The Story

I’ve always felt most alive while travelling. It’s as if every part of me opens up. Sometimes I walk into a place and feel, for a moment, as though I’ve stepped inside a melancholy poem.

I’ve always been drawn to things that carry a sense of place, things someone has made with care, and things that have already been loved in a previous life.

I can spend hours wandering through little shops and secondhand markets, imagining the lives the objects have lived before. Who chose them, where they belonged, and how they ended up here. Even something found at a market around the corner can take me somewhere else, as though it once sat on a kitchen table in the south of France.

Fifteen years ago, I called my Instagram account Finding Fortunes. I dreamed of becoming a travel photographer, of making a life out of seeing the world and sharing what I found. Life led me elsewhere. I became a designer and art director, and I loved the work I did. Still, Finding Fortunes kept returning to me. The name would appear in my thoughts at unexpected moments, as if it was asking me to pay attention.

One line from The Alchemist has stayed with me: “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

I thought of it again when my entire creative team and I were let go. It was painful to say goodbye to work and people I loved. But as I wondered what would come next, Finding Fortunes returned to me, louder than before. After fifteen years of carrying the name with me, I couldn’t help feeling that the universe might be telling me it was time to begin.

Finding Fortunes is where the things I love come together. Vintage pieces with a past, objects made by makers I admire, and textiles, paper, and ceramics—including my own designs.

I hope you’ll come here with that same sense of curiosity. Have a look around and perhaps find something you didn’t know you were looking for.