Magical Daydream is a blog abut the magic of doing beautiful things that spark joy, about unexpected things that can lift the spirit of a person and make the world more beautiful. The person behind these beautiful gestures of generosity is Mariëlle Coppes, a creative soul from Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Mariëlle makes little wonders like sharing roses through the city on Valentine’s Day or paper cranes. She places surprises through the city to be found by people and make their days better and much more. She shares all these wonderful gestures on her blog.
For those who are interested, she has also created a kindness kit with the necessary materials for whomever wants to do the same.
First of all Mariëlle, thank you for taking the time to talk to us here at Revista Atelierul. I would like to start by saying that I personally have been following your blog for a while and love the content you share with the world. The first interaction, that made me want to know more, was your video about making and sharing (to strangers on the street) 1000 paper cranes. I personally found it inspiring, exciting and terrifying all in one.
So, I would start by asking how did Magical Daydream start and why?
Magical Daydream was born from a desire to change the feeling that my life was boring and meaningless. I wanted to contribute something to this world, however small. At the beginning it was just an experiment. I would go on ‘magical missions’, record them, and post them online. It was just for myself; I hadn’t told anyone that I had a blog. I started exploring different ways to break the mundane everyday routine in playful ways and use my creativity to make other people smile. Over time, I fell in love with blogging.
How do you find the reactions of people so far? What was the most memorable reaction that you have ever gotten to one of your acts of kindness and how do you deal with the negative ones?
Generally people respond positively. Some people have let me know that they started their own paper crane project. That amazes and humbles me. Often the most memorable reactions are from people who tell me that I touched or inspired them in some way.
Once I made anonymous Valentine cards and distributed them through town. When I came back at the end of the day to check if all my cards were found, I saw that one of the cards was still on the place where I left it. Disappointed at first, I approached to take the card back. Then I realized it was a different, new card from someone who had written me a Valentine’s card back to wish me a good day. So sweet!
For the negative ones, I try to shake them off. I realize that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. There are so many people on this planet. It is to be expected that some people will have a different perspective than I have. I remind myself that I do what I do with the best intentions. If people choose not to see that, there is very little I can do about it.
„Pentru găsitorul norocos” / „For the lucky finder”
Do you have a favorite act of kindness?
Not really. I believe every act of kindness is worthwhile on its own. The best acts of kindness are those that come from the heart. That being said, I enjoyed making balloon trees for my town a lot. They were so big and colourful and they made so many people smile, that I find it hard not to love that project. Also, the project in which I folded 1000 origami paper cranes and gave away to random strangers.
How did the activity of Magical Daydream impact you as a person?
My creativity has become a priority in my life again. Over the years I feel like I lost it for a little while. During high school and at the begin of my studies, I always felt like there were more important things to do. Magical Daydream was my way of reclaiming my playfulness and creativity.
In our e-mail setting up the interview we talked about how impacting even just one person is meaningful as that person can in turn impact others and so on creating a positive ripple effect. However most of the time the biggest deter is the fear of fitting in society and of how people would perceive one’s creative endeavors. So what would be your advice to overcome those fears?
Breaking conventions can be difficult, but sometimes necessary in order to live a creative and fulfilling life. If you only ever did what other people are doing, you would never invent anything new or make a positive change (it’s called change for a reason: it’s different). But it takes courage. I’ve written about breaking conventions in a somewhat recent post and in the past on ‘How to find the courage to do random acts of kindness and street art’.
Beyond being a creator of beautiful things and moments, you are also a designer, having studied Industrial Design. What would you say that was the impact of the activity of Magical Daydream on your view as a designer? What would you advise new designers / creators in order to add more meaning to their creations?
At Industrial Design I was encouraged to develop my vision as a designer. At the beginning, I would already write about certain things I found important in my designs, like playfulness or enjoying the small moments. However, I realized that these beliefs were mainly limited to my designs. I didn’t live my beliefs to the full in the way I lived my life. I wanted to chance that and live more in line with my design vision. That was around the time I started my blog. Since then there hasn’t been a real difference between my design vision and my life. You need to find your truths and live them. It’s hypocritical to design for change, if you’re not living that change yourself every day. So start by living your change. It will bring the best inspiration to your design process.
In 2014, you have been invited to teach a course at the Lillebælt Academy in Denmark. How did you find the experience? Do you see more classes like this in the future? Would you like to create more, like for example an interactive platform to reach people internationally?
I love teaching my experiences with talented students who are eager to dive in and do good. And yes, I would love to do more of that. In fact, I’m in the process of creating a course on ‘getting creative shit done’. Often, you know you are creative and that there are endless things you want to do or create. But it can be difficult to put these creative dreams into action and make them happen, one by one. In the (online) course I want to teach tools and techniques that are relatively easy to implement, yet make a huge difference. I will share the creative lessons, tips and tricks that I have learned over the years. So the focus will be to help you do more of the things you would love to do.
The last act of kindness has been the balloon tree in the center of Eindhoven. Why a balloon tree? Was it difficult to find practical support? How was it received on a local level? What was the most exciting moment of this experience? How about scary?
Haha, well, ‘why’ is hard to explain. I’ve had this idea for years, but it had been collecting dust in one of my idea notebooks. I just think it would brighten up the space and make the public space magical and fairytale-like. I also wanted to remind people that any dream is possible if you take action. The project was one of my most ambitious blog projects so far, and the practical preparations took me several weeks. That being said, nothing is too difficult as long as you divide a project up in tiny steps, and tackle them one by one.
The scariest moment was halfway through the day, when I suddenly realized that I had miscalculated the amount of balloons I needed, and needed 2000 extra, while my supplier was closed on a Sunday. However, call it luck or blessing, the woman from the store ‘coincidently’ walked by half an hour later so I got the chance to buy all the stock she had left in her store on the spot.
The local reaction has been overwhelming. The press jumped in and the tree was tagged on Instagram endlessly. One morning I just sat near the tree with a cup of coffee to observe reactions. It was unbelievable to see how many people stopped to take a picture or just to stare at it.
One girl told me with tears in her eyes that she had a bad day, and this was exactly what she needed today.
The most exciting part has actually been: knowing that I can do this. That might sound weird, but even the biggest dreamers get scared by the largeness of their own dreams sometimes. Knowing that I could pull of this dream (with so much help!), gave me more confidence in my dreams in general.
On a fun note, as I assume most of the small adventures take place in Eindhoven, did you have people recognize you on the street?
Well, I don’t really think so. Only a fraction of the people who passed by the balloon tree for example, would have taken the effort to check out my site. Or when I gave away roses for Valentine’s Day, only a handful of people actually received one. What occasionally does happen, it that people know my project, without knowing me. The other day I explained what I do, and mentioned the balloon tree. Then suddenly I saw the eyes of my conversation partner turn wide, while he exclaimed: “That was you?”.
Thanks for the opportunity to share my work. I hope you enjoyed it.
PS. I also have a little gift for you. I recently created a printable poster collection with ’10 Creative Lessons’ with things I wish someone had told me about creativity. You can download them here for free.
Thank you again Mariëlle for your time and inspiring us. Looking forward to your next adventure.
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