Playtime Tokyo Part 2 - I loved...

the little quote jar 

You may wonder why am I going to fairs like Playtime Tokyo - after all I am not running a business related to kids fashion... Well, here are a couple of reasons:

• I am looking for trends and inspiration. Trend Spaces at Playtime never fail to inspire me.
• I am creating party decoration for kids, and I like to understand where kids fashion goes.
• I am looking for contacts and meeting up with like-minded people or small business owners.
• I am naturally curious and I love sharing with others new finds & exceptional people!

Here below are a few of my (new and old) favorites, at least the ones I could snap a (good!) photo of. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I will continue to share some of my favs later in March after I have received all the materials from the different brands. 

   #TimeCapsules & Little Quote Jar by Anouk Van Der El

The Dutch label was presenting their TimeCapsule and launching the Little Quote Jar at Playtime Tokyo. Making memories and keeping the little trinkets that mark a childhood or another major life event such as a wedding or a graduation is made easy (and stylish!) with a TimeCapsule. The kit includes stickers, tags, a notebook, tape and more ... and there is enough space for a few keepsakes to be included as well: your baby's first shoes, favorite blanket, drawings, etc... Seal the box and put a note when it must be opened and you are all done!

The Little Quote Jar is also a brillant idea: can't remember something funny that your 4-year-old said the other day? Just grab a pencil and memo, write it down and insert it in the jar. You can open it at the end of the year and have a good laugh together - and maybe make a book of it?

:: TimeCapsules is on Facebook and Instagram (@makehistoryco) ::

 TimeCapsule's kit

   #nunu by Miki Nuiya

Winner of the magazine Milk's coup de coeur award this season, nunu's collection presents timeless pieces with a distinctive flair and an attention to details, simply adorable. And made in Japan.

:: nunu is on Facebook and has an online shop ::

   #Sophia203 by Sophia Edstrand 

I have been following Sophia's Instagram feed since last year, which is just full of photos ofher astonishing hand-embroidered accessories + inspirational photos. The color combos, the themes and the materials Sophia is using for her collections give you a Sense of Wonder, which is the name of her first line for little girls that was presented at Playtime. Sparkling hair accessories, elegant belts, pretty bracelets, fabulous brooches... in the brand's most iconic designs: butterflies, stars, hearts, clouds or angel wings. Your turn to borrow your daughter's accessories!

:: Sophia203 can be found on Facebook, Instagram (@sophia203) and the website is coming soon ::

the butterfly brooch that stole my heart...

   #Le Petit Lucas du Tertre by Marie Lucas & Clemence du Tertre

If I liked their Spring/Summer 2014 collection last August for the prints & colours, I just LOVED this winter collection. The mix & match of stripes with their gorgeous jacquards, the funny details such as the dressed up doggy seen in the photo below... Lucky me to have a daughter to spoil next winter!

:: LPLDT can be found online on Facebook & check out their terrific website ::

Don't you fall for the pieces above? by Le Petit Lucas du Tertre

Upcoming posts will include sneak peeks at collections by Arch & Line, Les Enfantines, Kallio, Wonder, Gigome... Stay tuned!

You can read the Part 1 of this report on Trend Spaces here.

Playtime Tokyo Part 1 - Trend Spaces

 Illustration by Postics (Ken Mizoguchi)

Hello!

I am really happy to report on Playtime Tokyo again this season - I attended their last August's edition, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was twice as big! About 230 Japanese and international brands were presenting their Fall/ Winter 2014-15 collections and there was much to discover indeed. It was also their 10th edition and it felt special, Happy Birthday Playtime Tokyo!

I have written two posts, introducing first the fun and inspiring trend spaces and the artists who created them (Part 1), then some photos of items I had a crush on (Part 2). Expect some more posts in the near future on my fav brands too! 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Ever since its creation in 2007, each year Playtime selects a new artist to illustrate its fairs. Let me introduce you to illustrator Ken Mizoguchi of Postics who has created the absolutely wonderful illustrations for all three Playtime Paris, New York and Tokyo this and the past season (see photo above and here . I am totally inspired by the cute and playful characters that interact magically in all three designs!

 above: collector T-Shirt & huge balloons at the entrance ♡

Trend Spaces/ Theme: LIGHT

TREND SPACE #1
Divine Light
Artist: Noa Haim of Collective Paper Aesthetics

"Teleported to the heart of the Bizantine empire, our little lovelies get transformed into icons. Gold adorned garments. Prints in mosaic or stained glass patterns. Cardinal red inflames the outfits."
Source: Playtime Tokyo

TREND SPACE #2
Fireworks
Artist: Nuico

"In a outburst of colours, tones explode and are projected and multiplied, to offer the lightest of light shows. Night lights up thanks to neons, flares and other kinds of artificial lighting. Shadows make room for light." Source: Playtime Tokyo

above: jumper by imps&elfs / skirt by mim-pi / cap by ten / umbrella by ready mades

above: jumper by ami amie / skirt by picnik barcelona

TREND SPACE #3
Aurora Borealis
Artist: Soya Asae of Morning Picture

"In the light of dawn, the ice floe reflects the colours of the plumes slicing the arctic sky. Swaddled in their downy clothing, protected from the polar chill, our little angels watch peacefully as the dawn of a new day rises."
Source: Playtime Tokyo

above: pullover by ami amie / pants by nellystella

 above: jacket by dreamers / sweatshirt by hebe / skirt by arch & line 

gloves by mormor.nu / shoes by pom d'api

I have been most inspired by the Fireworks and Aurora Borealis themes as I can totally imagine party decoration based on the colors and/ or materials. Which one do you prefer?

:: Stay tuned for Part 2 of my report coming up tomorrow.

Party feature on Tukutte {Japan}

Hello friends! I am so excited today to share with you the news that Japanese magazine Tukutte's homepage is now live! You can have a glimpse at its content, and especially at the Peter Pan & Tinker Bell Party that I created for them last month. I attempted to take screen pictures for this blog post.

Check it out NOW here!! Feel free to leave your feedback in the comment section below...

Above party styling by Sophie & Chocolat

Everything is getting a little surreal at the moment, as I am preparing for my first major exhibition in Tokyo which will be held at the Hobby Show in April 24~26, thanks to Japanese publisher Nihon Vogue. Three party tables will be featured together with more decoration. Tanoshimi ni!

FROZEN Birthday Party Styling

The latest Disney princess film seems to be all the craze these days among 7 years old girls... We only found out about it last month, when one of my clients in Singapore asked me some advice about party decoration on the theme of FROZEN (La Reine des Neiges in France). So I did some research and showed the trailer to my children. Big hit! The film hasn't come out in Japan yet, and we are all waiting impatiently to be able to watch it. Nevertheless my daughter who turned 7 today asked me if she could have a Frozen party for her birthday.

I don't usually like to create parties on Disney characters, but I happened to have created a Let it Snow decoration for my January & February workshops, and I thought it could work quite well for a Frozen themed party... I had very little to add to make it work! 

Of course if I would have to make it for a client, I would probably work on more details referring to the film. We ran out of time and couldn't create anything with Olaf, the sweet and funny snowman, and I also didn't make any cupcake toppers. I could have had a pretty banner, or add some blue paper pompom on the wall. Possibilities are endless! I opted for a color scheme that would suit my existing props: white, icy blue and red. 

I made all the food myself, so that was already quite some work... I limited the amount of sweets as I am not a big fan of dessert tables - gorgeous but so unhealthy. On the menu: 

- sausage + cheese rolls

- cream cheese & ham mini-sandwiches

- chocolate cupcakes (no frosting, but I sprinkled icing sugar at the last minute)

- cold milk served in the glass bottles

- mandarines

- mini Loackers biscuits

- mini marshmallows

- a majestic birthday cake (I will share the recipe in another blog post).

If you'd like to know where my props come from, here we are:

- big straws + star crochet decoration + white lace trays + white lace plant pots + glass dessert stand from IKEA

- candy jars from Today's Special (in Jiyugaoka, Tokyo)

- paper pompom wall decoration from DAISO

- snowflakes stickers from Yuzawaya

- glass bottles are recycled bottles from a lemon drink available in Japan

- white cake stand from Spotlight (in Singapore)

- snowflakes crochet decoration were handmade by my Grand-Ma

- masking tapes (wall decoration) by mt Japan

- small rabbits from Natural Kitchen (in Jiyugaoka)

- candle number from Tomizawa (a baking shop in Denenchofu, Tokyo)

- heart felt garland, table cloth, star and other toppers handmade by me

I will share my recipe for the cake later this week as I need to translate part of it in English. I have spend a lot of time making it, and it was absolutely delicious and so worth it!

Mademoiselle Chloé, happy to turn 7!

I hope you enjoyed my latest party styling, feel free to ask me anything about it in the comment section below. Also I have started a Pinterest board to collect my favorite inspiration for this party, feel free to browse it here.

Have a lovely week everyone!

Earring Workshop Recap - February 2014

Here is a quick recap in pictures of last Saturday's workshop. It started to snow on Friday morning (on Valentine's Day!), and kids were off school. Since I had I had a lot of work to prepare for the workshop the next day, it wasn't quite ideal for me... but I love watching the snow falling, and the decoration theme of this workshop being Let it Snow, it was kind of perfect! 

By Saturday morning the traffic situation was quite bad, with slow public transport or trains not working at all! Many messages were exchanged back and forth to decide wether we should postpone this workshop or not... it was a bit stressful since I had already prepared some of the food to be served, and of course done all the grocery shopping for it! We finally went ahead as three participants out of 6 could make it that day. Great!

My three students did a wonderful job and created very lovely earrings with new color combinations again! I love it and I feel so inspired by the work produced during my workshops, it's wonderful! 

I served a vegetable pie with mixed baby leaves salad topped with walnuts & blue cheese. For dessert, a butter cake with its white vanilla frosting. I slightly changed the recipe and added squeezed lemon juice to the batter. It gave it a very nice flavour, I am glad I tried!

I am taking a couple of weeks off to reenergise and prepare the next sets of workshops, until June. I also missed sewing and I would like to create a couple of new pieces to show to my students. On top of this, there will be the Hobby Show at the end of April and my exhibition + the collaboration with Japanese craft magazine Tukutte... Plenty of work ahead of me!

Have a lovely day!

Cookie Decoration Workshop Recap

Hello!

Here is a quick recap with pictures of last week's cookie decoration workshop for Valentine's Day. I had a guest instructor, Chikako Yamamoto of DDBistro and all I had to worry about was decorating the house and cooking lunch - for 11 people which was a first for me! It went really well, and I believe that everyone enjoyed the time spent together and the skills learnt... Here below are all the pictures I managed to take during the workshop!

For the decoration, I added a heart felt garland and little red hearts to my existing "Let it Snow" decoration theme and it worked really well I think. I had also prepared wrapping kits for participants to bring back home and wrap their cookies once they are dry. It included pink & white heart-shaped doilies, ribbon and a  mini-wooden cloth pin decorated with a cute felt heart.

I realised too late that I hadn't taken any pictures of all the food I cooked... too bad!
On the menu that day there was:

• Cranberry juice served in glass bottles
• Homemade hummus served with fresh baguette
• My Grand-Ma's mixed vegetable clear soup
• Handmade pesto pasta salad with roasted cherry tomatoes, zucchinis and parmesan
• Luscious chocolate cake - an original recipe by Nigella Lawson
• Green tea

I prepared the pesto the day before. It was SO tasty!

It was hard work to prepare everything but it was well worth it as always. Every participants went home with their set of cookies, the packaging materials and the recipes of the food I served for lunch.

I will share pictures of the second and last workshop of the month later today. Stay tuned!