London Adventures

The weekend before last my lovely friend Sarah went out to enjoy some of the events that were part of Chelsea Fringe, lots of great garden based events around London, an alternative version of Chelsea Flower Show.

This is an incredible community project - The Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, built on a disused portion of railway.

a beautiful green oasis in the middle of gritty London, where green space is few & far between

A great mix of urban art & nature

it was such a beautiful day, my lovely friend Sarah the ultimate garden nymph

they are currently building a green house

The amazing open air communal space is well used and is even home to a pizza oven

Time for lunch and across the road is the Farm Shop, an amazing cafe that grows most of its own produce onsite, there are chickens on the roof, tomatos in a room at the top of the stairs, mushrooms growing in the basement, a poly tunnel of veggies and herbs in the back garden and salad greens in the cafe itself!

delicious sandwich

We then wandered over to the King Henry's Walk Garden, a more established community garden also in the Dalston area. It was amazing totally hidden away, like a little piece of paradise, we loved it :)

After all that it was time for a drink :)

Ice cold Mojitos were the perfect way to end the day!

Everyone we meet that day who were involved in the projects, were so friendly; aren't gardeners just the nicest people.

International Relocations

There have been BIG changes happening here at hope & glory HQ. I was offered and accepted a very good interior design position in London. I landed in London nearly two weeks ago!

So what does this mean for hope & glory NZ. The Greytown store has now closed, however The Tool Box, who I used to share the Greytown space with, is still going strong and stocking some of your hope & glory favourites; including the oil cloth bags and stamp sets. The hope & glory online store is going from strength to strength, my lovely friend Michelle will be organising all the shipping of orders from NZ, whilst my job is to source gorgeousness from U.K, Europe and around the world, to be loaded onto the  online store. If you are not already a fan of our facebook page, I highly recommend it, anything that is happening, facebook is where preview it first!

Some lovely new goodies have just landed, including the chic barista series of ceramics, pretty paper lanterns in cheery carnival stripe, also the divine and very popular large saddle bag now comes in the brand new trailing rose design. All now available at hopeandglory.co.nz

I will be blogging about my adventures in the U.K and beyond, plus giving you sneaky previews of the gorgeousness I have sourced. Thanks so much for being part of the journey thus far, we are going to have a blast in this next leg :)

Best wishes 

Vanya

We heart gorgeous press mentions :)

Had a fantastic mention in the Sunday Star Times, in a write up about Greytown.

The fact that only two shops were mentioned and we were one of them makes us pretty darn chuffed!

Many thanks to the author Laura Vincent of the fabulous food blog Hungry & Frozen for her lovely comment - hope & glory with its mix of sigh-worthy vintage & stunning current finds'

Retro Art - Tretchenikoff & JH Lynch

Vladimir Tretchikoff

The Chinese Girl by Vladimir Tretchikoff

Miss Wong by Vladimir Tretchikoff

The Lady of the Orient by Vladimir Tretchikoff

Vladimir Grigoryevich Tretchikoff was born in Russa in 1913 and died in Cape Town South Africa in 2006. Tretchikiff was one of the most commercially successful artists of all time - his painting The Chinese Girl  (popularly known as "The Green Lady") is one of the best selling art prints ever.

Tretchikoff was a self-taught artist who painted realistic figures, portraits, still life and animals, with subjects often inspired by his early life in China and Malaysia and later life in South Africa. Tretchikoff's work was immensely popular with the general public, but is often seen by art critics as the epitome of kitsch (indeed, he was nicknamed the "King of Kitsch"). He worked in oil, watercolour, ink, charcoal and pencil but is best known for his reproduction prints which sold worldwide in huge numbers. The reproductions were so popular that it was said Tretchikoff was second only to Picasso in his popularity.

Read his really fascinating biography here

J.H Lynch

Bathing Nymph by J.H Lynch

Tina has gorgeous eyes by J.H Lynch

Maiden with roses by J.H Lynch

Woodland Goddess by J.H Lynch

Joseph Henry Lynch (28 October 1911 – 16 January 1989) was a British artist, better known under his signature J.H. Lynch. His mass reproduced paintings of sultry women, especially Tina (1964) make him one of the protagonists of Mass Market Art. Nymph, Autumn Leaves and Woodland Goddess are some of his best known works. Considering his work is so well known and reproduced, very little is known about the artist at all, he is sometimes known as the mystery artist.

---------------------------------------------

Here at hope & glory we are really thrilled to stock an amazing new ranging feature these classic prints. The Land of Lost content is the world's largest and best collection of British popular culture owned by Stella Mitchell and designer Wayne Hemingway. Wayne Hemingway's design team have taken Vladimir Tretchikoff's & J.H Lynch's painting of beautiful ladies and turned them into instant art for everyday use.

These fantastic mugs and coaster sets are due in May, but are available to pre-order via out online store, so you don't miss out; these babies are popular!!!

The Green House

We are now proud stockists of the gorgeous Green House range.

The Green House is passionate not only about the products we put on our skin but also into the world we live in. The green house is a range of healthy living products that are gentle on you, your home and the environment. Natural and organic ingredients found throughout Aotearoa’s beautiful landscape have inspired us to create natural healthy living solutions of exceptional quality and purity.

The green house healthy living range includes:

soy candles 
Clean burning soy candles are the obvious choice for both you and the environment. Made from the finest quality soybeans - an environmentally friendly renewable resource - soy wax candles are non-toxic and non-carcinogenic.

body care 
Rich in natural plant oils, our citrus and lavender Hand & Body Wash and Hand & Body Lotion nourish and protect leaving the skin hydrated, soft and silky smooth. The ultra mild formulations gently cleanse the skin. Our First Aid Balm is the perfect solution for cuts, grazes, bites, irritations, cracked lips, bumps and any other of life’s little ailments!