Tendence Trade show & my time in Germany

Well, I've been away for a week in Frankfurt Germany at the Tendence trade show. It has been utterly exhausting and amazing. Apart from all sorts of wonderful new shops ordering from me, I also met some really lovely people and got to enjoy plenty of authentic German food.
I would not have been able to manage setting up my stand without my dear friend Jacob, who helped with carpentry and lighting and speaking German. Jacob is a very natty dresser and always wears a sharp suit, even when doing carpentry and lighting! True! And here are his cufflinks (Paul Smith) Just LOVE these!!!

I had my fair share of stress, like when we arrived and there were no walls...then the walls arrived and were all different colors...
We got there in the end though and I was very happy with the stand. Here are some pictures so you can see what it looked like...

And here I am with my Icelandic Distributor Anna from Spennandi

I also want to say a big 'Thank You' to my mum who stayed with me for the whole week and helped me on the stand. 

Now what I really need is a holiday but what I have to do is pack up orders like a crazy person for the next few weeks instead! I don't mind though, as I am a certified workaholic!

Swallows & Noise

In an effort to escape the noise I went for a walk with the dog, as I do every day...well not the noise escaping bit. That's because I have the builders in and they are currently jack hammering the concrete floor out and old tiles etc. Noisy is an understatement! Anyway, I was walking with the dog out on the fields and noticed  loads of swallows darting about. They really are right fancy little movers, and there really was a lot of them! I've never seen them there before. And, last week my best friend got herself a wee swallow tattoo, so that got me thinking about them, how beautiful they are in nature and in art. So here are my top swallow tips

Swallow gift tags from Not On The Highstreet

Fantastic wallpaper from 1878 by Walter Crane

Here is a really great way to make your own art using your ordinary desk top printer. Google up a nice image and print it on a page from an old book, team it up with a fancy frame and there you have it...

a great place to find good images, and not just of swallows, is The Graphics Fairy

And you just can't live without knowing about spoonflower. It's this super cool site where you can get fabric and wallpaper printed from your own designs or others and there are some really cool designs to choose from. Here is a fabric I thought was utterly cute.

Visiting Formex & Trends for Eccentric Antique

Today I visited Formex for the first time in about 6 years. Now don't misunderstand, I've been at Formex every year selling my things but visiting is an entirely different matter. When I'm working there it is very busy and I never have time to look around, so today was a delightful insight. The 1 overwhelming thing I noticed is how much eccentric vintagy stuff there is. When I first did Formex 6 years ago there was nothing else like me and I really stuck out. I got both praised for that and plenty of super weird looks, but now, lots of cool strange vintage inspired stuff. I like that fact because it gives my style a broader context and customers can understand it now, the market is bigger and that makes me happy.
So what were the highlights?
Brand new company Selected Stockholm, too new to even have a proper web site but fabulous glamorous silk velvet and cotton damask bedding and curtains they do have. Super luxurious and wonderful colours.

I've always loved Pip Studio and think their new bed linen range is sweet

I popped over to my friends at Sagen Vintage and drooled over their lace and velvet ribbons..might have to order some of that!

I loved these cute muffin display stands all based on lovely old china designs, really great for a mad hatters tea party!

I fell in love with this lamp! It is sooo cute, from Kamelo

Now I'm no fan of rag rugs, just don't like em, but I do love recycling and thought this was a brilliant idea! It's also a non slip mat which is extra cool!

Danish company Vanillafly is always to be relied on for dark and vintage designs

I loved almost everything on the Ulf Andersson stand. Such beautiful flattering cuts, very retro and lovely. I think I'll have 12...he he, just kidding

Lots of birds still everywhere, plenty of peacocks but I have to say, I'm so over naive owls. There was patchwork owls and every kind of funny old owl thing you could imagine at Formex...Enough I say!

I loved this wallpaper from up and coming designer Nadja Wedin and it's nominated for the Formex Formidable 2013 prize. I wish her the best of luck! 

Here is me sitting on a chair with one of her designs on... you know, she paints all the designs meticulously by hand!

You know I said there was a lot more weird antique eccentricness? well check this out! Miss Rabbit is very cute!

I missed being there as an exhibitor, missed the buzz and energy but I did love soaking up all the impressions and catching up with lots of my friends there. I am off to Tendence trade show in Germany next week (didn't have time to do both trade shows). I'm sure there will be even more buzz and energy!

Tassels, Hot Chocolate & Tea Baths

My working day Yesterday:
I had meetings in town yesterday and thought I'd run a few errands whilst there. I don't get into Stockholm very often and as I was there of course I visited Folckers. They have a beautiful old shop with original shop fittings absolutely crammed with ribbons and trims and loveliness.

Then I went to my favorite cafe in Stockholm Cafe Tjärlek and had a delicious rich lactose free hot chocolate.

Then I came home and finished this pretty cushion you can see in the background...

And lastly I experimented with tea dying. I've got an almost pathological dislike of the colour white. I love cream and ivory, but there is something about bright white that leaves me cold so I wanted to warm up this wonderful vintage tablecloth I was given. I watched a tutorial on youtube but I've never done this before and I stupidly forgot to remove the actual tea bags before I put the cloth in the tea water. That means there are lots of horrible brown stains which are a reminder to do it properly next time, lesson learnt. It's only to cover a small table on my stand at the trade show coming up and I'll probably put another lace cloth over anyway, so all will be well.