Our very talented friend Anney took part in this exhibition that Lynds and I went down to on friday night. “Living Liverpool” was a collection of artworks done by locals to celebrate 200 years of establishment in the area. Anney and I have been friends for a few years now, after suffering together while working at Spotlight. Anney, as you can see is so very clever and every new work of hers I see inspires me!
These are the three works she had on show on the night, inspired by the Princess and the Pea, Wizard of Oz and Cinderella. I absolutely LOVE them, but the princess is my favourite! Other works like this:
And this were also on show by other artists. I’m not too sure on the meaning, but the stocking stuffer people scare me! Someone told me the man and the meat represent how Liverpool Hospital feels like a meat market and how they treat you like an animal. Mmm inspiring or what! You can see why I think Anney’s were the best and most positive pieces there!
This is Anney (left) and her sister Mechelle, who is also extremely talented and has a show coming up at Kinokuniya sometime soon! They dressed in these amazing floral 80’s prom dresses on the night and had so many people come up and comment on their outfits.
And Mechelle had this amazing petticoat underneath her dress! I have a bit of a soft spot for petticoats too, so this made my night! All in all the artworks were really interesting and it’s pretty clear that no matter what area you live in, there are always so many talented people around you. Kx
These vintage miniature floral puppies I got at vinnies last week. But really, any miniature ceramic animal is a winner with me.
This ceramic wall bow I bought for $2! Who would throw this out?
Bunnies!
Bunnies!
And specifically this bunny. Because she tolerates my cuddles if I scratch her head. Oh and because she is SO pretty.
Floral Everything.
These vintage floral plates which I plan to draw on with the porcelaine pens Lynds bought me.
Cupcake liners!
and finding great, colourful things to decorate cupcakes with!
My christmas deers that stay out all year because they are too pretty to pack away.
My new Polaroid Pogo printer! This is by far one of the most exciting finds of late. It spits out tiny polaroid sticky-back photos in under 60 seconds and does it via bluetooth from your phone or computer! Excellent!
One thing I feel like I say ALOT is – I wish I was rich! Usually said when in Space Furniture or some other lovely design store where I can’t afford a thing. Anyway this list came about after I saw Kell’s 10 things wish list so I thought I’d add mine in next – I think I’ll have to rob a bank to get all that I want but here they are! Lx
An ipad – shit name but freakin amazing – I love you apple!
This Rob Ryan tile and sticky tape
This apple monger on ebay
Rement miniatures – pretty much all of them!
This Alexandra Girard Nativity Scene – the only good religious thing I’ve ever seen!
Miller Goodman Playshapes – Too cool for kiddies that’s for sure!
I went into Eckersley’s on the weekend to get a few bits and pieces and picked up one of their new catalogues which was so lovely I thought I’d take a photo and put it up here, it’s been designed by the master of wonderful hand draw fonts, Timba Smits who also publishes the super fantastic magazine Wooden Toy. It’s so great to see a company like Eckersley’s working with and promoting one of Australia’s great designers. It’s also Beautifully printed to and has lots of great bargains if you like, art supplies/stationery (and who doesn’t???) Check it out here or pick one up instore.
Here are ten things I’m dreaming of owning if my funds permitted me to do so.
Obviously, a baby deer is out of the question, but this print, is not.
And neither is this one. Bunnies and swans, for goodness sake, what more could a girl ask for.
I’ve blogged about the amazing Mon Petit Fantome before, and these two prints in his etsy store make me feel all warm and fuzzy.
This vintage deer. Like a velveteen rabbit only cuter.
This original Caitlin Shearer painting. Love it.
This funny little felted rabbit.
This print is by Justin Richel and makes me want to bake.
As does this bunny tin!
And these little paper pinwheels you can buy from this super cool baking supply etsy store.
And finally this Marc Jacobs Birdy belt. Oh how I love you.
Ok, technically I think that’s eleven, but I couldn’t decide :) Kx
They sure do!! Last week was really annoying (to say the least) but our brooch has been removed from sale (and so it should be)
We have added it to this site (which is so great!)
It’s also been bought to our attention that its happened again to another great jewellery designer in the UK Lady Luck Rules OK – it’s just disgusting – another really blatant and a really bad quality rip off. Why would you buy a rusty finger ring with a blurred image on it anyway??
We are so happy there are so many people out there willing to be up in arms about this – maybe soon places like Topshop wont exist and we will all buy handmade more often? Let’s hope! Big thanks to Lucy Loves Love for her great blog post about copycats! We sure hate them too Lucy!
We will keep fighting but I a brighter note – checkout these brilliant tights! available to buy online here.
I did some more baking while I was on holidays after visiting a store called Plenty in Bondi Junction. This store has the most amazing baking section with coloured sprinkles and icing galore! I was quite scared by how much money I could have spent, but settled on some black icing colouring and sprinkles to match. The store is on level 5 near Wheel and Barrow incase you are searching for it! Here is some photos of the cookies I baked using my ikea cookie cutters and new icing colours.
The main reason I baked these was because someone lovely bought me this fantastic cookie and cupcake decorating set by Swiss brand Kuhn Rikon and I was dying to try it out. It worked really well (so much better than a piping bag!) and was super fun to use. I think my favourite cookies are the orange fox and the black Juno bunnies which I sprinkled with these, making them glittery and almost furry looking.
So I think today I finally get why Twitter is so important! Thanks to everyone who re-tweeted our little story and I feel like we are not quite so helpless anymore!
I called Topshop head office (owned by Arcadia Group) The marketing departments response was that it wasn’t their problem because they don’t design the jewellery and that a company called “Freedom Jewellery” designs it for them. Freedom Jewellery are owned by www.dckconcessions.com. When I called they were all in meetings (typical) so I didn’t get anywhere there except to send my email to the girl who answered the phone who assured me that it would be forwarded to the appropriate person. No response except to confirm they had received it.
I called Topshop again and finally got the name of someone in their legal department. She didn’t seem surprised and even said “oh we have had problems with this one before…” then said “oh no, that’s right, it was a tshirt with a castle design on it similar to this style” She asked me to forward through details of the design and my original pencil drawings (doubt they have pencil drawings of ANYTHING). She asked me to forward through details via email and this morning I had an auto response email saying “The email has been blocked by our automated filtering systems as it appears to contain content that does not comply with Arcadia’s email policy.” So not even sure if she received the email or what is going on.
Regardless of who produced the design I really I think it’s Topshop who have the explaining to do, even if they hide behind this maze of companies and alias’ and phone switchboards and they claim to have no idea it was a copy and the fact that they just buy from this other company it really annoying! I have a strange feeling that this is how they get away with it and can claim it isn’t theirs, because they get another company to rip it off for them and then they only sell it – but if it’s exclusively in Topshop (and no other stores) Isn’t that the same as Topshop ripping it off themselves?
Interesting that the brooch is now out of stock too? We ordered one yesterday and got an email today saying that “due to popular demand it’s out of stock” Why is it still on the site then and is it still in the stores?? If anyone has seen one can they let us know? or better still take a photo!
If you want to leave dck concessions a message about who much you hate ripoffs (and they have done it before see below) you can do so here – obviously it wont stop them but will be nice to let them know we are all watching them? www.dckconcessions.com/dck_contact.php and most of all keep an eye on their site and anything that looks like a ripoff let the original designer know.
I just found out one really interesting thing about this that makes a lot of sense now! It’s happened before in Australia with DIVA the worst jewellery chain store there is and guess what, they are owned by the same company that make the Topshop stuff! I’ve already boycotted Diva from the beginning but hopefully more and more people keep boycotting chain stores such as Diva – See the blog post here from last year from shanalogic.com I’m not sure of their outcome but there is also a Facebook group they have created here.
One of our (super lovely) customers bought to our attention that Topshop have RIPPED OFF our design. Can you believe it? I’ve even blogged about Topshop before and how they copy other indie designers before but this time they have blatantly copied our ORIGINAL design. I knew there was a reason it just felt wrong to have the “new” and “exciting” Topshop opening in Sydney. What a load of shit – that shop is like a disease on our city (and country). Incu should be ashamed to stock such JUNK in their store! They haven’t even tried to change the design!. We work our ass off (literally) to produce our own designs from drawing them, cutting them, gluing them, packaging them, sending them out and trying to make them as original as we can – they just take it and mass produce it (which is one thing we never wanted to do).
Topshop we HATE you!
Here is our original (and original drawing too)
And here is their copy – I think they have even just used the “auto trace” in illustrator…
