Posts Tagged ‘news’

Hello All,

Well it’s definitely getting a chilly now at AMHQ. Not that I’m complaining mind. I’ve been having a great time working on our very special Christmas project, ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’.  It’s going to be a really fun way to show some of the one-off work we do. I say one-off, it’s more…. well, that would be giving things away. You’ll just have to watch this space. Anyway, The 12 Days of Christmas starts December the 1st on our web-site. You really mustn’t miss it! (Here’s a sneaky peek, Two Turtle Doves…..)

And I’ve been doing a bit more writing. It’s all good practice because I’ve started writing a book! Or at least I’m trying to write a book. But that’ll take some time. I’m also writing a regular blog for Retail Jeweller (here) which I really enjoy.

Lots more charity stuff too. I made this great ring for Ronan Keating’s Emeralds and Ivy ball. It’ll be auctioned off on the evening. Last time we raised over £6000.00 for the necklace we made them. Fingers crossed this time for even more! Jemma Kidd requested one of our necklaces in her perfect Christmas stocking, so we’re auctioning this for Macmillan’s. Nice Peacock Feather necklace for Trinity Hospice Snowball auction…. the list goes on….

Emeralds and Ivy ring

And me personally? Oh yes, my slightly off-beat daughter wanted to go camping(!) for her birthday. It all went just as you’d expect, I managed to persuade a farmer in Kent to let us camp, I drove down with 6 thirteen year old girls. We lit a big fire, they ran around screaming until the early hours. I froze half to death. At 4 AM a storm hit and blew the tents down and I got soaked. Slightly more sedately and lots of fun, we dressed up as Pirates and went out on Rosie’s canal boat. Me and the kids and the gang from work. Very nice too. We went from Little Venice, through London Zoo, and Camden. We loved it! Oh yes, mustn’t forget Halloween, and Guy Fawkes of course. I like this time of year, lots of things to do and make.

I needed a few pics for the press and for our homepage, so my old mate David Stockings came along on a drawing trip and snapped away. Then he visited the studio and took lots more. He’s in the city by day, so this is really a hobby, but he doesn’t half take a good pic.

As you will have spotted, those pesky kids came along for the ride…. Dulwich wood is great this time of year.

One last thing, it’s Movember, and I’m growing a tash! Movember is a fun way to raise awareness and cash for Men’s health issue, Prostate Cancer. My Dad’s got it at the moment so I thought it apt. Here’s my Movember donations request if anyone feels like supporting the cause…

“  This Movember, the month formerly known as November I’ve decided to donate my face to raising awareness about prostate cancer.  My donation and commitment is the growth of a moustache for the entire month of Movember, which I know will generate conversation, controversy and laughter.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. One man dies every hour from the disease in the UK. This is a cause that I feel passionately about and I’m asking you to support my efforts by making a donation to The Prostate Cancer Charity. To help, you can either:

•  Click this link http://uk.movember.com/donate/your-details/member_id/1093562/ and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account . Or,

•  Send cheques and CAF vouchers (made payable to ‘The Prostate Cancer Charity Re Movember’) directly to The Prostate Cancer Charity – First Floor, Cambridge House, Cambridge Grove, London W6 0LE. Be sure to include the person’s name on the back of the cheque.

The Prostate Cancer Charity will use the money raised by Movember for the development of programs related to awareness, public education, advocacy, support of those affected, and research into the prevention, detection, treatment and cure of prostate cancer.
For more details on how the funds raised from previous campaigns have been used and the impact Movember is having please visit http://uk.movemberfoundation.com/research-and-programs.

Thank you in advance for helping me to support men’s health. ”

I was rather hoping for an Orlando Bloom but it looks like I’ll be getting a Ned Flanders. Ah well… here’s me today. I’ll keep you updated weekly…

Bye, A.

We were very surprised and of course thrilled, to hear on Monday that we have been shortlisted – by public vote – in Sheerluxe’s first ever Online Shopping Awards!

Sheerluxe is a fantastic interactive shopping guide, so we feel really honoured that their subscribers have voted for us – a great big THANK YOU if you voted for us!

And now for the favour…….!  It would obviously be great if we could sit this trophy next to our ‘E-Tailer of the Year’ award, so we would LOVE it if you could vote for us in our category of ‘Best Fine Jewellery Online’…..To do so, just click this link! There are a lot of categories, but you can just vote for ours if you like!!

You will need to sign up to Sheerluxe, but you can opt in or out of their newsletters, which often contain great offers or discounts, infact, we have previously offered 15% off at alexmonroe.com with Sheerluxe.

In other news, Alex has readjusted to life back on his feet after two weeks on his bicycle, and is in the workshop as I type making new pieces…….  We have got lots of exciting projects on the go at the moment, so as always, watch this space for news!

We are constantly sending out Jewellery at the moment, and have new stockists in: Aberdeen, Eindhoven, Glasgow, Liege, Munich, Paris and Waterford – amongst others!  We try and keep the stockists page of the site as up to date as possible, so don’t forget to check for your nearest store selling Alex Monroe!  Overseas customers just need to click on the little globe.

We have to confess that our Trunk Show page has been looking a little bit sad over the last couple of weeks – we just couldn’t keep up with demand for the Fruity pieces – but I am now very excited to say that we are going TROPICAL!! Check out this little beauty……

Stunning Dragonfly & Rhodolite Ring with a tiny Diamond.

And our next actual Trunk Show is at Bloomsbury in Bristol, to celebrate their 2nd Birthday. The date for your diary is Saturday the 25th of September, and I will be in-store to offer advice and an insight into life at Alex Monroe HQ!

Thanks again for your support!

Emma x

Hi Everybody,
Well, the New Year has certainly got off to a flying start. Here’s how it goes for me…
Friday; Emma’s birthday. Too much cake.

Emma cutting the cake.

Saturday PM; Emma’s Birthday party. Karaoke in Clerkenwell. Need I say more?

Me and Suzy A's Nigel. I love Karaoke!

Sunday; Nieces confirmation. I’m not a big Church goer but I’ll always step up if I’m needed, and I was. My niece Edie needed to be given away for her confirmation so me and the kids went up and did the business, all followed by a slap-up lunch at Lemonia in Primrose Hill. Nice because the Bishop did the service.

The Bishop and all

Us lot in the church

Monday; Mayo had a bit of fun working on a new collection…

Mayo working at her bench

Tuesday; Negotiate new lease on workshop. All went OK.
Wednesday; Big New Year meeting here. All very positive. Big expansion plans which I’ll talk about soon. Treat curry for lunch! Cinema with mates in the evening. The Road. It’s seriously depressing so only see it if you’re in an OK mood.
Thursday; Teaching at St. Martin’s. I love it there. The students are fab and sooo creative and it’s just great. Teaching a Charm, and a Ring project. My nephew Mario came round and we ended up meeting a few mates in the pub, should have learned by now, too much too late…….
Friday; Headache. Teaching at St. Martin’s. Still love it. Got our samples ready for Germany and sent them off. Visit from Southwark health and safety (yurgh).
Saturday; Day, time to think about tidying up my shed. I lit a fire and pottered all morning. Did a bit in the garden too.

A fire in my shed.

Last day for the Turner exhibition at Tate Britain. All very nice. I hold the world speed record for exhibitions, I managed the whole thing in under 10 mins. Perfect.
Monday; TV  company visited. Want to do a documentary with me talking about wills…. Not sure about it but would be great to get a will done.
Tuesday; Season strategy meeting with Harrods. All very exciting. They want to really step things up so we’re scheduling loads of great deliveries throughout the year. I think we’ll more than double our stock, space and sales. Can’t wait to get going on it all! But had to; Connie had exams at Alleyns School so I had to drop her off really early then whizz from Harrods to pick her up, Libby’s teacher called saying she was ill so raced over to get her, organised babysitters and wasn’t back at work ‘til 5. Ah well, it’s going to be a late one tonight!
Just saw that Susie has put the new pages on the web-site. One for ‘Valentines’, and a great new ‘Trunk show’ page. Only one available of each of these pieces!

Off to Berlin tomorrow, for ‘Premium’, part of Berlin Fashion week. Looks like it’s that time again….Berlin, London, Paris, then Tokyo . Doesn’t time fly?!

Alex

Phew! Time to catch my breath!
It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind this autumn. London fashion week, the sale afterwards, then over to Paris, and preparing for our exhibition in Tokyo!
We made a lovely selection of new pieces and fed-exed them off to Japan on Monday, so I managed to take a little breather and thought I’d catch up with my blog….
We had a brilliant London show! (or should I say Emma did). I hated the venue so got in a bad mood so Emma sent me packing and left on her own she did better than ever! I’m sure she’ll update her blog and give you all the news.
After the trade show we opened to the public and had an amazingly busy sale.

But….I do feel bad because I sent out an invitation and didn’t mention the entrance fee, so a few people were disappointed. Apologies all.

But don’t worry, our studio sale will be better than ever this year. No entrance charges here! (first weekend in December, will give you all the info soon).
So then we took the show over to Paris, where we do our export business. We do Premiere Classe, it’s such a great show. The show looked great with a new layout and was really busy again. Lots of Japanese and European orders.

Our stand at Premiere Classe

A little treat from the organizers

One of my favourite things about Paris (apart from the show) is the food. I rented a gorgeous apartment from Hiromi (check out her web-site) and she recommended her favourite restaurants.

Hiromi and Emma in the appartment

A local is this Michelin starred Japanese place with a French influence. Yummy! The head chef is a Japanese man from London so handy if your Japanese is a bit rusty! www.yanase.fr

mmmmm. sashimi

But no time to rest, back on Eurostar and we all got on with preparing the samples for our show in Tokyo. They looked fab. Sorry though, you’ll have to wait a bit to see them here!

Anyway, all done and shipped so now onto the next thing. I’m off to Australia in November! I’m doing a whistle-stop tour of our shops down under. Very exciting. Will tell you all about it soon!
Back soon
Alex