bits of paper.


What would you choose to display if you dug out your memories? 

I'll be picking up a copy of Bowerbird from my friend Sarah's stunning interiors and homewares store, Carmel's Designs, at James Street, Burleigh Heads. Her two other stores are at Mooloolaba and Peregian Beach. So worth a visit. Sarah is a natural when it comes to displaying things beautifully. 

Image: These are four of my favourite things (L-R) A hand-crafted Moroccan ceramic cup from my other dear friend Sarah to celebrate my boy's first birthday; a stone sculpture from our home country of South Africa that I took borrowed from my parents - they've had it in our home since I can remember; two of the three little bison milk jugs my very generous elder sister, Nichola, bought for me on my birthday many moons ago.