The start of the story

This summer I should be at a camp near Boston, wearing a polo shirt with shorts and allowing my hair to be natural and lion-like, whilst trying to suppress my British sarcastic humour with a tinge of the inappropriate…

When I graduated from university, I exhibited work in different places, won a Young Designer to Watch award, took commissions and a part time assistant job with the fabulous Sew Curvy. I also had a bit of a summer break. When September hit, having applied and written to more companies than I could count on all of my fingers, I decided that I just really needed to earn some real and reliable money. Not only this, but winter was coming, and as medieval as it may sound, other than Christmas (probably the biggest Christmas fan) I have a fear of winter. When the nights get dark early, I don’t find anything romantic or cosy about them; I find them really grim. I took a job managing a team of men in a Cancer Research warehouse and retail store. Some things are just really character building…

 The guys I worked with were fabulous, and I only wish them all the best in the world, but my contract was coming to an end and I had no intention to renew it. I kept telling myself that I would not be one of those people who did an ‘artsy’ degree and then never pursued it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with deciding that the degree you did now isn’t the path you want to follow, but this just wasn’t applicable to me. I have always wanted this, so I just can’t stop now. Without another job to move onto, and desperately wanting to move out and travel, a great friend of mine put me in touch with a director of a camp in America. Whilst filling out piles of paperwork and emails, and discovering my medical insurance would be £800+, which the camp would not cover, it was a pretty big decision. Everything seemed to start to be pushing me in the other decision.

Feeling a tad (maybe an understatement) undecided about everything, and having a bit of a commitment crisis (you never know when something else might come along) I went to stay with a friend, someone who is just the best with advice and challenging/encouraging the way I think. She said to me, where do you honestly see yourself this summer, America or London? I replied, ‘London’ and the next morning I had a new email in my inbox from an address I had never seen before, the email was inviting me to London...

“Dear Rosie
I hope this finds you well. Your dad sent your details through for [insert special name here] to see you work, which she loves!”

And that was the beginning…