Go your own way
Our Culture Partner for this issue, Radical Yes, was founded ten years ago to create, design and sell shoes in a way that radically reframed how the Australian shoe industry was operating at the time — small batches of flat shoes to encourage a life lived under the mantras of ‘little and often’ and ‘hasten slowly’. Life and business don’t have to move at a rapid pace. We don’t have to constantly chase productivity. We can enjoy little bursts of productivity or rest as often as we like. It’s the flow of this balance that inspires the Radical Yes line of products. We spoke with three local women who inspire us to live a life full to the brim of both creativity and rest.
Words by Nat Woods.
Photos by Lila Theodoros.
Shoes by Radical Yes.
From left: Lora wears Grace Velcro Mary Jane – Milk Leather by Radical Yes; Nidala wears Neptune 2.0 – Athletic Sandal in Bronze Multi by Radical Yes; Paige wears Double Happiness 2.0 Slide in Chocolate Leather by Radical Yes.
Lora Ward
Designer, art director and publisher
Who are you and what do you create?
I am a designer and art director. I also run Good Publishings, (soon to be Bacteria Books) a bookstore, distributor and independent publisher. I see it as a means to contribute to culture and community through a place of assemblage, collecting and ongoingness. The project was founded for the cultivation of conversations and connectivity between artists and creatives through the medium of print and has ignited a personal search and exploration for the unexpected. A compendium of ideas. A gatherer of the book.
What does the creative rhythm of your days look like?
My days vary immensely but more and more I value malleability and the opportunity to work in the realm of the physical and material. After a very computer-heavy career, the things that really ignite my creativity are through the use of my hands – whether that be building a boat with my Dad or baking bread once a week with a wonderful woman in Wardell. The physical helps me enter a sphere of cosmic reverie that in turn carves out space for visceral creativity to exist.
What is currently inspiring you?
Being a sponge of all human, non-human and novel environments. Soaking everything up allows one to become the water that intricately disperses nourishment on all that it surrounds. Some inspiring readings that friends have handed to me are: The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin, Pharmako/Poeia by Dale Pendell and an essay on Queer Theory for Lichens by David Griffiths. All have a similar symbiotic view that the linear binary world that has been handed to us is tightening its grip and has led us in a singular direction. I also love Brian Eno’s theory of Scenious and Creative Intelligence of a Community. He speaks of new ideas articulated by an individual that are generated by a community as a whole.
What do you consider radical?
I have really been loving listening to the interviews of Timothy Morton. He manages to weave a delicate web of positivity around the Anthropocene and the ending of the world as we currently know it and the interconnectedness that surrounds us all. He has coined the term ‘Hyperobjects’ which is his concept of matter so large and complex, we as humans can no longer grasp them or understand our individual relationship with them. Things such as plastic, styrofoam and global warming have grown to such a scale that they become impossible to define. Morton argues that in order to understand such things, we have to shift the way we understand the world.
Lora wears Neptune 2.0 Athletic Sandal – Black and Milk by Radical Yes.
Nidala inside her tiny home, wearing Solstice Fisherman Leather Sandal in Black Leather by Radical Yes.
Nidala Barker
Proud Djugun musician, sustainability educator and activist
Who are you and what do you create?
I am, as we all are, many things! At the moment what I am the most is a musician, a custodianship educator, an Indigenous rights activist, a nature education mentor for kids and a self-taught tiny house builder. I create anything that helps me lean closer to a sovereign state of being, where by standing firmly on my feet I can make a space to bring people together ... (but I think my favourite will always be music).
What does the creative rhythm of your days look like?
Pure chaos, always.
What is currently inspiring you?
My big sister. Untethered to past ideas of herself and graceful in admitting her mistakes. She is not yet clear on her role in the world and that is part of her magic. She is the type of woman who navigates the world on storm winds and gentle tide, with curious eyes and the sweetest of hearts. It is beyond me how someone wouldn’t be inspired by her very presence.
What do you consider radical?
Taking my time. Following inspiration with no set purpose. Prioritising process. I have no interest in reaching destinations. I want to spend my days sitting in the middle of the road with mangoes and hot tea, talking to strangers and playing with the bugs ... and maybe by doing so, I can prick the curiosity of those rushing past, so they too may slow down enough to see the ants crawling under their toes. In my eyes the most radical act of all is reclaiming our time.
Inspecting her home, Nidala wears Neptune 2.0 – Athletic Sandal in Bronze Multi by Radical Yes.
Paige Miller
Upholsterer
Who are you and what do you create?
Hi! I’m Paige Miller from The Dusty Road. TDR is a team of creatives and artisans that upholster and create custom made furniture.
What does the creative rhythm of your days look like?
It’s forever changing but there’s always music playing in the background.
What is currently inspiring you?
Music and art are a constant inspiration. Colour and fun fabrics always inspire new ideas. And my friends – they’re all so talented, interesting and colourful in their own ways.
What do you consider radical?
People driving positive change. Original ideas that challenge the status quo. Choosing colour.
Paige wears Double Happiness 2.0 Slide in Chocolate Leather by Radical Yes.
CULTURE PARTNER
Paradiso is proud to partner with Radical Yes to bring you Issue 22.
Radical Yes makes shoes inspired by movement. They call it Flat Shoe Liberation. Radical Yes shoes are made for modern women who want to move and be moved in a free and conscious way. By producing products in small batches with family-owned production partners, Radical Yes believes in working to reduce waste and produce functional and beautiful products for IRL use. With the words ‘Hasten Slowly’, we are invited into the world of Radical Yes – a world where we are encouraged to feel grounded, comfortable and free: free to do; free to move; free to create; free to feel; and free to be.
Connect with Radical Yes:
@radicalyes