Soooo sorry I haven’t written for ages. Too much going on as usual. But I’m just back from Paris Fashion Week and I feel like I can catch my breath (before things start to hot up for Christmas!)
So once again, looking back on what’s been going on, I think I’ll do a little list. Just a little reminder of my late-summer. Lots of mucking around and some fun worky stuff too.
I had a brilliant Summer; the cycling I already wrote about, then we popped over to Majorca for that party, then we had a lovely week in France. In the Loire Valley in my uncles house. I love it there. It’s a huge rambling place near Bourgueil, so there’s lovely grub and loads of wine tasting. My Mum and Dad were there, and my sister and her family so it was a proper get together. I love playing Boules with my Dad and it was great when the kids joined in…
Then a week in Suffolk in the cottage we take every summer. Nice to see some old friends and do a bit of cycling with mates. I spend the days cycling, cooking and pottering around in my little boat. We picked so many wild plums and made gallons of lovely Suffolk Plum Jam. Ah… it’s the good life alright.
Summer over and it’s back to school. My middle one, Connie, started at big school. All very grown up. And of course I had to get on with some work as well…
Back to work means lots of hard graft of course, but there was a nice little treat when we were declared a ‘Trend Setter’ in Professional Jeweller’s ‘Hot 100′ list. So we duly attended the knees-up. I left early but the girls partied away.
Back to reality, my friend Dave needed an expert hand to help chop down a blooming great tree in his garden. Action man to the rescue. Dave is a fantastic photographer and film maker so watch out for us working together in the future.
We have struck a deal with my eldest, Verity. Bread for itunes. She bakes a loaf and we buy her two songs from itunes. Not a bad deal I reckon, especially since I love bread and butter almost more than anything!
Very nice for me that I’ve had so many commissions on that I’ve had to spend at least two days a week on the bench (my idea of heaven). Can’t even remember all the projects, exclusives for John Lewis, HP in Tokyo, 18 carat for Liberty, the Midomo charity bracelet, Astley Clarke, Burt’s Bees, British Bee keeping association, and of course new collections for London, Paris and Tokyo!
The Midomo bracelet came out great. It’s a really nice project, you may remember seeing the water purifying rolly thing on Dragon’s Den. Check out the bracelet on the Red Button website.
Then Connie got her Rabbit for being so clever. Look out for it’s influence in the collection!
We had great fun launching the exclusives at John Lewis (that’s Emma holding my glass while I photograph)
Very exciting to be working with Burt’s Bees and the British Bee Keeping Association. We’ve great ideas for raising money for bee research so watch this space!
Most fun for me has been working on the new collection. It’ll be out in the shops in Spring but here’s a sneaky peaky..
During London Fashion Week I managed the odd lunch with clients. Here I am with the girls from HP at the good old Anchor and Hope.
Oh yes, and noodles at Koya with Katsu and Kaori from Baycrews. Lovely place and the best for Soba in town.
Then off to Paris for the shows, nice to catch up with my Japanese distributor again………….
………….. and time for the odd snack as well.
More soon.
Alex
