News
First tradeshow = done!
May 21, 2013
So after much anticipation, that’s it! Pulse 2013, my first tradeshow, is done! It was all and so much more than I could have anticipated. I think I expected it to be far more scary than the other retail shows I have done such as MADE London & MADE Brighton, but infact it was fine! (although having said that if I’d done that straight off, I think I would have been more than a little intimidated!)
Obviously the biggest difference was meeting lots of real live & kicking buyers from very real & very exciting shops from all across the UK and abroad, rather than just selling direct to individual customers. This was such a positive experience for me – I got loads of positive feedback on my products, particularly my geometric blankets and cushions, and my new finegauge merino scarves. So hopefully lots of exciting potential new stockists in the pipeline…
I also got some great food for thought from buyers. A great talking point were my cardboard display heads drawn by my talented cousin Lawrence Elwick. Buyers were interested in whether they could potentially use them use in their own shops as quirky visual merchandising – which I think is great!
I also need to think about designing some really lovely packaging for my scarves, as this will make them more ‘giftable’ for potential customers. So the old grey cells are whirring again to do research and make these and other ideas a reality…
I also met lots of lovely new designers who were also exhibiting in Launchpad. It really felt like the place to be in terms of new and exciting design, but was also very friendly and supportive – I love being part of the designer/maker community. I also did a couple of sneaky show swaps, including a very beautiful Emily Bucknell lampshade, which always makes me happy!
Keep your fingers crossed for me. I’ll keep you posted with any exciting new developments! xx
Featured in Living Etc magazine
April 7, 2013
I’m very pleased to announce that my geometric merino cushion covers have been selected to feature (twice!) in Living Etc magazines Spring Style Guide. Many thanks to the Living Etc team! xx
Wool House & Manifesto for Making
March 31, 2013
Last Saturday I battled through the (late March!) snow on the train to London to attend the ‘Manifesto For Making‘ the Heritage Crafts annual conference at the V&A, and then hotfooted it over to Somerset House in the lunchbreak to catch the Campaign for Wools’ brilliant Wool House exhibition at Somerset House before it was over.
With an impressive line-up of speakers, the Manifesto for Making addressed and provoked discussion of three main overarching questions:
- Why is making important?
- Where should crafts be?
- How do we get there?
A small representation of the discussion between speakers and delegates is featured below.
My favourite speaker, was the truly inspirational Mark Hieatt (pictured below) of the aspirational denim brand Hiut Denim - I strongly recommend a read of their website to find out more about the ‘history tag’ – Marks brilliant brainchild of keeping an online log of your jeans life story for future generations to read and add to.
He slightly blew my mind with his talk. He has to be seen, and experienced, to be believed to be honest – but two keys points have really stayed with me:
- Do one thing really well
- ‘If you’re going to scrape a living – make sure it’s a living worth scraping’
I also made a whistlestop visit to the Wool House exhibition, before it had finished, not least because my geometric cushion covers were part of a giveaway to promote the exhibition by the Crafts Council. I was absolutely blown away by the quality of the work on show, and felt honoured to be a very small part of it. Highlights below:
Please see my facebook page for more photo’s, and the Crafts Councils website for more information on how to win the hamper including my cushion covers.
1) Josephine Ryans ‘natural’ room layout 2) Wool House curator Arabella McNies colourful ‘snug’ 3) Detail of embroidered wool chair from Kit Kemps beautiful bedroom 4) Shauna Richardsons brilliant ‘crochetdermy’ brown bear 5) My very own cushion covers featured in the Crafts Councils competition (So proud!) 6) Donna Wilsons ‘Knitted Nursery’
The Kanelsnegle perspective
March 21, 2013
Copenhagen = done! We battled through freezing temperatures to see the best this Danish city had to offer in a whirlwind three days. Highlights in no particular order below:
1) The Grand Danois hotdog from Andersen Bakery OMG people, O.M.G! (NB: the cucumber was pickled in what I think was rice wine vinegar, and tasted totally dee-vine!) 2) Stephen & I togged up in our thermals, and warmest winter coats = Copenhagen standard 3) Pretty Smorresbord 4) Yayoi Kusama’s stunning ‘Gleaming night of the souls‘ at Louisiana Modern Art Museum 5, 6, and 7) All Tara Donovan sculptures, again at Louisiana I had never heard of her before but found her work so inspiring 8) Colour crush on Per Kirkeby painting
NB: What are Kanelsnegle anyway?
34 things
March 11, 2013
I sneakily turned 34 on Sunday, and shared a lovely birthday & Mothers Day celebration with my mum, brother and Stephen. I’ve been mulling over my options for a celebratory blog post, and have settled on compiling a list of my top 34 things to achieve and enjoy for the year ahead. Of course I have plenty of other more ‘worky’/less fun things on my to-do list, but this one’s all about the fun.
In the next 365 days I would like to …
1) Eat at Ottolenghi’s
2) Walk the South Downs Way from Winchester to Brighton with Stephen, bivvying or camping en route.
3) Make time to exercise regularly, including yoga and pilates to look after my poor knitters back
4) Visit Copenhagen (this is happening at the end of this week! I can hardly believe it or wait!) done!
5) See my work and business expand and develop enough to need to enlist help from lovely helpers, i.e. amazing label sewer onners, and brilliant financial spread sheet filler inners, and expert parcel packer uppers.
6) Make a long overdue visit to Manchester to see some much loved pals.
7) Bake the perfect soda bread
8) Make the perfect fish pie
9) Visit the Pyrenees. Spanish or French side. Or both.
10) Stay in a treehouse
11) Do the Eton Dornay 3K swim
12) Find a little house with a woodburner and a cute secluded garden.
13) Once in said house rescue a beautiful and affectionate cat or kitten (or two)
14) Eat at Bob Bob Ricard
15) Finally pass my driving test
16) Go pick your owning for strawberries, raspberries, and hopefully gooseberries.
17) Make chilli jam
18) Have a go at knit hacking my old blue sweater a la Amy Twigger Holroyd from the wonderful Keep & Share
19) Go to In The Loop 3.5 in Shetland. Spend some time with Eric to learn more about Shima programming
20) Start going to jive again
21) Buy new and gorgeous glasses
22) Have the time and money to see more of my lovely friends
23) Have a hot stone massage
24) Make salt baked fish on the beach a la Jamie Oliver
25) Sleep the night on the beach
26) Start a patchwork quilt
27) Design & make my own ‘dream’ knitted garment
28) Conquer my fear of photographing my work
29) Aim to blog once a week
30) Spend less time on my iPhone, and more time in my real life, with real people, doing real things
31) Successfully grow tomatoes
32) Make really gingery ginger beer
33) Do something that scares me (just a little bit) once a month
34) Dream bigger, bolder, brighter, faster, stronger.
Blog post inspired by and with a large hat tip to the wonderful Hula Seventy, Sas Petherick, and Susannah Conway my favourite, and much read, lady bloggers.