What’s your mood: board?

There is a wonderful scene from Amélie (2001 romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet) and if you haven’t seen it, I implore you do so without further ado, where Amélie’s parents empty their respective hand/bags, vacuum the inside and then repack them. It’s a beautifully captured scene and one I understand completely. I think there is a fascination regarding what people pack in their everyday bags etc. To line the contents with military precision and then photograph it has become a micro-version of keeping up with the Jones’

Whilst this idea does tick a few of my nosey boxes, it is the idea of artists/illustrators/writers mood boards or walls that does it for me. Whilst growing up my parents were generous enough to allow me to paste inspirational pictures/quotes/letters/slogans onto my bedroom wall. Over the years the wall updated with different artist’s postcards or exhibition invitations. I’ve always liked the idea of slicing through a section of this wall, not unlike sawing a cross-section of a tree trunk, to see the interwoven and progressive images- as akin to my DNA as my genetic disposition.

A designer I greatly admire is: Victoire de Castellane, well I admire her wall. The colours and combinations of kitsch and Dior style often leaves me as excited as the creational result itself.  I think like this, I need to process by placing ideas, concepts on a large wall. The great achievements in my life have come from kernels borne of a mood board.

Maybe this is the idea of a ‘book prescription’ again, but a more visual example. To bring together visual representations of what it is you need is a more immediate form of literary enlightenment.