The title is from a Foo Fighters track called “Times Like These,” a song Gemma Truman particularly liked. The American rock band came up in one of her conversations with Lala de Leon as they were getting to know each other after they were paired together for the collaboration. She felt that it really connected with her and her feelings about the past year — the pain of loss, challenges and uncertainties brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In their initial presentation, Gemma and Lala shared how they found support in their respective communities as the pandemic continued in late 2020. “With the economy not moving as much and consumers prioritizing essential items, it was harder than ever to sell artisanal items. Some of us let go of people, others pivoted to doing something else and some even closed shops. When this happens, who do we go to for support?” Lala asks.
“The maker community. We all have one,” Lala shares. “As makers, we are so used to making products and then selling or giving them away. It has been a priority to make for others. The spirit of giving and support is innate in all of us and we find ways to support each other no matter what.”
“The spirit of giving and support is innate in all of us and we find ways to support each other no matter what.”
They proposed the concept of an package exchange titled “#TheTravelingPebble and #MakersSwap.” In these packages, makers prepare items and products specifically with the receiving maker in mind and vice versa. They will add Gemma’s glass-blown pebble and a notebook for people to write and send messages.
Gemma shares that the pebble is something small that you can keep in your pocket and hold close to you. She adds that it was inspired by the neolithic symbol for a woman. It is through this object that she hopes women find connection and empowerment in what being a woman means to them. By focusing on the object, it is also a nice way to meditate. Gemma personally uses it to calm herself down when she feels anxious or nervous.
These care packages are meant to offer support and encouragement to another person you wish to succeed. The pebble will integrate the color of the year, blue for 2020 and its shifting lighter tone that promises a more positive 2021.
“Lala and I are kind of starting it and creating what we could do together…potentially…and with the pandemic and seeing how long things will take with the post. We don’t know how that would make things difficult,” Gemma says.
“But what I like about our project is that it’s a start of something — it’s the beginning, not a finished product. It’s creating something new that we hope continues on, for as long as possible. And constantly be this supportive, giving and taking maker community.”
“But what I like about our project is that it’s a start of something — it's the beginning, not a finished product. It’s creating something new that we hope continues on, for as long as possible. And constantly be this supportive, giving and taking maker community.”
Personal journeys
As the project started moving along in December 2020, both Gemma and Lala went to work on their separate packages for each other.
Lala started formulating specific products that would be wonderful for Gemma, having learned more about her and what she was going through. The process was not difficult for her because it was almost like the way she conducted product development for her business, Simoy ng Haraya (Filipino for “whiff of imagination”), a body and home product line with a focus on aromatherapy. With her background in advertising, she incorporated the poetic appeal of the Filipino language in naming her products with the help of a friend who wrote copy to evoke memories, experiences, and textures with ties to local culture.
She recalls the thrill of leaving her advertising job in November 2019 and making the leap for entrepreneurial independence. A few months later, the COVID-19 outbreaks escalated into a full-blown pandemic that placed Manila under lockdown — the first of several to come in the succeeding months. Suddenly orders were cancelled, a construction project closed, and Lala needed to cut her losses and gather all her reserves for what seemed like an ongoing uncertainty.
To keep her business afloat during the first year of the pandemic, Lala developed products that addressed people’s need for comfort and care, such as a candle with a loved one’s name printed on the vessel for All Souls’ Day. For the Christmas holidays, she introduced playful scents that evoked the joy and nostalgia of a traditional Filipino Christmas. Customers began sharing her products on social media, and the online attention kept her phone buzzing as her website filled with orders.
For her mental health, she turned to yoga and general fitness training as her number one form of therapy. Whenever possible, she would visit her mother who lived in the province of Batangas, south of Metro Manila, where there are less cars and buildings and more trails to bike in.
As for Gemma, participating in the collaboration proved to be difficult. Because of the lockdown and travel restrictions, she had difficulty accessing the furnace for glass blowing. She had to rethink her approach to the project.
For someone so passionate about her craft, it was disheartening not to be able to create these objects that bring her joy. She also lamented being unable to support other initiatives, when she herself was also trying to keep her studio up and running in the middle of a pandemic.
She had initially made a pebble which she kept for the exchange with Lala. Gemma would later share in an email how she had wanted to send Lala a letter and personalize it. To practice her calligraphy, she wrote a line from a song, repeatedly, until it became a sort of mantra. Being in nature and taking frequent walks in the woods, with a few delightful robin sightings, gave her much needed comfort.
Lala and Gemma’s exchanges eventually became more sporadic. Gemma had to tend to some personal matters, and so decided to step back from their collaboration.
Lala was able to send her package to Gemma in late March. It had a soap and candle featuring essential oils such as patchouli and frankincense for their relaxing sweet and earthy aromas, together with orange’s mood-lifting scent. She even commissioned an illustration of a woman in a seated yoga pose for the candle bottle. These she made for Gemma: a gift of calm and hope in a small bundle.
In April, Gemma slowly closed her studio at the Manchester Craft and Design Centre and started her new job at the Manchester School of Art. It is definitely a brand new adventure that she’s ready to embrace. In her new role as teacher, she has a way to share her knowledge to a new generation of glass artists.
Meanwhile, Lala continues working through the highs and lows of this pandemic, which really changed her mindset about things and about living. “I have to learn to live in the now. And continue doing what needs to be done. There are aspects in our life that we cannot put on hold and wait till this is over because, to be honest, we don’t know when this will be over. So maybe, we just need to continue living and stop waiting.”
“I have to learn to live in the now. And continue doing what needs to be done. There are aspects in our life that we cannot put on hold and wait till this is over because, to be honest, we don’t know when this will be over. So maybe, we just need to continue living and stop waiting.”
Each had to learn how to steer their own course to weather this rough and uncertain terrain. It doesn’t matter where they decide to go next as long as they get to where they want to be with their hearts and spirits intact.
From a walk in the woods, an email message from Gemma to Lala:
“While I was holding your pebble Lala, I was thinking about my grandad and with the thought of love I have for him. I wanted to imbue the pebble with comfort for you, too.
I thought about you, with my hands clasped around your pebble and said in my mind ‘for your Uncle,’ and in that instance two robins appeared at the same time. It jolted me. I felt a sudden warmth in my chest. It did not feel like a coincidence. It felt really beautiful.
I hope I pressed some of the feeling into your pebble, so that you might experience it too. Whether or not you or anyone, or I believe it had anything to do with our lost family members, the comfort and warmth I felt from that moment, I shared it with the pebble.
I hope sharing it with you might be comforting to you, too.”
Gemma holds the blue glass blown pebble wherever she goes, infusing it with comfort and warmth. For this object’s journey, it has just begun.
