Meeting: Jamie Fridd from Jamie Kay

I love it when good things find me.  The good thing I speak of is Jamie Fridd of Jamie Kay. 

Jamie Kay is an online store filled with lots of lovely colourful homewares, children’s decor & jewellery (her own label) that she has sourced from all over the world.

We had planned to meet in town (Christchurch), as she is based out in the Canterbury rural.  The forecast snow altered our plans some-what and fate lead us to meet at Designmade.  Timely, as we also managed to get to see the fabulous Julia from 

Studio Home give a very imformative chat on social media.  I digress...

On first impressions Jamie struck me as a real go-getter and someone who has an obvious passion for homewares and interior design.  After hanging out with her that certainly proved to be the truth.  

She's enthustiastic and bubbly with a definate design twinke in her eye.  It was a joy to meet her and I would encourage you to go and check her out as well as keeping a close eye on her - good things abound I predict!

Q and A with Jamie Fridd

What gave you the idea for what you are doing?

I found myself always buying overseas homewares magazines and using them as inspiration to create colourful cushions, art works & items for my home. I decided it was about time to try and source the products I loved and bring them to New Zealand.

Would Jamie Kay ever be a 'real' shop?

 Absolutely, it’s on my to do list  'A country store - in a renovated barn. Filled with lots of beautiful products'...I'll keep you posted...

When you buy product for your shop who are you buying for? 

I'm buying for the person who loves great design, lots of colour & high quality products.

What can we expect for the future of Jamie Kay?  

I absolutely love New Zealand wool and think we need to make more use of it for homewares in New Zealand. So expect some lovely wool pillows & blankets to pop up online in the next few months. Gorgeous colours & patterns!  And a large shipment of French linens, vintage and new & lots of French antiques!

Maybe just maybe Jamie has offered us a wee giveaway.  

Check on Monday to find out what it will be (you will likee, I just know it!)

Visiting: Rekindle Pop-up Shop and Cafe

It was an absolute pleasure to meeting Juliet Arnott.  She is the life, soul and absolute belief force behind the social enterprise of Rekindle.

Rekindle is a wonderful story of wood.  

"Our mission is to support communities to utilise their wood waste fully and in doing so, maximize the benefits of the purposeful work involved. Rekindle works to create employment and learning opportunities, and to actively enable people to participate in meaningful valued activity. We are a social enterprise strongly committed to these concerns, and any profits go into development of opportunities that further our ability to do this work.

Beautiful ancient and irreplaceable indigenous timber such as kauri, matai and rimu are most commonly diverted from waste and reused at Rekindle"

Juliet comes from a two sided background - one of an Occupational Therapist and the other a Creative/Artist/Designer.  These two 'faces' are brought together in Rekindle.

We spoke about the 'lack of meaningful activity' and it was immediately clear that we both shared a passion for this concept - her's in making with wood and mine with just making.  Straight away I could easily see Juliet's clear vision for Rekindle and the value that this project has on her community.  It was inspiring and encouraging.  

She is passionate and her passion shines through in the people that she has helping her.  This video, made by Ash Robinson  of Dollar Mix Bag is proof.  He had heard her speak and immediately put his hand up to create this documentary.  This was a similar story for one of her volunteers, Stephan.  The moral here is speak about what you are passionate about and the world will listen (and help).

It was good timing on my behalf  that the day before I was due to see Juliet was the opening of the Rekindle pop-up shop and cafe.  It was a freezing wintry evening but the warmth of the guests as well as the re-worked wood (oh and the champagne) made for a hearty and fun evening.

The range:

Weatherboard Chairs from $322

Trestle Tables from $690

City Scape Sets $28.00

Off cut Rings $122.00

Bracelets 138.00

Tables $1,150.00

Stools from $300

All available here

The next day we meet at the Shop Eight and Rekindle cafe (with snow falling outside) and chatted over amazing coffee and cake provided by the lovely Anna.

I would love to thank Juliet and team for what they are doing and encourage you all to support this worthy enterprise in anyway you can.  This is inspiring stuff right here.

*Rekindle also have upstairs 'hot desks' for rent, if you are interested please contact:

 Juliet Arnott | Rekindle 

info@rekindle.org.nz

All images by Alex Fulton Design 

Up Skill: Megan Morton's The School, Auckland

Yup - you read that correctly.  Megan Morton and her band of merry special guests (as part of The School) will be winging their way to Auckland for a weekend of stylish, design fun in November this year!

As your know, I was very lucky to get to meet Megan last month at her Sydney based school and got to attend a class on Shibori with Joanna Fowles.  I was one happy bunny.  It was amazing, inspiring and I left over flowing with design ideas.

In November this year Megan will be coming to Auckland and teaching her Secrets of Styling (SOS) Masterclass - I KNOW!

The program goes as follows:

Friday the 1st Nov 6.30pm - 9.30pm: Kara Rosenlund Vignettes ($120 AUD)

Saturday the 2nd Nov 10am - 4pm: SOS Masterclass with Megan Morton ($450 AUD)

Sunday the 3rd Nov 10am - 4pm: Photoshop for Beginners and Bloggers ($280 AUD)

Sunday the 3rd Nov 5.30pm - 8pm: Stephanie SomebodyInstagram Debunked ($150 AUD)

Monday the 4th Nov 9.30am - 1.30pm: Brooke Holm Photography 101 ($250 AUD)

You can book any or all of these classes on-line here at The School's Website.

All classes will be help at the new Mildred & Co Showroom, 5 Gundry St, Auckland

See you there!

Attending: Handmade Conference 2013

Well - what a weekend.  

It's Queen Birthday weekend and I've been attending and speaking at the Handmade Conference in Wellington.  What a creative and inspirational bunch of people you are!

I was asked back for the second year to take a Masterclass on Interior Design with an strong focus on the Handmade side to designing.  I said yes immediately.  Any chance I can share my love of colour and design will always get my vote.

Last year I took a more general approach to Interior design with lots of theory on the handmade side.  This year I decided to change it up and dedicate half the talk to designing for your home and the other half demonstrating DIY projects you can make for your home - 12 no less!

My DIY doormats

I was really happy with the talk and it was made all the better by having such an enthusiastic audience.  I was blown away the large amount of you who came up to say hi (love that) and those who contacted me via email.  A memorable moment was a lady who came up to me at the Meet the Maker event and told me that I was not her style at all and that I designed with too much 'stuff' and colours were not her at all, BUT she managed to take one or two good points away.... PHEW!

The audience was filled with new faces but also had a few familiar ones which was lovely.  I got to meet Amanda Holland, who had lent me some amazing and colourful props for my 'virtual room'.  She is a bit of a design icon for me, she has been a long time advocate for colour and great design with her stunning shop - Small Acorns.  An institution for design brands Designers Guild, Orla Kiely, Rachel Castle and many more.  It was a little daunting having such a design doyenne seated in front of you! Thank you Amanda for lending me your goodies and for the fantastic feedback.

Rachel Castle products - all available at Small Acorns Store

Also in the crowd were some local Wellington designers - Meg McMillian from Teapea and Jane Denton from Jane Denton Textile  + Art Design.  It's always lovely to spend time and talk 'design' with these clever cookies.  I got to spend some extra time with Meg and I was very excited to hear about some new and exciting projects she will be involved in the near future.  

Speedy Meg in her beautiful store - Teapea.  Online also

One of Jane Denton's Artworks

Meg and I also managed to squeeze in a spot of shopping between lectures and we both fell in love with a faux tiger skin rug from Cosmic in Cube St Mall.  $65 bucks my friends!  Bargain.  I will take a photo of it in situ - I'm thinking Jungle Room of course.  They also had life size Tiger heads, which again was purchased and will be added to the existing collection.  More is more, remember.

I also got to be part of the Handmade Hurrah, which is when they make up a panel of 4 speakers to shoot the breeze in front of a Handmade attendees crowd.  I did it last year and it was super fun - this year was even better.  The speakers this year included my old panel partner Ruth Pretty (Rock-star Chef), as well as Rosemary McLeod (Literary legend) and Sally-Ann Moffat (Fashionista).  It was a good mixture of tips, humour and general chit-chat.  I loved that the audience got to interact with us too with multiple amounts of subject matter, which included Feature Walls, Leggings, Pussy Bows, Night school and eyebrows!  There was even an impromptu lesson in posing for a camera.  Oh yes - it was all going on!

This year I also got to attend a few of the Masterclasses and hear the other speaker impart a wealth of knowledge and experience.  Favourites included Tamsin Cooper (what a wee gem she is) and Rosemary McLeod.  Next year I hope to attend a few of the workshops as well - the number of classes you can take are mind-blowing and getting to meet and speak with some of the teachers was very inspirational.  

Jane Wrigglesworth - Multi talented editor, writer, gardener and crafter

Fiona Frew - Handmade Paper Flowers

Sarah Wirth - Art and textiles teacher, Screen Printer, Kimono maker

Lucy Arnold - Owner of Felt

Melissa Wastney - Writer of the Tiny Happy Blog and crafter

Mandi Lynn - Photographer

Heleen Webb - Crafter and owner of Ruby in the Dust

Marimekko Fabric - SIIRTOLAPUUTARHA

Also some references from my talk that people have been asking about:

Marimekko - Surrur Book

Marimekko Fabric online - Textile Arts

Bolt of Cloth

Small Acorns

Designers Guild

Beci Orphin - Find and Keep Book

Megan Morton - Things I love Book

Ilse Crawford - Home is where the heart is Book

Pinterest

Urban Outfitters - Rugs

Fenton and Fenton - Rugs

Armadilo & Co - Rugs

If any one needs clarification on anything I spoke about please get in touch!  

alex@alexfultondesign.co.nz

Beci Orpin's Confetti Wall

I wanted to say a huge thank you to the busy bee's from the Avenues Event Team - what an amazing, well organised and extremely informative weekend.  I do hope I will be there next year to see it grow even more that it did this year.  See you all then...