Makers Mixtapes - Ruth Ribeaucourt
It’s a new year and we kick off 2022 with a new music playlist from Ruth Ribeaucourt, creative director and editor in chief of FAIRE.
Irish-born Ruth is a storyteller at heart and she does this through FAIRE of course but also through her photography and writing. She has created this months playlist with music that has become the soundtrack that accompanies her work in bringing the stories of FAIRE to the life on the page.
Words & Photography by Ruth Ribeaucourt
When anyone asks what I do for a living - the short answer I give them is that I love to make things and make things happen.
I’ve been pirouetting and pivoting for the guts of a decade. Saying yes - and figuring out the details later is my modus operandi and has often gotten me in a ton of trouble (that time I bought a vintage 1958 caravan sight unseen ahem) but it has also allowed me to embrace so many opportunities to learn new skills and own my creativity.
“I am someone who says yes to opportunities and figures out the smaller details, of how the hell I’m going to do it, after... I realise in hindsight that not knowing the rules or the ‘way things are traditionally done’ is my secret weapon.”
At the ripe old age of 30, I gave myself permission to slow down, experiment, learn, evolve and be passionate about a multitude of things. The more I learned, the deeper I wanted to go, the more incredible people I met, the more my world expanded and the closer I came to the truth that I didn’t have to define myself with a traditional linear career path.
At some point - the fear of starting something new disappeared. That’s not to say that I don’t get those awful nervous jitters before launching into the great unknown… in my mind, it’s better to have tried (and perhaps failed) than to live always regretting never having dared.
Left & Right Inside Ruths atelier in Provence
My first big reset began when I left behind a much loved (and coveted) career in the cinema industry for the wilds of Provence. France. In what seemed like a moment of pure madness, I packed it all in. We left behind friends, family, with a one-year-old, for a remote medieval village in the South of France and the promise of a slower life.
It was an opportunity to get my failing health on track (I had been diagnosed with severe hashimoto’s disease 6 months postpartum) and to escape an imploding Irish economy in search of a better quality of life.
I’ll be honest, it was not quite the joyful transition I’d imagined. There were tantrums and tears on the kitchen floor (all mine) as I adapted to the shock of no longer having a salary, the structure of a workweek, or the support network of a team that felt like family. I had lost a tangible system with goals, incentives and rewards. I felt trapped in a tiny shuttered for winter Provençal village with no driving license. The rug had been pulled out from under me in every way.
But when you’ve lost it all - and you know you have so much to give, to contribute, to share - the only thing left to do is build from the ground up.
In the very early days of our new life in Provence, I would walk every day, often carrying my young son across my chest as I strode purposefully through the surrounding cherry orchards, mistral whipping at my hair. With my non-existant job prospects and a toddler at home, I was forced to think about what I was good at and what made me happy.
In that first winter, I started to make jewellery again, I dusted off my jewellery pliers and boxes of beads and notions that had been neglected for more than a decade. In between my son Louis’s naps, I would spread out old antique ribbon remnants gifted to me by my French in-laws and I would create something.
(Left) Inside Ruths atelier. (Right) One of a kind antique textile jewellery
“In a world that always wants to easily define us, I discovered that I was a bit of an anomaly, many in my direct family would regard me with discomfort, this floundering lost soul who simply couldn’t find her way back to a ‘normal job’. And yes I felt lost many times, I would often panic as to where the money for the mortgage payment was going to come from. Entrepreneurialism was an alien-feeling habitat for me in the beginning. I missed the reassurance of a regular performance review, the monthly salary, the structure of my old life.”
Left & Right: Inside Ruths atelier in Provence.
I signed up for a website design course, I picked up a camera for the first time in my life and taught myself to photograph my work and life, I opened an Etsy store and then another selling antique fabrics, I sat (and passed) my driving test…. I had another baby. I slowly carved out a niche for myself, finding my voice and building back my confidence.
I discovered the French flea markets and met so many fascinating women, who invited me wholeheartedly into the world of antique textiles. The Sunday morning ‘marché aux puces’ became my ritual and with it opened up this immense world of learning, friendships and possibilities.
These women taught me how to use all my senses when out exploring flea markets, to touch, to really look closely at the construction of objects, to listen to a fabric when you crinkle it between your forefinger and thumb. Antiquing in Provence is really such a glorious adventure. It’s an opportunity to explore history and handmade with all our senses.
Left & Right. Inside Ruths atelier in Provence
“As the years have passed, I have learned through practice to listen to the whisper of stories - revealed through meticulous mends and darns; pressed into the crumbling glaze of Provençal ceramics; well-thumbed heavy handmade papers decorated with swirling ink script; and imperfect naive embroidery stitches and lived-in oil paintings. ”
These stories opened up and connected me to an incredible community of creative women in Provence and further afield.
When I look back I realise that storytelling has been at the core of everything I have done in my professional career. Be it guiding films to find their audience with the Walt Disney Company, or transforming the remnants of ancient ribbons into contemporary jewellery; to travel experiences with The French Muse and Forage Feast Photography - I seek to both share stories and find the stories that connect us and make us feel alive.
Storytelling is my passion. Through photography and writing, I tell the stories of artists and craftspeople who inspire me. Through workshops and retreats, I empower others to find the means to tell their own stories and reach an audience.
When the global pandemic hit, I had just launched the biggest creative retreat of my career. I had spent months pulling all the elements together, confirmed a mind-blowingly talented group of female creative mentors from across the world and the 12 spots had sold out in an hour of launch.
It was a devastating blow and I spent the first week of confinement cancelling and refunding all of my work for the year ahead. Once that painful task was completed then the panic set in.
How were the bills going to be paid at the end of the month was the most immediate concern… but after the many many unforeseeable weeks of languishing, I pulled myself together and started to make plans for the future.
The steam train was off its tracks and so I for the first time in years was able to really examine what was and wasn’t working for me. What jobs/businesses/routines did not serve me anymore.
FAIRE came about as a way to continue telling the stories that mattered to me and my community, a means to connect us all in a world that was becoming increasingly isolated. I wanted to share powerful stories that delve into real topics that can unite us: resilience, courage, triumphs, and of course false starts and failures, mental illness and the glorious messiness of life and creativity.
After more than a decade of trying on new skills for size, hoping that one might finally help me reveal my creative voice. I have realised in the last 18 months that my life’s work is not necessarily about me climbing the highest or shouting the loudest, but being the amplifier for others … and this space, right now, right here is where I am truly happiest.
Thank you all for supporting and championing FAIRE and allowing us to grow and soar over the last twelve months and four issues. You have allowed us to publish the stories of more than 64 artists, craftspeople and creatives and collaborated with 43 of the worlds finest photographers and we have so much more planned for 2022.
Here is to the next year of storytelling!
If you’d like to find out more about the personal photography work and creative businesses of our editor in chief Ruth Ribeaucourt you can follow her instagram @ruthribeaucourt