2010 where did you go? Part 3

Ice Queen from our 2011 Winter Collection and Daisy Chain from our 2011 Spring Collection

So you've sat through parts 1 and 2 of our review of the year and I must say I admire your stamina! And now to the final part of our travels through 2010 - September to December (you may need a cup of tea again!)

September 2010
Well the first half of September was rather pleasant as there was a bit of sightseeing

wine chasing

and quite a bit of this

However it wasn't all sightseeing, wine drinking and ice cream eating (or seafood, cheese, pate and bread eating for that matter!). We were also WIFI hunting so I could keep in touch with the world and I was sat there designing and creating some gorgeous pieces. As well as Ice Queen and Daisy Chain (see the top of the post), I also busy creating


and finishing off hairpins and headchains.

OK so it wasn't a total break from work but it was a gorgeous holiday and was relaxing enough to provide me with the energy to hit work running on our return.

And boy did I need the energy! I came back to website designs, logo designs, stationery designs, press releases, clients and all sorts of other work. It was incredibly exciting as all the hard work of not just the last few months but since January was starting to pay off and I do love it when a plan comes together!

October 2010

October came in with a bang and a big *gulp*! It was launch month for our 2011 Collections, our rebranded design service and our new website and I was to say the least a little nervous. You see this was our first dedicated set of collections that were being launched and like anything new it was quite daunting!

But it was also scary because I was the subject of a photoshoot! I had decided that it was time that I inflicted a picture of myself on the website and in promotional work so I invited the very talented and super lovely Emily Quinton to Tiararama Towers to take my picture. As nervous as I was about this it was a fabulous experience which I loved and the images (and Emily) were just fab!

Now I am often asked now why I always say that I launched my collections and not my collection. Well quite simply I launched 4 in one go....Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. And why did I launch 4 collections? I mean surely I could have launched one and no one would have minded? Maybe they wouldn't but I would. You see each season has a very specific feel and this is reflected in the use of different bead shapes and textures and different beading and wiring techniques. The amount of love and attention that went into achieving the right feel and best sparkle for each season was considerable. And whenever you put alot of love and consideration into anything it really matters to you. So it was with some trepidation that on October 19th (our wedding anniversary celebrations took rather a backseat to work on this occasion) and 20th we pulled all our hard work together and off went our press release and at midnight our new website and collections went live.

The four signature pieces of our 2011 collections:

First Shoots - Spring 2011 collection, Hydrangeas - Summer 2011 collection, Autumn Bouquet - Autumn 2011 collection, Snowflakes - Winter 2011 Collection

And did I need to be worried? Well no! We were (and still are if we're honest) delighted with the amount of love we received from all corners of the industry for our new collections. It was fantastic when the emails and tweets and phonecalls started to come in and I was hearing words like impressive, innovative, classy with a twist, gorgeous, beautiful, intricate, fantabulous (not sure that is a word but hey!) and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocios (yes I do know some strange people!)

I was so pleased that all went well and that the collection was so well received and blown away by those who were so generous in their support of us (and their continued support is a blessing and will never be taken for granted!). After months of hard work and sleepless nights I could at last have a small break to celebrate our successful launch. I was back at work on the Monday!

November 2010
Following on from our successful collection launch and rebrand we began to get more press interest and our new collection was being called in for photoshoots by magazines and photographers. Not only did I have a diary but some of my pieces were starting to need social diaries! In fact in November my appointment room looked quite glum. For months my new collection had started to adorn it but once they started to go out on shoots it looked quite bare at times. In fact as I type we still have a box of pieces out with a magazine!

And whilst this was all going on, apart from our usual client work, I was drafting......our 2012 collection!

And here are some lovely images from one of those shoots by Hannah Duffy Photography
Hydrangeas from our 2011 Summer Collection

and our beautiful Hortensia comb from our 2011 Summer Collection

December 2010

The product call ins continued with some more pieces being called in for quite high profile shoots (fingers crossed on those) and our schedule was full of order making in time for Christmas. And a lovely spot of afternoon tea cemented an idea that I had been thinking about for a while!

It was a very busy time to the end of the year and one which has filled me with the knowledge that 2011 will be an incredible year for us. And if 2010 was busy, it was nothing compared to how busy 2011 will be. This year is the 2nd year of our 3 year business development schedule but it is without doubt the busiest. We have new collections to show you, new ideas and we're at the National Wedding Show again (at Earl's Court in the autumn this time). And we are so looking forward to serving those of you who no wedding business can do without - our lovely brides. We are so looking forward to meeting you and designing the hair accessories of your dreams and we know it will be a good idea!

And speaking of designing the Hair Accessory of your Dreams - watch this space. We will soon be announcing details of our amazing competition to have the hair accessory of your dreams designed and created for you.

But in the meantime I will leave you with a beautiful image of our Ice Queen from a magazine shoot and hope to be able to show you lots more over the next year.

Image courtesy of Asiana Magazine

I hope you have enjoyed reading about our 2010 and hope you will join me this time next year for our 2011 round up.

So until next time.....