What a crazy start to year it’s been - I can’t believe we are actually halfway through already! The sun is shining, I’m sat in my studio next to my swanky new air conditioning unit and I thought it was about time to update you all on some big studio updates from the year so far.

Marks & Spencers campaign

(& the reality of working with brands)

The year started off with super exciting (but crazy manic) preparations getting ready for the M&S ‘Love Your Boobs Campaign’. In case anyone missed it, I was asked by Marks & Spencers to create an exhibition for Southbank Centre as part of their new Bra Fit campaign.
The exhibition, titled ’Sixteen’ showcased 16 casts, made by myself, and modelled by M&S employees, to promote how unique and diverse our boobs are.
Alongside this, before the launch I also went up to London along with Elli and Annie for their campaign PR day, and we ran a really fun boobie casting workshop with journalists. Super tiring but also super fun! I’d love to do more things like this. Having the opportunity to work with such a big brand, to meet such lovely people and to see my work exhibited in central London was a really surreal and moving experience (yes I shed a tear when I saw all the casts on their plinths on the Southbank for the first time!!)
You can watch t heir BTS reel, and see the final exhibit here.

A little bit of realism here - as much as I LOVE working with big brands, it is also verryyyy different to working with individuals like I do on a daily basis in my studio. They work in a very different way than what I’m used to - I guess because it’s a big team of people so ideas chop and change constantly, and I’m so used to working with just the two gals and myself! It can be super tiring, stressful and very frustrating at times too….
HOWEVER the gain and reward for all of this is so immense. Seeing my work presented in this way was such a huge opportunity and massive deal for me, and as I said before, also super emotional… I think going from the first enquiry email, and through all the ups and downs of working on the campaign, to seeing my work up on plinths in this way, really made me shed a tear! As well as the ‘F*CK THIS IS MY WORK AND IT’S WITH MARKS & SPENCERS LOOK HOW FAR I’VE COME!!’ feeling. Crazy hey!
Having Elli & Annie’s input, support (physical & emotional), ideas and having them as sounding boards was absolutely amazing too, I couldn’t imagine running this business without them now…I can’t believe I ran it on my own for 3 years!!
So, I guess what I’m saying is: Brands, come at me! …But I think I’ve realised I only have the capacity for a few a year…!!

Nelly’s belly!

I also collabed with the gorgeous Nelly London to run a little campaign of our own, showcasing some really unique casts we collaborated on together. If you’ve followed me for a while you’ll know this isn’t the first time Nelly and I have worked together, I’ve already create a cast of Nelly’s boobies n butt, but this was something a little different I had an idea for.
Last year I decided I would love to experiment casting bellies in all their glory, and together Nelly & I produced such beautiful tummy casts in two different positions. She then worked with the very talented photographer Linda Blacker to create some stunning shots.
I’d never create a cast quite like this before, so really appreciated Nelly’s enthusiasm about modelling for it!! We had SUCH a fun day on set bringing our vision to life!! It was such a positive and inspiring day and so lovely to work with a team of people who all understand the message behind my work.

Bellies can be a challenging part of the body to accept for many of us, and we so often hide them away, grabbing at our squishiness, wishing we were smaller, and less wobbly. Both Nelly and I wanted to take a moment to cherish how incredible our bellies really are, and we wanted to normalise every roll, squish, hair, and lump n bump our bellies may have. This collab was a beautiful way to shout about them out loud and proud, rather than sucked in and hidden away. JUST LOOK AT THE PICS BELOW - STUNNING!!!
Love to you always Nelly!! xoxox

Mind, Body & Spirit Festival

(& how I cope with the hate)

A couple of weeks ago I got back from four days at the Mind, Body, Spirit Festival in London. Being honest, when I was first announced as an exhibitor at MBS, there was some really mixed reactions to my work, including some people posting publicly about how they don’t agree with what I do and that they think my work is egotistical and narcissistic, which to me is incomprehensible! I feel like if you really understood my work, you’d know it was the exact opposite of both of those things!!

I know my work is always going to be controversial (hence the constant Instagram battle), but it’s still daunting packing up my studio and bringing it to a festival where I know some people have such strong feelings against it. Luckily I actually managed to have some really powerful and amazing conversations with some lovely humans. Even some people who clearly did not understand at first were open and ready to chat, and often ended up sharing their own stories about their journeys with their body too. It reminded me that so many people still hold so many negative feelings towards their bodies and how important it is to keep doing what I’m doing and starting those all important conversations, as I feel like the negative reactions just show me how clearly so needed all of this still is!

Me and my Mum pictured at my MBS stall below - she came to help me for 3 out of the 4 days on my stall so I wasn't by myself bless her!!

STUDIO TOUR!!!

The first ever full tour of my 3 studios!

After four years of being in my studio, I decided it was time to have a really good sort out. Annie, Elli and I spent multiple weeks pulling everything out of each of my three studio rooms, deep cleaning, painting and re-organising to make the spaces work better for us all. Now it’s all sorted I thought id give you guys a little tour so you can see where the casting magic happens! (Watch below :) I’m trying not to cringe over this haha!!)

FINALLY THE WINNER OF THE BOOBIE CASTING SESSION …..

(thnx for baring with me on this, I just wanted you to be invested in my newsletter hehe) ……

Drum roll please!!!

Bex Gordon!!!

…incase there are two Box Gordon’s who entered - your email address starts with: gordonrebecca94

I will email you the details!!

Thank you SO much to everyone who entered, keep your eyes peeled for the next one. And I hope you enjoy my 4-6 weekly newsletters in the meantime! 💖💖💖

I’m going to make these updates more regular from now on :) Feel free to comment what you think below! (Please be nice haha).

Love always, Lydia xxxx

Let me give you a lil update…