Aillant sur Tholon

By now dear friends, you know how much I love brocantes.  And I havent been very good about posting my recent jaunts. But I recently went to a massive one thanks to a tip from a friend.

This one was in a little village called Aillant sur Tholon, about an hour and a half away from Paris.  Its tiny with a population of about 1400 or so on a good week but on THE brocante weekend, the population swells to about 30000.  So I had no qualms dragging my family to this brocante. How could I not?

I started out bright and early, when you could still see the dewdrops glistening on the grass. And I was far from the first bird there, professional buyers started at 4 am, in order to catch the choicest bits. That said, there were tons of things to marvel at. As this is a picture heavy post, read on after the jump...

Sign of life

 Hello friends, I hope are all enjoying your summer.  The blog has been hibernating a little.   I've been working on a big project which I am excited to share when all is in place.  In the meantime summer is here and I have to say that this too has distracted me. Here are a few photos taken from our trip in Amsterdam.

We lucked out and enjoyed beautiful weather...look at the blue sky!

We wandered around the canals, peering into houseboats and marveling at the distinct architecture of the city.

Its such a bustling and dynamic city but there are pockets of calm to be found.

 Of course it wouldn't be Amsterdam without all the bikes!

 One street we liked was filled with flowers and I couldn't resist taking a picture..

 A wonderful example of 19th century houses...

 all with their own private boats.

Pop up store

Hello folks, I'm happy to announce that I will be part of a Pop-Up store over at the 15th arrondissement tomorrow, the 26th of June.  Its my first time in this location and I hope to meet lots of jewelry loving people!

Here's a sneak peek of some of the lovely pieces I'm bringing...

Here are the details:

Pop-up Store/Boutique Ephemere

17 rue de l'almiral roussin 

75015

Paris

Metro: Cambronne, Emile Zola, Commerce

I was so moved when I opened the mail and saw this thank you note. A friend bought a present for his mother and he chose a bracelet I made with a wonderful blue eye trade bead from the 19th century and vintage  Majorca glass pearls.  His mother loved it, he said.

 I work from home and while this allows me great independence and flexibility, sometimes it makes me wonder whether what I do is good or not.   When  a piece sells, I feel happy that it pleased someone else.  It makes it easier to let go of my pieces, knowing that people are happy to have them and my pieces find good homes. Its even better when  I get proof in the mail like this gracious handwritten note.

 Hello friends, I hope you're still there.  I've been absent awhile thanks to a number of trade fairs and family events.  In any case, I'm back with some photos of some of the events.

You may remember that in May I was in Morges, Switzerland for the Salon UNICREA. What a wonderful experience that was!  We were blessed with clear skies and hardly any rain! And I had the chance to meet with a wonderful new public and other talented and nice designers and artists.

As I was alone during the fair (my first time to be truly alone, and far from familiar territory) I was not able to take a lot of pictures of the other stands.  But I did take a quick look around to see how the Castle could become the backdrop to our creations.  

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!