Holly&Lil The Collar Makers

Thursday, 14 November 2013

Discover Dogs 2013 - Earls Court

The preparation for a big show like Discover Dogs starts at least 6 months before we get there to set up.

It is a huge commitment to show there, as the costs of the stand and staff alone can be near £2000! Many see it as a promotional cost and feel overjoyed if they can make their stand money back... but luckily we always do OK there and you are lovely to us - would be hard to do so much work just for a smile.

Holly&Lil have been at Discover Dogs since our very first year and have always thoroughly enjoyed it. It is quite different from Crufts, where there are many dog owners who understand the quality of our work and the fact that, though our lovely collars look like fashion items they are designed and used by REAL dogs everyday. At Discover Dogs we get a chance to introduce ourselves to many people who may not even have their dog yet. It can be hard to explain why our collars are so fab but thankfully many of the breeders have Holly&Lil collars so the public get a chance to see that many 'experts' endorse us. These Breeders and Show people buy from us, we are too small a company to hand out freebies but we are so grateful for their support. THEY JUST GET US!

We arrive at DD on the Friday and set up usually takes 6-7 hours. We have never favoured slat wall and such but Lordy it would be easier. We all have our set tasks and Connor and Chelsea launch straight into Glass cabinet building whilst I get Lights up...

By the end of the day we are tired but happy!

Our new collar the Union Rose takes pride of place

The next day as show gals me and Chelsea and Concha take to the stand - and creepily seem to be smiling at you all from every angle ........ SCAREY!!!!!!!!

We have so many of you come and say hello even if you are not buying though we are happy when you do

Simba always come to say hello with his wonderful owners Daniel and Christine who have become great friends.

The Hills and their puglets are always welcome

Claire and Beth, our Discover Dogs tickets winners, came and said hello. Claire worked out what she wants 'next time' but Beth could not resist one of our new Black Ice collars for her teeny wee Nessa.

Holly dog herself made an appearance and had a lovely time, despite the fact there were dogs everywhere, not her favourite thing. Still she found so many people to play ball with that she was happy! Noone believed her age she was running around like a PupStar. Minnie who she 'tolerates' from our shop came down and of course Simba who she has a massive CRUSH on!

We must thanks Elaine from Snugglepugs who had an army of puglets in our collars and also Joanne and Anna, the Barking Blondes, both Molly and Mathilda were in their H&L's.

We try to make shopping at our stand as enjoyable as at our shop. All Els Angels are well informed and rather charming I think?

I guess one of our real highlights was accepting our Somewhere on the High Street Open for Dogs Award 2013/4. ( More of that later)... I loved winning this as it is a HUGE pat on the back and loud cheer for all my wonderful Els Angels at Bermondsey Street. I had a dream how my shop should be and they have made it come true. I thank them and love them for it!!!!!

Sunday, 3 November 2013

Creating a Holly&Lil design - UNION ROSE

I thought you might enjoy knowing a little bit about the work that goes into creating a Holly&Lil collar. One of our latest designs is the beautiful Union Rose a design I, (Elaine, Hollys owner), have been working on for many years.

It started life when we were asked by Harrods to show some of our designs at their annual dog walk. Most of what went down the dogwalk were from collections on sale in Harrods already.

But they allowed me the opportunity to design a few specially for their theme... THE WIZARD OF OZ.
I had several ideas/images from the film that I knew I wanted to cover... The Rainbow, The Poppy Field, Ruby Slippers and Emerald City.
The Rainbow was a huge feat for our craftsman but I drew what I wanted and he produced the most amazing collar. So lovely and smart yet super colourful. A joy! It has gone on to be used on the BBCs Search for Dorothy and was awarded to the winning Toto!

The Rainbow Click on Image to see on our webshop

I myself worked and sew the Emerald City and Ruby Slippers; a wonderful mix of Sequins, Crystals, Millefiori beads and Swarovski. They are still some of my favourite collars to sew and up there with our best sellers. Click on Image to shop....

But the one I could not crack was the poppy. At last I came up with some ideas on paper.

My man then worked on this design and our first collar was created in 2009 for the dog walk - it had 4 poppies on the collar for maximum effect and was created on a wide collar as Cookie, our in house Bulldog at the time would be wearing it!

And so the show came and Eddie, Lily and Cookie were the stars!

Sadly Holly was not picked to walk but looked and gave Lily support from the sidelines

The Rainbow and Emerald City and Ruby Slippers became part of our ranges and we still sell them. BUT I was not happy with the Poppy collar - it looked too much like propellers not petals. PLUS the cost of making it was astronomical. Would have taken it beyond the reach of most of us.

So the years rolled on..... and we tried and we tried. Producing a flower was possible but producing a flower that a dog could be a dog in, was another thing.

However I also opened up my thoughts and became interested in the Tudor Roses as well as Oz poppies...

And I loved the name Union Rose which was another name for The Tudor Roses - the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the Tudor dynasty.

And at last we had a look - at first with Petals and without the Green leaf.

Holly tested the original design and we found the petals a tad annoying they held the dirt when she rolled in stuff. I finalised that I wanted a black calf with yellow piped collar and decided a black patent heart gave that teeny bit of gloss to my design. Then I realised that the green Leaf was the final touch. And so the UNION ROSE was created and is now online on our webshop and will be available at Discover Dogs 2013 and in our shop from the 11th of November! I hope you love it and feel all our agonising was worth it! Some just wait for us to do all the hard work them imitate the design - very badly - but this one is a corker and as hard as any we have done to produce so beautifully yet still take quite a bit of wear and tear. I feel stupidly proud and pleased with it and Holly has been wearing hers for MONTHS and it looks wonderful!

The UNION ROSE please click on Image to shop

Friday, 11 October 2013

Kalkan, Turkey October 2013 - discovering KAPSA

Our arrival in Turkey seemed to sum up my year. Just as you think you are home safe and secure, seatbelts on, lights off, coming in to land, the engines roar and the plane goes up vertical, all lights flickering on. It is obvious something is very wrong. In true Brit style no screaming or panic but stoic silence. Alex clasps my hand and I hold the strangers to my right. We smile at each other quickly - then I stare at my knees.

After an eternity of silence we hear 'Flight aborted' and that they are taking us to, what sounds like Hodos. In our bleary state Alex and I try and work out on the map if we can get a bus or taxi from Hodos to Kalkan... then my brain kicks in and I realise Hodos is RHODES, a Greek island off Turkey.

We land and the Pilot, who by now we all love, says to land at Dalaman the winds must be 16mph MAX - at the moment they are 55mph.

I was glad to sit still for a while as I seemed to be the only person on the plane who heaved up during the teeny flight to Rhodes.

I won't bore you with details but about 4 hours later, after a smoothish landing, a Frankenstein electrical storm taxi drive we arrived, in a powercut at an old pals Summer Breeze apartments.

And the FUN began!
We had come to Kalkan for 3(ish) reasons.

'Cos I had realised I had reached burn out stage...
To celebrate Alex 23rd Birthday
To spend a bit of time with my wonderful friend, Laura, who I have known since the 80's.

She had fallen in love with a handsome Turk over a decade ago on a holiday. She was working in a high pressured job in Soho as a Post Production Producer. She thought it through and sold up, shipped out and married her man. They now have two lovely children. They did some research and decided on Kalkan and built the Summer Breeze apartments. Just the way we would all want a holiday apartment to be, a little rustic, but spacious and deliciously white and blue. And all have DVDS and kitchens and washing machines - Heaven! Plus the joy of the lovely Laura to give us tips and ideas about where to go.
The Summer Breeze Apartments in Kalkan
I am sure our holiday is of little interest to you all and really we just slept and shopped and eat as much yummy food as we could.

'I care not for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not better for it' Abraham Lincoln

However what I did want to share with you was what Laura had told me and showed me of the link of KAPSA the Kalkan charity that is changing the lives of dogs and cats in the most positive way.

I am sure most animal lovers on holidays spot the local dogs and cats straight away. We have all felt the impotence and sadness some of these meetings can bring. We feel impotent to help and even worry that the brief time we spend throwing down the odd scrap of cuddling the odd stray leaves them sad and struggling when we go?

Our experience in Kalkan however makes one feel that a change can come and that the Turkish and ex-Pat residents are working together to make a change. Laura for example feeds many cats daily and helps them through the cold winter months. The cats live on the streets and are HUGELY intuitive and polite. Avoiding visitors who are not keen on them ... or giving lots of cuddles to those of us who adore them!!

The only way to sunbathe!

Laura and her family also have their own wonderful dog Luna - a Dogue de Argentino. Such a beauty and there for strokes and tail wags

Alex and I saw street dogs lolling happily all over the place and we noticed that many had ear tags. Laura explained that this showed they had been caught by KAPSA and neutered/sterilised by the local vet that works and is funded by KAPSA. They have to return them to the streets but at least they only have to fend for themselves not constantly breeding or fighting. Many of the cats (ALL of Laura's) have a small clip on their ear - showing they too have been sorted out.

The cats were a dream to spend our holiday with, though we did respect Laura's wishes and not feed them or let them in. As we may love them but the next guest may not. Though we did have huge 'trouble' with the adorable Coco Chanel who could magically find her way in no matter what we did.

Laura feeds them outside her walls everyday and some of them are big fat cats. I worried what happens in the winter when most of the tourists go. But KAPSA run a winter feeding programme for all the dogs and cats. Laura herself makes sure her gang all have some shelter and protection. And she said the winter is not that harsh. And certainly dogs like street dog Dolly (below) seem to have stocked up on fat stores to see them through.

Dolly would win the fattest street dog competition if there was one.

In time the street population will decrease with the KAPSA neutering programme. Plus it is now much cheaper and easier to bring the animals back to the UK. Several have gone to new homes this year. Kapsa help organise it all. I do, of course, have my rescue boy Augustus and would not swop him for the world... but some of the street angles there are just heaven.

Kalkan is working hard to make the animals lives better. The only 'fly' in the ointment is that others are hearing of their scheme and dumping dogs and cats in Kalkan in the hope they will be sorted and helped. It could overload the system and resources. Ideally other towns will take on the scheme and run it as successfully.

Anyway for more info on Kapsa please see their website - fascinating!

Kalkan Association for the Protection of Street Animals

I cannot recommend Laura and Ersin's Summer Breeze Apartments enough. Alex and I have already booked for next year as some months are already full! Do tell Laura you know us.