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BAREFOOT & ALL By Anri Theron
She describes herself as a collector of memories, colours, thoughts and smells; a curator of conversations and a researcher of everything under the sun. Crystal Campbell’s poetic design is the culmination of a life lived without boundaries, under the open sky, meticulously taking in everything around her. Her design philosophy is about a way of working hard but playfully, treating people like they matter, researching by asking the right questions and about collaborations. Crystal tells us where she comes from, where she currently is and where she is going.
D > Can you tell us more about where Crystal comes from? CC > I grew up in Zimbabwe. My father is South African and my mother Dutch, which meant that I grew up with this ultra-liberal view of the world, only realising in my teens that the reality was more along the lines of George Orwell’s “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. Growing up in Africa taught me to appreciate simple things like feeling the earth under my feet. I like to be barefoot; something I’ve found is quite rare in Europe –people seem frightened to see their sockless feet. D > Why did you choose to base yourself in Lisbon rather than in Africa? CC > Easy answer: I fell in love. With a man, and then with his city. I like smaller cities, with more trees, more birds, more time for conversation...One of the strongest emotional links I carry with me are the Jacaranda-lined avenues of Harare. I found them again in Durban where I settled for some time, intuitively searching until I found them again in Lisbon.