Plunging into Perfection.

I once again learned something valuable. It was yesterday while designing and producing my new Cafe Racer Cozy. Made from, of course, recycled bicycle inner tubes it's not always the most easiest material to work with.

Perfection. Hmm. I thought I knew how to deal with my overly perfectionist tendency. There it was. It showed it's ugly face while I was working on the cozy. My thoughts on perfection is that you can be professional yet it doesn't mean you have to be perfect all the time. For many years, I stopped myself to be creative. Thinking if you can't do something perfectly... just don't do it at all!

It's in the process that perfection will eventually arrive. You have to be aware during the process of making. So every attempt goes closer to perfection. Every person has their  own idea of perfection. I won't get into that.

When I made the first prototype for the cozy, it was sleek, racy with a grey stripe in the middle ready for action. It was perfect. But on the practical side, it wasn't nice. The reclaimed plastic made it stiff and hard to wrap around the coffee press. It looked perfect but that's where it fell short. Frustrated, I went back to the drawing board with close consultation with Richard. And we both decided that the grey plastic strip was  a no go. Our idea is to keep it like our Piccolo Pouch. We tried it and we finally go it!

Yesterday was a day from Hell. Probably not the day to redesign a cozy prototype. The inner tube challenge my patience. But I love a challenge and with perseverance I produced seven refined coffee cozies.

Life is beautiful this way. It always offers you the possibility to better oneself. The true challenge is to stay in the process of learning everyday!