Our Daily Bread

Apologies for the infrequency of our blog posts - the price we pay for living in the beautiful Malvern Hills is that our Internet connection has been very temperamental of late and rather than spending hours trying to upload and write our blog, the precious times the connection is live orders and website updates take priority!
It may be due to the excessive wet weather, although that seems to have worked wonders in the garden, although we need some sun to bring out our cut flower garden in time for our next photo shoot.
We are in the throws of adding a new colour to the Ochre And Ocre range for Autumn, and as ever it involves lots of planning, analysis of order quantities, and brochure pagination and copy. I do love doing the photo shoots, as Rachel Spivey is such fun to work with, and as a self confessed lover of ceramics, it is the perfect excuse to pick up some lovely new/new preloved),  bits to use in the shoot. Our office is becoming a bit crowded at the moment!

Challah (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As a break from all the planning, I am really getting into bread making at the moment. The Aga is as close to a real bread oven you can get, and it gives you a really tasty loaf. One of my latest creations was goats cheese and sun dried tomato, and next on the list is a blackened chorizo. I was lucky enough to get along to one of the Aga demonstations recently, and picked up a few new tips, although I've yet to be brave enough to prove the bread overnight in the fridge.
I really only get chance to get kneading at the weekend, but the results never seem to last into the week.
If the wet weather lets up the vegetable patch will also need some attention, and it is looking very wild at the moment, but my new venture this year of fennel seems to be doing really well, unlike the peas, where the rabbits have been on a wild rampage.
We seem to be over run with rabbits at the moment, and whilst it is nice to sit and watch the baby bunnies frolicking on the lawn, serious vengeance is required after a visit to the garden where holes and dug up plants are everywhere. Baby Ochre particularly loves them, as his favourite soft toy is Peter Rabbit, so I'm not sure how he would feel if his Mummy started pest control patrols!

Illustration of Peter Rabbit from The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rain Rain Go Away....

I know we needed the rain, but since it's started it hardly seems to have eased up. Fingers crossed it is just April showers as we have to plant up our veg plot. Last years effort was a bit half hearted, due to the early arrival of Baby Ochre, but this year we have good intentions of using all the raised beds as well as the greenhouse. We (that being the Royal we) have managed to plant a few rows of potatoes, but so far that's it! 

Our new lawn mowers have arrived for the Spring / Summer season; 3 sheep and 6 lambs. They have already settled in well, exploring our orchard and the lambs bouncing and skipping around. Puppy Ochre is particularly taken with them, and takes any opportunity to slip out of the office to sit and watch them through the gate.

On the business side for Ochre And Ocre our latest wholesale customer is the very lovely Webbs of Wychbold, and Ryton, the Organic Garden Centre. Both excellent days out, if you are near either we thoroughly recommend popping in.

With no shows this year, it is nice not having to load and unload stock and props, and it does give us more time to forward plan; we have decided on our new Autumn colourway. Weather permitting it would be great to get some shots in the garden, instead of the week before Christmas like we usually do! I just hope we can tear Rachel Spivey away from her summer weddings for a trip to the Malvern Hills one ( hopefully fine) day!

Happy New Year - finally!!

Why finally you ask?? Because I have been woefully tardy on updating our blog, but I do have good intentions of keeping it more up to date this year! (New Year resolutions and all that!)
We have already had a busy start to the year at Ochre HQ - the Clearance sale has been going great guns, and it is great to start seeing some empty space on the store shelves. Just in time as our new addition to our British Collection, Katie is arriving shortly. We had a great photo shoot with our photographer pal Rachel Spivey just before Christmas.(a sneaky peak at one of the new images below). It was a lovely clear day, which gave our images a beautiful winter light. We have been laying out our new brochure, and trying a few new things in there to give it a revamp.
We are also working on giving our newsletter a fresh look and have a new feature that we are very excited about starting in February. More on that in a later blog.
Our annual trip to the Spring fair is only a few weeks away as well - and we have been updating our stand ready for the wholesale crowd. So as you can read, although we've been quiet we certainly haven't been putting our feet up, it's full steam ahead here ready for an exciting year at Ochre And Ocre!

Baby Ochre

I think I have a fairly good excuse for not updating my blog for nearly a month - we were somewhat taken by surprise by the early arrival of Baby Ochre. 4 weeks early, and weighing in at a light 5lb 8oz, our daily routine has been slightly disrupted.

Fortunately he sleeps most of the day, unfortunately not much at night time. So although I have peace to sort things out in the office, make calls and pack orders during the daytime, lack of sleep is making it hard to concentrate, and stay awake!
I know the common advice given is to sleep during the day, but unfortunately it wasn't just us who were caught out by the early arrivals, the builders were still in full demolishing mode, so during the day jack hammers, steel saws and cement mixers whirl. Whilst Baby Ochre seems blissfully unaware, and snores away softly, I cannot sleep through the noise. So instead I blurringly try to continue with my daily jobs, inbetween feeding, nappy changing, and making countless cups of tea for the builders.
Once again our lovely customers have been very understanding, and patiently leaving phone messages with the answer service, so that I can call them back when I have a free hand, (I quickly realised I couldn't hold the phone, baby and write at the same time!). I also had to time the calls in between the power tools, so I could at least hear the customer at the other end of the line!
I know when it's all done it will be fab - I'm hoping it will be ready in time for an Autumn photoshoot with the lovely Miss Spivey, so we can shoot the new ranges for our Spring brochure. In the meantime I am getting quite adept at cooking on a single ring camping stove, and typing one handed as Baby Ochre snores softly in the crook of my arm.

Autumn

Apologies, I know this poor blog has been sadly neglected as of late, but in the Ochre And Ocre world lots of Autumn fairs have been keeping us busy.
We are very excited to have received our new sample colourways of Isabella And Madelaine, ready for the Spring launch, and we are just starting to pull together the props for our forthcoming photoshoot.
Once again aided and abetted by the talented photographer, Rachel Spivey, we will hopefully be working our magic to turn a kitchen showroom into a homely, chic kitchen.
On the home front, the Autumn harvest has been done, our giant pumpkins are picked, the last of the marrows despatched to willing recipients, (I don't think I will put in quite so many Courgette plants next year!), and the apples are picked ready for storing. All around us on the Malvern Hills, the trees are starting to turn their leaves, the fern has been cut down, and the smell of bonfires is in the air, as people tidy up their gardens before the winter. I promise I will get out there with my camera soon, so I can post a few pics of the beautiful scenery around us, but for now I must get on with making Lavender Hearts in preparation for the photoshoot!

Birthday Celebrations!

The excitement is building at Ochre And Ocre HQ, as we approach our 2nd Birthday next week! We launched the website two years ago in pessimistic times, the recession was looming, the press were critical, but we were optimistic, wet behind the ears, and ready for a new challenge. Fortunately we survived - and having learnt a huge amount in two years we are looking forward to our third year of trading.

In the past year we have added over 32 new lines, with our lovely new British Collection, exclusively designed for Ochre And Ocre by Lindsey Joyce. Our new brochure is printed and awaiting despatch in September, a huge thank you to Rachel Spivey for some beautiful photography. We have also added some more gifts and hampers, all with that chic Ochre and Ocre twist - making it easy to find a Gift solution.

Not content to rest on our laurels work is already underway for new additions to our range next Spring. Samples are being finalised and photoshoots planned.

We have over 20 shows this Autumn, including attending the huge Spirit of Christmas in London for the first time. We will post the dates and locations nearer the time for our Autumn shows.

You can now also buy Ochre And Ocre at a select range of lovely independents, including the gorgeous homewares shop Tinsmiths in Ledbury, the green Herb Farmacy in Hay, Kettles in Dunkeld, and GreenDays in Crieff.

So if you would like to join us in a toast, please raise your glass to

" Ochre And Ocre, Year Three...the adventure continues!"

Christmas!

Ok - I know it's not technically Christmas, but for Ochre And Ocre we had a an early celebration yesterday. With help from the glamorous Rachel Spivey and her trusty assistant Linda, along with Julia Mitchell, we transformed the private dining room at Ettington Park Hotel into a stylish Christmas scene.

Firstly I should mention the Hotel - 'cos it was gorgeous! Ettington Park Hotel felt like you were stepping back into time to a more glamorous age - the rooms were all beautifully decorated, with high ceilings, wooden panelling, and fine paintings adorned the walls. Sumptuous drapes on the windows, beautiful antiques and fresh flowers everywhere. You felt as if one should be partaking of afternoon tea. Unlike many establishments of this type the staff could not be more helpful and friendly. They were very courteous, smiled and said hello, and you felt like it was a place you could really relax.
We were using one of the private dining rooms for the shoot, a beautiful panelled room with stained glass windows and painted inscriptions. It was perfect for a Christmas shoot.
As Julia had said when preparing the flowers it is very hard trying to get into the Christmas spirit when it's hot and muggy outside. Another problem is finding flowers that would be in season in December. But the flowers looked fantastic - and smelt divine. Not just because of the flowers, but she had used mint and Rosemary in the arrangements, which mingled with the smell of the warm beeswax candles, the smells were certainly evocative of Christmas. Look out for lots of tips from Julia in our Autumn newsletters.

We had a tight window in which to take the pictures, sandwiched between the breakfast and dinner shift, but with a lot of hard work, no lunch, (sorry guys!), and concentration we pulled off two completely different looks in a few hours.

The photographers Rachel and Linda

 Attached our a few pics of the shoot in progress, the "proper" pictures you will have to wait until the Autumn when they will be on the Ochre And Ocre website.

Julia Mitchel at work

Lights, camera action..

Photoshoots and Brochures

The sunshine may have disappeared - although hopefully only temporarily, but I am still finding it hard to settle down and start and finish one thing, there are so many things happening in the world of Ochre and Ocre at the moment.

The shoot went well with Rachel Spivey last week for our Christmas brochure, and the lovely Lindsey Joyce is putting the finishing touches to the artwork. Lindsey seems to be so multi talented - not only coping with Isabella and Madelaine, (her children not our designs!), but she also seems to work all hours on different graphic design projects. I can't wait to see the finished brochure - a whole 20 pages!! It feels almost like we are launching all over again.

Last night I trekked across to the depths of Northamptonshire - to a very pretty little village called Walgrave, to give a talk to the local WI. It was my first proper talk, so I was quite apprehensive, but the ladies were all very welcoming and soon put me at ease. They seemed to find the Ochre story interesting, and had quite a few questions at the end.It was interesting when I asked for a show of hands to gauge how many people shopped online to see that only a few put their hands up. Hopefully the new brochure will help to expand us into a whole new our customer base.
Next week we are teaming up with Rachel again, this time for a full on Christmas sparkly glamour shoot! (No models but loads of gorgeous table linen!). We are very fortunate that the lovely people at Ettington Park Hotel have allowed us the use of their beautiful chapel. I am really excited as this time we will also have the support of another talented lady - Julia Mitchell. Julia does some really beautiful flower arrangements and will be helping to dress two very different Christmas looks. I met Julia through WIRE, and she has a very similar background career wise to me. It's lovely seeing people taking the risks, and doing a complete career change especially when it works as well as Julia's.
Later on in the year you will be able to see more of Julia's work, and she will also be sharing some of her tips for dressing the perfect dinner table.

Spring Has Sprung!

It's lovely sitting in the office first thing in the morning - the sun streams through the windows, and Edgehill Escarpment shimmers in the background. Outside in the garden the first of the bulbs are peeping through, and with lighter nights it will soon be t shirt weather!
Even the bulldog has taken to sauntering around the garden more, sniffing the air - as opposed to the dash across the lawn and jog back when it's cold.

We are mainly preparing for the Country Living show this week - packing up boxes and suitcases - preparing labels, and swatch cards, and bubble wrapping props. As ever the age old question is just how much stock should we take, especially with the new additions.
A lot depends on how much we can physically stuff into the car!

I'm also catching up with Rachel Spivey this week - officially to finally drop off her long overdue stock of the new Polka Dot range - part payment for her fab photos. Unofficially because she is taking me to a new haberdashery shop that has opened in Leamington Spa - we both have big dreams of making lots of new clothes and tarting up old ones, but at the moment neither of us have got much further than talking about it! I tend to spend my evenings sewing Lavender Hearts are sticking fabric into swatch cards. Apparently the shop is stuffed with beautiful ribbons and fabric, but knowing I've got a busy few weeks ahead I must be strong and not buy too many new projects!
 

Knobs and Whistles

Image by waferboard via Flickr

Our first big wholesale show is fast approaching - and despite having attended it for over 15 years as a Buyer, being on the other side fills me with nervous anticipation!
We were very excited when our giant backdrops arrived this week, which will form part of our stand. Using images of the Fired Earth kitchens taken by Rachel Spivey, the full size kitchens look really impressive.
One of my important jobs this week was knob buying, (no jokes please!), as we want to make the 2D image 3D. Now I can't take any of the credit for this cunning plan, but our thanks do go to Jo Verity, who before she became jewelery and homewares designer she was a visual merchandiser, and so has a brilliant eye for all things display. (Her stands at shows are always works of art).
With the knobs duly purchased and matchpot paint to paint the knobs we tried to mock up the layout for the show.
Our hall temporarily became exhibition space, with tape and rulers marking out the space. I filled up the hall with mannequins, small tables, and all our other props, and I am relieved to say it seems to be coming together. Unfortunately / and fortunately a phonecall from the estate agents requesting a viewing of our house cut short the pre run, and I had to lug all the props back into the store. There followed a period of Monica like madness where I hoovered, dusted and polished and titivated the house in readiness for the viewing.
But I think we are nearly there; the invitations have gone out, the samples are nearly ready, so I just need to get busy with the velcro and knobs!

Happy New Year!

Sorry - I know my blog is belated, and neglected after the chaos of Christmas and all the build up to it!
The good news is our photoshoot for our new Ochre And Ocre British Collection went really well. Timing wise it was quite hairy, with the samples arriving on the Friday, and the shoot on Monday, Christmas week. Leaving me a weekend to iron everything, make Lavender bags, cushions, and sort out suitable props.
The shoot day arrived and it was very icy and snowy - but with a car laden with boxes of samples, food for propping and eating, plus a wide selection of plates, bowls, glasses, and cutlery. (I knew there was a reason I keep buying gorgeous ceramics!).
I was really thrilled to have found a gem of a photographer in Rachel Spivey - a talented soul, she has a real passion for her role, and was really easy to work with.Do take the time to check out her website, as she covers a really wide range of topics, from corporate to weddings and even burlesque!
We took over the top floor of the Fired Earth studios in Adderbury, with our boxes, lights, and equipment. Luckily as it was Christmas week, and their sale had not yet started it was really quiet. A few customers who did wander up the stairs, were not at all worried that the lights were off, and we had some really positive feedback on the new ranges.
The Fired Earth colours complimented the new range perfectly, (or is it vice versa?), either way it was a match made in heaven.
We were done and dusted in a day, and we are thrilled with the results. Rachel was a real star and worked on the images over Christmas, enabling us to get them our first week back.
(We might of snuck away for a small break over Christmas, but I don't think anyone noticed!)
It's now full steam ahead with preparations for the Spring Fair at the NEC in February. Stand planning, price lists, invites, the list seems fairly endless, and as its the first time there is bound to be something we have forgotten. Plus I'm hoping to shoe horn in a days trip to Portugal to go through the sampling, and cover all the points required for the new production. So a busy start to 2010, but an exciting one too!

Delaying tactics

Image via Wikipedia

I don't know if anyone else has this problem or maybe its just me - but when it comes to doing something I don't really enjoy, I manage to find 101 things to do instead.
I dread getting the Bank statement through the post, as it means I need to update the accounts, and tackle SAGE. I don't mind analysing sales, best sellers etc, but somehow just entering numbers doesn't do it for me, so I seem to find lots of other things to do - hence writing the blog now. Well I did need to update it!
We are not so much winding down for Christmas at the moment, as gearing ourselves up for a 2 day photoshoot next week. I went and met our new photographer on site yesterday just to check the layout and lighting levels, and to go through the shot options and styling. Then a quick trip round Sainsbury's to get some food props - if anyone had looked in my trolley they would think  I had a strange diet of red onions, cherry tomatoes and garlic.
Luckily when it comes to the ceramics I have lots of prop options - from my time as Kitchenware buyer at Allders to  Gift Buyer at Wedgwood - I've always had a penchant for nice ceramics. Add in a few cookbooks, pestle & mortar, and pepper grinder and we are good to go. Apart from the one vital ingredient; the new samples themselves.
It has been a frustrating week, rearranging dates, chasing Portugal for information, and now waiting on TNT to deliver the goods. A true Virgo, I like to be organised, and had started work on the new range months ago, but my attempts have been thwarted at every turn. The danger with no time between the samples arriving and the shoot itself means if they are not quite right there is nothing we can do.
Fortunately Rachel Spivey our photographer seems very organised, and judging by the shots on her online portfolio a great eye as well.
So another delaying tactic from the accounts at the moment is to keep checking the TNT site for delivery updates...........
Ok - I'll get on with the accounts, but I might just check the weather forecast first!