Big news

Hello dear friends, sorry for such a long silence.  After you hear my big news, you'll understand better why its been so quiet on the blog front. I'm happy to announce that I have two big Salons coming up this merry month of May!

I'm very excited to take part for the first time at the Unicrea Salon in...(drumroll please)......Switzerland!! Yup this show's going on the road.  This is a very special salon which reunites about one hundred artists, from painters, designers and sculptors to those like me who create jewelry from all over Europe. Its a great line-up and I'm very happy to be part of this year's spring edition. Not only is it going to be full of wonderful creative people, this Salon will take place in the gorgeous Chateau Morges, along the shores of Lake Leman.  How is that for a setting? Did I say I was excited already? I'm fairly jumping out of excitement!  The Salon starts on the the 3rd of May and runs till the 6th.  Maybe see you there?

No less exciting is the return of the Journee du Fait Main in France on the 12th and 13th of May.  I wrote about first ever Journee du Fait Main last year and I'm happy to announce that I am once more taking part this year.  It promises to be bigger than ever with 60 events (as of last count, with maybe more coming) all over France and over 800 artists! Its going to be big. The goal as always is to promote the hand made, the artisanal and the original. Everything that De Petites Merveilles stands for!

Here in Paris, there are at least three events and I will be at the Place du Richard Baret in the 17th arrondissement...

Eh voila, the exciting news from my end! Hope to see you in one of them!

Nomad's Market report

The day before Nomad's Market, I was feeling apprehensive and worried. The weather did not look promising--all gray sullen skies with a cold wind. How on earth were we going to do for Sunday?

Fortune smiled on us because Sunday dawned clear and sunny. Nothing but blue skies and a brisk wind. I breathed a sigh of relief. Just look how beautiful it was, with the Notre Dame just in front of us.

Peniche Henjo

Peniche Henjo was surprisingly large inside with room for us and the different people who stopped by.  I even lucked out on my spot which was just in front of the entrance.

Setting up a stand is an art of itself and requires lots of planning and thought, something I didn't necessarily know in the beginning. You have to have a large enough selection to give people lots of choices, but not so much that the stand looks crowded and busy.  Here's how mine looked that day. 

A selection of some of my new bracelets--millefiori from the end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th mixed with some vintage french glass

 A close-up look of my sautoirs. Remember this frame? One of the frames I found in the brocantes last year.

And here's a peek out of my window. It was pretty impressive to see the boats passing by and the Seine was pretty busy that day with the cruise boats and private boats like this one..

Of course I couldn't resist checking out other people's wares and there was certainly a good and more importantly varied selection.  I loved this one....a product after my own heart. The artist, seated on the left, works with recovered materials from industrial sites and reworks them into contemporary light fixtures and lamps. Aren't they cool? I bet he spends as much time in brocantes as I do. Luckily we're after different things!

After some time, the jazz band set up and it was real party atmosphere.

There was also a stand on artisanal hand made Moroccan oils and beauty products.  I passed by and it smelled divine!

Cute baby things that I could barely walk away from...

and colorful printed slip on socks and shawls.

Nice change from boring old beige ones you stick under your ballet flats right? These ones are pretty enough to wear with sandals.

And finally, some pretty handmade bookmarks.

A lovely group of people if I do say so myself. I'm sure we made lots of people happy that day! Looking forward to the next edition!