Costume designer to facemask designer

Costume designer to face mask designer

‘As a costume designer, I was especially gripped by the shortage of PPE.’ 

As the Coronavirus pandemic unfolded, I found myself watching the news in helpless disbelief. As a costume designer, I was especially gripped by the shortage of PPE. Medical friends were saying that things where really bad, even though the government claimed it was okay.

Other concerned volunteers were forming and mobilising to help. With my partner Jake Farr, we created www.scrubhub.org.uk

Initially there were seven London groups but with the Visor Army project on Facebook, this has grown to around 130 groups all over the UK.

It was immensely comforting during this time to be able to concentrate on making scrubs and visors, small simple tasks I could do at home, that were being replicated in so many homes all over the country, collectively making a really big difference.

Setting up Acemasks seemed like the logical progression from this. As we ease out of lockdown, facemasks will be part of our ‘new normal’. Initially the idea of wearing a mask filled me with horror. After a few trial runs wearing a mask out and about, I felt really uncomfortable. Despite other people wearing them, I felt that most of them were looking at me in horror!

A friend sent me a picture of her in a medical mask she had decorated with multi-coloured dots. I really liked how she had made it her own. This spurred me on and I decided if I was going to do this, I needed patterns, colours and floral prints to make me feel more comfortable in a mask. I wanted to own the experience and communicate to others when they looked at me in my mask, “It’s going to be okay, we can do this!”

Living with loss and grief in a care home

A Whirlpool of Feelings

You might be feeling ANY or ALL of these… Being sad, angry, annoyed with others, numb, hopeless, feeling like arguing, in despair, swearing, ‘not myself’ shutting others out, sleeping more than usual, not sleeping, not eating, comfort eating, guilty (I am safe, others are not; can I be doing more? Why am I at home when I should be with my colleagues?), crying, frightened, alone, lost, ignored, suicidal, wanting to harm yourself, confusion, panic, anxiety, disbelief, astonished by kindness, hopeful. These and more feelings are natural in these difficult and uncertain times.

You might be by yourself at this moment, and you may be feeling alone, even in the midst of a busy care home. But you do not have to stay alone in your thoughts and feelings, you can be seen on an app, online if you choose, or on the other side of the fence at the back of your house.

Mourning is what we do to acknowledge the pain and the loss and offers a ritual, a tradition, a faith or spiritual based activity which focuses on the loss.