New Year, New Cards

Happy New Year all hope you all had a lovely Christmas break we have been working all last week catching up on a few things before the trade shows of 2009.
We will be launching many new ranges and co-ordinating gift lines at Top Drawer Spring 2009 at Earls Court. See you soon. x

Ace of Cakes

Well you probebly have guessed by now that me and cakes are inseprable. So I have to just let you know encase you have missed the trailers, Ace of Cakes start on Monday 29th December at 9pm on channel UKTV Food. Yum Yum.


These cakes are to good to eat, they are like art sculptures, amazing.

Duff has been cooking since the age of four, when his Mum caught him in the kitchen swinging around a meat cleaver while watching Chef Tell on TV. He was destined to work in the kitchen.

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas and all of us here at Cavania would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Thank you all for your support this year and we look forward to meeting many of you at the forth coming trade shows. We will together rise to the challenges that 2009 may have instore for all UK retail.

This is for all you chocoholics out there.

Lindka Cierach, who designed the Duchess of York's wedding dress, said her new design took several weeks of planning, and is made from 79,000 calories worth of Lindt chocolate balls and crystals. "The Lindor Dress is the ultimate party dress that you can unwrap and indulge in," she said. But the dress would be an expensive sweet treat. The bespoke gown would set you back £3,500.



These yummy macaroons from Laudree were my christmas present from Gemma and they were so delicious. In the background is a sneaky peak at some of our new cards.

New Jewellery Boxes

Some pictures of our new jewellery boxes being made in time for the Spring trade shows.

We have lots of new products and cards so be sure to come and see us at the shows, our first is Top Drawer Spring at Earls Court 18th- 20th January. Register here for your tickets www.topdrawerspring.com, sorry but this is a TRADE show only.

Cute Christmas Puddings

I had an email from my sister in law in Australia with some photos of a friends little boy putting the finishing touches on the cutest little christmas puddings. Where is my mixing bowl I want to make some too.

Diamonds are a girls best friend

A sparkly classic, Gentleman prefer Blondes. A gorgeous pink dress, I would love to have a dress like Marilyn's.
To listen to this video clip first you will need to turn off the music. Simple scroll down the page till you find the playlist in the left hand column and click the pause/stop button, then return back to this video clip and press play.

For the boys

This is 'Relax' our latest mens range which has been doing extremely well. Each card has a detachable drinks coaster on the front, finished with silver foiled words Happy Birthday.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

I love classic movie trailers and what better then to start with Breakfast at Tiffany's with the gorgeous Audrey Hepburn.

London Agent

Cavania is looking for a London agent, are you a shop and do you know of an agent that is hardworking and reliable? If you do let them know we have London available. Our contact number is 01895 824899.

Some of our new cards

Words - Valentines
Smitten - Valentines
Words - Mother's Day

Our spring seasons are nearly all spoken for so if you would like to top up your racks in the new year with some of our gorgeous cards, do call the office quickly to place your order. Call Valerie on 01895 824899

A beautiful day

We spent yesterday at out friends wedding and what a beautiful day it was. Cecilia looked like a scandinavian goddess, she is from Sweden and so tall and blonde as you can see from the photo. We all spent the day laughing and danced till the early hours a great time was had by all. Congratulations Gem & Cecilia we wish you a beautiful life together.

Chanel No 5

It's nearly Christmas and the TV is full of adverts but my favorite is the Chanel No. 5

The divine pink romantic gown that Nicole Kidman is wearing in the big budget Chanel No. 5 campaign is an amazing creation by Karl Lagerfield, The advert for the scent is fantastic with a moulin rouge influence, I would want to dance all night in that dress too.

Our new office

We managed to take an hour out this week and fiddle with my new office. Christian and Gemma moved everything last week but I had not really had any time to play. We have been so busy meeting deadlines and poor Christian had an operation last Friday and so has not been up to speed this week.



This is Gemma cutting out some baby booties I painted on Tuesday, she is going to be turning them into wrapping paper.

My most favorite creature

I saw my first sea dragon on the island of Langkawi in Malaysia back in 2002. It was in an aquarium and I had never heard of a sea dragon before. They were so beautiful I was mesmerized to the point of total amazement, what a wondrous planet we live on. Here are just a few photos of these tiny creatures. I would love to win the lottery one day and drop out of society to spend the rest of my life being a bare foot hippie protecting these magical creatures.

Hi all

This is a quick update as it seems that I have not had 5 minutes to myself in the last three weeks. I arrived back in chilly Britain on Sunday evening after being in China for 17 days on what can only be described as an endurance test. There were meetings, up to three in a day and 5 trade shows to visit. I have some really exciting news but its all a secret at the moment but I can share the name of this Top Secret project...Creatisan. I will drip feed you more information shortly.
I am now wondering how long a body can keep running on just a few hours sleep before total melt down?

Monday 3rd after 5 hours of sleep I was up and in a van to set up the Spirit of Christmas stand and then back there again on Tuesday. Finally at 7pm Tuesday night the stand was finished and all the labels in place. The show opened Yesterday and was very busy as well as today. It has been great to catch up with so many of you and your praise and encouragement has been overwhelming. I will be heading back up to Olympia on the early train tomorrow and I will try to remember my camera.

You may remember that in August I moved my studio from home to the office to join Christian and the team. Well tomorrow whilst I am manning the stand my studio is being moved again this time to the room next door to Christian. Up until now we have been on different levels and to visit we had to go out and around which was great in the summer, but in the winter! So when the bigger office became available Gemma and I jumped at it. Good luck guys with the move and dont have to much fun without me tomorrow. We do all have such a laugh working at Cavania is a real pleasure being with people you regard as friends as well as colleges.
Whilst we were in China Christian and I skyped the office every night before we turned in about 11pm our time. It seemed it was a competition as to who could be the more stupid each night between Christian and James, Christian definitely won one night as he was wearing one of my bras!!! James took a screen grab and I think he mentioned pay rise, not sure what he meant.
xxx

The Chocolate Show - Paris

The 11th year of the Chocolate Show is on in Paris and here are a few images of the edible fashion show that launches the show. It is a creative and interesting use of chocolate, but there is only one way I like my chocolate, as chocolate bar. A plate of chocolate chunks and a cold glass of milk, yum yum. But that aside the creations are amazing and the patience required is more than I think I could ever have. The organisers haven't brought it to England yet but lets hope.


The show it's self is full of stalls selling every shape, colour and flavour that you could ever imagine from the chocolate houses around the world. I am definitely buying tickets and going next year.



Tokyo : January 23-28, 2008
Kyoto : January 30 - February 14, 2008
Nagoya : January 31 - February 14, 2008
Kokura : January 31 - February 14, 2008
Paris, FRANCE: October 29-November 2, 2008
New York, USA November 7-9, 2008
Moscow, RUSSIA: November 28-30, 2008
Shanghai, CHINA: 2009

www.chocolateshow.com

London Leaves

Autumn is here and whilst the sun has been shinning this last weekend I had a quick stroll around the mews of Knightsbridge and did a spot of window shopping. The colour of the leaves in the parks are amazing.

Hong Kong

We are in China meeting with manufacturers and visiting trade shows, three in three days. We have found some amazing artisans and are now in talks designing some fabulous gifts for Cavania. These craftsman have been working in their fields for many years and come from regions that are famous for their specialties. The one thing that I am passionate about is that Cavania will only work with companies that are compliant to human and green issues. I will keep you up dated with the progress of these exciting new lines.Christian tucking into a giant pot noodle. Fortunately for us when it was lunch time the make shift McDonalds which was a table and bags of food that were simply heated up in a microwave had all run out, so we had pot noodles instead.
Very sore feet.
A trade show in Shanghai which is two and a half hour flight north of Hong Kong and this was like no other trade show I have ever visited. I was completely taken back with the volume of people from all over the world. This picture was taken from inside the entrance hall and outside was a sea of faces, the giant show was buzzing in every hall.
A shot of one side of the halls lined up and stretching a distance, the exhibition center was laid out in a V shape with two lines of huge halls.
We arrived back in HK very late last night after spending two days in Shanghai but whilst we were there we did visit a restaurant in a revolving tower on the 46th floor of the Jing Jang Sofitel Hotel. It took 3hrs to do a complete rotation, the air was not clear this time of year and the pollution levels are a little high, so visibility was not great. Hong Kong itself is so clear and warm, it's great to see the sun again.



We have two more shows to visit next week taking the grand total to five shows and I don't know how many miles of walking, before our journey home. But there is one great bit of traveling I do really like here in HK;this is the Star Ferry that takes us over to Hong Kong island from our hotel on the Kowloon side. Even the metal seats are punched with star shapes and the staff all wear sailor suits, beats the cars and traffic of London any day.

I Love Laduree

Laduree store Berlin

Lilac, coffee, blue, pink,pistachio green, lemon, raspberry, chocolate, and all the colours in-between. I adore the colours of Laduree macaroons almost as much as their packaging.



Website- www.laduree.com