#14: The Swerling Circus of Small

March 9, 2025

Who doesn’t love the circus? Slapdash silliness combined with performances of death-defying precision. The sparkle, the spangle, the greatest show on earth!

That all feels worlds away from where I am right now, with Ralph in the Botswana bush, camping for 5 weeks in the elements. Think rain, heat, mud, nothing ever quite clean (except for a few luscious minutes drying skin in the breeze after a shower), stuck vehicles, thorns below, lightning above, sweat & insects in the space between! And somehow, we fall into a blissful rhythm in this basic life.

And the massive upside of these discomforts is that most people are too sane ;) to come at this time of year, so we have this wonderland pretty much to ourselves. Jewel-coloured birds landing on our improvised washing line, elephants in the spotlight watched from our roof-tent, tumbling lion cubs, clown-like hornbills chasing orange butterflies, lions lions everywhere, leopards appearing from nowhere and vanishing completely into the forest before our eyes, giraffes dancing towards each other in the moonlight.

So, actually, sitting on my MacBook writing this email under a fairy-light festooned mosquito net… well, it feels pretty damn circussy.

In everyday life too, fairylights and flags hang from every rafter and glitter-dust lives in the floorboard cracks. Ralph, the clown-hero, keeps life silly and epic, and the arrival of our daughters Bea and Mila heralded a new era of sparkle, bold colour-combos, and makeshift world-building.

Have you heard my circus love story? Skip ahead if you have. Otherwise…

Circus Phoenix appeared as if from nowhere one summer in Cape Town, in the early 1980s. They set up a stage on the grass behind Muizenberg beach and at the end of every day they’d perform.

The trapeze artists were the last act – a man and a woman dressed in tight white sparkling leotards. In my mind’s eye their glamour is as timeless and intoxicating as old Hollywood. They stood on their platforms and dusted their hands, and then they flew through the air, catching each other again and again.

One afternoon towards the end of summer, the man lost his grip and fell. The safety net didn’t hold him, somehow. We held our breaths, but he didn’t bounce back up. He just lay on the ground, until eventually an ambulance came and took him away. The next day the grass behind the beach was empty, they were never seen again.

That’s going to capture a suburban girl’s imagination… I know quite a few of my readers are South African, do you remember Circus Phoenix? Let me know your memories if you do!
Anyway, in 2018 I found myself spending almost all my time on custom commissions, and the time felt right to challenge myself creatively and make a whole collection on one theme – why not the circus?

To realise my dream of having a circus-themed Glass Cathedrals exhibition, I asked my mailing list for suggestions of inspiring venues. Long time collector and Glass Cathedrals champion Alice B-B put me in touch with Alice Sykes, the curator of the Anthropologie Gallery in London. It was a small gallery space attached to their flagship London store on the Kings Road. I held my breath…it would be too good to be true…and Alice S. said YES! The Swerling Circus of Small was coming to London town!

I got to work making the collection. For the first time I could let my imagination run a little wild, making the impossible real in miniature.

My circus troupe kept growing, circus stars finding homes in flower, star, butterfly-filled boxes.

In The Strongman, masculinity became flower-filled, loving and playful.
We are all waiting for Greatness, but for some of us it’s taking longer than anticipated. seemed to perfectly capture the poignancy of the clown, and maybe the rest of us too.
And in Time Flies an elderly lady holding a bunch of butterflies, passes them on to the younger generation.

In fact, these are three of my personal G.O.A.T. Glass Cathedrals!

Inspiration from real life was everywhere…

Synchronised! paid homage to The Mermaids – my Californian synchronised swimming troupe made up of me, Ann, Lauren, June, Julia and Nicole.

We’d meet up regularly at my place, with every intention to work out new routines in the pool, although quite often never making it out of the hot-tub. Mermaid soup! It was all for fun…though… plans were discussed to tow a see-through swimming pool to Burning Man for our public debut… never say never…

Below: An animated gif made by Anthropologie to promote the show.

And so finally, in Christmas 2018, the Anthropologie gallery was transformed into a mini circus arena with harlequin walls and luxurious red velvet curtains over the entrance. The Anthropologie window dressers – now that’s a dream job! – built miniature wintry circus worlds in the curved windows looking out onto the Kings Road.

SO MANY of my wonderful London crew were at the opening – maybe you were too? Or perhaps you’ll come to the next one… another circus? Would you? Should I?

In the meantime, with love from Magotho, Botswana,

x Lisa

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