Tallulah Willis has learned how to navigate her busy life.
Diagnosed with autism last year, Willis, 30, says receiving the news provided “a level of validation and kind of a sense of these things are not just in my head or more than anything is I’m not too much,” she said. “That there’s not a feeling of, ‘Oh, I need to be less.’ Because there’s a sensation of, ‘I’m safe being who I am. I just require a different set of tools to navigate.'”
Now her schedule includes launching a capsule collection from luxury silk brand Kumi Kookoon called Kumi KøøBuu. Already a fan of the company, the entrepreneur and artist reached out to them three years ago to discuss a collaboration. The result is vibrant new shades of dyed silk unique to her collection in various products including throws, bed sheets, duvet covers and pillow cases.
Willis, who wanted to be very involved in the creative process, was “particularly drawn to the blankets, especially because they have a weighted nature to them,” she explains. “And as I am learning more about my autism and my sensory stuff, there is something very safe and special
about that weighted feeling.”
The artist insists she looks at her autism “as a superpower and I know that being someone who is on the higher functioning side of the spectrum, it is my own journey,” she says. “I feel very fortunate. And with that comes my responsibility and my desire to continue to create awareness and advocacy, particularly on females getting late-in-life diagnoses.”
Willis now feels empowered to “take a lot of responsibility for my needs, versus feeling like I’m putting it on other people or expecting other people to just read my mind, which I think we all can get caught up in a little bit,” she allows. “What’s come with the diagnosis is an invitation to explore a lot more vocabulary around this without judgment.”
More than anything, the artist says she is grateful “for mental health providers and practitioners and therapists and people who are on the ground floor of really trying to help other people in this way,” she adds. “Without judgment and with just love.”
Her capsule collection, Kumi KøøBuu, is available on Kumi Kookoon’s website and @kumikookoonofficial on Instagram.
