KiosKiosk!

The Grateful Thread will be participating in KiosKiosk this summer. The concept behind KiosKiosk is to provide a venue for creative makers/designers to sell their wares. The Kiosk

is located next to the Mayor's office and the Design Museum on Queen's Walk (closest tube London Bridge or Tower Hill). We will be selling Saturday July 25th, and Saturday August 8th. Stop by and say hello if you have a chance! For more information on KiosKiosk, a list of the various exhibitors, or how you can get involved check out the website, http://www.kioskiosk.co.uk/

PULSE tradeshow 2009

So after much anticipation and preparation, we finally took part in our first big trade show. Pulse is primarily for gifts and design led products and was a good one to choose because it specializes in new product launches. We were pretty nervous at first, but we got a great reaction to our products and the look of our stand which made us feel pretty good. We had several orders for small boutiques around the UK and met some really interesting people. Overall it was a really great experience for us, and has really helped to give The Grateful Thread that extra push into the public eye. For a list of retail shops now selling our goods, please visit our website. http://www.the-gratefulthread.com/

Baby Blocks!

I have a lot of friends having babies lately, and I'm always stuck for ideas of what I can get for them. It's nice to do something a little personal if I can squeeze in the time. I made these little baby stacking blocks for my friend's beautiful little girl Lena. Hopefully the different textures and the bells I put inside will help entertain her. This is a really easy project and took only a little time, but I really enjoyed it.

Guitar baby rattles!

If your bambino likes rattles, why not let them shake in style?! You can start the little one on a road to rockstardom with these stylish rattles. Our latest invention. They are made from fabric remnants and come in 3 sizes and whatever fabric happens to be leftover. They will be available for purchase very soon from our online shop! http://www.the-gratefulthread.com/

More Spectacular Photos!

Some more wonderful style/action photos from my brother-in-law Akim. Aren't these fab? These little rock stars have been caught in some sweet rock n' roll poses. Watch out, I think a new Elvis is in the making! And how about that pooch? Please check out Akim's other fantastic photos and his short filmwork at http://www.akimzerouali.com/.

Great Photos!

My brother in law is a fantastic photographer. Check out this great style shot! He took a bunch of photos for us to use in our new upcoming catalogue. I can't thank him, or the bunch of crazy kid posers enough :)!

It was a very exciting weekend indeed! We went to Siaulai, Lithuania over the weekend to meet with Gintas and the fine folks they have over at our manufacturing plant. We wanted the chance to visit the factory first hand so we could get an idea what its like, how the working environment is, and learn some of the in and outs of the toy making pipeline before placing an order. The staff were incredibly helpful and friendly, and the quality of the toys was excellent. We had a terrific experience overall and Gintas kindly showed us around not only the manufacturing plant, but also the entire lovely city of Siaulai!

Here are some photos to give an idea of what it was like:

After our initial meeting in the offices, we were taken on a tour. This a photo of Nicolas and Gintas next to the amazing embroidery machines. Check out all the different colours of thread. These machines can do any embroidery task.


Next we have the main working area where the toys are sewn together with high quality industrial sewing machines.


Here we have the cutting room where patterns are cut out using an electric blade. The worker wears a sort of chainmail glove for protection and feeds the material through the cutter.


Finally there is a photo of the fabric storage area where rolls upon rolls of fur, felt, linen and and cotton made up a ceiling high array of colors and textures.


There were many more cool things to see as well such as the storeroom filled with fun toys and a child's dream come true, the detail area where workers did little extras to ensure each piece was top quality, and the giant machine that took fabric scraps and whipped it into a fiber filling like cotton candy. It was truely a fantastic adventure for us and great to see everything behind the scenes. We are looking forward to getting our first batch of softies created here!

PLUSH YOU exhibition!

The Grateful Thread is very happy to announce that we have been selected to exhibit at the Plush You! exhibition that will take place in Seattle later this year. I'm really excited about this. We will be submitting 3 new handmade softies of our own designs. All sorts of ideas racing through my head for projects, and I've already brought out the sketchbook to jot them down. I think I'm going to try something really different this time and explore with some new methods and materials. Now that we've bought a brand new embroidery sewing machine I feel a boost in confidence too!
Luckily I have a few months to get them designed and created. Congratulations to all the other wonderful fellow softie makers that will also be exhibiting. We are looking forward to seeing all the amazing and inspiring pieces! For updates on the show and cool softie related news follow the Plush You! blog at http://plushyou.blogspot.com/

On The Stage and Ready to Rock!

Here's a little preview of the stage we have designed for our exhibition stand at the Pulse tradeshow. The picture here is slightly misleading as it will be approximately a full 2 meters in length! We will be showcasing our "The Monsters of Rock" softie series to thousands of prospective buyers for the first time. Yikes, we sure hope they are well received! I think they look monstrously cool myself, but I am a little biased :)!

I'm the New Bambino Goodies Contributor!

So, I've started to do some part time contribution to the The Bambino Goodies web blog (http://www.bambinogoodies.co.uk/). It's a great resource for finding some really unique things geared in particular for families with or/and expecting little ones. So far it's been pretty fun poking around the internet and finding things that really catch my interest, getting recommendations from friends on products they like, and generally helping to promote like minded small businesses.

New Clocks Hands in Stainless Steel

We have received our new clock hands from the laser cutter. I definately think they are a step up from the plastic ones. We also got them enlarged for the larger clocks. I've been doing lots of clock making in preparation for the PULSE tradeshow which is rapidly approaching and takes place the first weekend of June at Earl's Court in London. Check out more about the show here: http://www.pulse-london.com/

Crammed Organisms Book finally arrived!

So after a very long wait, and some worry about whether we would receive our promised and much anticipated book "Crammed Organisms", it has finally arrived and we are happy we were a part of it. There is a 2 page spread of our "The Monsters of Rock" series, and a multitude of images from fantastic artists and softie makers from across the globe. Perusing through the images has given me so much inspiration, and reminded me how silly, quirky and fun making softies can be. Thank you all the fantastic designers who contributed!

Shops shops shops!

Well, we are excited to say that The Grateful Thread is finally getting our products into stores. We are now stocked in several London boutiques, a couple of shops in North America and are soon to be stocked in very cool shop called Nieuws Innoventions in Amsterdam as well. Things are moving moving moving, and shipping shipping shipping all the time it seems.

Special softie for baby Lux!

I just received these photos from a happy customer in The Netherlands. We customized a Rock Star softie with her new baby's name. I just love the way its hanging with the rest of the guitars. How incredibly cool is that?! Wow, this baby is already a star in the making . . . . Lux, when you get rich and famous, please remember the little people like those at The Grateful Thread :)

Last Call for entries

Someone's junk really is someones else's treasure. Especially when it is reused or made into something new and totally original. 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse is almost ready to shut the doors on entries. We just snuck in there with some of our repurposed vinyl record gear. A book is being published with the best selections and I think its going to be fabulous to see all the wonderful and clever ways people are reusing, recycling and repurposing everyday things.

check it out here http://extremecraft.typepad.com/ Entries are still accepted through March 13th