Wish You Were Here
A blog about travel and other inspirations
Category Archives for Sourcing
Jewellery Inspiration: Egyptian Jewellery
I am starting to think of where next to go to find jewellery for Callixto. After some research I think it has got to be Egypt. Egyptian jewellery is just stunning. Scarabs, pharaohs, eyes, dramatic necklaces, turquoise… What is there not to like?
Sourcing in Turkey
While in Turkey for my honeymoon I squeezed in some sourcing. Of course I did. Who can go to Turkey and not come back with loads of goodies. My poor husband spent the first day in Istanbul looking at meters upon meters of Ikat. Oh well, what did he expect when he decided to take me to Istanbul! Here are some pictures of the goodies I came back with. Most things are available online – just click here…
Sourcing: Korea and Thailand
Fashionweek Daily asked me to write an article about my experiences during my sourcing trip to Seoul and Bangkok. If you have wondered what sourcing is really like you can read the article here.
Korea
Bangkok
Decor: Uzbekistani Ikat
While in Istanbul last week, everywhere I went I saw these beautiful cushions made of Uzbekistani Ikat. Ikat is a dyeing technique used to pattern textiles that employs a dyeing process similar to tie-dye. If you are like me and think tie-dye equals the three Hs (hippie, hemp and hash) think again, because these fabrics are really beautiful. I looked into getting some cushions for Callixto but everything I found was ludicrously expensive. At the top of the range was Yastik by Rifat Ozbek who has some really beautiful cushions but at 150 USD each I found it way to expensive. I looked and looked but couldn’t find anything that was reasonably priced.. and then….Lady Luck finally decided to give me a hand and I found this little hole in the wall that sold Ikat material by the meter. Hurrah! I have no idea where I will have the cushions made but it was a start at least!
Sourcing: Incan Jewellery
I have been in Lima for 3 days now and have been to every market, every mall, and every handicrafts store and on the jewellery front I have found NOTHING. Although Peru is known for its silver and gold work all the jewellery I have seen so far is the generic kind that you find everywhere from New York to Bangkok! How can it be?!?!! I have two more days to go and so far I have had no luck. I have walked, googled, asked and I got nothing. Yesterday I had a small breakthrough when I went to the Gold Museum in Lima and found the below earrings and necklace. She had one of each and they were 250 bucks each. She is obviosuly not the producer and clearly there is someone, somewhere in this country that produces incan inspired jewellery. BUT WHERE? The lady at the shop didn’t know or rather gave me a very convoluted story which was clearly fabricated. I have two more days before I head off. OH INCAN JEWELLERY PRODUCER WHERE ART THOU!
