Ayr - Beggs Factory

I was lucky enough to stay with my family for an extra day as I had a factory visit in Ayr which is about 2 hours away from where I was in Livingston so first thing Tuesday morning I boarded a train and headed to Ayr. The factory there is incredible, we got a behind the scenes tour to see how all of our goods are manufactured and the factory also produce for the likes of Louis Vuitton and Hermes Paris - its a bit surreal walking around with piles of Louis Vuitton blankets and scarves just sitting there! Its such an interesting process - techniques and machinery are still in use from hundreds of years ago. Everyone was so lovely and welcoming and Ayr itself is a really sweet quaint town. At 6pm we boarded a flight back to London, I have been in the office for 3 days now and am re-packing tonight to head to Spain for a week with some girlfriends where I plan to do nothing but sit on a beach and sip cocktails! Oh la la!

Scotland Family Wedding / Reunion

Last weekend was a bank holiday for England so I booked an extra day and had four days with my family in Scotland. My cousin David got married to his partner of 12 years and it was the first time the whole family had been together since I was 7 years old (minus my parents and brother of course but they sent a message to be read out at the speeches which was really nice). We danced all night long, my legs were sore for days after!! It was my first Scottish family wedding and everyone looked so smart in their kilts - even though I have never lived in Scotland it all feels very natural when I'm up there with the traditions etc and its just great to spend time with everyone. On Sunday my Auntie Ali had a big family BBQ at hers, even though most of us were struggling from the night before it was a great BBQ with lots of food and more drink....! I love getting away to Scotland, at the moment I visit around four times a year and will be up again in November when the All Blacks are playing there so will squeeze in some family time as well as NZ time!

One Year at DAKS

Wow - I can't believe that I have been at Daks for a whole year now! I have had such an incredible year here and have been given so many amazing opportunities - still pinching myself really. I never thought in a million years that I would end up in the fashion industry - it was never my 'thing' but now I just can't get enough of it and am officially hooked! I work with such a talented team who are also now great friends of mine so I couldn't be happier. When I think to back to living at home and hearing stories of designers in London that get to travel to Italy and Paris during the year it just sounded like a movie to me - I mean, I only did see it in the movies - and now thats my life, even writing this now I'm pausing and thinking, wow. The mornings where we get in a black cab and head off to the V&A to see an exhibition or wake up after a nap at a hotel to get a 6am cab and head to Somerset House to work backstage at the fashion show - those are the movie mornings.

I've been working towards this since I started my diploma in computer graphic design when I was 16 years old and ten years down the line I am so proud of my journey through the design world, I really can't imagine any other way of living, I am constantly learning and growing and I just can't seem to get enough of it.

Next month is London fashion week yet again followed by a trip to Paris to the textile fair - I'm staying on for the weekend to have a mini break while I'm there - I never seem to get over seeing seeing the Eiffel Tower its just so breathtaking so were planning a picnic in the park near by as well as exploring the markets for some vintage finds. Before all of this I'm off to Scotland for my cousins wedding then off to Spain for a week of relaxation - all my holidays consist of traveling over chilling so I'm going to take some books and just chill out. I really feel like I could just sit at the beach and stare at the ocean for a week straight!

There are so many exciting projects coming up at Daks over the next year so I'm ready to go into year two with just as much excitement and enthusiasm as when I first started here - I look forward to updating you all with future projects! 

Fare Thee Well Wimbledon - Hello Clapham!

After 11 months in our gorgeous home in Wimbledon (re-named Wimbles or Wimbledoniam) it is time to say goodbye. Where the time has gone I do not know!
I have never lived anywhere else this long that hasn't been a family home (due to me being in the generation of returning home to save some dosh every now and again!) so it has been bitter sweet leaving. I have decided to venture out on my own so I can meet new people and even though it was daunting at first I'm really glad I settled on this decision as I have found a nice new place in Clapham South. Its really hard finding a new place in London, so many factors play into it with cost, location, competition with every other flat hunter and of course finding people you actually like and feel you could live with and vice versa. You have about 10-15 minutes in each house and that includes getting to know the flat mates! After a few months of searching I finally found a house that is 25 minutes to work (I was an hour away in Wimbles) and of course one of my new flatties is a Kiwi and ones an Aussie - but there is one token English! They had around 20 people come to view the place so I was stoked when they called and offered me the room - I saw it on the Monday and by the next night it was settled really - like I said, rooms go quick. So to fare thee well our first home in London we had a tennis themed BBQ at the house with friends! I made tennis ball cake pops which were so cute! Definitely my new craze...

I'm excited about this new chapter in my London life - at first I had minimal things in my room as I was all about saving to travel but seeing that London is now where I live I am going to make this new place more of a home (as in I want to buy photo frames, cushions, candles etc all the little things I initially wanted to do without) so I was a little naughty and splashed out on a beautiful cushion from John Lewis to get things started! Seems I will be here for a while so might as well decorate! I couldn't believe the pile of things I had to move - considering that I only arrived last year with just one suitcase - I have accumulated a fair bit!  

Hope everyone back home is keeping warm, its been really hot here the last week (going to rub it in while I can, tomorrow may be freezing again for all I know!) Will be doing an 'Out and About in London' update soon! Happy weekend to you all!

Royal Windsor Horse Show

A few Sundays ago I went along to The Royal Horse Show with my work colleagues as Daks is one of the key sponsors of this event. It's held annually in Windsor, about an hour from central Waterloo station and is only £4.40 return which is amazing for London! Windsor is such a beautiful, quaint town full of character and history - I had no idea it was there until this trip! I really need to study up more on London... You arrive in a cute little village of commercial shops and as you walk out Windsor castle is right in front of you! Beautiful rivers and parks surround the area making it perfect for picnics on a sunny day (so not that often over here haha!) and the grounds from the station are about a 10 minute walk away.

It was such a fun day out and I'm really glad I went, it was like a huge fair with stalls, rides and of course the show area - we had V.I.P tickets from Daks so got some of the best seats! There was a perfomance from the NZ Army band which was so cool to see! They even did a version of the haka!!! Its buzzy to be in the same place as the Queen and other royals though, its a world you just see in the tabloids or on the news so to be that close was an awesome experience. Highly recommend a visit to Windsor should you ever visit London....

Ephesus & Pamukkale

Today I was bright eyed and bushy tailed while everyone else was feeling absolutely rubbish! To start the day we headed to the ancient Greek city of Ephesus (which later became a Roman City). 

The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - no need to guess why - I thought it didn’t get better than the ruins of Pergamum but I was happily mistaken - I can’t even describe how breath taking this place was, walking around what was once and actual city that the ancient Greeks and Romans walked through thousands of years ago - how do you comprehend it? Its one of the biggest must-sees of the tour thats for sure! You’ll see in one of the photos above what they used to use for toilets - not alot of privacy! It was 28 degrees when we were walking through here so an ice cream was needed before we boarded the bus to continue on our way to Pamukkale!

On the way, we stopped at a leather good factory where they put on a mini fashion show - out of everyone I got pulled up, taken back stage, dressed in a leather coat and sunnies and made to walk down the runway... was all good fun though! Then we stopped at an incredible carpet making company - the workmanship that goes into one carpet was remarkable. It can take 9 months to make just one square meter of carpet by hand and we got to see such talented women creating a piece of carpet each, one knot at a time. Of course I was in my element photographing every piece of carpet  - the designs were so inspiring! Then we all got given apple tea and they rolled out carpet upon carpet for us to see. The building was huge and as you walk down the corridor there is room after room after room each with an individual business selling carpet - it was really something else! Everywhere you go in Turkey there seems to be carpet especially at markets like the Grand Bazaar - being a tourist I’m not sure how we are meant to buy it and carry it through customs!!

To finish the day we headed to Pamukkale which is famous for its unique cascades of natural mineral rich pools - it was so beautiful. When I saw this on the brochure before booking I thought it was snow! Its an incredible mountain like area of white rock and the water is so fresh, clear and warm. It went down layer by layer - everyone has to take there shoes off before stepping onto it so you have to be careful walking barefoot down the layers and in the water but wow it was so cool!!! Highly recommend! We then headed to our hotel where there were hot thermal pools and all chilled out and relaxed. I was out like a light that night and didn’t wake up till 6am when we had to get up and get ready for our 11 hour bus ride back to Istanbul which actually went quite quickly as we were watching movies and sleeping most of the way. An ice cream fight with one of the Aussie boys at lunch ended with me in a puddle of water and mud so I spent the last half of the bus trip soaked and I had to sing again for being last on the bus which wasn't fair! I survived though - thanks to my fair share of experiences growing up with an older brother - having my clothes ruined by mud and sitting in dampness for a few hours wasn't the worst thing that I have had to endure in my lifetime! Love you Greig!

Roman Pergamum

 

 

 

 

The Roman ruins of Pergamum were so amazing!!! WOW! I love ancient ruins, walking around them and imagining who walked before you on the exact same path. The craftsmanship and labour that went behind these ancient structures are just remarkable. I was never really interested in history at school, everything was always art and design (still is really!) but after the past year I have such a keen interest in history - I find it all so fascinating! We got a gondola up to the top of the hill, reminded me of going up to the gondolas in Rotorua, and had a wonder around for an hour or so all while our tour leader was telling us the stories behind the ruins. Rege used to be a history teacher and speaks great English so we all really enjoyed learning from him - he must have told the history of this place so many times but he re-tells it with such pride that this all took place in his country. I had no idea Turkey contains so much history from the Roman empire...

We arrived at our hotel which was a bit of a down-grade from the last few but still better than a hostel! That night was 'the big night out' but considering the state I was in from the previous night I just had a sober dancing night out! Randomly we went to an Irish Bar... in Turkey? Yes... whats more there was a tattoo parlour right next door. What happens when a bunch of Aussies get drunk next to a tattoo parlour?? Note how I said Aussies and not Kiwis haha! A handful got tattoos, including a 6 inch Tinkerbell sitting on a lotus flower... my oh my...