WE'VE BEEN SPOTTED

Just when you think there is time for a rest this Christmas another exciting twist takes place at Clementine & Bloom...

With our new collection we will be starting the New Year with a bang having been invited along to Top Drawer (eek!). For those of you who don't know what Top Drawer is it's a twice yearly event for brands to sell directly to buyers. All those lovely shops that we all frequent every time we want to buy a gift, treat ourselves to something nice for the home or look for clothes that are just that bit different chances are they were sourced directly from Top Drawer.

We will be exhibiting in the new designers area called Spotted from 13th to 15th January at Earls Court in London. Curated by Charlotte Abrahams it highlights a small selection of companies that are creating new and exciting products for the retail market. And boy are we chuffed to be one of them!

So the plan is to take a little time off over Christmas, recharge our batteries, tidy the studio and begin January with a spring in our step.

As its our last post of the year it leaves us to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful and prosperous New Year!

Sandra & Sophie
xxx






FILLING IN THE GAPS

If you've been following this blog recently you will be aware that we've been a bit busy and with Christmas only two weeks away things are not going to slow down any time soon. With all this activity we have been neglectful in properly unveiling our latest collection of prints; there have been glimpses of the designs but now we going to fill in some of the gaps. 

The collection is entitled 'Entomology', which literally means the study of insects. Our inspiration came from the patterns created by the archiving of beetles and butterflies and the beautiful colours they often have. We spent time drawing and photographing the collections in museums but also had access to our own specimens. 




This huge beetle and hornet were discovered (dead) in France - no animals were harmed in the making of this collection - and it was great to be able to be draw them from different angles.



Here is a selection of the original artwork we worked on, some of which didn't get used this time around. It's good to share some of the processes that go into evolving a design as they don't just 'appear' from thin air!


These are the final prints in a combination of bold teal, orange and citrine with pale khaki and aubergine choices for the more neutral palette. The patterns are made by the insects and explore the organic form but with a geometric element that we love so much.

To complement our digital prints we have been screen printing in the studio onto cotton and silk using more illustrations from our research. The bespoke Papilio range incorporates our love of all things textured - hand-made silk butterflies with metallic highlights on vivid silk dupion and made into cushions and lampshades.







We are really excited by this collection and have loved researching, designing and collating the whole thing. And great to be able to finally share it all at last!

To view the entire collection click here

HOT STUFF

With the temperatures teetering on zero degrees and snow floating in the air we can't seem to make enough of these hot water bottle covers!


They are being snapped up at Greenwich Market, ordered online and sent out to Sweden and the USA and 'favourited' regularly over on Etsy.



They make excellent Christmas presents and are available in different colour ways combining new, vintage, Liberty prints and our very own Clementine & Bloom fabrics. 

But be warned, that final postal deadline is fast approaching!

SPINNA

One of the great things about attending an event like Handmade in Britain is that you meet different people who open up leads in other avenues. While we were at Chelsea we were invited to a mentoring event aimed at helping new women entrepreneurs in the creative industry and this is where we headed on Friday evening.

The Hub, Kings Cross
The meeting was held in a very cool industrial space and was organised by SPINNA - The Women's International Textile Alliance, an organisation that aims to encourage and promote women in business globally.

There were a range of speakers from different areas of the fashion industry and IT, such as Niki Scordi one time CEO of Nicole Farhi and Charlie Ross from Offset Warehouse. After a brief introduction, each one shared their knowledge and experiences and we were then invited to ask questions and share our own problems and successes within the realm of small business and start-up companies.

After this more formal section we grabbed a drink from the bar and were able to mingle and chat together and more information and supplier leads were exchanged.

To be honest we were a little unsure what to expect from this evening and whether we would gain anything of value from it. We left feeling inspired to take our business to the next stage - to stop thinking small and start thinking BIG! We believe SPINNA is a great resource and with future events planned would definitely recommend it.

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS


As you may well know we're usually at Greenwich Market on Friday and Saturday but this week we were invited to trade at the Lights On and Lantern Parade which takes place every year. This is a great spectacle which brings together traders, locals and visitors to mark the real countdown to Christmas.


To get into the spirit of the festivities everyone had decorated their stalls with lights and decorations - plus we added a few carefully selected vintage 'props'! We really love this giant wooden soldier that stands guard next to one of our favourite stalls (mulled wine and brandy spiced apple cider!) but alas he is too big a prop even for us.



Here are some of the other stalls tempting us to 'buy handmade' this Christmas...

Hand-painted marbled home accessories from Melo Designs


Beautiful hand-made beaded jewellery from HB Jewellery 

Hand-drawn screen printed t-shirts and sweat shirts from Pengat

Gorgeous fragrant candles and room diffusers from Foundscents


London themed cushions, Christmas stockings and cards from Made in London.



Fabulous personalised prints and signs from the lovely Nick at Inck Design Studio (who made our Clementine & Bloom sign which hangs on our stall)

But Wednesday wasn't just about Christmas present shopping, we were kept entertained throughout the day by various musical combo's including local school children singing carols and Christmas songs and the Greenwich Soul Choir.


By 4.30 the place was nicely crowded as the Sea Cadets Band from Herne Bay led swarms of children from neighbouring schools in the Lantern Parade. These photos really don't show how amazing the hand-made lanterns were - wonderful birds and figures glowing in the dusk made the whole place very atmospheric.


After much anticipation and build-up Father Christmas and the Mayor of Greenwich switched on the lights to the appreciation of all the children. 




We had a really great day, it was so good to get involved with the local community and get into the festive mood. If you didn't manage to get along there this year we would definitely recommend marking it in your diary for next time.

HANDMADE IN BRITAIN

After a lot of hard work and some anxious nail-biting as the deadline raced towards us, the opening day at Handmade in Britain was upon us. After attending the Selvedge Winter Fair the previous week we did feel right at home in Chelsea Old Town Hall and were even placed in almost exactly the same position!


This beautiful old building was the perfect backdrop to highlight all the exquisitely hand-crafted items on display. 


We were feeling very privileged to be showing at this prestigious event and relieved to be unveiling our new Entomology collection in all its colourful glory. With only one week to spare we planned and built a combination of wooden boxes to display our selection of beetles and butterflies and echo the placement of the archiving of the insects we'd studied months ago at the Natural History Museum.



At the end of three busy and enjoyable days we came away with plenty of new friends amongst the other exhibitors (including our lovely neighbours Alys Power Design and Torn Edge) and a real buzz from all the positive responses we got from people in the industry. Plus the silk Archive cushions have proved so popular we have decided to introduce them in two more colourways (which will be added to the website soon!)


Despite all our nerves about taking the leap into larger events we needn't have worried - already there are more exciting opportunities on the horizon which we can't wait to share with you. So as always, watch this space ...

SELVEDGE WINTER FAIR

As avid readers of Selvedge magazine from its earliest days we felt excited and eager to participate in this year's Winter Fair at Chelsea Old Town Hall on Saturday and we have to say the day did not disappoint. We were keen to preview some of our new Entomology collection alongside our previous work and fortunately the two ranges sat well together. 



Our fellow exhibitors, who travelled from all over the country to attend, made the day more enjoyable.





As always it was great to meet and chat with customers and so great that people stopped by to say hello (especially other mother/daughter combos!). 



Even though it was a busy day we still managed to make a start on our Christmas shopping while we were there.

So for now we are putting the finishing touches to our stand as we're back there on Thursday for Handmade in Britain. We can't wait, hope to see you there!

A BIT OF BLING

While we were screen printing in the studio the other day we decided to print one of our Entomology images onto leather. We gave our decorated hide to the very talented people at Leather Bound who have a stall at the market in Greenwich and asked them to make something beautiful for us.

And here it is, a very lovely hand crafted notebook using our very own design.


Little things like this make us feel like we have such a great job - not only do we spend our days doing something we really love but we get to meet so many other people who are passionate about their craft and are keen to produce beautiful objects with care and attention to detail.


Over the last couple of posts we've shared with you a few sneak peaks from our new Entomology collection, a little more will be revealed tomorrow at the Selvedge Winter Fair and then later in the week the whole collection will be available from Handmade in Britain. We love the support that we get from all our readers and this week if you find yourself in the Chelsea area why not stop by and say hello!