Guest blog from Harriet Kelsall

Harriet Kelsall runs the UKs leading Bespoke Jewellery Design Company who specialise one-off pieces of jewellery designed especially for their customers.  Harriet started the business in 1998 because she wanted good bespoke jewellery design to be affordable and unpretentious and her 30 strong team have been leading the way in bespoke jewellery design ever since.  Their most recent awards include the 2011 UK Jewellery Awards and Harriet also holds the coveted Everywoman Retail ‘Woman of the Year’ title.  She took time out to write a guest blog on for me describing three of her recent favourite commissions.

As a designer, there is nothing that inspires me and my design team more than an interesting story.  Even if one of our clients wants a simple solitaire ring, we love to put something personal into their one-off design for them so that it reflects some part of their story or personality.

When Diana asked me to write this guest blog about a few interesting design commissions, so many came to mind!  It has been hard to narrow it down to just three.

Last year we were approached by a lovely couple, Ed and Laura, who wanted me to design a bespoke engagement ring inspired by a peacock feather.  They had a lovely story about a happy holiday spent chasing a peacock around a zoo trying to get it to put up its tail!  Laura brought her peacock feather along to our studio and we came up with this lovely design for them.

http://www.hkjewellery.co.uk/details/web/type/rings/ID/6397

Another ring that I particularly like was recently designed by Alice who is one of our senior designers here.  It was designed for a fan of mathematics in Cambridge who wanted his ring to be made like a Mobius twist.  I think the result is beautiful and elegant and I like the fact that you don’t really get the mathematics connection unless you know about it too – it is just a beautiful form:-- 

  http://www.hkjewellery.co.uk/details/web/type/rings/id/7510

We are also very pleased to be one of only a few jewellers allowed to use certificated Fairtrade gold and this was the type of ethical gold that Model, DJ and presenter Lisa Snowdon chose for her bespoke pendant.  I love working with Lisa because she is so laid back and creative.  She wanted me to design her a pendant which she could wear all of the time.  We looked at using the ‘Aum’ or ‘Om’ symbol which is a Buddhist mantra which represents everything in unity.  We chose an aspect of that symbol and simplified it to create a symbol that represents Lisa being in the centre of her destiny and dreams.  It is to celebrate her 40th birthday on January 23^rd and the stone is a beautiful Laser cut garnet (the birthstone for garnet).  She is delighted wit the result and even treated me and a few of my team to a very posh tea at the May Fair hotel to say thank you!

http://www.hkjewellery.co.uk/details/web/type/earneck/ID/4045

Vintage Life Magazine Features

I was once again featured in the national publication of Vintage Life Magazine and my Marilyn knitted vest top was featured along with my article.  I was also featured in the issue of last Nov/Dec where I designed the knitted red slippers.   The image of my model Lydia Bareham was used in the Jan/Feb issue and it featured a photograph of her in the Marilyn design.  This was from my autumn/winter collection photo shoot with the very talented David Taylor of dctaylor photography  dctaylorphotography website 

I am looking forward to working with Vintage Life Magazine again as it is one of my favorite publications.  If you havent read it and you love vintage you really should you can subscribe online to it too Vintage Life Magazine Website or you can buy it in WH Smiths and other retailers which can be found on their website.

 

Bridal Designs Wedding Jewellery Guest Post

Here is the first in a series of guest blog posts I am featuring on this blog.  I am currently designing and making my spring summer collection so rather than neglecting my blog I will feature a few different people on here.  Hope you all enjoy them and please feel free to leave comments.

When I said I'd write a guest blog post for the lovely Diana I was struggling to think of a topic, after all ...what did we have in common? She's a talented knitwear designer, I make wedding jewellery , she's Gok Wans' knit queen, I...er.....make wedding jewellery.

Then when browsing her website I came across a familiar sight...the #SBS badge! What? i hear you cry? Well if you are a regular lurker on Twitter you will probably know, but for the rest of you, #SBS stands for Small Business Sunday. Theo Paphitis (yes him of Dragon's Den fame) supports small business by retweeting (basically forwarding your message) your tweet to all his followers. He chooses six businesses every Sunday for this honour and both my website (http://www.bridaldesignsweddingjewellery.co.uk) and Dianas were chosen at the end of 2010 for a retweet. This might not sound like much but it's amazing what a difference it makes, your website is mentioned to 208,000 of Theo's followers, thats a lot of potential customers! 

So, we do have something in common after all, unfortunately it isn't knitting ability...I'm ok at scarves....as long as you like them with holes in and a bit wonky....

Tracey x

High lights of 2011

There have been so many high lights of 2011 for Peggy's Collection

I was featured as a designer on affinity yarns and I also have patterns for sale on ravelry too. I attended a vintage fair where I was a retailer and you can read more about this in my previous blog entries. loved the whole atmosphere and met some amazing people.

I was very honoured to be asked to feature in the vintage life magazine where I designed some cute slippers and I have been asked back for the next issue out on the 5th January too.


I have also been featured on numerous blogs this year and I would like to thank you all for including Peggy's Collection onto your blogs it really means a lot.


Another big moment of 2011 was my first photo shoot and I would like to thank everyone involved. It was a great experience and I am looking forward to the next one. You can also read and see all the photographs from the shoot on my previous blog entry.

I have also opened an etsy shop for Peggy's Collection and I am also selling through asos marketplace too. You can also order garments from my website too.

I have also been working with a lot of charities this year which includes making knitted poppy brooches and selling the pattern for British forces network. Also I auctioned a scarf for Wallace and gromits childrens foundation. The local charity for movember also had one of my chunky scarves for their auction. I have also been taking part in zumba lessons with Mr Dod a local instructor who is fabulous. He was holding a zumba party for nelsons journey charity which I also donated a scarf for the raffle.

I was also ms October for world of wool calendar too which was lovely to be asked to do this the photographs look fabulous too.

Last but not least in December it was my first year anniversary of my #sbs win on twitter where I was retweeted by Theo Paphitis from dragons den. This has been such a boost for me business so a big massive thank you to Theo. Thank you to Aqua Designs for making my sbs badge for me

I am now working on my next collection spring/summer 2012 and planning my next photo shoot. Also another few events coming up that I want to tell you all about but not allowed to yet so will let you all know as soon as I can.

Happy new year to you all!

Twitter Charity Auction

SPECIAL CHARITY AUCTION ANNOUNCEMENT

To celebrate this weekends X-Factor final, @RAOKRichie (AKA, Former Project Director of The GIFT celebrity charity book), @wallace_gromit Children’s Foundation and of course, the wonderfully generous @peggycollection, are offering you a chance to purchase your own unique piece of celebrity style… and all for an incredible cause!

This coming weekend, between 6:30pm Saturday - 10pm Sunday, proprietor of Peggy’s Collection, and fashion wear designer to the stars, Diana Clarke, has offered up one of her elegant & hand made, UNISEX, pieces of knitwear, for an exciting TWITTER based charity auction!  All proceeds from the auction will be donated to “Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation” – a truly wonderful and innovative charity, set up by Nick Park to help transform the lives of poorly children nationwide. 

We have decided to span the auction across the entire “X-Factor weekend”, to enable everyone to have a chance at bidding on this fantastic item!  To be in, you simply bid  the HIGHEST price you wish to pay, to make sure you get it!  We will keep you updated as to the present HIGHEST BID, and you can re-bid as many times as you like until we close this at 10pm Sunday.  So make sure you follow us on twitter to keep up to date with the bids!

(If you have any auction questions, please contact @RAOKRichie, or @peggycollection on twitter)

‘We are very grateful to Diana for supporting Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation to help us transform the lives of sick children in hospitals and hospices across the UK through the sales of her beautiful knitwear. Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation helps sick children and their families in local communities across the country to ensure they receive the best possible care and support’

Marie - www.wallaceandgromitfoundation.org

So on the week the British winter really started to bite, is there a better way to keep toasty warm, and stylish, than this elegant and unique – and of course hand made, “Signature Edition, Coral, Chunky Knit Scarf”?  Never before made in this colour/design/edition combination!  It will also warm your heart knowing that by taking part, you are helping poorly children across the Country.

The winning bidder will receive their piece of celebrity style in a scented gift-box, also making it a perfect, and very special, Christmas gift… if you can bring yourself to part with it of course!

We will also provide the winning bidder with a big THANK YOU shout out – so you’ll hopefully make some new friends in the process J!

So we will see you on Saturday & Sunday, simply tweet @peggycollection your bids between 6:30pm Saturday and 10pm Sunday, and celebrate your x-factor final weekend in style!

HAPPY BIDDING!

Richie, Diana, and Wallace & Gromit's Children's Foundation

3000 followers on twitter

Since my last blog I have had such a good response to my new photographs on my website and the chunky knit scarf seems to be a big hit with everyone this year.  I have also been included on a couple of fabulous blogs @chicfantastique http://chicfantastique.wordpress.com/   and @Him_Me_Three http://himmethree.blogspot.com/ a big thank you to you both I really appreciate you asking me to be featured.

More exciting things are to come but I cannot mention them yet but as soon as I am allowed I will be telling you all


As a massive thank you to all my followers on twitter for helping me reach over 3000 followers I have done a giveaway for one lucky random tweeter.  That person is ....... drum roll


@christinaAdd

you get to pick a chunky knit scarf worth £45 in a colour of your choice, well done!!

Autumn/Winter Collection 2011 photo shoot

One cold chilly day in November, the 5th to be exact was my first ever photo shoot at a Georgian Hunting Lodge.  Photographer was booked, models booked, make up artist booked, jewels and designs at the ready!

My photographer is called dctaylor photography, Photographer is David Taylor and his website can be found  here    I first started talking to David on twitter and he is also local so we met up and had a chat about a possible photo shoot.  From that moment on the planning started and I am so pleased I commissioned him for these photographs as they are just what I wanted for my designs.  I am going to be working with David alot on various projects over the next few months which is very exciting for me.  Please have a look at his website his photographs are truly stunning.

My models were my niece Heidi Jackson, Lydia Bareham and Eric Lam.  They all did a great job and made my designs really come to life.

The make up artist Clare Alexandra was brilliant and did such a fabulous job on all of the models.  I asked for 1950s glamour for Lydia and fresh and young for Heidi and Eric and that is exactly what I got.  I hope to work with Clare again in the future on the next photo shoot.  Here is her website

We all had a great day and Eric even played us some music on the piano, he said he could play a little but believe me he was fabulous.  We were very lucky that the weather held out just long enough for us to get some great shots.

The gorgeous jewels were loaned by JBD London and here is the website they were gorgeous and really made the designs stand out.

Here are some behind the scene shots including some of the professional ones courtesy of dctaylor photography Photographer David Taylor

The jewels all laid out ready for the photo shoot 

Lydia getting her make up done 

dctaylor photography, photographer David Taylor taking fabulous shots of Lydia in the gardens

Heidi and Eric keeping warm in my designs 

Now the professional photographs! 

All of these items will be available on my website this week please feel free to send me an enquiry if you wish to order before.  You can also view these and more photographs on dctaylor photography website

© Peggy’s Collection 2011 all content and photographs