Pop-up Shop!

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, I'm sure you will have already heard that I am putting together a Pop-up Shop in Edinburgh, with fellow creative business owner Fiona Purves from Paper Aeroplane, to celebrate our businesses first birthdays! And it is opening THIS WEEK!!

To paint a clear picture of what it's all about, I will give you the 'official' description :) 

Two Edinburgh based designers are bringing their products together and hosting a Pop-up Shop in the city, to celebrate their businesses first birthdays. 

Ziggy Sawdust's lovingly upcylcled vintage furniture and Paper Aeroplane's playful greetings cards and prints make the perfect pairing as they are both full of colour, fun, nostalgia and sentimentality. 

The amalgamation of the brands is set to create an alluring and endearing visual display. Think bold. Think quirky. Think mini installations of the designers’ products alongside flowers, balloons, garlands and other fun party paraphernalia.

We have also made a short promo video! 

It was filmed by Jess Connell and Nikki Godley, and the cute little tune was made especially for us by Fiona's boyfriend Tim!

We have been planning this Pop-up Shop since Fiona and I first met in February... we have really put our heads together to organise something (that we hope will be!) very special. 

It's funny to think that the two of us have only known each other since then. Fiona saw the video Future Positive made about me and Ziggy, and thought our products would work well together.... and things have just snowballed from there! Turns out it's not just our products that work well together, but we do too!

From the outset, Fiona and I were very conscious that we don't want our Pop-up shop to simply be our products in a space. We want it to be visually exciting, fun and we want to get people talking! And to be able to make this vision a reality, we launched a Kickstarter campaign to help us fund the project. At the time of writing this, our project has raised £1,163 and we still have 4 days to go!! So we are two very happy bunnies!

If you didn't know already, Kickstarter is a website which helps creative people launch creative projects... with the help and support from people who would like to see the idea succeed. If you've got a spare moment, have a wee read about what we'd like to achieve & watch our video, and if you can pledge a little something to help us reach our goal, not only will we be forever grateful, but we will also send you a pretty special reward to say thank-you! So it's a win, win!

Well, I think that's me got you all up to date with what the Pop-up Shop is all about! So if you are looking for something to do in Edinburgh this coming bank holiday weekend, it will be open to the public from Saturday 25th - Wednesday 29th of May. 

We would love to see you there! Fiona illustrated the beautiful map above ↑ to help you find us, and the address is:

First Birthday Pop-up Shop

Whitespace

11 Gayfield Square

Edinburgh

P.S You can also keep up to date with all our progress and see the Pop-up Shop come to life by Liking our collaborative Facebook page called Ziggy Aeroplane! ☞ www.facebook.com/ziggyaeroplane

I'm in i-on!

Very, very excited to be featured in i-on Magazine's Interior Design Special this month!

Kind words and a very nice photo of 'Mick' the cocktail cabinet and 'Elton' the Elephant... along with one of me coincidentally matching my furniture exactly!

We're on p.36-37 and you can have a wee read by clicking here ☞ http://ow.ly/kBrHh

This is my favourite quote from the piece:

‘“I saw men offloading Mick Jagger from a van into a junk yard, and I just knew I had to have him”, says Amy. Don’t worry, The Rolling Stones front man hasn’t been kidnapped, ‘Mick’ is an old cocktail cabinet. Saving old furniture from the dump isn’t just a hobby for the young designer, it’s a business.’

... If only it was the real Mick Jagger (circa 1965) that I'd kidnapped!

HowDo you Do!

Have you heard of HowDo? If not, now is the time to jump on the bandwagon! It's a free social media app which allows you to effortlessly make quick, spontaneous tutorials about anything you fancy.

I have often thought about doing video or blog tutorials, but I have always been put of by how long it would take. HowDo makes it so fun to capture ideas and share your way of doing things. You simply take a series of photographs highlighting the steps of what you are doing, and then record little sound bites to narrate the sequence.

 For my first tutorial, I decided to show you how to make a big, fluffy pom-pom!

I had the pleasure of meeting the very inspiring Nills and Sofia from HowDo at the Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire at the beginning of the month. They carried out a little interview with me and posted it onto their blog :)

You can read the full interview here!

So why not become a HowDo-er yourself? I've got a feeling that it's going to be the next big thing with bloggers and makers alike!

"Designer's creations aren't from Mars but Ziggy Sawdust is centre stage"

News of Ziggy Sawdust being Concrete Wardrobe's 'Maker of the Month' has reached the STV website, with a fab Bowie-pun inspired headline!

You can have a little read by clicking here!

Ziggy Sawdust and the Concrete Wardrobe!

Today is the day that Ziggy became 'Maker of the Month' at the Concrete Wardrobe on Broughton Street, Edinburgh!

I first met James and Fiona from Concrete Wardrobe at The Fruitmarket Gallery's DesignMarket back in July last year... and plans for me to exhibit as a 'Maker of the Month' have been brewing since then!

Concrete Wardrobe is a wonderful little shop dedicated to showcasing local design-led craft and is known as the go-to place for finding something extra special. Having the opportunity to showcase my work here is a real privilege!

Here are a few images of my exhibit in the shop and all items shown are for sale!

There will be a meet and greet event tomorrow (Saturday 2nd March) from 12-2pm, so pop along if you are free! My exhibit will run until the end of the month, so there is plenty of time to make it along if you can't make it tomorrow, but would still like to browse!

Concrete Wardrobe

50 A Broughton Street

Edinburgh

EH1 3SA

Opening times:

Monday- Friday 11am- 7pm

Sunday 12pm- 5pm

♥

Ziggy Sawdust in the ESPC!

I was delighted to receive a phone call from Lisa at the ESPC, asking if I would be interested in being featured in their paper... and of course I jumped at the chance!



The ESPC is No.1 for property marketing in East Central Scotland and it is the go to paper if you are thinking of moving house in Edinburgh.. or would just like a peek at whats on the market! My mum used to pick up a copy every week when I was little and I would frequently browse the pages, choosing my 'dream home' of the week! It is really exciting for me to now be featured in a double page spread!

If you would like to read the article, or download the PDF, click here!

But not only do I have a double page spread, but Ziggy Sawdust is also mentioned on the front cover...

 And in the 'Editor's Letter' !

It's such a lovely, colourful feature with a selection of 'Before and After' photos of my furniture, along with my Top Tips for upcycling furniture!

Here's a few quotes from the piece: 

"Ziggy Sawdust is all about rescuing pieces of old furniture before it gets to landfill and giving it a new lease of life and a quirky edge, so as it can fit into contemporary interiors and be loved once again.

As David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust was escapism for many during the bleak conservative rule of the 1970s, I hope Ziggy Sawdust furniture will be escapism from the recent trends in generic flat-packed furniture!"

"I think my style, in terms of furniture could be described as being ‘bold’. I like to think outside the box and rework a piece to really stand out, making people take notice of it again rather than dismiss it as being old and dated."

Traditionally, furniture has been bought in suites of stained, varnished wood to keep a neural constant, while colour        is reserved for walls and decorative furnishings. However, I like to flip this around in keeping with the minimalist and Scandinavian inspired trends in interior design, where white walls are a staple, and statement pieces and pops of colour are left to stand out and really shine."

"However, when it comes to working on a commissioned project for a client, the project becomes more of collaboration. I like to consult the client on every step of the way, insuring that I am marrying their vision with my vision and reworking a piece to suit their style and interior; creating a statement piece that is tailored to their own individual requirements."

Lisa from the ESPC discovered what I do from seeing the documentary Future Positive filmed about Ziggy Sawdust and Jakub from Future Positive gave a lovely quote for the article:

Thank-you ESPC and Future Positive! I am one happy chap! ♥

Ziggy Sawdust: Most Environmentally Responsible Business!

Last night, I attended the BT Scotland Young Entrepreneur Awards in Edinburgh and I won the award for 'Most Environmentally Responsible Business'! I am absolutely delighted to have received the award alongside  3 other amazing young business owners. 

 Jennifer Semple and Rachel Catherwood from First Class Physiotherapy won 'Best Website', fashion designer Rebecca Torres won 'Best E-Commerce Website' and Natalie Crayton from Hebridean Sea Salt won 'Most Visionary Business'... and to be part of 'an all-female line-up' (as the Scottish Daily Mail put it!) was quite exciting too!

Me, Jennifer, Rachel, Rebecca and Natalie

My business mentor Morag and me

My Granny and me

Me, Rebecca, Natalie, Rachel and Jennifer

Article in the Scottish Daily Mail

We also received some press coverage on allmediascotland.com which can be found by clicking here!

It means a lot to me to have won the award as being environmentally responsible is very important to me. The whole idea behind Ziggy Sawdust is to save beautiful pieces of vintage and retro pieces of furniture from being overlooked and ending up on landfill sites, simply because the are a little scratched or look a bit dated. Here's to future furniture search and rescues!

All photos courtesy of Malcolm Cochrane Photography

http://www.malcolmcochrane.co.uk