People: Shaina Mote
Name: Shaina Mote
Occupation / Business / Creative Outlet: Fashion Designer / shainamote.com
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Star sign: Libra
Favourite Number: 17
First thing you did this morning? Laid quietly to recall my dreams.
What does 'wellbeing' mean to you? Listening deeply, mothering oneself.
Products found in your shower / by your bath? My partner and I have a funny ritual of changing our soap scent with the change of the seasons like clockwork. We recently changed from Tamohanda Lavender soap to Monoi Tiki Tiare soap, a Spring to Summer scent evolution ;) In the shower I have these staples: Davines shampoo and conditioner, Cetaphil face wash, Noto face scrub, handmade dead sea salt and mineral rose petal bath soak, ayate scrub cloth.
Three things that can always be found in your kitchen cupboard? Aged balsamic vinegar, preserved lemons, local honey.
Favourite kitchen utensil? Mallorcan wood spoon, gifted by friend Daniela Jacobs
Favourite travel destination? Kyoto, Japan
Currently reading? Saving the Season by Ken West, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, A Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
Currently browsing (.com)? I have been browsing a variety of sites that are sharing resources and actions to take for racial justice within my country.
Favourite breakfast food? Steel cut oats with white nectarines, honey and cardamom
Three items in your wallet / bag? A standard passport image of my love, Sean, A flexible measuring tape, and a Drawing pad and pencil.
An album/mix that calms your nervous system? Gigi Masin - Talk to the Sea
An album/mix that hypes you up? Sudan Archives - Athena
Most commonly used apps on your phone? Truthfully... Mail, Instagram and Calculator.
Favourite form of movement/exercise? Vinyasa Yoga
One thing you'd like to incorporate into your day/week that you're currently yet to? Spanish lessons
Nighttime rituals? At around 9pm, I dim the lights and light candles around the house. In the summertime, I open the windows to get the warm night air into the house. I like to be quiet and unstimulated before I go to bed so that I have some time with my thoughts to digest the day.
A secret? I am am a devout equestrian and have been riding horses since age 6.
Someone you look up to? My mom
Something you're proud of? Sustaining long, steady and deep friendships with women I admire.
I feel most creatively fulfilled when… The materials I use to create are pulling waste out of from the highly inefficient fashion production cycle to create something new of beauty and purpose.
I'm currently working on… Surrendering to that which I cannot control and challenging myself to evolve in the places that I can.
This time last year, I wish I knew… Tough question. I wouldn’t wish to know what is ahead, but rather how to better absorb and learn lessons in the moment.
I'm grateful for… Being alive, having a strong and supportive community, being in love, having a roof over my head, having the ability to seek solace in nature.
Photographed by Jane Dylan Cody
07 - 07 - 20