Which is perhaps why a phrase in a book I've been reading recently struck such a chord. My recent reading has been the easy, gentle writing of Alexander McCall Smith. At this time of year I enjoy relaxed reading sessions and AMS often writes about people and places that are familiar to me and so make for comfortable reading. In his Mma Ramotswe books he talks about southern Africa where I grew up, and in his Scotland Street and Philosophy Club novels I find myself in the (sometimes) familiar surroundings of Edinburgh. However last week at the mobile library I found one of his novels which I'd not seen before - La's Orchestra Saves the World. In the novel the main character, La (or Lavender, to give her her proper name) goes to a meeting with an army officer in order to sign up for the Land Army at the start of WWII. La is very observant both about people and her surroundings. At the beginning of the meeting she thinks to herself how uniforms destroy individuality. And then she notices one of the buttons on the sleeve of his jacket - a button with the King's crown motif on it. Her thought at that moment is that "A free man - a really free man - could not carry the symbol of another on his clothing". And that simple sentence sums up everything I feel about branding in today's world. Give me an original, handmade item any day of the week.
At a fair recently I was surrounded by "GAP children". Parents who are happy to have their young children running around in branded clothing should not complain when they grow up believing (and thus demanding) that more and more expensive brands of clothing and shoes are what they need in order to fit in with their peer group. It reminded me of when, a few years back, we went to have coffee in a coffee shop that was seen by many as where the "alternative" people went - i.e. those who did not conform to society's expectations of what was normal and standard. However, the thing I noticed was that all those there were uniformly non-conformist. They all had aspects to their dress or demeanour that classified them as non-conformist, and in doing so were conforming.
We were recently talking to a visitor to this area who was trying to make the point that all the artists and makers in the area should come together and brand themselves as being from Assynt. She felt this would make for a strong branding, and she may well be correct, but it misses the point that many artists and makers have chosen to live in this part of the world precisely because they can be independent of branding, and so not have to conform to rules and regulations that such branding can bring with it.
True originality is very rare, and when found should be treasured.
Our Sunday walk confirmed that winter really is here when we stopped at the Old Soldiers to look at the view (and, if I'm honest, to catch breath!), only to find that the last leaves that were clinging to the trees are now gone.
[caption id="attachment_2394" align="aligncenter" width="375" caption="Old Soldier's - Winter 2009"]
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6 reactions
1 From Nan - 07/12/2009, 03:50
2 From Anne - 07/12/2009, 19:45
3 From Tessa Hargreaves - 08/12/2009, 23:55
4 From admin - 09/12/2009, 20:53
5 From bridget mckendrick - 09/12/2009, 21:37
We had a Catholic deacon,who lived across the road,he sadly died 5 years ago. When he was in ICU. to give his wife a break,i used to read the books to him,they are so soothing.
6 From Caol - 10/12/2009, 17:41
Assynt as a brand would be a good seller. I think your visitor is right ... especially here in America where many think of Scotland fondly and regard it as their ancestral homeland. I can understand why you all as a group would not want to do this, but, if needs change, you will all be lucky enough hopefully to be able to resurrect the idea and make it happen.