News

Nothing over two dollars

Say what?! That's right - this weekend at the Little Big Markets we'll be having a MASSIVE sale with nothing over $2! Our sale table will include end of line items, designs that never made it to the store, and a few 'preloved' pieces.  Of course apart from the big sale table we'll be selling all our regular items including things from the new Adventure Range. So make sure to bring those coins as you won't want to miss this sale!

In the spotlight - crave

It's time we feature another one of our amazing stockists - crave home. crave is a cool, colourful and contemporary gift store, offering the best in home décor and gift ideas. Located just minutes from downtown Auckland in Birkenhead village on the North Shore, they're your go-to store when you need a gorgeous gift. Jude, owner of crave, has answered a few questions for us on what inspires her, how it all started, and more! Store Name:         crave home (known as crave, with a small c) Your Name:          Jude Turner Job Title:              owner Location:              30 Mokoia Road, Birkenhead, Auckland How did the idea of the store come about? My husband and I were casting about for a business to buy together, discovered a gift store that was for sale but after a lot of investigation, decided to start our own from scratch.  I’ve always loved beautiful interiors and home accessories and saw the opportunity to create my own business doing something I really enjoyed. Why the name? I wanted a one word name that would embody desire and luxury – crave was the second name I came up with. What kind of products do you sell? We specialise in gorgeous gift for the ones you love – baby, child, him, her and the home.  We carefully select lines that will appeal to our (mostly) female customer base who appreciate quality, are seeking items that are a little bit different and are wanting to add the finishing touch to their home.  We stock fragrant candles, gifts for babies and children, beautiful stationery and art prints, glassware, vases, cool ornaments, throws, towels, jewellery, clothing – a bit of everything really! What are the best and worst things about owning your shop? This has been such an exciting few years – the best thing has been to see the phenomenal growth of the store in 4.5 years.  We started out in a difficult location, but 2.5 years ago moved up to the Birkenhead Town Centre into a space that was 3 times the size of our original store.  I came out in hives, lost hours of sleep and was so consumed by the big step up – but it turned out to be the best decision I ever made.  Another highlight, is the feedback from customers – we all feel 10 feet high when someone takes the time to tell us how much the person loved the gift they bought from us. The worst thing? I guess the all-consuming nature of retail, particularly around Christmas when I’m working in-store 7 days a week for 5 weeks.  When I first opened crave, I was the only staff member so I worked 6 days a week for about a year before I hired a part-time staff member (who is still with me today!).  My children and husband have been amazing, but I’m trying to achieve a better work/life balance this year.

What's your favourite creative outlet? I really like to cook, so while we just get through the week as best we can while factoring in afterschool stuff for the children, I like to prepare a delicious and creative meal for Saturday night, often with friends joining us.  I also really like doing the laundry – it’s strangely soothing. What are your top 5 websites/blogs at the moment and what makes them stand out? I always keep an eye on Cush & Nooks, Superette, the Design Files, Ses & Jen Stylefiles, and Lee Ann Yare.  I also check in to the Daily Mail regularly for a sneaky fix.  I am inspired by beautiful graphics, great photography and creative styling. How do you find new designers / products to stock? We are fortunate in that a lot of clever and creative people are seeking us out but I attend various fairs and trade shows both here and in Australia so I can pick up on new items to the market.  Sometimes customers mention items that they’ve seen elsewhere which we try and track down. What song or album are you currently playing in the shop? We are always mixing it up but are using a lot of Pandora radio stations – One Republic and St Germain are current favourites and we also play a blend of tracks from the charts. Where can people find you physical shop and on the web? We are located in the heart of Birkenhead Village, just 10 minutes from central Auckland at 30 Mokoia Road.  Our website is www.cravehome.co.nz

New Tea Towels

We are super excited to announce our latest edition to the Toodles Noodles range - tea towels!  Offered in four different designs, these 100% natural unbleached cotton towels will bring sunshine into any kitchen. All towels are bundled in sets of two - perfect to give one away as a gift and keep the other for yourself! These towels will only be available for this summer season and will be available on the shop as of next week! As always if you have any questions regarding our products or would like to request a custom order, you can email us at hello(at)toodlesnoodles.com

All grown up

Just a wee post to let everyone know that this has been a monumental month for this little company. We have secured another 15 lovely stockists, had our largest orders to date, and most importantly have gone from being a sole trader to a limited company. Now unless you own your business you may not know what that means, and to be honest, we're learning a lot right now as well. We now have a little certificate with our name on it, our own GST number, and a fancy Limited after our name. Just like humans, when a company grows up there is more stress and more responsibility but we are determined and excited about the road ahead. Thank you everyone for being apart of this fun journey and to quote a great Disney character, Buzz Lightyear, "To Infinity and Beyond!".

In the Spotlight - Mixt

Time to introduce a stockist that is close to our hearts: Mixt. Miranda and Marc know all about selling NZ made products and own two beautiful shops in Kingsland. The only danger when stepping into the store to hand deliver their orders is leaving empty handed. Their stores are beautifully curated and are full of fantastic treasures. Store Name: MIXT Your Name: Miranda Pritchard and Marc Knott Job Title: Owners Location: Kingsland, Auckland How did the idea of the store come about? We opened the original MIXT store in February 2004. We decided to combine our joint interests in vintage, mid-century furniture and collectables (Marc) and contemporary New Zealand made craft and design (Miranda). The result was MIXT - the store continued with this combination in the same premises until November  2012 when we expanded to two stores side by side. Why the name? After much brainstorming we settled on MIXT - the name reflects the original combination of new NZ made and retro that we sell. What kind of products do you sell?  Vintage collectables and furniture, contemporary NZ made gifts, jewellery, ceramics and prints on paper. What are the best and worst things about owning your shop? We love owning MIXT - it is a great job! We have a lot of wonderful, loyal customers and suppliers who we have become good friends with over the years. We get to sell beautiful vintage and NZ made objects and support local designers - what is not to love? Worst things... Probably the scale of commitment required - we both work every day on the business, both in the shop and behind-the-scenes. What's your favourite creative outlet? Arranging the shop displays! Gardening, cooking and crafting with our beautiful daughter Violet (aka the 'Craft Queen') - Miranda

How do you find new designers / products to stock? This is one of the surprisingly difficult and time-consuming parts of the job - finding unique NZ made products that make our store stand out. We visit fairs, look online and increasingly new suppliers are contacting us directly as we have been around for so long and are well-known for supporting local makers. What song or album are you currently playing in the shop? We sell a range of CDs from NZ distributor Ode Records and have purchased a number to play in the shop - current faves are Ladi 6 and The Eastern and Waves. Where can people find you physical shop and on the web? MIXT is at 502-504 New North Road in Kingsland, Auckland. Best contact online is our Facebook page   All photographs taken by Liora, Toodles Noodles

2013 Summer Preview Collection

We are very excited to finally reveal our new season range which is launching this coming month! This year we are offering not one, not two, but four different calendars! The newest edition to the calendar family is the daily planner. With over 140 pages, this great planner will make those dauntingly busy days a bit easier. The 2014 desk calendar has some of our favourite illustrations plus a few new ones. It fits perfectly on your desk, wall, or countertop. Our wall calendar got a bit of a makeover this year emphasising more on the illustrations, still providing room to write notes on each day of the month, and a new notes column on each page. Our last preview for this post (yes, that's right more to come in later this week!) is the new 'stay awesome' tote printed in metallic gold on black 100% cotton bags. This print run will be limited so get one while you can! We hope you enjoy all the vibrant colours and fun graphics. It just makes us wish Summer was here already!  

More new products

A couple weekends ago I had the great pleasure of meeting up with the talented Natalie from Natalie Morgan Photography for yet another amazing photo shoot. I always love working with Natalie - she has such an amazing eye for detail and she knows exactly what I want without having to say a word. Here are some of her delightful images from our latest shoot for you to enjoy!  Also make sure to pop by her website and see what other incredible work she's done. If you wish to purchase any of these items - click here (with free shipping throughout NZ)!

In the spotlight - The Garden Party

  The lovely Anna Lim, owner of The Garden Party shares her story of how she started her shop and what she loves about being a store owner! Store Name: The Garden Party Your Name: Anna Lim Location: 71 Ponsonby Rd How did the idea of the store come about? My mother and my aunt were keen potters and needed some where to sell their hand painted plates.  (They loved painting them but the piles of plates under the beds were growing too large.  They knew that if they wanted to keep painting ceramics they had to find a way to sell them. I was wondering aimlessly round India and came back to help sell them and open The Garden Party.   We originally sold mainly NZ painted ceramics but quickly grew to sell all sorts of NZ designed and made products.  That was 20 years ago and we now find that there is a much wider variety of fabulous new and original NZ designed and made product than before.  New Zealanders and the rest of the world are appreciating the enormous talent here. Why the name? We liked the idea of parties and gardens and also Katherine Mansfield wrote a wonderful short story called The Garden Party. So we thought the name encapsulated fun, nature, New Zealand art and culture. What kind of products do you sell?  We sell anything we can find that we think is beautiful and amusing and designed in New Zealand.  We also sell some products that aren’t made in NZ but are so good we just have to sell them. What are the best and worst things about owning your shop? I love finding new and interesting stock.  And displaying it. We enjoy our local suppliers and craftspeople. Our customers are pretty lovely too!  Worst thing is getting a phone call at 8am on a Sunday morning from a sick staff member who can’t work that day and knowing your plans for that day have to be shelved. What's your favourite creative outlet?  Cooking followed by gardening and drawing. What are your top 5 websites/blogs at the moment and what makes them stand out? I like to check out ‘The Cool Hunter” regularly as they have phenomenal images of places and architecture.   I like The Denizen as it keeps me up to date with things happening locally. I have just purchased a pair of shoes from Anthropology in the states and I love their website as it has so much great stuff displayed clearly.  I am a big fan of Pinterest and I often get inspiration and repin beautiful images to our own pinterest page.  How do you find new designers / products to stock? I am always on the lookout for new and interesting products so I am always on the hunt.  I go to gift fairs, festivals, markets and lots of crafts people approach me directly.  Also the internet has become a good way of sourcing products. What song or album are you currently playing in the shop? Loving The Passenger, Sola Rosa’s brilliant Low and Behold, High and Behold  and am eagerly awaiting Mahoney Harris’s new album. Where can people find you physical shop and on the web? 71 Ponsonby Rd, Auckland and online

Dreaming Big

I read an interesting blog post today by a fellow small business owner here in New Zealand. Emma Makes is a fellow designer based in Featherston and put out a question that I struggle with everyday - how can we turn these small businesses we love into a fulltime, high grossing business. As a one woman show (owner, creater, account administrator, finance, admin, marketer) you become consumed with your vision. My vision - to be able to make this job I love into a full time , full fledged, high marketable and profitable business that people know and love. As a small business that produces mostly paper products - the price that one can charge on products is limited. So how does one take these profits and turn them into marketing material that creates a return? This year I have tried: giveaways, promo packets (submissions) to stores around New Zealand, Australia and the US, markets of all different sizes, facebook promotions - you name it! So what brings people to my site and more importantly my store? Even with all the google analytics and Etsy stats - I have yet to find the one golden ticket. The NZ Gift Fair this year was a great boost to the business. It brought in 14 new stores and a lot of recognition in the giftware industry. I also joined an Etsy team named Elite16 that has brought a lot of attention to my store. The investment in time that goes along with this team has definitely paid off with store stats being higher everyday, being on Etsy Find emails regularly and have even been approached by Etsy itself with interest in my products. But with all this great attention - how does one turn their love into a full time job that pays the bills? My only conclusion thus far is time. If you put in the time the rewards do come. Taking the time to create blog posts, making those cold calls to new stores, spending your Sunday's at a market. If you put in the love - people will take notice. I hope to be able to do a blog post like this one in the future but with the answer of how I turned my love into my fulltime day job. In the meantime watch this space and stay tuned!

The inspiring South Island, New Zealand

 Last week I was extremely lucky and went on holiday to my favourite part of New Zealand - the South Island. Don't get me wrong, I fell in love with this country six years ago when I came here for a holiday (and never quite left) but there is just something particularly magical about the South. The mountains look like giants, the plains are as vast as your eyes can see, the golden hour seems to last a lifetime and the air is perfectly clean.

This trip we spent four days in the township - Wanaka - where my Mr.'s parents have now built their dream home. My parents flew in from the US (yup, the big meet of the parents!) and we all relaxed, enjoyed some specular wine, food and company surrounded by the most magnificent mountain scenery. I was even lucky enough to stop into a few of my stockists while in town - it's always such a humbling and "someone pinch me" experience to see my products in shops.  After spending some time in Wanaka helping with the move, touring around some stupendous wineries it was time to travel further south!

I was extremely lucky this trip to see where my Mr. grew up, a teeny tiny township named Te Anau. It's not exactly a metropolis like my home town, Palo Alto, but his old family farm took my breath away.  It's no surprise the people from the South are so lovely, just look at where they live! From Te Anau we traveled into what really should be named one of the world wonders: Milford Sound. My parents and I planned to come on a cruise here five years ago but the trip was cancelled due to an earthquake - let me tell ya - it was worth the wait!  We all decided to do an overnight tour which meant we sailed alongside dolphins, saw rainbows, and woke up with fresh snow on the mountains. It really doesn't get more spectacular than that.

Here is a small list of my favourites from the trip:

• My parents love wine tasting when they come to New Zealand (who doesn't, right!), the Northburn winery has a fantastic antipasto platter that can be enjoyed on their spectacular lawns.
• There is a fantastic Wood Gallery just outside Wanaka passed Luggate - everything is made there on the premises by the owners. Their cheese boards are really something else.
• Another favourite winery that we visit every trip is Mt. Difficulty. It's become a tradition to come and have lunch here every time we come to visit Wanaka. They also now make a Chenin Blanc - delish!
• If you're traveling through Te Anau on your way to or from the Fiords, make sure to put Dunluce Bed & Breakfast on your list. Their hospitality, breakfast and decor was top notch!
• Lastly, here is the overnight cruise we took on Milford Sound. The crew was extremely friendly and knowledgable - highly recommended.

As you can see I have a strong love for New Zealand. It inspires me everyday with its beauty and lovely people. I hope you have enjoyed some of my pictures! x