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The incomprehensible happened just three days before Xmas Eve. 819 N Mills, the home & sanctuary of Sebastian and the birthplace of his concept, el Tinto, burned to ashes. And with that goals, aspirations, dreams, plans, memories and hope. This home was a place where him and his roommates, Julian & Malik, had centralized their focus & energy to carve their paths within their individual passions. Now, in the blink of an eye they must pivot their visions to this altered reality they did not foresee.
For Julian, a single, hardworking father & artist, the fire took clothing & business equipment but most significantly, the stability he was longing for after a recent separation from the mother of his daughter. The grounding he had been searching for left as quickly as the support from his new job, which fired him for taking the day off due to the fire…shitty I know. The emotional havoc has made him feel displaced, useless & shattered as this newfound place of refuge had now gone up in literal flames. The internal failure, his mental state & his self-esteem are as rock bottom as imaginable. In his words "Everything I was able to save is covered in soot and impregnated with the smell of smoke which makes me tremble every time I get a whiff of it...I feel like a failure given that my main responsibility is to provide for my daughter a safe and warm environment for her to thrive in. And even the blow-up mattress I had for her was destroyed."
Malik's story starts with an already shifty year full of ups and downs: being unceremoniously fired from a job before benefitting from a well-deserved bonus, having NY landlords hike rent with the unrealistic expectation to make that change from one month to the next no questions asked and having to make the gritty decision to move back to Orlando after 3 and half years of adjusting to what he already saw as his home-ground in NY. Close to homelessness, moving into Sebastian's place this past Fall was as close to ideal, giving him an invigorating feeling of belonging he could hold on to as well as a sense of resilience & purpose. Over the next couple of months, he saw what this little Mills oasis offered him, "...it offered us community, love, inspiration and solace. It was our dojo, the place where we sharpened our swords, the place that would be our launchpad. At first when I moved in, I questioned if I was doing the right thing, but by November I was so proud of who I was and what was in store that I felt immovable." With many exciting plans in the works, including putting out his first photobook by January, releasing his first slew of self-recorded songs and the commencement of shooting his second short film inside of his new domain in Orlando's Mills 50 District, now all halted by the devastation, his artistic spirit is in mourning. The fire not only took his clothes, precious cameras, glasses, laptop, instruments, books and irreplaceable years of work, but everything that was an extension of himself is now smothered in ashes and one with the floorboards.
Sebastian's outlook in his own words.
"819 N Mills is what I called my home, living there from 20 to 28 years old. There’s nothing short of stories and developments this space has witnessed and ultimately bled into my life. The only parallel of harmony and open space of creativity I felt my mind could safely roam and wander was there. One of the most difficult tasks I’m currently faced with is to make what has felt like the most freeing aspect of my life into a tangible idea of what “feels” lost. What I found most fulfilling was taking a chance on myself and betting that I could reach a point where I could harness the needs of others and help them, while all coming together to be a stronghold for the hungry creatives to thrive and nourish themselves within the walls of my alleyway. Apart from this, my brother, Julian and Malik had been recently staying with me to emerge from their own battles. Taking them in only to find the symbiotic interpersonal dynamic we all longed for was finally attainable. Between business and the culture that we collectively wanted to centerfold for our community, having all my kitchen tools from my Japanese steel to my recipes that have taken me many years to develop, I simultaneously lost both of my worlds. My 2021 birth of el Tinto, which I had been so consistent to build relentlessly now seems frozen in time. I find myself detached from the mirror of objects that I felt had an unknowing understanding of me. Seeing my plants wilted after years of nourishment, I center myself to know there’s a bigger picture that needs me, my intention and my vision. With that, I find myself with immense gratitude and a humbling feeling of knowing I’m being rebuilt in part due to the immediate support of my community that came together to help me re-knit a fraction of what I knew as my everyday life.”
Muchisisisisisisisimas gracias & bendiciones.
"The fire took me away from my brothers. The fire took away my fearlessness. The fire took away my fire." -Malik M.
https://www.wftv.com/news/local/orange-county/fire-above-business-shuts-down-busy-road-near-downtown-orlando/37FRGZYICNB4THK2YOMDP6NIH4/?outputType=amp