Edinburgh is On!

We are very relieved to report that we have found a new venue for 2011 Dazzle Exhibition at the Edinburgh Festival in August. We are joining Assembly Theatre in their move to George Square and will be exhibiting in the foyer of the George Square Theatre. We will be coming full circle as we had our first Edinburgh show in the Assembly rooms in George Street in 1981, with Assembly, so it does seem to fit very neatly. Assembly will have a full programme of events in the theatre and will also have venues in George Square Gardens and the David Hume Tower, so we will be right in the hub of things. News of exhibitors will be on the Dazzle Exhibitions website shortly.

Return to Glasgow

Brooch by Heather Woof oxidised silver and gold leaf

Brooch by Stacey Bentley enamel and steel

This weekend sees us driving up the motorway again to pack up our Glasgow Dazzle, which has been at Merchant Square in the Merchant City, for the past two weeks. We have some great jewellery on show, including work by new designers Stacey Bentley and Heather Woof, recent graduates of Edinburgh College of Art. Go in and have a look at the jewellery and a bite to eat at one of the many restaurants at Merchant Square. We will be open until 5pm on Sunday 17th April.

This may be our last show in Scotland for this year, as we are still seeking a venue for our Edinburgh Festival exhibition in August. We have been at the Festival for nearly thirty years, so it will be a big blow to us and the designers if we have no show this year.

Happy New Year

Things have been very hectic leading up to the New Year, with two exhibitions to oversee and Christmas to organise but we are on the last lap now. Manchester finished last week-end and London finishes this week-end. Then it’s packing up all the unsold work and returning it to the designers. Both exhibitions have been very hard going this year with not only the recession to cope with, but also appalling weather, postal problems and student protests, which impacted on our Manchester opening times! We can only hope that things will improve in 2011, but we’re not overly optimistic.

On a more cheery note, we spent a very merry Hogmanay  in Edinburgh with good friends. The gods smiled on us and arranged good weather for the long drive up from Kent and we arrived in time to go to the torchlight procession through the city up to Carlton Hill. There were thousands of people on the hill- apparently a record turn out-and it was quite a sight, with a huge Viking boat set alight and fireworks and of course the inevitable pipes. The smell of the flame torches was amazing and there were more than a few near misses with torches very near to hair and clothes  in the crowds.

I will draw a veil over the New Years Eve celebrations and move on to New Years Day, when we experienced yet another quaint Scottish custom, the Loony Dook, at South Queensferry. Apparently it is customary for some Scottish people to celebrate the New Year by dressing up in funny costumes and jumping in the Firth of Forth at South Queensferry. Rather them than me, but they do make a lot of money for charity and I’m sure it is a great hangover cure! We thoroughly enjoyed spectating and then retreating to the pub afterwards. The Scots certainly know how to enjoy New Year and it’s well worth the trek to join in.

Loony or what?

Nuns having fun!

Brrrr!

Welsh Day Out

When we were in Manchester a couple of weeks ago, setting up the Dazzle Exhibition at the Town Hall, we treated ourselves to Sunday afternoon out at Ruthin Craft Centre in North Wales. It is one of our favourite places to visit and , once again, we were not disappointed. The gallery is full of really desirable and high quality craftwork by makers from all over the country. The exhibition programme is always exciting and stimulating and the space itself is amazing as it nestles down beside the Welsh hillside. There is also a good cafe, serving fresh, local produce. Needless to say we enjoyed a mouthwatering cappuccino muffin and a pot of tea. It was hard to walk away without making a purchase, but hopefully Father Christmas was paying attention.

Ruthin Craft Centre Courtyard

Both Dazzle exhibitions are now up and running at the National Theatre in London and at the Town Hall in Manchester, so we are busy flitting between the two. At the moment, with thick snow in Kent, this is proving a bit of a challenge. We can only hope that the weather will improve soon. For those of our customers who are also stuck at home, we have lovedazzle, our online selling site and this month we are offering free postage on all our orders worldwide.

Winter Wonderland

Too Busy to Blog!

Jackie Field Beyond the Window

Kate Smith 18ct and Diamond ring

Yoko Izawa Orbit Bangles

Gail Klevan acrylic bangle

Dot Sim Hoops Bangle

Davida Smith Trees and a Ploughed Field

Gill Forsbrook Chain

Emma McCallum Silver Jug

Hannah Lamb Hare Cufflinks

The past few weeks have disappeared in a blur. We have opened our Christmas Exhibition at the National Theatre on the South Bank. We spent a week in London setting it all up, with our amazing group of helpers, most of whom are designers themselves. This culminated in two Private Viewing parties at the week-end. There was no time to rest, as the work for our Manchester Exhibition began to arrive, ready to be checked off. This week we are off to Manchester to start all over again and we have two more opening parties next week-end. I’m pleased to report that the work for both exhibitions is well up to standard and the designers have pulled out all the stops. There are some very exciting pieces on show, with a very diverse range of materials and a wide range of prices. We are particularly pleased with the prints on show at the National Theatre.

The images above are just a taster of the pieces we have on show. To find out more details visit our exhibitions website.

Glorious Cornwall

We have just recently returned from a long week-end in Fowey, Cornwall to celebrate my birthday and we had a splendid time from start to finish. The weather was glorious and we were even able to eat lunch outside in October! We sampled an abundance of fish and seafood and surprisingly no cream teas. It was also a chance to visit some new National Trust properties and Trerice and Antony were really interesting small properties. We also revisited the gardens at Trellisick after a trip on the King Harry Ferry. Cornwall has so much to offer and we even got in a long distance coastal walk, which was very testing but made worthwhile by the glorious views and the  pint of cider at the end.

Port Isaac Doc Martin Country

Trerice

Strawberry Tree Trellissick

Mevagissey

Teacup Topiary at Antony

Now we are back at base we are well into preparations for the Dazzle Exhibitions in London and Manchester. Next week the work will start to come in for our National Theatre show  which opens on 8th November. This is a very exciting time as we are never sure what the designers will send us, particularly the recent graduates. Both of the London managers will be joining me to help with all the checking and sorting, so it will be pretty full on.

We are also very busy with our online website where a 20% discount offer for the month of October has led to a huge number of sales. Christmas shopping has started early online!

Brrr- Autumn is here.

We have been enjoying some gorgeous weather recently, with lovely sunny days, but now Autumn has arrived and there is a definite chill in the air. We have also seen amazing displays of fungi on our daily walks with Eric the dog. I’m sure some of them must be edible but we’re not taking any chances.

Last week we visited “Origin” the Crafts Council annual event, this year relocated to the old Spitalfields Market. It was a huge event, with over 200 makers exhibiting, so there was an awful lot to see. The new location was very lively and there was a good attendance on the first day, so people are obviously willing to travel to get to the event. Some of the stands seemed rather cramped and there was not a great deal of room in the aisles, which would be a problem at the weekends, when hopefully there will be a large attendance. There was the usual mix of disciplines and it does provide a fantastic opportunity to meet the makers and buy or commission really unique pieces. There was, however, one negative point, which seemed to niggle with many people. This was the £5 charge for the catalogue, on top of the £10 admittance charge. Most felt that the catalogue should be included in the ticket price as it is beneficial to the exhibitors and visitors to have a catalogue to take home. Hopefully this will be addressed in the future.

On the home front, we are spending long days sticking labels on envelopes ready to send out our Private View invitations in the next few weeks. Once the envelopes are addressed we then have to stuff them with the invitations and wait for Royal Mail to collect them,so life is full of fun at the moment. Luckily there have been some good films on at our local Kino in Hawkhurst and we are looking forward to seeing Winter’s Bones next week, having enjoyed Tamara Drewe and Certified Copy recently. It is a great small cinema with comfy, roomy seats and you can take your drinks in- all very civilised.

Autumn in the Garden

Recovering from Edinburgh!

We have been home from Edinburgh Festival for well over a week but still feel the effects. It is such an all encompassing experience- work hard all day and do culture and socialise most evenings. At our age there has to be a cost and that is why we are only just recovering. We have also had to check off and return all the unsold work from the exhibition and see our only son off for a further year in China. No wonder we feel a little drained.

We had some real highlights in Edinburgh. Our favourite show was “Sub Rosa”, closely followed by “Bare”. We also really enjoyed “Smoke and Mirrors” at the Spiegel Tent and Ovid’s Metamporphoses at the Pleasance Dome. The plays we saw at the Traverse were excellent as usual  and we enjoyed visiting the new venue in Princes Street Gardens- the Assembly Tent. It will be a huge loss to the fringe next year if there is no Assembly on George Street.

As always , what makes our Festival is meeting up with old friends, going for days out, eating in restaurants and cafes and just generally making the most of Edinburgh. It has to be one of our favourite cities despite the festival crowds. It is a novelty for us to use the excellent bus service as we do not have a bus service at all where we live. Maybe one day there will be trams for us to ride on!

Now we are at home we are busy planning for our Christmas exhibitions and are just completing the artwork for the invitations to our private views and entering data on our mailing list- lots of donkey work. We open at the National Theatre on 8th November and at Manchester Town Hall on 21st November. We are also adding new designers to our selling website lovedazzle all the time and now attracting buyers from all over the world.

Exhausting,Exciting Edinburgh.

We have now been here for two weeks, so we are half way through our stay and already completely exhausted, though we wouldn’t have it any other way. During the day we work at the Traverse Theatre on our Dazzle Jewellery Exhibition, selling our amazing selection of contemporary jewellery. We are meeting people from all over the world as well as lots of regular buyers from Scotland and England.

In the evenings we hit the shows! So far our favourite has been “Sub Rosa” at the Hill Street Theatre. This is an amazing site specific show devised by David Leddy, which takes you back to a dark and Gothic world to hear the tragic story of a young Music Hall girl told by different characters involved in her life. The acting is superb and you are totally transported by the whole production. It is well worth staying up past ones bedtime!

We were also thrilled that our old friend from Manchester, Renny Krupinski, has picked up rave reviews and a Fringe First for “Bare” at venue 39 The Space at the Radisson on the Royal Mile. This accolade is well deserved as it is a superb production so try to get along to see it. Renny must be exhausted as he not only wrote the piece but also directs and acts and does the fight arranging!

For those of you who are free during the daytime and enjoy meeting crafts people face to face and buying from a wide range of disciplines, visit the West End Craft Fair. The exhibitors change every week and there is catering on hand from the renowned Hendersons, an Edinburgh establishment.

Pittenweem and First Show

On Sunday we set off for Fife to the Pittenweem Arts Festival. For once it was a clear and sunny day and the rain stayed away  all day. We visited dozens of exhibitions, some excellent others not so impressive. There is something happening on every corner and there was a good attendance. The good weather helped to make a really festive atmosphere. The Festival continues for another week, so there is still time to arrange a visit.

Artwork at Pittenweem Harbour

Fishing Nets in the Harbour

Today we took advantage of some rare free time and took ourselves off to Venue 39 on the Royal Mile to see “Bare”. Having braved the rain, foolishly wearing sandals, we were rewarded by a great ensemble performance by a Manchester company led by actor, director and fight arranger, Renny Krupinski. Renny’s fight arranging skills were certainly shown off to the full as the play concerns the tribulations of a bare knuckle fighter involved in a seedy and violent world. The acting was superb and the whole production was brilliantly presented. I would whole heartedly recommend this play to anyone who enjoys “meaty” drama. It deserves to be one of the hits of the Festival.