percentage of black Camille Walala
The name Camille means ‘free born’ and Walala translates loosely to ‘ooh la la’. Walala is the name an ex-boyfriend made up for Camille and it stuck. She was raised in a village in Provence, France, with a population of 300 but her papa insisted his beloved daughter move to London to learn English. Luckily for the world she followed her father’s wishes, but turned her back on her original degree in French literature and studied textile design at the University of Brighton instead.
Camille has given the world small bites of her brilliance through clothing ranges and nail sticker collaborations. On a larger scale, nightclubs, brutalist buildings, and even Facebook’s head office have been infectiously ‘ooh la la’ed. She proves that it’s not where you take things from but where you take them to that counts.
Her East London home might be small but it is mighty and showcases both sides of her decorating lineage. Camille is ridiculously domesticated – a total bon vivant when it comes to music and food – and her apartment is a glorious testimony to making the most of a rental tenancy. Super savvy with her decorating energy, it took Camille and a friend just one weekend to make over the apartment after she removed the carpet and got her neighbour onto the paint job. She has made feature walls out of tape, created rooms within rooms and often cooks for a dozen people from her maisonette kitchen. Her happiest times are when she is dancing in her lounge room.
I am dreaming of the day when we can stream universal good vibes through Radio Ooh La La and see a Walala aeroplane flying through the skies to its destination of Happy Place. I get the feeling that she is just warming up, don’t you? The best is yet to come. Because what she is all about is what the world needs a dose of now – more ‘ooh la las’, more vibrant communities, more jolts of joy and more spaces that lift the spirit. And definitely more lounge room dancing!