Famille Summerbelle

Tokyu Hands

These are some of the many things we bought in Tokyo Hands: Some special rubber to make your own stamps, ink, pencils, mini stickers etc... Tokyu Hands is what I imagine Woolworths (in the UK) USED to be like (so my grandma tells me!) - almost everything that you can imagine for your life and living. They even call Tokyu Hands the 'Creative Life Store'. People lose hours, days probably even years in this store and we can fully understand why...! There are a number of different shops, but we think the one in Shibuya (over 8 floors with three different levels on each floor) is perhaps the biggest. We were thinking most about our friends Sophie and Bill. They would never leave a shop like this... Mini replica of designer's chairs...

Books and other things...

We went to this great bookstore in Roppongi Hills called Tsutaya. They classify their books by category so it was very easy to find our way. I could have stayed hours in there just looking at book covers. Just great. Here is some of my selection: These educative books teach you how to draw people, animals and other things... This is just some brilliant packaging for kids... ...and mini dishes from Kiddie Land

Tokyo Temple

We took the Tokyo Metro to visit the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa on Saturday. Ophelia is enjoying the attention that she receives in Japan - and there's a lot of it, friendly old ladies with big smiles, shop staff wanting to play and random people just wanting to touch her arm or head as she walks by. I guess with more than 120 million Japanese she does provide something of the novelty. And she's just fine with that! The temple was a bit of a tourists dream. A stunning five storied pagoda, enormous entrance gate with fearsome dragons guarding the way and a temple filled with ornate statues and beautiful flowers. Paper wish inside the Temple. Lovely colours from this roof painting.

Tokyo

So we have arrived in Tokyo. 11 hours of flying - with just two hours of sleep - the flight was actually quite pleasant. Ophelia enjoyed the attention of most passengers on the plane, our first experience of how friendly and welcoming Japanese people are! After a little sleep to make up the lost night we headed towards Omotesando, the large shopping area near our apartment. The highlight of the evening was Kiddie Land a 5 floor heaven for Ophelia. Kiddie Land is filled with Japanese toys including Hello Kitty and the great Shinzi Katoh. Lots of very small, very colourful objects...Ophelia was happy! The next morning we met with Takako, who was introduced to us through Emma Cassi. Takako became our guide for the day, first taking us to Galerie Doux Dimanche, a lovely boutique which host designers like Nathalie Lete (wall art, and butterfly towel) and Tse & Tse (light guarland). We were so lucky to spend the day with the lovely Takako. She took us around some hard to find beautiful shops like HP Deco and Lamp. She invited us to this traditional Japanese restaurant for lunch - Toushirou - and to make our day she gave us a 'welcoming gift', one filled with vintage kimono fabric, origami papers, vintage beads and paper balloons...all too good! We are so overwhelmed by how warm and friendly people are.

Voyage, voyage...

We're off soon traveling around the world (ie:Simon, Julie and 2 years old Ophelia). We're off discovering new places and getting lots of inspiration for new ideas on products for Famille Summerbelle. Our first stop will be Japan. I can't wait! We're meeting Takako who is going to show us around and take us to lovely shops. After a couple of weeks there we're off to Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji Islands and the US! We'll be sharing this 'Famille' time with you, so keep in touch!

Here they are...

Well, I had to show them to you properly... our new A3 paper cut prints in image... This one is the red House where you have fun looking around for things that are hidden under furniture...a little mouse is hiding somewhere... One, Two, Three...keep counting the sweets! Learn the Alphabet having fun looking for the missing 'M'...(won't say more). Our latest family Tree in a shinny silver/green colour. Enjoy!

NEW WEBSITE, NEW PRODUCTS, BIG TRIP!

We have just finished our latest version of Famille Summerbelle website, making it more easy to use and a little more Internationally friendly. We also have 4 new prints fresh for Autumn. And as you can see we are planning a World Tour starting from next week! Famille Summerbelle will take you to lots of exciting destinations until Christmas. We will be featuring our trip on the blog so keep in touch! I will let you know more about our trip within the next few days... Let us know what you think of our new site!

Easy Living

Thank you also to Easy Living for the lovely article on our Family Trees! It's so nice to come back from holiday and finding out about our products in magazines... Sorry for not posting more often at the moment, our days are so full working on our new website and preparing parcels for lots of exciting shops! we'll tell you more very soon...

Country Living

That's it! we're back in the UK, but with this horrible weather we haven't been able to put one foot outside of the house. It's literally pouring with rain! It's also time to really say a big thank you to all of our new customers for keeping us busy this summer! Thanks also to Country Living for this wonderful feature including two of our cushions. This gave us our first 'offline' customer - I will post something soon on the lovely typed letter that I received.