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Addicted to vintage... We are designer/makers based in the South of England with more than a slight obssession with vintage jewellery. Its past life. Its secret history...one careful owner or three? Who knows...but we just can't resist it or the urge to recycle it. Rework it. Repurpose it. Re:design it, into unique handcrafted contemporary pieces for the 21st century woman...well we can't wear all of it ourselves. That would be selfish (apparently).
Showing posts with label couture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label couture. Show all posts

Thursday, 13 October 2011

Salisbury Art Trail

The bi-annual event is well underway with only 3 days left to discover local talent and their creations. See artists’ work in galleries, studios and in their homes with some offering workshops for you to participate in. Enjoy installation art, textiles, jewellery, photography, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, painting, glass and sculpture.

This is the first year armcandii is exhibiting in the trail and we can be found in Fisherton Mill - the south of England's largest independent art gallery – alongside other invited and resident artists. We are debuting collections ‘sewn’ and ‘doodle’ with existing collection ‘couture’.


Sewn: textural hand sewn wire jewellery with suspended vintage elements



Doodle: sculptural hand 'doodled' wire jewellery with vintage elements


 

Couture: statement hand knitted wire jewellery with vintage elements
The Mill is this perfect place to start the trail and fuel up on coffee and cake whilst you plan your route. Or drop in for a well earned lunch halfway through and stay for afternoon tea. The food alone is worth the visit.

And if you don’t manage to get to the Mill during the trail, you can still find us there after the 16th October or purchase via our website.

Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Etsy and Flickr.

Wednesday, 25 May 2011

re:designed for...Clare

Don't you just love friends?!  We do.  Ours are busy social butterflies who need accessories to complete their latest fashion looks for the next must-go-to event.  

Clare recently commissioned a necklace to wear at her son's christening, after seeing Karen's commissioned neckcandii on our blog.  Her brief: something special for the occasion, a unique necklace that you won't find on the high street, that you could wear again and that complimented her pink and orange Per Una dress.

We gave her 11 designs/colour-ways to chose from and this is the end result...

commissioned couture neckcandii

A unique hand knitted wire work necklace embellished with a vintage diamante bracelet, earring, vintage mother of pearl buttons, seed beads, white and dusky pink freshwater pearls on chain.



Commissions
We are more than happy to discuss commissions.  We can either re:design a vintage piece from our collection or a special piece of your own.  Get in touch via mail@armcandii.com and we'll take it from there.

Tuesday, 26 April 2011

re:designed for...Karen

It may come as a bit of a surprise, but apparently other people are getting married besides Will & Kate! Incredibly ordinary folk are doing it too. And with that comes guests with wedding outfit dilemmas.  

Our lovely friend Karen contacted us a couple of weeks ago and asked if we could design a necklace to compliment her outfit for a friend's wedding at the end of April. No not that wedding. Her brief: "I need something to stop it looking too safe and sloaney."


After further consultation we set about designing a necklace to do just that...


commissioned couture neckcandii
The end result: a unique hand knitted wire work necklace embellished with vintage earrings, brooch, violet and dusky pink freshwater pearls and seed beads on chain.

Commissions
We are more than happy to discuss commissions. We can either re:design a vintage piece from our own collection or a special piece of your own. Get in touch via mail@armcandii.com and we'll take it from there.

Saturday, 12 March 2011

What weekends were made for

We're so excited...our jewellery will soon be available at Fisherton Mill
hand knitted wire cuff embellished with vintage pieces & freshwater pearls
For those of you who are not familiar with the Mill, it is the south of England's largest independent art gallery and features the work of over 300 artists and designer/makers. Formerly a grain mill built in 1880, it now houses gallery space, studios and a fabulous cafe.

It is situated in Salisbury, Wiltshire and definitely worth a visit. Think lazy Saturday afternoon...punctuated with fabulous food in a building that wouldn't look out of place on Grand Designs, filled with beautiful objects to browse if you can drag yourself away from the paper...you're already there aren't you?!

Opening times:
10-5pm - Tuesday - Friday
9.30-5.30pm - Saturday

Friday, 11 March 2011

The jewellery or the website...which came first?

Well...the jewellery came first in armcandii's case & dictated the need for a website - an essential marketing tool for any designer/maker who wants to reach the masses. 



But what I'm really asking is which comes first on a daily basis? Which is priority? Both need each other after all. I'm constantly torn because I'm passionate about design & can express myself through both mediums. I can lose myself for hours in either...fortunate in some respects, because I can design our website to look & do exactly what we want, but the jewellery doesn't make itself...

And the point of all this deliberating? Our recently revamped website. Many hours well spent showcasing our current collections: couture, celebration & confetti. It's worth a look, if only to see where I used the hours I could have been re:designing vintage jewellery!