Sunday, March 29, 2015

a 'small life' on instagram


Looking at the pictures of my Instagram feed it strikes me that I lead a 'small life', in the sense that it fits in the palm of my hand. A great deal of my life takes place in my village, in my home, in the nature behind my house early in the morning. There are days (like once a week) that I feel the urge for people, noise, food for the eye (shops, museums). So I arrange some 'official meetings' in my old hometown Amsterdam (only 20 min. from here) with enough breaks in between to walk around, do a little shopping or visit an exhibition. This way I keep my small life balanced!

Saturday, March 21, 2015

mountains in a bottle


Forget Dior and Chanel: here are the new 'Noses'!
The 15 hikers and backpackers of Juniper Ridge make real fragrances. They go camping in the wilderness, crawl around in mountain meadows, they smell the wet earth beneath fir trees, and they distill colognes and perfumes from real plants, bark, moss, and mushrooms. A hundred years ago, all perfumes were made this way. Today Juniper Ridge is the only company that handles every step of the process themselves, from beginning to end.

I was at one of my favorite shops in Amsterdam the other day, a tiny shop called HearHear and the owner told me she was so happy that she managed to get the Juniper Ridge collection to Amsterdam. 
I am a sucker for good natural fragrances and when I opened the bottles I was swept of my feet. Gone were my vague memories of French artificial flowery perfumes (which I already didn't use for 10 years or so). The Juniper Ridge fragrances are honest, deep, earthy and somehow you can smell the soul of the mountains. 
I LOVE this brand! 

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

botanical collection for ompak


Valerie Delsman took photo's of my new Botanical Collection for Ompak gift wrap company! The lovely lady carrying the pile of presents (in the freezing cold on her Saturday morning) is Valeries always supporting sister Claire.

When and how did I design it?
It was again a feast to design together with Ompak. Owner Dorothé and I don't need so many words anymore, we understand each other quite easily! 
The only thing that was a bit frustrating was that the designing had to take place in winter, which for me is the busiest time of the year. There was always a full inbox, a full head, a full to-do-list and lots of orders to process! The best way for me to design is complete focus, an empty agenda for a couple of days (or weeks) and an empty mind. For next time I will have to hire someone for the daily concerns!

What is behind the designs?
The graphic line pattern called Glass House is an ode to the Crystal Palace (a huge 'glass house') that stood in Hyde Park, London and was destroyed in 1936.

The black and white Fern print is actually inspired by fern plants, but the fun thing is that on the last trade fair a lot of people told me: Oh, Jurianne, I love your Feather print the best! Feathers, Ferns, it's ok with me, as long as you like it ;-)

I designed new gift tags as well: The set is called Fields of Joy, Dorothé named it after the song by Lenny Kravitz. It contains 10 precut butterflies and 10 precut flowers. If you fold the leaves towards each other the flowers get a 3d shape. Same with the butterfly wings, squeeze them towards each other and it will look as if the butterfly will fly away. You can use Fields of Joy for decorating your gifts, to make a Spring garland, or to stick to your walls...

There's still one item to come: Butterfly Bags. Small white paper gift bags with a large black/white striped butterfly on it. Can't wait to have them, I think they are going to be so cute!

And some winter-designs, like Wallpaper and Blackboard Berries have been given a nice new spring colour. They fit beautifully in the Botanical theme now...

Where to buy?
Are you a retailer in need for a large roll of nice botanical wrapping paper or for a pile of gift tags to use for wrapping Spring gifts in your shop? Or would you like to sell sets of Fields of Joy and smaller rolls of wrapping paper in your shop to consumers?  Please contact Ompak, they are a wholesaler and they will be happy to help all retailers!

Are you a consumer in NL looking for one or two gift tag sets or a few small wrapping paper rolls? Vlinders in je buik sells most of the collection!