CONTEMPORARY CRAFT FESTIVAL

Just a quick word to let you know we will be exhibiting at the Contemporary Craft Festival in Bovey Tracey, Devon.

We have heard so many good reports about this show that we are more excited than two grown up women should be. This is only enhanced by the fact that it takes place in a particularly beautiful part of England with a gorgeous coastline and fabulous cream teas so we definitely have a holiday vibe going on!

If you live in the area or are just visiting do check this event out from 7th to 9th June - you won't be disappointed :)

CHARABANCS AND RACING DUCKS

On Monday we were treated not only to a Bank Holiday (an extra day off work) but also a gloriously beautiful day - this is a rare thing at the moment in England. We thought we needed to make the most of both of these occasions and headed out to the sleepy village of Loose in the Kent countryside to watch some Duck Racing.

We were not disappointed, there was everything one would expect from such an event - an ancient old pub serving superb English ale, colourful tents selling homemade cakes and jam, and a coconut shy which proved to be a challenge for both young and old!

                              

                              

Then there were the ducks, all 200 of them, plus an array of handmade boats.

Unfortunately none of our chosen ducks crossed the finish line first but we all had a great time and enjoyed the slow-paced simplicity of the day. In fact this wonderful old road sign summed it all up perfectly!

DESIGNED INTERIORS SHOW

Phew! This year seems to be passing by in a flurry of show dates and it feels like we can hardly catch our breath. On Friday we made a welcome (but rather chilly) return to Greenwich Market and it was so good to meet up with some old friends again there. Hopefully it won't be too long before we can make this a regular date in our diary.

In the meantime we are taking part in our first pop-up exhibition with the lovely people from The Lovers Lights Contemporary Craft Gallery. We are very excited to be selling our cushions and lampshades at the Designed Interiors Show at Kingston Market Hall in Surrey on the 1st and 2nd June. Entry is free so do come along and say hello!

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!