Archive for Orla Kiely
New owl dress alert | Orla Kiely for People Tree
I’ve taken a mini blog break recently and have been updating the Owls and Pears Facebook page instead. (You can follow the news, and owlish or pearish finds, here.)
All the while I’ve been desperately trying to cram owl and pear bloggage material back into my brain – there’s loads out there, including a long-planned pear giveaway (watch this space!).
So when I opened my email this afternoon and checked out the brand new People Tree autumn collection, I simultaneously fell off my chair with excitement, and was kicked into action. Two of my favourite brands, combined to create the owl dress of my dreams. In short, the most perfectly retro owl pattern fabric, printed in the nowest-of-now autumnal colour way and fashioned into a flattering fifties style dress. This is exactly the kind of owl news I love to blog about.
I’d like to imagine myself leaning nonchalantly against the piano wearing my dress (yes, sigh, I have bought myself one; I bet you there’s a discount code in the post tomorrow but hey ho). It’s probably more likely I’ll be sitting at the laptop of an evening, wiping off half-chewed banana from the bodice and grinning from ear to ear as I admire the pattern and type up another blog post (while the bubbas catch up on sleep, obviously). Here’s hoping…
ps – if you’ve also succumbed to the allure of this dress, feel free to let me know and/or send in a picture: I’d love to hear how you wear it and what you team it with!
Orla Kiely pears for Uniqlo
In order to ease myself back into world of bloggage, this post will be a short one. It’s been a while, but hopefully this pear-based snippet of info will make up for the shortfall in recent updates.
As the long list of eligible owl- and pear-related content backs up, I felt I had to move this baby right to the top of the pile. I’m probably the last to know about it, but for those of you out there who are similarly preoccupied with making sure the car is MOTed or that you’ve remembered to send mothers’ day cards, this one’s for you.
The images above are gleaned from Uniqlo, which is the latest establishment to collaborate with Orla Kiely (for another team effort, check out this season’s People Tree project with Ms Kiely – I’m finding the coral outfits particularly hard to resist).
There are some joyous, uber-covetable items chez Uniqlo (including some particularly lovely “room shoes” – aka slippers), but my eye was caught by the iconic pear designs and juicy colour ways of course.
The short sleeved tee is only £14.90 (*snip*) and the stole a mere £9.90. The capsule collection is launched on 19th March – I imagine it will be first come first served in-store; the rest of us can be fleeced on eBay!
Good luck to all you pear hunters out there – and do let me know if you manage to get your hands on any pear pieces.
Orla Kiely pear bag giveaway #2
I know I know I know. I’ve already done the exact same giveaway. But I found some more of these superb bags in Tesco last week and couldn’t help but indulge in a bit more competition malarkey.
In case you missed the last giveaway, here’s the nitty gritty on the actual prize: Orla Kiely’s recent collaboration with Tesco resulted in the superb specimen above – an exclusive, limited edition, collectable, reusable pear print bag. And it’s the first of a range of Orla Kiely bags to be sold in Tesco in 2011. Oh yes, there are more to come.
For those of you who share my love of all things Orla, and who’ve not yet tracked down your own bag, here’s a chance to win one pain-free, without losing an arm and a leg in an online auction. Not only is it totally gorgeous, the bag is made from really good quality cotton and jute (bonus – sustainable shopper) and has flamingo pinky-orange handles that are strong and not too long. Perfect for a a trip to the gym (see the fab-tastic Katgotthecream blog), or, for storing your toddler.
And the best bit by far is knowing that the sale of these bags has helped to raise money in support of two charities: CLIC Sargent - the UK’s leading children’s cancer charity – which aims to raise £5 million so that children with cancer can spend more time at home and less time in hospital; and Orla Kiely’s personal charity, the Royal College of Art, which funds bursaries for textile students.
To enter, just leave a comment in the box below and subscribe to the blog updates on the homepage. The subject is “your favourite pear product”.
For an extra entry, simply tweet the following: “I’ve just entered the brand new @owlsandpears Orla Kiely pear bag giveaway and so can you: http://wp.me/pTCMb-ey”
The deadline for entries is midnight GMT on Sunday 27th March and the winner will be announced on the blog the next day (having been chosen by random.org). Check back then for details, or else make sure you have subscribed so I can contact the winner individually. If the winner doesn’t respond within 7 days, a new one will be chosen.
If you’re in the mood for some linky goodness, then please feel free to link to this giveaway on you own blog, go for it – the more the merrier. Here’s a short link: http://wp.me/pTCMb-ey.
Orla Kiely pear bag giveaway RESULT
Owing to dealing with a minor toddler illness, the announcement of today’s Orla Kiely pear bag giveaway is slightly delayed. Apols.
A huge thanks to all of you who entered the giveaway – there are some truly fantastic comments and it’s great to know that there are so many pear fans out there. I’m only sorry I do not have one of these spectacular bags for each and every one of you.
So, without further ado, I am pleased to announce that the spinning selection process (using a conference pear and a Newgate clock on a Gordon Russell table, in case anyone is interested – see above) resulted in the pear stalk pointing to the eighth minute of the hour on the clock face (see below).
And correspondingly, comment number 8 was from mollyandtheprincess, whose blog (see hyperlink to the left) is testament to the fact that she enjoys “finding beauty wherever we go”. Congrats all round. One Orla Kiely jute pear bag is in the post.
Watch this space for future giveaways and random owl and pear bloggage. And thanks again for taking the time to enter the giveaway.
Orla Kiely Scribble Pear bag giveaway
Right, I’m back from the blog wilderness, this time with a bag. Apologies for the lack of recent postage – twas a busy festive period, followed by a break abroad sans internet. But as a result I have a small mountain of inspirational material with which to fill owlsandpears.com over the coming weeks and months, and I hope this giveaway will make up for the tardy start to 2011.
So, obviously, I had to start with the most exciting news to hit the pear world in recent months: an Orla Kiely collaboration with Tesco, which has resulted in the superb specimen above – an exclusive, limited edition, collectable, reusable pear print bag. And it’s the first of a range of Orla Kiely bags to be sold in Tesco in 2011. Bated breath all round.
When I read on the OK twitter feed (@orla_kiely) that these bags would be on sale for £4 each at selected Tesco branches from December last year, I embarked on several frenzied and yet completely futile expeditions around South London to locate one. In the snow. With a very tetchy toddler. Just when I had abandoned all hope and resorted to eBay, a lovely friend managed to hunt down a whole pile for me last week (Hayley, you rock). There was only one thing for it: share the good fortune and organise a giveaway.
I know that many owlsandpears.com readers share my love of all things Orla, so for those of you who’ve not yet tracked down your own bag, here’s a chance to win one pain-free, without losing an arm and a leg in an online auction. Not only is it ABSOLUTELY gorgeous, the bag is made from really nice quality cotton and jute (bonus – sustainable shopper), has flamingo pinky-orange handles that are just the right length for nonchalant shoulder-wear and buggy clips alike, and could easily fit the contents of a moderate supermarket session, with room for a Wottle too.
And the best bit by far is knowing that the sale of these bags will help to raise money in support of two charities: CLIC Sargent - the UK’s leading children’s cancer charity – which aims to raise £5 million so that children with cancer can spend more time at home and less time in hospital; and Orla Kiely’s personal charity, the Royal College of Art, which funds bursaries for textile students.
Getting back to the giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment of up to 50 words in the box below and subscribe to the blog updates on the homepage. The subject is “Why Pears” and a winner will be chosen from the first 60 comments using the spin-the-pear method (me, spinning a pear on a clock face: it works, seriously).
The deadline for entries is midday GMT on 14th Feb and the winner will be announced on the blog that evening – check back then for details, or else make sure you have subscribed so I can contact the winner individually. If the winner doesn’t respond within 7 days, a new one will be chosen.
Obviously, if you’d like to tweet about the giveaway, or link to it on you own blog, go for it – the more the merrier.
Pears on china
Who knew there were so many pear-printed mugs out there? I’ve found a selection of my favourites, and thought I’d share them with you.
The one above is a Cath Kidston fine china tea cup, designed exclusively for Churchill China. You can buy them on Amazon here, for a mere £4. Bargain.
Next up (above) is this bone china cup from the dotcomgiftshop – a steal at £5.95. Very Orla-esque, but original nonetheless.
I couldn’t not include this classic Lotta Kühlhorn design for Scandinavian brand Koloni (below): perfect in its very pearness, and at only £7.95 from Illustrated Living, totally unmissable. (Check out an earlier blog post all about Lotta Kühlhorn’s apple print chopping board here.)
At £10.50, the mug below is a smidge pricier than the others, but the unusual chunky pear design makes up for it: quite a change from sleek Scandinavian curves, this Alice Apple pattern is something out of the ordinary. You can find them on Alice’s website here, and don’t forget to check out her other products on Etsy too.
Finally, to finish, it has to be the Orla Kiely pear mug – originally designed for Target, but available all over the interweb. I found this one chez Illustrated Living (again) for £7.25 and was sorely tempted (again).
Pear ceramics by Yoyo, Orla Kiely and Noun
Once again, I am drawing inspiration for this post from another of my favourite online reads – Yukkiie – a blog that “celebrates design that is out of the ordinary and unique”. I am head over heels in love with a recent post all about pear-shaped pots from UK-based company Yoyo ceramics. Now there are some pretty horrific ceramic pears out there (as a quick google image search will reveal), but Yoyo offer something practical (I like anything with the label ‘kitchen tidy’ – you can only hope), wholly aesthetically pleasing, and polished shiny bright too. In fact, totally out of the ordinary and unique. Seriously, this pear would cheer anyone up, especially if the rest of the kitchen looked anything like mine…. This is a piece you could truly focus on. Plus, Yoyo also do a fabulous tea and toast set, again, with a retro-tastic pear print which would mean you had to finish your marmite crumpet pretty quickly in order to fully appreciate the delectable design underneath the pools of melted butter.
Of course, another classic ceramic pear objet for use in the kitchen would have to be Orla Kiely’s supreme pear design canister (see here for an earlier blog post about the Orla Kiely pear print chair). I think I’d store some ginger nuts in this container, or possibly, for a true colour explosion, some pink wafers and party rings to boot.
And then there is Stephanie Sheldon’s shop Noun, which stocks these utterly adorable ceramic pear vases, which quite frankly, you’d need a clutter of to really hammer home the perfection each one exudes. You can check out the Noun shop blog here – it makes up for the fact that Portland, Oregon, is really quite a long way from Surrey.
Orla Kiely pear print
Well it wouldn’t be a proper pear blog if I didn’t at least include one reference to Orla‘s masterpiece of a print. I could include photos of a myriad of her marvellous pear products – bags, purses, notepads, towels – but one my most coveted items of all time would have to be this chair. In my mind, I sit in this chair in my study, possibly with a copy of Slightly Foxed in one hand, and the other reaching for a cup of earl grey that is poised elegantly on a Gordon Russell side table. However, as I type this post out now, I note the conspicuous absence of such a stylish scenario: I am covered in porridge (typing is getting sticky) and the only chair in sight is the baby’s. Pear chair, one day you will be mine…
