My ebay dress

It is quite a few years now since I bought this dress on ebay. The seller was called the greetingcardlady, so I mentioned that I did cards too. Colleen had just started her own card business and we agreed to meet at the National Stationery show, which we were both going to. We met, clicked, became firm friends and later Colleen became my partner in American anzu. Who would have thought it all from a dress and all from ebay?!

Below is a picture of Colleen (on the right) and me in the office last week.

Colleen's visit

It has been a long pause from blogging indeed thanks to a truly vicious cold, but hopefully everything is back on track and I have lots to write about. As I mentioned before, my business partner Colleen came over last week and I had a lovely time showing her and her daughter the London sights from Tower Bridge, to Harrods food hall to the biggest sight of all the anzu office! We did lots of different things too such as going to the Royal Courts of justice and watching a case. It was great to see Colleen again, because as well as being partners we are great friends and actually met in a very unusual way. More about that tomorrow...

This is us doing our version of an America's next model photo shoot in a phonebox in Pimlico!

Blossom displays

With the danger of overwhelming you with yet more blossoms, there are a lot of beautiful window displays in London at the moment that are simply bursting with Spring. Here are a couple of examples I spotted on Bond St - the top one is a fine art shop and the bottom is the window of Asprey.

Blossom lined street

I can hardly believe that five days has gone by without adding to the blog, but it has been pretty hectic as I have been finishing the office off, my American business partner Colleen came over and I had a very small drinks party to settle into the office. I'll add a couple more things about this later, but in the meantime here are the photos of my street the way it looks at the moment. It looks almost as if there has been a flurry of snow the blossoms are so full. I especially like it because the entirely white blossoms line the full length of the street which is full of white stucco early Victorian buildings.

Fashion tea invite

As mentioned before on my blog, I have recently done work for Wellicious including them using my shop shelves image for a Fashion tea that they are taking part in at 23 Portland Place, London on Saturday 10th May. Above is the invite (click on it to make it bigger), which is also open to anzu blog readers. There will be lots of cool small designers such as The Alchemist and Mimi boutique selling their stuff, complementary beauty treatments and soothing cups of tea. So if you fancy pampering yourself RSVP to attend and to receive a goody bag to myfashiontea@wellicious.com

Why not? (no. 4)

Why not use one of these noticeboards to display cards in your shop? 

I have used this one in trade shows for years and it always draws attention to the product. You can find nice similar ones on ebay quite cheaply

The anzu office

Here are a couple of photographs of the new anzu office, which I can hardly believe is nearly done after four days intensive work on it. I especially love my old bakelite pyramid phone which has been converted into a light, the old Edwardian picture frame I got for peanuts on ebay and the floating book shelves. The bottom book cleverly slots around the base giving the illusion that the books are just floating on the wall. You can buy these from the quirky and fun online shop www.snow-home.co.uk

Anzu website

We have just updated the anzu website www.anzu.co.uk with all the new stuff! Please pay us a visit!

Leighton House

Having to work on getting the new office together, I am finding myself drawn to the whole idea of the Victorian artist's studio at the moment. One of the best examples of this is to be found not far from me in Holland Park, in Leighton house, the home of Pre-raphaelite painter Frederic Leighton. It has everything you would want from a Victorian studio - a copious number of easels, rugs, piles of books, a decorative screen, as well as an impressive collection of objet d'art collected during Leighton's many travels. The studio is no longer as it was, but much of the house is - below is a picture of the extraordinary Arab Hall. It's well worth a visit, visit www.rbkc.gov.uk/LeightonHouseMuseum for more information.

The new office!

Above is a little picture of the new office, which we have literally just moved into. It's got good light, is a reasonable size and has wooden floors and I can't wait to start working on it! There is quite a bit of arranging, a number of boxes to be unpacked, and some painting to be done. Today, I am waiting for a Dutch colonial antique cabinet to arrive that I ordered in Sri Lanka. It goes to show how expensive things in England are that even with the shipping, it works out way cheaper than buying it here and I am really looking forward to getting it. So keep checking back, and hopefully there will be some good "after the makeover" shots!

Lovebirds

Around this time, the birds around my flat get incredibly noisy, which I find amazing considering I live in central London. I don't know much about birdsong, but there seem to be quite a number of different calls and they sound quite exotic. It is beautiful and so intense that sometimes when I wake and have my eyes closed I can almost imagine I'm in the middle of a rainforest. Unfortunately, it does happen at four in the morning so I do get a little sleep deprived around this time! My friend Andrea told me that they are all looking for mates and that is why they are singing so intently. Last year, the calls slowly dwindled off one by one as no doubt they all happily paired off, except for one sorry chap who continued for months afterwards. I can only think he was left on his own. Anyway, all this got me to thinking that I should paint a little lovebirds image to put on a card, and here's the finished article!

Summer time

Hooray!! One hour less sleep last night, but the start of British summer time (if that's not a contradiction in itself). Here's hoping it's a little bit warmer than last year!

Spanish meadows

I just realised that I hadn't mentioned on my blog about my lovely trip to Seville over Easter. It was totally wonderful from the Semana Santa (Holy week) celebrations, to the delicious tomato salads to the air that smelt so strongly of orange blossom and rosemary. But the most wonderful thing about the trip was possibly the countryside outside of Seville, especially around El Real de Jara. I had thought Spain was arid and rugged, so it was a complete surprise to see lush green fields and the most beautiful meadows overflowing with flowers. There was wild lavender everywhere, sprinkles of white across the fields because they were full of daisies, yellow flowering bushes that looked almost like oncidium orchids, dry stone walls, and fields full of grazing cattle and little black pigs. It would be hard not to be inspired by a meadow full of purple, yellow and white flowers being visited by bees and cabbage butterflies, so expect meadows to crop up in some anzu designs before the year is out!

Why not? (3)

We've been busy trying to think of display ideas at anzu, so to continue with our blogs on this theme, why not use a desk, or jewellery box with drawers to display cards? The drawers can be pulled out and used to stock the selection. I saw a particularly effective display of our cards in the General Trading company, where they had used a bureau with a line of drawers, which were pulled out and filled with our men's cards all the way up to the till.

Chinoiserie

As you may know I love Chinoiserie, and I always think of anzu illustrations as being essentially English but influenced by Asian design be it Japanese, Chinese or even Tibetan. I think that cross between East and West often results in something special and different. Chinoiserie started in the seventeenth century, with the West translating traditional Chinese images and decorating everything from china to cabinets to architecture with them. Preoccupation with Chinese styles was so strong that whole Chinese villages were even built in Sweden and Russia, and rulers such as Augustus the Strong built Chinese summer style palaces. Aside from the look of it, I love that chinoiserie often captures an exotic fairyland, full with cobweb bridges, bamboo pavilions overlooking lakes filled with water-lilies, vases full of lotuses, and swinging lanterns. So I have decided to do a new Chinoiserie range to launch in Summer. Some of you may remember our previous collection, but I am working at the moment on a variety of new images for a new range on the same theme, and in addition bringing back a couple of popular discontinued images such as the Screen vase above (currently only available in the US). Keep checking back for more details!

Easter

I love Easter, finally winter feels like it is at an end, I really like all the spring colours of mauve and sunny yellow, and shops like Fortnum and Masons on Piccadilly are such a treat with their displays of Easter hatboxes and chocolate boxes decorated with bees, hummingbirds and rabbits.

My Slovenian friend was also telling me all about how they celebrate Easter there, and I'd love to do something similar here. In her hometown of Ptuj they have family and friends round and have a big ham, salami, Russian potato salad, eggs, milk bread, and most importantly copious amounts of champagne! In Scandinavia, people decorate with vases full of pussy willows and pale birch branches from which they hang brightly coloured feathers and little decorations, which I also like the sound of. Have a great Easter weekend!

Above image: our new Jewelled egg card

Why not? (2)

To continue with our display idea posts, why not use teddy bears to hold our teddy bears' picnic card, or to display children's cards hang them on a make-shift washing line along with pastel coloured babygros or socks? Everything is always so cute in miniature and I think our small gift enclosure cards look really sweet with these little baby socks.

Atonement

I have been eagerly waiting for Atonement to come out on dvd, not because I especially liked the film, but because I love the interiors and the quintessential English look of the first half of it. As I am still working on getting things together for my new office and adore that 1930s English look, (which I try and get in my painting as much as possible), it is particularly inspiring to me. I love the floral blue bedroom wallpaper, the 30s silk dressing gowns, the faded chintz armchairs, the varied floral prints in the nursery, and even the bunch of stocks and garden flowers Keira Knightley gathers. It was filmed at Shropshire mansion Stokesay Court, and surprisingly (because it looks as if it somehow has a modern take on a traditional look), the original 1892 interiors of the house weren't changed much for the film.

Glass slippers, nightingales, and elves

Looking through my books for inspiration this weekend, I pulled out my book of Hans Andersen stories, which had also been my Dad's when he was a child. Even though I grew up with the illustrations, everytime I look at it I am still amazed at the elegance, wit and at times surprising edginess of Rex Whistler's drawings (see top left). The other book is a selection of stories illustrated by Edmund Dulac, whose designs are delicately coloured and totally magical. I am often asked which illustrators I admire, and I find many are children's book illustrators, whether it's E.H.Shephard and his sensitive and witty drawings for Winnie the Pooh, or John Tenniel and his woodcuts for Alice in Wonderland. Ivan Bilibin is another favourite - his illustrations are decorative and rich with Russian folklore of extravagantly dressed Kings, mystical forests and carved wooden architecture (see below).

Display ideas (part 1)!

We thought for all buyers out there, it would be fun to come up with some different ways to display cards in your shop. Doing trade shows myself, I know that cards aren't always the easiest things to display so keep checking in because we'll be posting lots of ideas.

This first one is a really decorative and space effective way of displaying cards. You could use ribbon or string, and string across/down walls, behind your till or across picture frames as above. Below, Jasmine has pegged (if there is such a word!) them onto different strands of pearls.

Cornwall work

Just putting my work in a folder to go to the scanners, and thought I'd post a little selection of some of the paintings I did in Cornwall. We really need a more comprehensive range of business stationery for ourselves, so I've been working on designs for a new Anzu letterhead, compliment sheets, invoices etc.

The Lost gardens of Heligan

I have been on a little working holiday in Cornwall the past few days. I totally love Cornwall, whether it's the rugged almost beautifully surreal landscape with crashing waves against steep cliffs, to the Manderley style old manor houses with rooks circling overhead, to the cute little candy coloured fishing villages. Plus it also happens to be the home of the cream tea! The light is so good that painting down there is great, plus my mobile never works so I always manage to get a lot done. It is a great place to be inspired and this time I paid a visit to the Lost gardens of Heligan. For those of you who haven't been, Heligan was the seat of the Tremayne family for more than four hundred years. Hidden by bramble and ivy, this sleeping nineteenth century garden had been lost but has now been restored so you can see the gardens in all their glory. A highlight is the large tropical garden known as "the jungle" full of the finds of Victorian plant hunters, banana palms and giant rhubarb. Above is a photo of a section of this, and below is the gardener's shed. I love the basic, rustic look of it, with the old teapot and the brick walls but with the loving touches of a roaring fire and a vase of anemones. To read more about Heligan, visit their website on www.heligan.com The beginning is enchanting.

Decorating my office

I might not have actually found my new office yet, but that hasn't stopped me decorating it (in my head anyway). My home is neutral and simple, so for the office I want something completely different. I would like it to have English chintzy chairs, old cabinets, ferns and plenty of inspiration boards. I can't wait! Above is my idea pinboard for it, and below is a Paul Smith interior that I really like.

Bringing up Baby offer

To celebrate the March paperback release of Bringing up Baby by Daisy Goodwin with anzu drawings and lettering on the cover, and packed full of anzu illustrations we would like to offer English and US trade customers 10% off our piglet range for children and babies on orders placed in March.

Above and below: Images from Bringing up Baby, published by Hodder & Stoughton.

Happy Mother's Day!

I would like to say Happy Mother's Day to my Mum, whom some of you may have met at some of the trade shows and who is also my agent in the North, and to say a big thank you to her for everything and for doing such a brilliant job for anzu!

Notebooks

I always keep notebooks (really visual diaries) full of images I like, written ideas and descriptions, and little sketches. I find them invaluable to refer to when I'm working on a new collection as I am now, and for evolving my style. These are my notebooks from Japan.

PIE books

I love books published by PIE. Unfortunately, they are expensive but they have so many great, inspiring graphic and packaging designs in them that I just can't resist. I just got this book "Shop images in London". It doesn't come across in my photo, but it was a lovely surprise to see the designs I did for the Berkeley pret a portea featured in it. I had no idea they were going to be in there!

The Hummingbird bakery

I popped down the road to lunch with my friend Julia today and we couldn't help but stop by at the Hummingbird bakery on Portobello road. The cakes are sweet but moist and with treats like red velvet cupcakes, yellow vanilla cake, and lemon meringue pie who could resist? I also think the name Hummingbird bakery is so enchanting. To me hummingbirds conjure up images of elegant irridescent feathered birds in tropical gardens overflowing with flowers such as hibiscus and verbenas in vivid shades of red, orange and bright pink. Funny, how much cupcakes seem to have become a craze here in the past few years, and I have to say I am certainly guilty of contributing to this trend having munched my way through a fair number and even having painted them on my cards (see my painted cupcake image below)!

Cupcakes card

Anzu

For those of you who have been asking, anzu means apricot in Japanese. I love apricots, apricot blossoms (which are pink or white) and I love Japan so that's why I picked anzu. Apricots also appear in Midsummer Night's dream as an aphrodisiac, so what more could you want? I started my business after an inspirational trip to Japan (it made me want to pick up the paint brush again) so I knew I'd like to have a Japanese name for my company. Japan really is a mecca to illustrators; there is quirky illustration everywhere, it is fantastic to see Geisha walking by you in their exquisite hand-painted silks, and I love that attention to quality and beauty there is second to none, whether it is kaiseki cuisine or ikebana flower arrangements.

There also happens to be a cocktail called anzu! It is made with

1 1/2 oz gin

1 oz apricot brandy

1 oz Cointreau orange liqueur

1 tsp lemon juice

Shake with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and serve. Enjoy!