الكشخـــه و الفناتق الكويتيه ,,, كلها هنــــــــــــــي ((متجدد )) part 2

[honor]

كله اصفر

 

[MyLittleBerry]

 

[مامات منول]

دوووووومج روووووووعه في اختياراتج
عسب جي نتريا يديدج دوووووووووووووم

 

[MyLittleBerry]

 

[MyLittleBerry]

 

[MyLittleBerry]

Tatty Devine | Perspex jewellery handmade in England



Harriet looked at the marigolds in the embroidery and after printing them out a pixelated version of the photo, that became the isolated design that would feature in the final piece.


Harriet also had other source material such as this wonderful book on pressed flowers. Care to make a little person playing tennis with dried mimosas and honeysuckles? Not for the pressed flower amateurs out there...


Initially, we were going for a necklace but in the end, I gravitated towards my natural state of being, which is to have something floating on top of my head so we decided on a headpiece.

I also wanted to incorporate the cross stitch and textiles element into the flowers and so Harriet had done a few tests beforehand to try this out. We decided the cross stitch looked quite fiddly so we went for the vertical strokes instead. The growth of Tatty Devine, with the company now employing thirty people, has enabled Harriet and Rose to concentrate on their respective roles with Harriet specifically enjoying the experimentation and materials development side of things. These are the "fun" bits that get the duo going, hence why they'd get so worked up over new perspex colours of the discovery of a new technique or material.


Speaking of perspex colours, I was faced with quite the choice for my floral headdress, going far and beyond the perspex availability I had back in D.T. class at school. There are colours here that Tatty Devine have had to create themselves just because they couldn't get the shades they wanted. Most of the perspex is sourced from the UK but when needs must, they also get some of their perspex from New Jersey in the States where there happens to be more choice in finishes, colours and effects.


These sherbet-y fluoros had just landed into the office, which caused both Rosie and Harriet to squeal a little. I don't think I've ever seen anybody so excited over a swatch of plastic but it was definitely infectious as I ended poring over the freshly delivered box of swatches too, wondering what they'll be cooking up with all these new perspexes.

Tatty Devine may be primarily known for perspex jewellery but over the years they've also incorporated wood, enamel, leather and textiles into their work. These formica surfaces were quite tempting too what with my obsession with all things Balenciaga A/W 10-related.

In the end, we settled on using the pastels, with the lilac being a new colour that Tatty Devine haven't actually introduced properly into their collections yet.

In honour of the new shade of perspex, I think this Parma Violets necklace will be hitting stores soon. I'm not so keen on the sweets but they smell and look great.

We also pumped for some of these clear perspexes with a hint of colour.

I was going to go overboard and stick on as many of these iced gem-esque flowers but I tried to control myself. It was hard to resist though, considering Rosie and Harriet had laid out these boxes of treats as decorative options for my head dress.

On Illustrator, Harriet mapped out the layout incorporating the leaves and also drew out a flower that had the square serrated edges of the initial cross-stitched marigold on the embroidery. I loved watching Harriet work swiftly on Illustrator, a skill that she admits has been honed over the years, enabling her to get the symmetry and science of the jewellery absolutely spot on. Science, you ask? Joining up fifty perspex pieces for instance in a dinosaur necklace and getting it to balance and swing correctly when worn can be a trying process. Harriet and Rosie go through tests with their jewellery ensuring that wearability can be achieved. This is done through errr... a very exacting and scientific method of jumping up and down in the office, to make sure none of the bits fall off.


Downstairs in the basement of the office is the workshop where Tatty Devine make most of their jewellery - samples, intricate pieces and one-offs. Tatty Devine have another workshop in Rochester, Kent (where Harriet is from) where some of their more simpler and popular pieces are made. For some reason, I assumed that Tatty Devine, with the amount of stock they shift, would have outsourced production by now but this is a far better solution where both Rosie and Harriet can oversee the production of their jewellery in person and ensure that everything is finished to the standard that they personally care so much about.
Having spent an entire day at Tatty Devine headquarters, it's got to be said that I haven't come across such a happy work environment for quite some time. Ok, the 28 degree sunshine helped but the mainly young and female staff all looked so jolly and happy to be working there, whether they were doing Photoshopping, handling the laser-cutter or stringing up teensy tiny bits of perspex. Harriet said that someone compared their brand to The House of Eliott, the BBC TV show that EVERYONE NEEDS TO WATCH (ok, only if you're into period dramas). The comparison is a fairly solid one. Two women helming a fashion business and experiencing both adversity and success, with a small but supportive workforce behind them. Except I dont think there are backstabbing seamstresses and vendors at Tatty Devine. Instead, we have happy girls bustling about, proudly wearing Tatty Devine jewellery, all excited to do what they're doing.


The central hub of the Tatty Devine operation has got to be this heffer of a machine - the laser cutter. They also have a smaller one that is portable, enabling Tatty Devine to do laser-cutting on the go at special events and in-store but the big one is the mothership that cuts up most of the pieces for sampling and production.

 

[MyLittleBerry]

Becky is the laser-cutting maestro in charge of cutting up the perspex and ensuring there is minimal wastage. It was fascinating to watch her handle the CorelDraw files and send the files off to print in the laser cutter, where magic things happen.



In a matter of seconds, we have the perfectly formed flower, pre-cut with holes, ready for threading up.

I loved the way the edges came out on the clear perspex...

Harriet and I made a trip to Frankle's Trimmings down the road, a legendary place that is housed in an old art deco cinema. Brick Lane and its surroundings may have been eroded over the years of the trimmings and fabric wholesalers but Frankle's remains and it's a messy haven of ribbon, elastic, zippers and all kinds of things that girls like me collect and gather up in forgotten boxes. We hunted down some of the brightest and girliest hues of ribbons and thread, resembling something like the girl's toys section of the Argos catalogue. Tatty Devine moved into Brick Lane in 2001 alongside millinery neighbours Bernstock Speirs and together they've witnessed the changes to the dynamics of Brick Lane from its slightly grotty and unloved beginnings to the now overly trendy and somewhat corporate takeovers. Some things never change though and Frankle's along with treasures like E. Pellici's cafe hopefully won't succumb to the gentrification process.


I think Harriet was subconsciously chanelling elements of her dress into the headdress and I was vaguely thinking of Marni's S/S 12 collection with its plastel (yes, I have fused pastel and plastic into one) florals.


Harriet and her assistant threaded up the flowers ready to start arranging on the base head piece.



This was definitely the fun part where you place the flowers on the band, to-ing and fro-ing over whether the colours clash or not. This is where the naturally feminine sensibility of wanting to arrange our felt tip pens or coloured pencils in the right (not the same thing as correct...) way, comes into play.


Once the arrangement was decided upon, Harriet set about sewing the flowers to the base perspex piece, drilling holes and threading the flowers through. At this point, the process from design to decisions to laser-cutting to finishing had pretty much taken up the whole day, which is probably why Tatty Devine don't really do many custom pieces as part of their day-to-day routine. Back in the day, they'd constantly create things for shoots and collaborate with the likes of Ashish, Peter Jensen and Basso & Brooke on catwalk jewellery. This may be something that Tatty Devine would like to venture back into or even develop as an idea for customers as they're also about to launch in-store name necklace laser-cutting at their Covent Garden store as well as creating workshops for people to come to the studio and make their own necklace. This opening up of the process of their jewellery to the public could make way for more interactive events in the future. If it's every bit as exciting as the day I had yesterday, people are definitely in for a treat.


The final bit of probing whilst Harriet was sewing away was my one and only niggle... "What if you've run out of ideas for what to do with perspex?" It's as simple as this. "Then we move on to something else!" says Harriet. It's a succinct solution for a problem that doesn't actually seem to be on the horizon anytime soon. It may have been a moot question given that the duo are constantly seeking out new collaborations, new materials and new ideas to invigorate what they do. If the medium of perspex has been successful for them for over a decade, then who's to say it won't be the material that keeps on giving for years to come.



Once Harriet had sewed on all the little leaves and the glued on the smaller flowers, I was pretty much jumping for joy at the prospect of being crowned with this floral headdress that basically sums up everything I love within a 30cm semicircle. The final touch were the ribbons we had picked up at Frankle's to tie up at the side as streamers.

Can you see the smiles bouncing off these pics? I assured Harriet and Rosie that I would not have a shortage of clothing to match up with their wonderful creation. The Jil Sander shirt here is just the tip of the iceberg. This will be the summer where I'm THAT girl with the perspex floral headdress and I fully intend on overwearing it to death, until someone physically tries to wrangle it off my head.

 

[MyLittleBerry]

(Worn with Jil Sander shirt, vintage skirt, Christopher Kane heels)

 

[MyLittleBerry]

 

[MyLittleBerry]

 

[DaLoo3t BaBaTii]

.



من زمآن عن آلموضوع ..

يعطيكم آلعآفيةة

.

 

[honor]

نكمل

يتبع

 

[honor]

نكمل











يونسون الخواتم

 

[honor]

نكمل

 

[honor]

نكمل

 

[honor]

نكمل

ابي نفس هالعبايه روعه

وبس

 

[رماديه22]

مشكوووره ويعطيج العافيه
بس جان زين تحطين لنا استايلات الاحجاااااب لان ودي اغير طريقت الاحجاب بس ماني عارفه اشلووون
::

 

[Little Swan]

مشكورة

 

[MyLittleBerry]

Ever since I first saw the creations of Lizzie Fortunato Jewels last year I have been in awe of her flirty and creative ability. Each line is inspired by a unique theme--from the open road to summer camp. Her latest line for summer 2010 is by far my favorite and inspired by the "story of finding an abandon Indian palace where evidence of a grand party remain."

The ones incorporating rope are definitley my favorite. Such a fun blend of nautical whimsy.

And they have such great names too!

kate spade, theory, kate spade, tory burch, 3.1 phillip lim, christian louboutin, comme des garconne)

pierre hardy sandals, tibi dress, lanvin clutch and hand painted glasses from bergdorf goodman,

 

[MyLittleBerry]

(oscar de la renta kaftan, lanvin pouchette, gap necklace, marimekko clutch, stella maccartney cork pumps and anna sui dress)

(dress from moschino cheap and chic, miu miu boho, joan and david pump, manolo blahnik sandals, anna sui wrap dress. lanvin shoulder bag and max and chloe bangle)

(vionnet draped silk dress, bijoux heart earrings, felix rey clutch and kate spade slingbacks)

(dress via matthew williamson, lee angel earrings, club monaco clutch and miu miu)
In the whirl of the holiday rush I am still behind on blogging but promise to be back in full force once I get back home to Jackson Hole (en route today!).

(via 3.1 phillip lim, virginia johnson, kate spade boots, banana republic necklace, manu ring and cally capellino clutch)

(via kate spade, tory burch, missoni, gerard yosca necklace, banana republic bracelet)