WE KEPT CALM AND CARRIED ON

A few days later than intended but finally we have caught up on some much needed rest and the back log of orders that came in whilst we were exhibiting in the Launchpad area of Pulse 2013 at Earls Court. This was our third trade show in as many months and we're now beginning to feel like old hands at putting together a display. Developing on from our stand at BCTF we created a picture wall to add to the homely feel but also to display our designs in an interesting way.

Things didn't run smoothly for too long though as there we were, pitching to buyers our beautiful creations in the slightly surreal environment of the huge hall, when disaster struck. The large white frame holding our Clementine & Bloom logo broke, cascading down the wall and taking out all the other frames with it!

But as "overcome and adapt" is one of our mantras that's just what we had to do. A re-jig of the tea towel, a bit of borrowed double sided tape from the lovely Roddy & Ginger,  we balanced the sign on the edge of the sofa and hey presto we were back in business.

Three days is a long time to spend standing up but as always it has been great to meet new people. Our neighbours Sally Nencini and Seven Gauge Studios made the days so much more enjoyable.

As that's it for us for trade shows this year we have already begun to put the cogs in motion towards designing and making our next collection. Exciting times indeed...

MARKETS UNITED

For those of you that were unable to attend Sunday's Market United event hosted by I Love Markets in Shoreditch Town Hall we have gathered together some of our photographs from the day. As always we met some really lovely people and ended up buying bits and bobs from the other stall holders - oops!

We like to share with you all a picture of our stall; it's always good to go to new venues to showcase our work as each place requires a new stall design forcing us to think about how we display our items. We were particularly pleased with how the trunk looked and it made it really inviting and accessible for customers to access the cushions rather than placing them on the table. Strangely enough though this had a negative effect on the tea towels (our most popular market buy) as they were effectively blocked by the trunk. It just highlights the importance of finding a good balance for displaying your products.  Definitely something for us to think about...

We absolutely loved the quirky clothing by YU Square Knitwear by the lovely Ringo Yu. The pictures we took on the day don't do the work justice so I have copied a few across from her Etsy shop. In true Clementine & Bloom fashion it's the fabulous combination of colours and patterns that make us want to own one!

And no day out is complete without a slice of cake from Utterfly Fluttery, although we couldn't indulge ourselves due to food intolerances (I know, poor us) we can verify on behalf of other stall holders that they were delicious! Really loved the personalised I Love Markets cupcakes, now all we need to do is have a Clementine & Bloom event all of our own so that we can order personalised gluten free cakes!

BIG AND BEAUTIFUL

We love our job!

On a daily basis we get to play with gorgeous fabrics in beautiful rich colours like this commission we recently finished for a customer in London. They live in a period property with large rooms and 9 foot high ceilings so needed a big lampshade that had impact and wouldn't get lost in the space.

We were sent a swatch of the wallpaper lining one wall of the room that they would like to coordinate with and then we  got down to some printing. The silk is a lovely raspberry tone screen printed with copper butterflies.

The finished lampshade was a whopping 65cm (our largest to date) and was fitted with a diffuser to cast the light across the space more effectively.

Big and beautiful - just how we like it!

I LOVE MARKETS

So many good things to look forward to this coming weekend. Here in the UK we get an extra day's holiday to celebrate May Day and now that the warm weather and sunshine have put in an appearance here's hoping we'll get good weather too.

On Sunday 5th May we will be at Shoreditch Town Hall in London. There will be live music, artisan food and a huge variety of stalls selling handmade and one-off pieces. Visit the I Love Markets website to find out all the details, it's sure to be a great day so do come along and say hello!

PULSE

With 2013 being our year to 'think big and say yes' we decided to sign ourselves up to showcase our collection in the Launchpad area of Pulse. The trade show runs from 12th-14th April at Earl's Court, London and if any of our readers are exhibiting or just visiting stop by stand LP64a and say hi!

There's just 20 days to go until the show opens and all that's left on our 'to do' list is our press packs. Once again Clementine & Bloom are feeling calm and organised! 

GOOD NEWS - GOOD HOMES

We're really pleased to announce our appearance on the news page of May's edition of Good Homes magazine. As regular readers of this magazine and general appreciators of all interior loveliness we are really chuffed.

This edition is full of gorgeous colour beginning with the hot orange and pink front cover so our turquoise, burnt orange and violet Archive tea towels are in good company here!

NOTES FROM THE NORTH

This week Clementine & Bloom headed north to the British Craft Trade Fair to showcase our lovely Entomology collection to lots of different buyers and press. Feeling like seasoned pro's (even though it's only our 2nd trade show) we arrived, set up and unpacked like true professionals leaving us a few hours spare to explore the town of Harrogate.

It was a gloriously sunny day (definitely the start of spring!) and we walked with our noses pointed to the sky looking at all the wonderful old buildings - we could definitely see ourselves living here.

Day dreaming over and it was time to get back to the real reason we were in Yorkshire, to work.

We decided on a new display for BCTF and we hope you all agree that it was very successful. We had so much positive feedback about it at the show with everyone agreeing that it was an excellent idea to create a room environment to showcase the collection. Of course we had to restrain ourselves from upholstering the sofa in one of our own vibrant prints as even we can appreciate that everything looks good displayed against a neutral background. Would be good though... 

Our lovely neighbouring stands, Death by Tea and Zalisander, made the days fly by. 

Best of all we made sure we had some time for a little mother and daughter rest and relaxation. After three days on our feet there was no better treat than indulging in Harrogate's Turkish Baths. A steam room followed by three increasingly hotter saunas and then finally a dip in the ice cold plunge pool, we couldn't recommend it enough. And perhaps the best bit is that it's so richly decorated in the most wonderful Victorian tiles in vivid hues of mustard and turquoise. Gosh we love colour!

A QUICK UPDATE

It may seem that all has been quiet over here on the blog but if any of you have visited our website recently you will have noticed there's been a bit of maintenance going on. We are in the process of altering the site, sharpening it up a little and making it a bit more user friendly. This is no mean feat. One of us in particular is walking around a touch cross-eyed right now and I will admit to the occasional expletive being muttered now and then!

The end is now in sight though so we can get back to the more enjoyable aspects of the business such as our imminent visit to the BCTF show in Harrogate on 7th April. Our stock is packed and ready and the stand display is organised. We've booked ourselves into a lovely hotel and plan to include some rest and relaxation into our time away (a bit of sight seeing and pampering spa treatments) so photos to follow next week.

In the meantime we thought we'd share with you some pictures of our fabric being put to a new use. At the moment we have no plans to sell our fabric by the metre but family members get special privileges so here are the Beetle Stripe and Dancing Beetle cottons made into roman window blinds. Now we know we designed them so we are naturally biased but even we were blown away by how effective the prints were used in this way. We love nothing more than adding colour and pattern to a room, so much so that it makes us want to redecorate just so that we can have vibrant blinds in our home!

THE ART OF BESPOKE

Everyday in the Clementine & Bloom studio is spent making, whether that's making a cake, making a blog post or our favourite making a bespoke lampshade.

We had recently been commissioned to make our Papilio lampshade in colours that would compliment a smoked glass lamp base. With this in mind we opted for the lovely olive green silk (used for our archive cushions) and kept the individually hand made butterflies in the aubergine and violet silk.

The best bit about working to order is that it forces us to think outside the box, look at new colour combinations that perhaps we hadn't considered and although these colours came directly from our Entomology collection we loved the final lampshade so much we are thinking of adding it to our range!

Even better still the shade was perfect for the base as you can see in these pictures sent in by our customer. If any of our readers wish to share their Clementine & Bloom products in their homes we would love to see them, why not email us at info@clementineandbloom.com

LIGHT FROM THE MIDDLE EAST

On Friday evening I travelled up to London with Collage Magazine and spent a few enjoyable hours at the V&A Museum to view the Light from the Middle East exhibition. I have never visited a museum or gallery at night and it felt childishly pleasing to roam the near empty corridors after dark ( a bit like being in your school when everyone else has gone home!)

This photographic exhibition brings together new images from various countries in the region and addresses the cultural and political perceptions which tend to go hand in hand with their society. In the early 1980's I lived in Cairo for six months and the sights, sounds and way of life there are very close to my heart. Photography is a powerful medium used to record events as they take place but many of the artists have manipulated their images requiring the viewer to consider what is reality and what is staged.

Among my favourites were the series of work by Shadi Gadirian and are based on traditional portraits from the Qajar period of 1700-1900's. The subjects are all women modestly clothed each with a trophy of modern day society - a Pepsi can, electrical equipment, a mountain bike - and addresses the challenges faced by women in that society today. Interestingly our guide pointed out that the original Qajar subjects were often dressed more freely with bare legs or arms than those of today.

image courtesy of the V&A

I also liked Watchtowers, West Bank/Palestine by Taysir Batniji which were inspired by the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher. The photographs were taken by a local photographer and not the artist as the area is out of jurisdiction to Gaza born Palestestinians. The shots were taken quickly and presumably surreptitiously which I think add to their quality - the watchers are also being watched.

image courtesy of V&A

The second part of the evening was spent at a seminar hosted by Avril Horsford called Rising Talent Pecha Kucha and Panel. Five young women creatives showcased their current work and the audience was invited to question them and suggest ways they could take their work forward. The words Pecha Kucha come from Japan and embody the concept of an exchange of ideas. There was a variety of work - film, photography, poetry and design and all the women were articulate and talented. Sadly the event was limited to one hour but I think we all would have liked to have been able to continue for longer.

The exhibition finishes on the 7th April and I definitely recommend you go and take a look.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

Here at Clementine & Bloom it feels like we've have spent the past week making non-stop bird references. Currently Mum is 'finding her feathers' as she gets to grips with Twitter (sincere apologies in advance if anything random appears in our feed!) and as for me, I have 'flown the nest' so to speak.

This is not the first time I have lived away from home (various stints in London, Manchester and New York) but then my partner and I made the descision to batton down the hatches and save like crazy for our own slice of real estate. Fast forward a year and I am now the proud co-director of Clementine & Bloom, the only problem is running a small business is not 'mortgage friendly'. So a girl does what she has to and moves in to rented accomodation.

My new piece of rented real estate happens to be a beautiful top floor flat in a Georgian town house in Islington. As I write this I realise I may sound slightly smug (and believe me I am pleased as punch with our new home) but my intention is to give our readers a peek inside our new home 'cause lets face it everyone loves a nosey!

Starting with the "before's" today hopefully in a few weeks time I should have all my furniture sorted and of course a few well chosen accessories to bring the place to life. So stayed tuned because the best is yet to come...