Somewhere over the Raymbo

I stumbled upon Lauren’s blog several months ago now. What I do for a living is highly creative and I meet some pretty neat people along my travels with this shoe design venture of mine. I sent out an email to her praising her creativity, her wit, her willingness to invite us into her universe through her blogging platform. Long story short, a friendship of sorts was formed. I reached out to design a pair of shoes for her, well, because I can. I reach out, usually once a month to someone I admire, someone I can relate to and someone or something I may be into at the given time. I have reached out and done shoes for some very big celebrities and some of the coolest brands in the world and rubbed shoulders with people I genuinely idolize, all through a talent and a passion for the gifts I have been blessed with since birth.

Do I sit here and pretend, like a lot of the Minx followers, that I know her inside and out? No, I do not. Nor does she of me. But here is what I do know:

Raymi is incredibly talented, thoughtful, analytical and creative. Try writing and taking photos every day for a month. I bet you give up. She has done it for over a decade, all with the passion and uniqueness to keep us coming back. That is not something many can do, let alone do it well. She is also rather sensitive, emotional and caring. She also doesn’t like idiot people judging her and will tell you as much, often in a brash way. How many people do you know that are an open book, quite honest, always frank and speak from a place of real passion?

My guess is not many or none. But Raymi has that, and she has it by the boat load.

Sometimes when we read her blog, she may not come across well because you cannot read her tone and you cannot grasp the speed at which her mind works. But it is fast. Fast and it is true.

In short, she walks a very different tightrope, far above your rain clouds.

So you may ask yourself, why would I reach out to her and do something so nice all on my dime. Well, because I can.

As far as the design and background of this heel, it came together in a day. I had a little window in what is a busy schedule, and in a matter of 10 minutes, I branded a heel to Raymi’s website colors and some little personal touches I thought she may appreciate. Plus a one-off Raymbo Brite (like Rainbow Brite from decades ago) logo I designed many moons ago for her that you may have seen sprinkled on her website and Twitter account.

As far as the rest, that is between me and LUH-REN. But know this, she appreciates my talents as much as I do hers. And I am happy to call her a friend.

Wireless love from the left coast of Canada.