Jasmine Christie is a talented florist, stylist, artistic activist and holds endless passion for cultivating community that we find so inspiring. Her eclectic business Anamundi is a botanical studio and nature concept space located in Mullumbimby, NSW Australia, that hosts gatherings, workshops and feasts. We’ve had the pleasure of attending her full moon flowerings, wild craft botanical dyeing workshop and regularly receive her ‘Blackmail’. Jasmine brought our Native Wildflower campaign vision to life by sourcing native Australian flowers and worked her arrangement magic on the day.
Tell us a little about your magical self and the path that lead you to where you are today?
I began my creative journey as a set & costume designer in Sydney working across theatre, film and television before training to become a florist. For years I worked freelance across a myriad of roles and productions but all the while knowing I wanted to work for myself and somehow be the director of my own studio, to bring the world of creative production, community & nature together.
What is your business Anamundi Studio all about and how did it begin?
Anamundi was born out of passion for nature, culture and community and my desire to align these three through immersive, live experiences. The word Anamundi is an acronym of the latin phrase anima x mundi and is the belief that nature and spirituality are inextricably entwined, that nature is a manifestation of “god” and is inherently alive with Spirit. "Mundi", which means world or universe, and is also used to describe the universal line in which two poles meet from the earth to the heavens. For me Anamundi represents this central line, the place where nature, culture and community align and also the spaces where we connect with our higher selves.
You have wandered the world, what are some of your highlights?
I feel travel inspired the very earliest heartbeat of Anamundi. I have always been fascinated by non-western cultures, in particular those around India, Asia and the Middle East. My preference has always been to go wild and go alone. One of my most memorable trips was to Israel in 2017, to attend Midburn (The Burning Man festival of Israel), it was magic, 8 days and nights in the Negev desert, completely free, alone and inspired, I fell in love and it ignited a trail of magic serendipity that unfolded in my life. I went to New York after Israel and through a twist of fate landed an apprenticeship at my favourite florist / creative studio in Brooklyn, Saipua which was the affirmation and experience I needed to move to the northern rivers and begin Anamundi.
Where do you find inspiration for all of your creative projects?
Much of my inspiration I sincerely credit to my childhood in theatre. My whole family grew up making amateur theatre with friends, building the sets, directing the shows, casting local talent, playing music and hustling together a production. Theatre made in community is my first love. I believe in its power and its ability to transform ordinary people into artists, or rather reveal them to be the artists they have always been hiding. I feel my inspiration is also social and political in nature. I’m inspired by public spaces of art and culture such as theatres, music venues and galleries. I also listen and read a lot of podcasts, music and poetry.
What is your favourite flower and why?
Flannel flower, the most sentimental, delicate, whimsical flower, native to New South Wales is my favourite, and also features on my logo. In the world of botanical essences, flannel flower is used for cultivating intimacy, touch and sensuality because of its soft, feathery texture. I also sincerely love Jasmine, my namesake, its intoxicating, nostalgic fragrance reminds me of my childhood and always heralds summer approaching.
How do you like to take time out and slow down?
Oh dear, I have to work really hard on this one. River swims, every day. meditation, every day and writing, every day. I’m an early bird and I recharge through being alone, so any mindful rituals I can cultivate between the hours of 5am - 8am are what keeps me sane. If I neglect these alone times, I fall apart very quickly. These are my sacred hours, pre-dawn.
What are your picnic essentials?
A thermos of tea, warm, milky, pre-made rooibos. My journal. Swimmers.
What is on the horizon for Jasmine and Anamundi Studio?
I am shortly about to open my very first physical Anamundi Studio, a space of my own where I can cultivate events, dinners, workshops & other communions with nature. Once I have my own space, I’m excited to keep building the community through weekly and monthly gatherings. I am hoping to build a culture of civic conversations of a social, political nature through art, design and more immersive, alternative events. I also am seeking to expand to work and collaborate with soulful brands and businesses doing compelling work towards supporting the environment, cultural and social activism, through the collaborative creation of live experiences that can extend these messages
I’d like to share some beautiful words I was rereading this morning, from one of the greatest travel memoirs ever written.
"The Source of all things, the luminescence, has more forms than heaven’s stars, sure. And one good thought is all it takes to make it shine. But a single mistake can burn down a forest in your heart, hiding all the stars, in all the skies. And while a mistake’s still burning, ruined love or lost faith can make you think you’re done, and you can’t go on. But it’s not true. It’s never true. No matter what you do, no matter where you’re lost, the luminescence never leaves you. Any good thing that dies inside can rise again, if you want it hard enough. The heart doesn’t know how to quit, because it doesn’t know how to lie. You lift your eyes from the page, fall into the smile of a perfect stranger, and the searching starts all over again. It’s not what it was. It’s always different. It’s always something else. But the new forest that grows back in a scarred heart is sometimes wilder and stronger than it was before the fire. And if you stay there, in that shine within yourself, that new place for the light, forgiving everything and never giving up, sooner or later you’ll always find yourself right back there where love and beauty made the world: at the beginning. The beginning. The beginning."
Shantaram / Gregory David Roberts 
