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!
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)!
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
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!
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
This weekend we had the great honour of having our latest products photographed by the very talented Natalie Morgan. Her attention to detail, use of light, and ability to catch the moment is just remarkable! Here are a few sneak peek images of our new fabric gift wrap. Doesn’t it just look devine? These can currently be purchased at:
Found My Way – Invercargill
Gifted Design Store – Wanaka
Madame Fancy Pants – Wellington
The Storehouse – Taupo
Can’t wait to show you all the other new products and how well they were captured by Natalie. But both you and I will have to wait until after Easter! Who knows we might just do another sale on our store with the big reveal. x
Here is our third and final post about the Gift Fair this past month. For being our first expo / professional trade fair we are quite proud of our wee stand, which received some fantastic feedback. But we couldn’t have done it without the help of some very important and talented people.
Our stand layout was designed by the very clever Shaye Woolford from On My Hand. Shaye was fantastic in helping us layout the booth, figure out what props to use and she even hand painted our sign – what a clever cookie! These lovely images were taken by the super talented Coralee, who did an exceptional job. Our booth had the misfortune of having the overhead lights out and one very bright spotlight – so you can imagine she had her work cutout for her. Also a big thank you to Rachael from Made from Scratch for taking time out of her super busy schedule in helping man the stall and calming the nerves.
And of course as mentioned before the great support and time of my partner and friends for helping me along the way!
Thank you again everyone for following this journey!
Shop, Toodles Noodles | Photography, Coralee | Styling, On My Hand | Support, Made From Scratch |
Well the Gift Fair has come and gone. It was a great learning experience for our wee company! Three full days of selling your product is hard work – especially when everything you’re selling is your own designs. But all the hard work has paid off and we are currently in the process of filling orders from 20 new retailers around New Zealand!
We will be updating our retailers section of the website very soon with all our new stockists information but in the mean time are happy to announce that you will now be able to find us in Taupo, Hanmer Springs, Christchurch, Wanganui, Hamilton and many other locations around this beautiful country.
Also coming soon to the website will be all the new designs we created in time for the Gift Fair. Including our new range of tote bags, fabric gift wrap, invitations, and some new prints and greeting cards!
Thanks everyone for your amazing support along the way, On My Hand for the styling, and stay tuned for some professional photographs by the super talented Coralee and a wonderful blog post by the lovely Made From Scratch coming soon!
x
Hello everyone – can I get a big hip hip hooray for Friday?!
What a week – we’ve been going non stop since….well I think the last 14 days! The Gift Fair this past week was a great success and am excited to announce that we have about 20 new retailers in cities including Hanmer Springs, Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland, and Taupo! It’s so exciting to see how this company has gone from an idea back in March 2011 to a full business just 2 years later! I cannot say it enough, this all could not be possible without your constant feedback and support – so thank you all very very much!
Just a couple other announcements, we are currently having a FLASH SALE on our Facebook page for all the new tote bags and fabric giftwrap! Sale ends noon, Friday NZDT so get in quick. Stock may be unlimited but the sale is so make sure to stock on up! Also, we will be back at the Ponsonby Central Carpark Market this Sunday from 10 – 3 so if you’re in the neighbourhood make sure to hop on over and check it out!
- Chai tea smores sound sinfully delicious and like the perfect treat after a long week!
- Love the simplicity of this pencil set from Father Rabbit.
- Printed on real maple wood in their studio in Ohio, these invites are perfect for all those farm weddings!
- Looking for that gift for the person who has everything? Well, I think you found it…
- These 100% cotton scarves are perfect for every outfit in any season.
- Saw these guys at the Gift Fair and just loved their design and smell, plus NZ made - bonus!
Have a fantastic everyone and hope to see some of you on Sunday! x
This weekend we’re participating in our first ever trade fair! It runs for three days, from 9am – 6pm where they expect to have about 6,000 attendees…! Yikes!
We are super excited to take this giant step for our company! We have been working nonstop getting ready for the big event: creating marketing material, product catalogs, getting items for our stand together and new products! We are sorry if the blog and social media sites have been a wee bit quiet this past week, but we promise you have not been forgotten! On the contrary, we’ve been working nonstop on lovely new designs and products that we are very excited to show you later in the week!
If you are attending the Gift Fair, we will be in Hall 5, stand 5040! Hope to see you there!
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