Allihopa loves you

PS. Allihopa loves you xxx

2012-02-14T08:21:00.000Z

Happy Valentines day!

We're feeling the love at Allihopa HQ today

Love & kisses to everybody xxxxx

Roll up, roll up .......

2012-02-12T21:13:00.000Z

A new year brings with it the spring tradeshows and 2012 is already looking promising for Allihopa. We launched our new collections Blooming Kisses, Ahoy! and Daisy Chain at Top Drawer and then took the plunge and exhibited at Spring Fair.

Both shows were a huge success and there was a definite energetic buzz around our stand. We received lovely feedback from our current stockists and we’re looking forward to working with all the new retailers that placed orders with us. Exciting times!

A new year brings a new Allihopa letterpress collection

2012-01-12T09:43:00.001Z

Happy new year! We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas break. We certainly did but we're now raring to go and launch our three new collections, Ahoy! Blooming Kisses and Daisy Chain at Top Drawer (stand A21) and Spring Fair (stand 4FF96).

For those who know the people involved in Allihopa you'll know that we spend any spare minute we have come rain or shine with our children and dog on the beaches in Gower. Having such beautiful surroundings we could not fail to be inspired and design our new design-led letterpress collection appropriately entitled Ahoy!

As we blog it is still on the press but we wanted to show you a snapshot of the collection in production so you can see the beauty of the letterpress printing process and of course get a glimpse of some of the new designs.

We are so excited about our new collections and we hope that everyone likes the designs as much as we do. xxx

We'll post some more new work very soon ....

Window shopping

2011-11-25T11:15:00.001Z

We just had to share this festive picture with you.

Our lovely stockist 'Utility' in Liverpool has sent us this image of their christmas window display in their flagship store on Paradise Place.We are delighted to see our 'Christmas Voices' and 'Festive Wishes' wrap being used as a centre piece.

This inviting display would certainly urge me to pop in if I was in Liverpool ... wouldn't you?

Happy Shopping!!

Allihopa Wins at Prestigious Henries Awards

2011-10-18T10:36:00.000+01:00

We are delighted to announce that Lucy from Allihopa was awarded the most promising young designer prize at this years prestigious Henries awards. This is a fantastic achievement for both Lucy and Allihopa. With all the changes that have happened over the last year we are delighted that the panel of industry professionals recognised Lucy's new designs as worthy winners.

The evening was a fun filled affair and it was lovely to catch up with all our friends in the industry. We must also say a big thank you to the team at Spring Fair International they were fantastic company/hosts and we are looking forward to seeing them again in February.

October is turning out to be a really good month for Allihopa - long may it continue!

Allihopa is featured in Print & Pattern 2 xx

2011-10-06T14:12:00.002+01:00

As many of you will know one of our favourite design blogs is Print and Pattern. A healthy helping of the bright vibrant designs that Bowie Styles (aka Marie Perkins) features on the daily blog gets us all inspired and raring to go every morning.

Late last year Marie selected Allihopa's Mai Maj collection to be featured in her new publication Print & Pattern 2 which celebrates all aspects of printed surface pattern.

We have to say that we're delighted with the end result.

We're also overwhelmed to be featured alongside some great brands such as Designer Guild, Donna Wilson, Owaboo and 1973.

The book has been launched today so go out and get yourself a copy .... you won't be disappointed!
xx

Happy birthday to us - we're two years old this weekend!

2011-09-30T08:00:00.001+01:00

Happy Birthday to us!

We're not sure whether any of you know but Allihopa is two years old this weekend. The last two years has had ups and downs like any new business but I can honestly say setting up Allihopa is one of the best things that I've ever done and the last few months have been phenomenal. In such a short space of time we have achieved way and beyond any of our expectations and we're delighted to now be stocking over 200 stores in the UK, Europe, America, Australia and Hong Kong. Not bad for 24 months work!

So whats in store for 2012? Well the finishing touches are currently being made to the new spring allihopa collections, we're also working on an exciting collaboration (more on that shortly) and we're planning to exhibit at more of the key UK trade exhibitions.

Thank you for all your support whether its through stocking or purchasing from allihopa, manufacturing for allihopa or simply providing us with support and advice along the way.

xxx Allihopa

We shall go to the ball!

2011-09-28T11:53:00.000+01:00

I love sunny mornings when the post man knocks at your door to hand deliver a mountain of letters. Amongst them were the lovely illustrated tickets to this years Henries awards!

Can't wait for a glamourous night out - new frock is called for I think ;-)
xx

An array of colour!

2011-09-21T10:16:00.000+01:00

September has been a very busy month at allihopa HQ, if we haven't been printing we've been busy packing and dispatching orders. So the chance to down tools and deliver a presentation on my favourite topic 'Colour' was a welcome relief.

Running your own business is the best job in the world but lecturing design students comes a close second and it's something that I've always been passionate about. I'm very excited to say that I'm now an associate design lecturer of University of Wales Cardiff and from time to time I'll be dropping in to work with the design undergraduates on different design modules. Exciting times for Allihopa and me xx

Blustery ... is that the end of summer? (Hope not)

2011-09-06T11:44:00.000+01:00

Goodness me it was stormy over night and we awoke to heavy rain and a blanket of leaves outside.

If only it was as delicate as 'Moonswoods - Blustery' design.

http://www.allihopa.co.uk/userimages/Letterpress-greeting-cards(2293343).htm

I think summer (did we have a summer?) has finally gone and autumn is well and truly on its way! xx

All in a mornings work.

2011-08-31T11:12:00.000+01:00

It's been a fantastic morning at Allihopa HQ.

Our beautiful letterpress has been dusted down after a well deserved rest over the summer and we're now starting our Christmas production. We're aiming to have everything printed in the next fortnight .... can someone send a letter to santa and ask him if we could borrow a few of his little helpers? xx

I know its a long way off yet but here's a sneaky peek of this mornings efforts.

Pink or Green?

2011-08-30T19:59:00.000+01:00

I'm working late tonight as I have a meeting tomorrow afternoon where I've got to present a load of new ideas. I have misplaced my USB stick so thought I'd order another one and I stumbled across these beauties......

Now I wouldn't lose one of these. Only decision is which one to choose?

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside!

2011-08-19T11:39:00.000+01:00

Some days you just have to pack up tools and walk down to the beach ...

... yesterday was one of those days, my excuse was that it was inspiration for a possible new collection

xx

Working together - we love this!

2011-08-03T09:18:00.000+01:00

Allihopa has always loved on one side of the coin the classic appeal of the american footwear brand Converse and on the other the vibrant patterns from the Finnish textiles brand Marimekko. The union of these two wonderful design led brands on a range of female footwear makes us want to throw away our summer sandals and start skipping around in a pair of these lovely shoes. Check out the link for a video from Marimekko designer director describing the project ... we love it!

http://play.converse.com/blog/2011/02/15/converse-x-marimekko/

Allihopa is a Henries Finalist!!

2011-08-01T09:50:00.001+01:00

For the second year in a row Allihopa is delighted to be one of the finalists in the Henries awards.

Apparently over 14,000 cards were entered into this year’s Henries and these were judged by an incredibly prestigious judging panel made up of 30 top retailers (including buyers from John Lewis, WHSmith, Tesco, Paperchase, Scribbler, Card Bar, The Squires Garden Centres, Waterstones as well as many top independents). So we feel rightfully proud that our new collections for 2011 were noticed by this years judging panel and we're delighted to have made it into the final five in the most Promising Young Designer category. To be shortlisted is such an achievement and we're sending huge congratulations to the other finalists ... hope to see you at the awards ceremony on the 13th of October.

How can you fail to be inspired?

2011-07-19T21:59:00.001+01:00

By this.....

As you know we are currently exhibiting at Harrogate's Home & Gift show and after a busy day meeting new stockists, presenting new collections to existing customers and of course socialising with our friends in the greeting cards industry, lucky me comes back to this amazing view! Never has a trade show had such a relaxing vibe and I think a lot of it is due to the amazing scenery.

Our show has been extremely successful and we're very excited to be stocking so many new stores. We have met some lovely people and as well as taking a mountain of orders we have lots of exciting things in the pipeline - watch this space.......

Is it too early to write to Santa??

2011-07-14T09:00:00.004+01:00

Not only has Orla Keily contributed to Heal's A/W 11 collection but so has our good friend Laura Thomas! www.laurathomas.co.uk

I discovered this when I was busy looking at some of the submissions for this year's Cardiff Design Festival awards and as many of you would know I was instantly drawn to fashion and textiles category and as always I wasn't disappointed.

The incredibly talented Laura Thomas has entered a project she has just completed for Heals. Laura told me that the designs which are being produced by Melin Tregwynt are due to be in stores from the end of July... something tells me that they won't be there long! I love the simplistic geometric nature of them and especially love the bold green colour palette.

I'm imagining the green thrown in several locations in my home ..... Is it wrong to redesign your room around one particular product?? Amazing work Laura! x

Bonjour!

2011-07-01T12:28:00.000+01:00

I've just got back from a much deserved week away with my family in France. We all had an amazing time and have returned home fully charged (well sort of) and raring to get back to growing the Allihopa brand!

I thought I'd share with you a couple of of our holiday pics .... which sums up our time away .... I've left out pics of the wine and cuisine as it's approaching lunchtime and there's still half of a working day left at Allihopa HQ!

Inviting?

Peaceful!

So french!

Allihopa at Pulse

2011-06-08T11:32:00.018+01:00

It's been a busy couple of months for Allihopa with lots of changes and new collections developed (more about that later).

We've just got back from Pulse. We had an amazing show and as always we met some lovely people and saw lots of old friends.

I have to share with you the fantastic sunny carpet that stretched the length of aisle A. However at times I did feel a bit like I needed some ruby red slippers to skip down the yellow (brick road) carpet with my lovely tradeshow neighbours Helen and Christine!

Our new collections were well received by all. I'll post some images in the forthcoming weeks and they'll soon be available on our online shop.

Every day I'd walk past this fun chalkboard camper van which was located in the entrance of the show. It was great to see all the scribbles and messages being added. I also love the interior of this form of transport. I'd quite like one for myself ...

Finally we were delighted to be featured as a company to watch by David Nicholls the design editor for the Telegraph magazine!

Happy Saint David's Day Folks!

2011-03-01T13:46:00.000Z

The first of March is of course Saint David's Day, there'll be an abundance of Welsh cakes, cawl for tea and of course children dressed in our national costume right across the country (even if it is with a modern day twist - pink wellies!) 

As a child of the 70's/80's I remember wearing the same itchy outfits but getting quite excited about the school concerts and of course the half day from school - the good old days! Although the early finish has long disappeared it is nice to see that there is still a strong national pride associated to Wales. 

It's not all daffodils, leeks and male voice choirs here and to illustrate this I thought I'd share some links to Welsh brands that we both totally love ....... 
Delyth Walsh (www.delythwalsh.co.uk)  
Toast (www.toast.co.uk) 
Melin Tregwynt (www.melintregwynt.co.uk)


xx Allihopa 

Half Term and Grand Designs

2011-02-24T12:46:00.000Z

Why does it always rain when it comes to the school holidays? Wellies and umbrellas was the dress code for most of week but the weather hasn’t put a dampener on the last couple of days away in West Wales. Fun filled days out with the children in the day and taking time out in the evenings to start designing a new collection (more news on that soon). Now that I’m back at Allihopa HQ I thought I’d share a couple of pictures of Tenby with so you can see just how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful yet somewhat WET country!

To the left of the image you can see the old lifeboat station which is being renovated as we speak into a design led living accommodation. It is the talk of the picturesque town as it’s going to be featured on the next series of Grand Designs with Kevin McCloud. Follow the link to architects website to see the developments http://www.argent-architects.co.uk/pages/Current.html ( live site pictures)

I’ve always fancied stay in a lighthouse but by the looks of the old lifeboat station I think that’s now topping my list!

Prince Charming!

2011-02-14T14:55:00.001Z

As it's valentines day we thought we'd make you feel even more gooey by posting this fantastic picture of Lucy's very handsome dog Jake. Isn't he just adorable?

At the end of a crazy photo shoot involving six children the wonderful photographer Ben Wyeth captured this beautiful image of our favourite canine friend. Thanks Ben!

Charming, charming, charming...

2011-02-14T10:41:00.001Z

We are very excited to be on the Living etc blog. Thanks Mo!

Moon Woods collection launch

2011-02-09T13:26:00.000Z

Our new collection 'Moon Woods' is now available in our online shop. take a peek! 

Sources of Inspiration

2011-02-09T13:12:00.000Z

We've always enjoyed the Things We Love feature on the Kate Spade website as a source of inspiration. We just found out (via decor8) that there's also an online book with the same name. Looking at it led us to get out our well-thumbed copies (yes, we have one each) of another fab source of inspiration; Paul Smith's You Can Find Inspiration In Everything (and if you can't look again)

(images: Kate Spade, Paul Smith)

Top Drawer update

2011-02-02T10:57:00.002Z

Hi Everybody

We're only five weeks into 2011 and already we are run off our feet. A successful Top Drawer has resulted in non-stop printing at the studio and manic packing at our office. It was great to see some of our existing stockists and hear how well our products had been received by their customers plus it's always lovely to introduce new stockists to our collection. Our Moon Woods collection was extremely well received, with the letterpress collection grabbing the attention of key buyers nationwide. Also new for 2011 was the introduction of our ever popular prints for wholesale and new additions to our Merry Berry collection (yes we're already thinking about Christmas 2011!).

A wonderful time was had by all and roll on Pulse 2011 where we will be introducing even more new collections to the Allihopa range.

xxx
Lucy and Malin

p.s. Moon Woods collection will shortly be available via our online shop www.allihopa.co.uk

Allihopa will be launching new collections at Top Drawer 16-18 Jan

2011-01-10T21:49:00.001Z

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T15:17:00.000Z

Print and Pattern

2010-12-03T09:59:00.003Z

We are delighted that the design led surface pattern blog Print and Pattern have featured us again. This time they've showcased our festive Merry Berry range. Today's entries also feature Isak and the Conran shop - could we be in better company? Take a look.......

http://printpattern.blogspot.com/2010/12/xmas-2010-allihopa.html

We'd  like to say a huge thank you to Bowie Styles (the blogger behind Print  and Pattern) for supporting Allihopa so much in our first year! 

Lucy and Malin x

Credit report

2010-11-09T15:08:00.000Z

Our excitement at our Jolly Robin wrap getting a full page (p.117) in the December issue of Ideal Home was soon followed by disheartenment at not getting a credit for our design or there being no mention of where people can buy it :(

Harvest festival

2010-10-18T09:39:00.004+01:00

We spent some time in the sunshine having a harvest festival at the allotment. Lovely!

Make sure you pick up your copy.....

2010-10-15T12:56:00.000+01:00

It's been a busy couple of days for Allihopa. What with Cardiff design festival, catching up with old work colleagues from our Design Wales days (at the trend forecasting event) and finally getting through the mountains of Christmas trade orders. It seems like our feet haven't touch the floor in a very long time but today on my way home from the school run I popped into our local news agents to pick up some Friday treats. Whilst in there I started to flick through the Christmas Ideal Home magazine which is hot off the press and has just arrived in shops nationwide this week (I've been on Christmas mode for over 5 months now so this is acceptable behavior even though we're only mid way through October). Imagine my surprise to see Allihopa's Jolly Robin gift wrap and Kraft Ribbon wrap featured inside (page 72 and 27)!

Although we've had interest from both local and trade press throughout the year this is the first time we've had national press run with our products. We are delighted with this result and we're now keeping everything crossed that more leading lifestyle magazines feature us in their Christmas editions. On a personal level one thing I do know is that with the amount of glossy magazines Malin and I will be purchasing over the next few weeks you may want to book yourself a space at either the Flynn or Richardson households as we're sure to pick up amazing tips for decorating, roasting and creating the perfect Christmas!

Kate Spade in London

2010-10-13T20:07:00.000+01:00

Ever since I was a design student in the US I have been a huge fan of Kate Spade. Every now and then I read her lovely book on Style. Timeless, fun & quirky. I was very excited to find out that from today until 10 November Kate Spade has a pop-up shop at 7 Henrietta Street WC2E 8PW. A must visit!

http://www.katespade.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=10802178

Cookie monsters

2010-10-13T16:20:00.003+01:00

Here's a poster I just did for my son's school. It includes some trusty old Allihopa characters and a few new scary friends.

Merry Berry online

2010-10-13T14:44:00.001+01:00

Our Scandinavian feel letterpress Christmas cards and wrap now available from our online shop http://www.allihopa.co.uk/

Merry Berry is a highly charged festive collection with a strong Scandinavian feel. It's a warm and cosy Christmas range with a mixture of jolly robins, snowflakes, baubles and hearts creating a world of festive cheer!

Eight cards from our Merry Berry collection. Letterpress printed by hand in our studio.

Where's Wally? (or in this case allihopa)

2010-10-08T15:06:00.001+01:00

For those Brits amongst us, you may remember a children's book called Where's Wally? Basically on each page a character called Wally would be hiding and children would spend hours trying to find him. Well, this has something to do with our new entry.....

We are delighted to have been selected to featured in the Not on the High Street Christmas mail order catalogue campaign for Winter and Christmas 2010. This will be landing on 750,000 doorsteps from tomorrow morning and then there will be another drop of 750,000 copies in November. Anyway we are lucky enough to have had a sneak preview of the catalogue and the Allihopa products are featured all over it. At first glance we though it was just our ad on page 18 (product code 92467) but on greater examination we are featured so many times that we go into double numbers! If you are lucky enough to receive a copy get searching from our famous wrap, tags and cards. We make it 11 appearances if you spot us more than us let us know ;)

other thoughts ....

2010-09-28T14:38:00.000+01:00

Whilst Malin and Lucy have been busy printing, packing and dispatching the first of the Christmas orders our canine friends have other things on their minds........

In between numerous dips down the beach with Jake next week Allihopa will be unveiling more of our christmas range.

Limelight Larry

2010-09-23T15:01:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I went to the library with my son where we borrowed a book called 'Limelight Larry'. Beautiful pictures and a fun story by British illustrator Leigh Hodgkinson http://leighhodgkinson.blogspot.com/

HO HO HO!

2010-09-21T16:20:00.006+01:00

It is a very busy time in our studio printing all the letterpress cards & tags that are to be dispatched in the next couple of weeks. Our press is an Arab treadle platen press without a motor so I am thinking that perhaps I should ask Santa for a miniskirt as my legs will be pretty fit after treading the press for many hours (one of my legs anyway).

We've been spotted ...

2010-09-17T11:52:00.000+01:00

Print and Pattern have mentioned Allihopa again on todays posting. It's lovely to be listed alongside such established brands. We just hope we've spelt Merry Christmas correctly in all the different languages!

http://printpattern.blogspot.com/2010/09/top-drawer-snapshots.html

Just my bag

2010-09-15T14:20:00.004+01:00

After looking long and hard I have found it. A classic leather satchel made in Great Britain by The Cambridge Satchel Company. Mine is pea green. Yummy!

First trading day at Top Drawer Autumn.

2010-09-12T20:48:00.002+01:00

It's been a really good day - orders and interest.

Check out our Christmas Voices letterpress card, it was selected by the shows stylist to feature with a handful other products at the shows entrance.

PS Allihopa Loves You xx (Allihopa is Swedish for everybody)

Allihopa at Top Drawer Autumn 2010

2010-09-11T21:01:00.001+01:00

The end of a busy day but we thought you'd like to see part of our stand at Top Drawer Autumn 2010. Santa has already delivered our pressies! The clever wise old man has taste - he's wrapped everything in Allihopa's Merry Berry gift wrap!

Thank you Phil (Santa's little helper) for constructing our stand.

Allihopa on Print & Pattern

2010-09-10T10:49:00.002+01:00

Print & Pattern is one of our favourite blogs and a daily read at Allihopa. We are so pleased and excited to be mentioned there today. Thank you! http://printpattern.blogspot.com/2010/09

/cardsstationery-allihopa.html

Allihopa is a finalist in the Henries Awards 2010!

2010-09-06T21:50:00.001+01:00

We are very pleased to announce that Allihopa is a finalist in the prestigious Henries Awards 2010. The Henries are regarded by the industry as the Oscars of greeting cards. The winners will be announced at a reception in London on 7th October. We are keeping our fingers crossed!