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A little sheep figurine.
But to Johanna Velasco-Deutsch, holding up the object closer to the camera for people to have a better look during a video call, it wasn’t just any kind of object. It was a reminder of a winter trip she and her husband, Mark, took with their little girl, Summer, years ago in Pyeongchang-gun, a county in the province of Gangwon-do in the Taebaek Mountains region of South Korea.
It was a cold afternoon and they were hiking up a mountain and had taken a short rest at a sheep farm. They bought that object to remember that trip by. For the keepsake box that Johanna and Mark were making for Summer, they were deciding whether that figurine would be part of it.
Johanna and Mark work together as a creative duo known as Happy Garaje, named after the garage-turned-studio for their design work, art, and toy-making. Based in the southern province of Cebu, they’ve welcomed visiting creatives of all shapes, sizes and talents into their cozy space and into their orbit. Some of them have, in one way or another, become creative collaborators too.
For this project, it brought the couple to collaborate with Summer. They’ve had discussions as a family talking about one another’s favorite memories. They made a list of things to put in the box — memories embedded in objects that are to become their own secret garden.
In the keepsake box, they also placed a music box that plays, “Always with Me” from Studio Ghibli’s animation, Spirited Away, about a young girl and her parents who accidentally wanders into the world of the kami (Japanese for spirit) and goes on an adventure to free them from a curse so they can return to their world. It is a tale of kindness and courage.
They also plan to include some letters they’ll write for Summer, and a letter from Summer to her future self. Johanna notes that in their planning, Summer was adamant about including some stickers and family photos, among other meaningful objects.
One time when they were watching the Pixar animation Soul, the main character, Joe Gardner, was looking at the objects that 22, a soul who accidentally inhabited his human body, picked to remember a good day on earth. Summer pointed it out to her parents and said, “We’re also doing that.”
For Johanna and Mark, this project was an opportunity to open up a conversation with their daughter about things to hold on to and bring forward. “Especially the past year, we were always looking back at happier times and things like that. The things we want to take with us in the coming days, the coming years,” Johanna says. “Family is really very precious to us. It bonded us even more.”
“Family is really very precious to us. It bonded us even more.”
She adds, “It made Summer think about things. She really had profound thoughts about it considering her age. So we were pleasantly surprised about that.”
As for Mark, he worries about Summer not being able to also spend time with kids her age because of the pandemic. “I feel like we should spend time with her, but I also wish she could play with other kids,” Mark says. “I wonder what kids are missing out on not being able to be physically in school and outside playing with others. I hope that she somehow manages.”
Johanna and Mark both work at home while Summer takes her classes online. In spite of the looming deadlines and constant video meetings, both agree to always find time to spend with their daughter. “We realized that we were making this with her and it’s really important. We can’t be with her forever…the whole day, after that we don’t know.” Johanna says. “We’d like our daughter to feel loved. And that when she goes forward with her own life, she’d remember that she was really loved.”
“We'd like our daughter to feel loved. And that when she goes forward with her own life, she'd remember that she was really loved.”
Giving shape to the vessel
On the idea of a memory box, Happy Garaje was working alongside the ceramicist Nicky Darnborough, their partner for this project. In their initial discussions, they were thinking about creating something like a time capsule that will hold and represent all these ideas about memories, dreams, and hopes for the future. “In essence, little things about the past and the future are put inside,” explained Johanna.
At first, they were supposed to use each other’s family photos for the project, but later decided to focus on their own families to truly fashion the objects in their own way. For Happy Garaje, it was using their visual style as illustrators and toymakers. Meanwhile, Nicky looked into popular culture and the tradition of making figurines in the UK.
Between creating objects that depicted the universal or particular, they decided to delve into personal stories and experiences. “In making it personal for our own family, we hope this will also inspire others to make their own version in their own special way,” Johanna says.
“In making it personal for our own family, we hope this will also inspire others to make their own version in their own special way.”
On Happy Garaje’s work, Mark adds: “We know it’s about a particular thing, but we’ve learned not to be so obvious. We hope someone who comes across this will say, ‘Oh that’s also me’ or ‘Oh, I also see my own experience there.’”
“We hope someone who comes across this will say, ‘Oh that’s also me’ or ‘Oh, I also see my own experience there.’”
In their conversations, they exchanged wonderful stories about their children, with Nicky even sharing how her now-grown children were when they were Summer’s age. This project also set them on a journey that involved their children in a conversation about memories and what matters to them.
Even in the particular, there lies a common ground. “As families, we try to create an environment wherein resilience can be built up — or compassion, empathy. Everybody aspires to do that within a family. And they’re very universal,” shares Nicky.
“As families, we try to create an environment wherein resilience can be built up — or compassion, empathy. Everybody aspires to do that within a family. And they’re very universal.”
The fox and the pink sandal
But what makes a family?
Nicky couldn’t help but return to this question. In her conversations with her four children (three of them already adults), Nicky felt that she was veering towards just making a list of activities that they did together. This frustrated her because she felt there was more to it than that.
“It was really hard. It’s such a huge, huge concept. And my process would be to explore things and edit them down,” she admits. “Until it’s finished, you won’t know if it’s going to work or not.”
For her keepsake containers, Nicky initially wanted to make figures modeled after each of her children. She started sculpting a figure of her son, referencing a photo of him under the glare of the sun, his red, curly hair even more pronounced with his favorite Manchester United kit. Nicky chuckles remembering how for 14 years he only wanted to wear the shirt, a yearly Christmas gift from his maternal grandmother since he was three.
She turned to a book about Staffordshire portrait figures for inspiration, seeing how this popular pottery style from the 1800s was rooted in her own memory. Looking back at her childhood, Nicky remembers her grandmother had one of those on her dressing table, and in it she’d put things precious to her. For Nicky’s project, she wondered what precious things will she put into hers?
She found the inspiration to make imprints on pebble-shaped clay over the Christmas holidays. The snow was surprisingly heavy in Manchester, and their footprints left deep impressions on the white powdered ground.
Nicky planned how two concepts will bear contrasting textures: porcelain clay that represent things to bring into the future are further strengthened by fire and glaze, while pieces representing things that should be left behind are air-dried, left to crumble and return to the soil.
“I wanted to show that what went into those jars weren’t just about our activities or things that give them joy,” she says. “I think families are also complicated, and I wanted to reflect and acknowledge that.”
“I think families are also complicated, and I wanted to reflect and acknowledge that.”
Unsatisfied, Nicky was still searching for a story that showed a value that she and her children shared. She found herself pulled to an intriguing story of the imagination.
“When my youngest daughter was about five or six years old, she would go on the trampoline in the garden every night before bed. One morning before school, we looked for her pink sandals. She would usually leave them outside by the trampoline. But that morning, there was only one left. We knew that there were foxes that lived at the bottom of the garden — they had clearly carried one off to chew!”
“We were all enchanted by this idea — that even in the city, we live and work alongside other species. The image wasn’t one we saw but lived in our imaginations and [evoked] a shared warmth.” Nicky said.
“We were all enchanted by this idea — that even in the city, we live and work alongside other species. The image wasn’t one we saw but lived in our imaginations and `{`evoked`}` a shared warmth.”
People often collect pebbles as souvenirs from the natural world that shaped them over the centuries. To Nicky, they are made more precious by the person who cherishes them.
One by one the pebbles go clack clack into the ceramic jar: a bike chain, the stud of a walking boot, a bit of grass, a surfboard, ill mental health caused by the employment crisis, enduring arguments, unhealthy aspiration, the edge of a book, a shell, feeling you can be anyone you want to be, ambition, care, love, being told you won’t amount to anything, narcissism, sea salt, non reusable plastic, HS2 train, actively protecting the biosphere, exquisiteness, birdsong, education, life is beautiful, happiness, resentment, forgiveness…
Nicky, Johanna and Mark created the concept of a memory box with contents that are easily accessible to their children. It is through these conversations about the past, present and future that helped shape their own distinct vessels. Placed side by side, their keepsake containers retain a childlike innocence and hold an enormous capacity for wonder. Why wait until later to share these precious memories and stories, when there’s no better time than now?
