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.