Building something new is never easy
There are moments when life changes direction before you have had the chance to understand exactly where it is taking you. Starting Atelier d’Guide has been one of those moments.
When we opened the doors of the Atelier in May, there was a lot of excitement around that day. We had finally arrived at something we had been thinking about, working towards and imagining for a long time. There was a physical place, a name on the door, things to make, workshops to prepare, products to develop, and people beginning to walk through the door. From the outside, it can look like the beginning of something new. And it is. But beginnings are rarely as simple as they look.
CHANGE IS HARDER THAN IT SOUNDS
There is something quite strange about starting again. We often talk about change as if it is a decision: you decide to do something differently, you make a plan, and then you move forward. In reality, change is much messier. There is excitement, but there is also uncertainty. There are things you leave behind that you thought would stay with you. There are plans that change. There are days when everything feels possible, and other days when even the smallest thing feels difficult. And sometimes several kinds of change happen at the same time. This has been one of those periods for us. We have been building Atelier d’Guide while also trying to find our way through a lot of personal and practical changes. Some of those things are private, and we want to keep them that way. But they are also part of the reality of building something new. Because businesses and projects don't exist separately from the people who create them. There are real lives behind them.
BUILDING ATELIER D’GUIDE
Atelier d’Guide is still very new. There is a lot we are figuring out as we go. We are developing products, preparing courses and workshops, working on new ideas, talking to people and organisations, and slowly discovering what this place can become. Some things have happened faster than we expected. Other things have taken much longer. And we are learning that creating something from the ground up is not only about having good ideas. It is about showing up. It is about making the next product even when the previous one didn't turn out exactly as planned. It is about answering emails, building a website, preparing materials, learning new things, meeting people, changing plans, starting again and trying to keep moving when you don't yet know exactly where the road leads. There is something humbling about that. And, strangely, something very good about it too. We are beginning to understand that Atelier d’Guide doesn't need to have everything figured out yet. It is allowed to grow.
A PLACE FOR THE WORK WE WANT TO DO
One of the things that has become clearer to us during these first months is that Atelier d’Guide is not meant to be only one thing. It is a place for making. A place for learning. A place for experimenting. A place for sharing what we know and learning from others. That means products, courses and workshops, but also consultancy, collaborations, research and projects. Some of these things are already happening. Others are still taking shape. And that is okay. We would rather build something slowly and honestly than pretend that we already know exactly what it will become.
THE NEXT FEW WEEKS
And now things are starting to move again. We are going to be taking Atelier d’Guide outside the Atelier and meeting people in a few different places. Our first stop will be FAVA – Algarve Vegan & Sustainable Festival, taking place from 18 to 20 September at Loulé Municipal Park. FAVA brings together more than 100 exhibitors and a wide programme around sustainability, creativity, food and conscious living. We will be there with some of our products, including flax seed oil, our cocoa peanut butter and hemp products. Then, from 25 to 27 September, we'll be at Greenfest Braga, where we'll have our stand and, this time, we'll also be doing something we are particularly looking forward to: a live demonstration of how to make paper from flax. Greenfest takes place at Praça da República in Braga and is free to attend. So if you are going to either event, come and say hello. We would genuinely love to meet some of the people who have been following what we are building.
AND A LITTLE MORE BEHIND THE SCENES
There are also things that are difficult to put into a public post. Not because they are necessarily dramatic, but because some parts of life simply belong in a more private space. For that reason, we have recorded a special video for our Patreon community. In the video, we talk a little more openly about this period, about what has been happening behind Atelier d’Guide, what it has been like to start again, and some of the things we haven't really shared publicly. It isn't a polished promotional video. It is simply a more personal conversation about where we are right now. If you would like to hear more about the people and the reality behind Atelier d’Guide, you can find the video on Patreon.
KEEPING GOING
I think one of the things we are learning is that starting something new doesn't mean that everything else suddenly becomes easy. You carry your life with you. The uncertainty, the difficult days, the things you are still figuring out. But you also carry the things you have learned, the people you have met, the work you have already done and the reasons you decided to begin in the first place. And perhaps that is what Atelier d’Guide is becoming for us: not a finished answer, but a place from which we can keep moving. There is still a lot to build. And we are looking forward to it.
See you at FAVA and Greenfest!