Anna Murray
With a background in fine art photography, creative direction and strategy within the fashion, luxury and advertising industries, Anna founded cult pattern lifestyle brand and purpose driven organisation PATTERNITY with designer Grace Winteringham in 2009. Driven by the core belief that a shared awareness and understanding of pattern can have positive and powerful results, Anna is committed to exploring how and why a deeper public understanding of life's many patterns - both visual and unseen - can inspire more sustainable and interconnected ways of living - powering timely social and environmental change. Playfully but purposefully merging the worlds of science, spirituality and sustainability with nature, design and wellbeing, PATTERNITY’s platform, projects, products and events activate pattern awareness and understanding; inspiring more curious, collaborative and connected ways of being in modern life.
Website: http://patternity.org/
Instagram: @patternity
Twitter: @PATTERNITWEET
What does happiness mean to you?: Modern life can feel so overwhelming and we constantly feel like happiness is something ‘out there’ something we need to really strive for - but I’ve come to learn, and more so in writing this book that happiness is really (and so simply) about getting into the habit of being grateful. From appreciating a great cup of tea or a beautiful shadow cast on the floor to marvelling the moon at night, for me the more I can take moments to stop, see and notice the beauty (and imperfection!) that really is everywhere around me the more connected and contented I find I feel. It really is a journey not a destination!
Which talent would you most like to have?: I recently attended a sacred geometry class and it was so fascinating to see mathematics come to life in a more interactive and engaging way (you use compasses and pencils to draw simple fundamental shapes, which with patience and perseverance layer to construct elaborate beautiful patterns). To sense the underlying order of things and to learn how this translates into the world around us (from the architecture of ancient temples to the ergonomics of our own anatomy) felt like such important knowledge to learn. I was pretty awful at maths at school and have always loved the idea of being a mathematics whizz– I think understood and used correctly it can help us find more wonder each day.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?: I feel so proud to have co-founded a creative business - and 8 years later it still be going. During that time we’ve attracted a passionate, smart and loyal team here in London and an ever-expanding global community around the world (aka our PATTERNITRIBE!). Personally I still find it so inspiring to be constantly learning how patterns - both seen and unseen - can inspire people to see and experience the world more positively. When life has thrown it’s inevitable ups and downs at us personally along the way, our wider purpose ( to work with pattern to educate and inspire) has really kept us going and I am hugely grateful to everyone who has been a part of the weird and wonderful journey that is PATTERNITY so far.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?L Like many people I have a recurring dream I can fly. If I were to be reincarnated I would love to come back as a swift and have the freedom to fly around the Earth and get an overview of life. So often I find in our culture we live with such tunnel vision it can be hard to step back and see the larger view. That feeling of being a part of a greater interconnected whole can be humbling and uplifting in our increasingly individualistic age. Birds have no possessions; they just get up and go, join their tribe and live symbiotically with nature. That freedom to soar and experience more of this wonderful world we all call home is something I would love to manifest more in my life.
Where would you most like to live?: I would love to live by the sea. Somewhere where I can look out and see the horizon line and reconnect with nature’s cycles and patterns. I long to have somewhere I can go to switch off all my electronic devices, read, relax, re-connect with the elements and watch the seasons gently change around me. I find living in London I am increasingly seeking to feel more part of a local community that I can feel I’m contributing and giving back to. I dream of living simply and off the land, surrounded by the beautiful creatures, sounds and smells of life. We have dreams of setting up an educational PATTERNITY institute surrounded by nature- I would very happily live there!
What do you most value in your friends?: I feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful smorgasbord of friends that I have met over the years in the various worlds and industries I explored before co-founding PATTERNITY back in 2009. No two friends are the same but looking at a few general themes they are all linked by their kindness, sense of fun and adventure and an innate drive to use their skills and gifts to somehow leave the world a better place than they have found it.
Who are your favourite writers?: I have so many but looking at general themes, I tend to veer towards quite practical but big thinking non-fiction writers where who have an interconnected ecological worldview. I love being able to take on weighty ideas and concepts in new ways - whether that’s a modern science writer or an ancient spiritual teacher. A few of my favourites who I keep going back to again and again include the Physicist and founder of deep Ecology Fritjoff Capra, Neuro Philosopher Ian McGill Christ and Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh. Despite being from very different backgrounds all three seek to inspire us to think more deeply about our patterns of behaviour and how they are affecting both our inner and outer worlds. I think we’re at a key time in history where there is a mounting need to be more aware, to ask more questions and to learn more about our interconnectivity with the natural world and everything in it. This way of being is becoming even more essential - and exciting.
What is your motto?: Everything is connected. (it is!)