We Love Our Collections!

Three women reveal their treasured possessions and the pure joy they add to their lives

- Kim Willis

‘I want to bring sunshine to every day’

Ella London, 37, from Coventry, now lives in Los Angeles and collects all things yellow. Whenever Mum told me stories about my dad as I was growing up, I thought he sounded like sunshine personified – appropriate, as his favourite colour was yellow.

He died when I was two months old, after battling cancer. Years later, when my boyfriend, Dean, proposed, I was sad that my dad would not be there to walk me down the aisle. Dean suggested yellow as our colour theme, as a fitting tribute to Dad, so I wore yellow shoes and made a yellow pom-pom bouquet.

Now, 12 years on, the most vibrant colour of the rainbow peppers every corner of my life. I only wear yellow clothes and I have a yellow car with the number plate B Yellow. I have a yellow Christmas tree with yellow ornaments, which I keep up all year. I’m always hunting for yellow LPs for my yellow record player. My yoga mat, cocktail glasses, eyeshadow, earrings and underwear are yellow too. But it’s about so much more than the collection.

A few years ago, I was suffering from burnout and depression, and started a new creative hobby, taking a photo of something yellow every day of 2017. #projectsunshine gave me so much joy, I wanted to spread it far and wide.

COVID-19 changed my plans and I pivoted, starting an online shop, Little Yellow Doors, selling hand screen printed cards and posters with a focus on sustainability, happiness and shining a light on injustice, with every card in a yellow envelope, of course!