London Calling

Woo hoo it's Friday. Not that work hasn't been a treat this week, but with the sun trying to shine and an imminent trip to the seaside for me, I'm keen for the time to pass quickedy quick. But before I get too carried away lets have a quick round up of this week's Ghulam Sakina fun and games.

Pablo has joined the team as our new production intern. What a dear he is. Harking all the way from Spain we're now feeling very multi-cultural here in the office! We've now representing Wales, America, Canada, Spain, England, Ireland, India and Pakistan (admittedly some of those are cross overs but still, pretty impressive huh). 

Squat and I had the pleasure of going down to an amazing new 'pop-up' type bar in Battersea called..... The Doodle Bar! You can literally draw all over the walls! How great is that? We met Jasmin from Squint/Opera who helps run the bar and although I don't want to give too much away, we are planning something pretty special with Jasmin's help to celebrate 10 whole years of Ghulam Sakina in the Autumn! Very, very exciting stuff. 

You should all check out The Doodle Bar, the gang from Vivienne Westwood hang out there after work on Fridays apparently so if it's good enough for Viv, it's certainly good enough for me! Here's a link to the website, it really is such a genius place and they don't just serve drinks, oh no, they hold lots of different events there so go ahead and have a looksey for yourselves:

http://www.thedoodlebar.com/

Squat and I also headed up to Angel this week to check out the New Designers Exhibition. What fun, what talent, what a treat! I was a bit jealous seeing all these bright fun things but it was all very exciting and inspiring. There are too many people we liked to mention them all but here are a couple of people that particularly caught my eye:

Sarah-Jayne Guest is a very talented print designer whose colourful, eccentric prints displayed on a whole host of different surfaces really stood out. Have a look at her website:

http://www.sjguest.blogspot.com/

We also LOVED Chloe May England's beautiful surface designs.  Think the Nightmare Before Christmas with a sort of girlish, almost Victorian twist and you start coming somewhere close to this lovely lady's weird and wonderful offerings. My favourite is 'The Mime' but you can choose your own by heading to:

http://www.redshedtextiles2009.co.uk/gallery.php?id=128&section=3&img=560&rand=9118297

If, like us, you're a bit of an embroidery nut then check out Phillipa Spiller's inspired stitch work. Delicate and detailed, Phillipa's subtle artwork has an incredibly tactile quality and is simply a joy to behold. For examples of her work copy and paste this link:

http://www.contemporary-textiles.com/students/view/25

And finally have a little look at Jodie Byrne's printed textiles. Colourful, carefully considered, slightly naive illustrations with a really wistful edge there's something very special in this girl's work. See for yourself:

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1268110466626835211

As you may have guessed I seriously advise you to try and get down to the Business Design Centre on Upper Street for Part 1 this weekend. (Part 2 starts next week and will feature a whole new host of young designers which we're also really looking forward to seeing). 

One more thing - if you do head to the show don't forget to pop by the Selvedge stall. Selvedge is one of very most favourtist magazines in the whole wide world:

http://www.selvedge.org/

Polly, Beth, Rebecca and the rest of the gang are not only selling back issues of the magazine for very cheap prices, they're also selling a plethora of wonderful books. And if that wasn't enough Polly and her kids have only gone and made some delicious little cakes to help keep you sweet! What a woman. Oh and they've just opened up a shop. Bloody brilliant!

Ok I must get on with some "real" work now. Have the most wonderous weekend one and all and I'll be back next week with more offerings from the wacky world of Ghulam Sakina.

xxxx

Doodle Winner!!!!!!!!!

Hooray and hurrah we have FINALLY chosen a winner for our Design A Doodle Competition!So from all of us here, we'd like to wish Carrie Hill from Bath an enormous Ghulam Sakina congratulations! She's won herself £750.00 worth of GS goodies. Pretty wicked I think you'll agree.

I would like to say that I spied Carrie's design right from the start. It's perfect! Fun but not too fancy which sums us up perfectly I think, and with the website logo written in there too - what a clever lady!

Anyways we loves it and can't wait to get it made into a print to use on a........ Yeah right, as if I'd tell you lot what we're going to use it for. You'll just have to wait and see I'm afraid chickadees. 

Also, I want a fun and perhaps slightly patronising way of referring to your Ghulam Sakina lovers. You know, like the Ally Capellino gang we call the Capellino's and the Tatty Devine beauties we call, yep, you guess it, The Tatties. Ingenious I know. But what can I call you lot of reprobates? Sakina's? Ghulamites? Suggestions to info@ghulamsakina.com please.

Squat and I are off to the Young Designers Exhibition tomorrow afternoon in Angel to say hello to our friends at Selvedge and meet some up and coming bright new things. I'll be sure to mention anyone that catches our eye on this here blog. We're also planning to send out our intrepid new intern Alison on a sight seeing tour of London town to give us a new look at our fair city. (She's from America you see dears so it's all wonderfully new to her). so many more pics and tricks can be found here in the not too distant future.

Ok I'm tired now and I think you've all probably had enough. Try not to get hit by lightning!

Much love xxxx

Hot Potato, Iced Coffee

Hello friends, family and fans,

I hope this post finds you well. We are near melting point here in the capital city, struggling on bravely sans air conditioning, and surviving on a diet of iced coffee and lime squash.

The exciting news for all of you of course, is that we have gone into sale! Yippee. And what great timing now that the weather has picked up (albeit a little too much for my liking). Grab yourself a floral grandad shirt or a light jersey dress to soak up the sun in before they all disappear!

Still, we are yet to decide upon a doodle winner, for which I apologise profusely again! I promise, with hand on heart on MY life (seriously), that we WILL decide next week. You have all been very patient and for this we love and adore you all. Thank you.

Squat is in the process of designing Spring/Summer 2010 which is very, VERY exciting. We're bringing back some classic Ghulam Sakina shapes and injecting them with beautiful new prints and vibrant colours. But of course there will also be some fantastic new styles to shock and amaze you all. It's busy, busy, busy here but there's light at the end of the tunnel!

Oh we also have some really super new interns who I am a little bit in love with, in a totally un-creepy way. They are Hannah, Ola, Alison, Liz and Pablo (who I haven't actually met yet but I'm sure I'll love).  Anyway they're fab and I wanted to give them a little "shout out" (are people still saying that) and say a big, big  THANK YOU for all their hard work.

I have the day off tomorrow and I'm going to see Blur in Hyde Park so if you're doing the same, do say 'hello' if you see a short bottle blond floating about in the heat and singing along to songs she doesn't know the words to. (I'm a huge fan, I just never remember song lyrics).

So that's it kids. I'll be back sooner than you want no doubt for more ramblings. Until then, enjoy the sun sensibly and have a wonderful weekend!

Much love from all of us here at Ghulam Sakina, (but mainly me), Gemma xxxx

Gin and Doodles

Hello all,

I have been VERY slack recently on the old bogging front and for that I can only apologise. To make up for it, here's a hot tip for the Gold Cup Race at Ascot today - Veracity. Apparently. I don't really know much about betting and I do NOT endorse gambling (as a general rule) but I heard this from a friend of a friend, so it MUST be a good tip. Right?!

Anyway GS news. Still no doodle winner. SORRY! We just haven't had a minute to sit down and decide BUT we are planning something rather special to celebrate the competition and all the wonderful entries. I can't tell you much more at the moment as we are still in the planning stages but I can tell you that it is going to be pretty frickin wicked.

Ah ha I've got your attention now haven't I!!!! Well that's good and since you're probably in wonderful and excitable moods, how's about a little cocktail recipe......

It's called a Gimlet, but I'd like to rename it a Gemlet (see what I did there)!

Here's what you need, there are actual measurements for this but I prefer to free style so here's my way of doing things:

Gin. I free pour, it's much more professional I think

Lime juice.

Sugar (yes it's sweet treat)

Crushed ice, about a handful.

Ok ok so place the sugar in a shallow dish. Dip the rim of a chilled glass into the sugar so the rim is coated.

Put the crushed ice into a cocktail shaker (all smart drinkers should own one), pour the gin and lime juice over said crushed ice and shake well.

Pour the booze into the glass and drink it. Simple but effective.

Enjoy.

Gemma xxxxx

p.s. If you're in the Holloway/Finsbury Park area this weekend, head down to the DWS (that's the Designer Warehouse Sale), you might just pick up a bargain or two. But you didn't hear that here right.....

More doodles

More of our weird and wonderful entries x

Doodle Entries

If you don't have access to Facebook then here are a selection of entries from our Design A Doodle Competition. We haven't managed to choose a winner yet because there are so many wonderful entries but we promise to let the winner know asap!!!

If you're not already friends with us on Facebook then just search for Ghulam Sakina, we've got a friend page or you can become a fan.

Hooray!

More doodles to come, enjoy! xxxx

Tarts and Vicars

Ok, I lied. This blog doesn't have anything to do with tarts or vicars, but I was struggling to think of a title for today's post and that just seemed to pop into my head. It's probably got something to do with the fact that a) I'm craving sugar, so I'd love to eat a delicious cake/pastry good right now and; b) I'm going to a fancy dress party tonight..........dressed as a hurricane!!!! I am very, VERY excited about this. I spent a LOT of time getting my costume together last night which involved a great deal of sculpting wire, bubble wrap and spray paint. I can't say any more in case any costume spies are reading this but if you're anywhere near London Bridge tonight then keep youe eyes peeled for an electric blue storm or a giant crab (my friend James) and feel free to give me a wave.

Now, back to the important stuff. G.S updates:

After receiving a whole lorry load of entries to our doodle competition, the doors finally closed for entry last Friday. Liaqat was away this week in Ethiopia (!) so we haven't had a chance to sit down as a team and decide upon a winner, but we promise to let the winner know by the middle of June.

What else, what else.... this week has been so busy that my brain has stopped working. I'm also struggling to think of anything other than cakes since our friends from Treacle popped in to say hello earlier. Treacle is a genius tea room/cake shop on Columbia Road run by our friend Bux. If you happen to be at the Flower Market on a Sunday, I would definitely suggest you pay a visit. Your taste buds with thank you, even if your waistband doesn't.

Enough. I am too tired. I promise to do better next time.

Until then have then loveliest of weekends.

Much love,

Gemma xxx