We recently spoke to Dee Sember and Anita Nair, owners of Batik London and overall warrior women. Batik London is changing the way we think about global sustainability within the fashion industry. This new brand, created by Anita Nair (who is originally from Malaysia) and Dee Sember, combines merges East and West, aimed at showcasing the work of local, talented female artisans and bringing it to the UK. Anita and Dee work with local tradeswomen and distributors to help create

I find myself wandering. I didn't want to be here. Flipping, flapping, flopping, I would be better off in the oceans: living free and naked, enjoying the view of the corals. I, the existentialist, feel with every bit of the body, the mind and the soul. The joys and the pleasures, are all worthy, though. Or, are they...? Sometimes I wonder. How much easier would it be to not feel at all? Tinkering slippery slopes I travel my way on and on. Not even knowing if it's true. But th

We’re not every man’s mom. Why do we have to be supervising them to prevent disaster? To illustrate my point I will tell you about a party I went to where I met this group of lads. First, there’s Jack, (not his real name, I’ve changed all their names) who was described as the most inoffensive of them all. Well, little Jack man, he commented on my size. And when he saw I wasn’t happy he tried to dismiss it as a minor jest. I mean, I have a sense of humour, but from all the top

It is becoming more and more apparent that we must improve the future of our world not just by recycling, but by preventing waste! Cat takes us through a few nifty ways to go waste free in the bathroom! Solid Liquids. Although you can recycle your shampoo and shower gel bottles there are alternatives! Lush sell both solid shampoo and conditioner, which although appear pricey, they actually last a long time and smell rather lovely. Soap bars are a rather obvious one but most p

Letter to my younger self (post-trauma) My dearest love, Can I give you a hug? Please let me hold you in your sorrow. Thank you for confiding in me and sharing your story. I am broken. What has happened to you should not have ever happened. I am deeply sorry. In the name of the human race I apologise. It was not your fault that a man abducted you for his private pleasure. I am truly sorry for the fear and horror you have been through. This hideous man is nothing but a coward.

Ok, so let’s be honest, plastic will never disappear completely from our lives. And there’s no reason certain plastics shouldn’t if they are used in the right way. But something we must all be terribly aware of by now is that we need to stop using one-use throwaway plastics, because it’s killing our world. Single-use plastic items have been recorded as making up around 50% of marine litter! Amazing news hit the internet this month when MEPs backed the EU’s plan to ban throwaw

Being a photographer at times, can be a lonely path if you're trying to do everything yourself. In the early and middle stages of trying to become established, can be a make or brake situation. Being able to work on a shoestring, can be hard to get the right look for clients, its like using a mobile phone to shoot a wedding, at the moment, you can’t get the quality into images of light and shadows in my opinion, some would say it is possible with the new phones, which can pro

The Dream Team are a group of amateur Photographers, Models and Make-Up Artists who organize a themed photo shoot each month at various venues and locations around the Bristol area. The whole ethos of the team is for everyone to work together, in order to create some worthwhile images. We don't offer training as such, but we do offer encouragement and support to all members before, during and after the photoshoot. All members are invited to meet up at a social event each m

At the risk of being labelled 'mentally deranged' or 'hippie', I have to say that the moral of this story is precisely that we ought to make any act of kindness and/or love that we can, so I take my chances. Sharing the story, as far as I am concerned, is a way of pushing the ripples further, maybe even trigger some more of these 'happenings'. At the very least I think it will bring smiles and that is more than fine. Here is the story. Her name is Molly. We are not old friend

There is a massive issue that we need to all be made aware of and address. Ok, so it's not really about 'Netflix & Chill'.. but let me ask you something. How often do you settle down for Netflix & Chill, or to watch TV or a movie, and merely 5-10 minutes in, you or someone you're with are on the mobile? How many of us at school, or at work, are picking up our phones instead of concentrating on the work at hand? How many of us take our phone to the toilet in order to 'not be b

​The other day, I shared a post about a woman’s recent thesis about the taboo of menstruation with the following words: ‘Ffs. It happens to half the population of the world. Let's talk about it.’ And quite a few women did want to talk about it. For too long, the stigma of menstruation and having the biological equipment that enables it, has forced the vast majority of the menstruating population into hushed conspiratorial tones and a look of embarrassment whenever the topic r

NO APOLOGIES Open letter to the people that believe our story BUT… Dear fellow human, Yes, you said you understood and supported me, but… Maybe you have said the most wonderful things to me, BUT the minute I heard “but” felt just like you took everything back and started from what followed the “but”. This is particularly sad, because you said you are with me on this one, but you seem to be actually supporting the rapists. Please do not be a rape apologist. Sincerely, DB Foll

I have been modelling for a while now, around 4 years in fact. I love modelling! It is empowering and freeing, you get to meet and make friends with some amazing people and work on wonderful projects together. All the hard work will pay off and you will be left with beautiful images. And these images can do a great many things! You can tell a story, bring across a message, express something your passionate about or simply just have fun through modelling/photography. A few mon

This one goes out to all of you. Whether you’re struggling or not. The last two years have been a constant daily effort to “fix” my self and improve the quality of my life. For those of you that don’t know, my life before said two years was consumed by horrible depression and anxiety. Suicide was on the menu every other day, but luckily I never went for it! During that time, I met someone who I thought was the love of my life. I was head over heels, madly in love! For the fi

I have the pleasure of knowing many beautiful and supportive women. In the past month I have had immeasurable support from several of them. From my team in Swords of Cygnus, to the buhurt warriors across the globe during the #buhurtbikinipullupchallenge. From the women in my family, to many women in music. It fills me with rejoice that the list is too long to name them one by one, but in this piece I would like to make a special mention to a group of unbelievably generous and

A warm, welcoming space in a cold, snowy city – International Women’s Day celebrations 3rd March 2018 24 hours prior to City Hall opening its doors for the celebrations of International Women’s Day 2018, Bristol was carpeted in snow with hardly a car on the road, and people everywhere staying home from work or school as organisation and infrastructure shut down for the day. But in spite of a few participants unable to make the event due to difficulties with the weather, the v

Plastic and plastic waste has fast become a global environmental problem having adverse effects on wildlife and humans. The ‘catch 22’ with plastics is that they are inexpensive and durable, however, they take a long time to degrade, with a plastic bottle taking, on average, 450 years. The cause and effect of the ever-growing plastic industry has resulted in mass plastic pollution since the post war era. A study performed by the University of California found that of 9.1 bill

Hello modern world, we need to talk. There’s a plague that WE, as a race, are solely responsible for unleashing on the world, and it’s plastic. Thanks to our exponential growth of population and our hungry for convenient consumerism, we have infected Mother Earth and her living creatures with plastic. No one is surprised to hear about plastic waste floating around rivers or canals let alone the open ocean. What people are finding shocking, is the consequence of having this wa

It should come to no surprise to anyone that life is a struggle. For, life has always been a struggle hasn’t it? It seems like the struggle simply morphs and changes and grows with you as you age, never truly leaving. A constant, solemn companion. One that reminds you not to get too comfortable or content, to remain humble and prepared. I feel like I have been struggling terribly the past year. Even more so in the past few months. I have a problem that materialises in the inf

Straight Talking About Straight Dating: Validating Ourselves as a Female Singleton in a World Tailored to Couples. Why are women still seeking validation from society? Why is it that as a collective, women are separated into factions of those that ‘need’ a man, and those who do not? With the introduction of dating apps, the world has become steadfastly more complicated, and the validation of someone’s worth has become a minefield of how many ‘matches’ you have, and how many f