We’ve selected some of our favourite designers, craftspeople, online retailers and independent brands to be scrutinised under the Desirable spotlight.  We ask them four simple questions – ‘Who are you?’, ‘What is your design or buying ethos?’, ‘What are your Christmas gift recommendations?’ and ‘What’s in your bag?’  (we’re very nosy).

So now, for your enjoyment, is one of our top jewellery shopping destinations online, Plush Jewellery!

Who is Plush Jewellery?

To answer that simply would be to say that Plush Jewellery is Allie (follow her on Twitter!) and Holly, but Plush Jewellery is equally the product of the jewellery designers we work with.

We have gorgeous jewellery from established names in contemporary jewellery design such as James Newman and Kimberley Selwood as well as limited edition pieces from small scale artisans such as Kate Gill and Dorothy Borland. Right now, we’re showing work from 2 dozen jewellery designers but we’re always looking for new design talent to join our ranks and we run schemes throughout the year to enable new designers to bring their work to a wider audience.

What is your buying ethos?

It’s got to be different. We don’t buy jewellery that you can find on every high street. We don’t show two designers whose work is similar, it’s not fair to the designers to do that. All of the jewellery we buy has to be finished to a very high standard, basically if we wouldn’t buy it and wear it, we won’t offer it for sale (and we are very fussy). Finally we buy from designers who are passionate about what they do; their enthusiasm shines through in their work.

What are Plush Jewellery’s Top 3 Gift Ideas for Christmas?

Just three? We love all of our jewellery (yes, we would say that) but if you’re making us just choose three then these are top of the list this year:

1. Kimberley Selwood Butterfly Effect Silver Cuff (shown above, £235 GBP). This is a stunning piece of jewellery, Kimberley cuts each of the butterflies and forms the cuff by hand. It is beautiful, feminine and completely wearable.
2. Chris Hawkins Corvid Crow Cufflinks with Dark Garnet Eyes (shown above, £240 GBP). Chris’ Corvid collection is new this winter, it is inspired by the obsession the Victorians had for collecting. These cufflinks are made from polished blackened silver and enchance any chaps cuffs.
3. Gemma Clarke Silver acorn cup on champagne pearls – (shown above, £70 GBP). Gemma’s pearls are popular with our customers. She joined us last Christmas under our New Designers scheme and has shown with us ever since. This necklace, featuring champagne pearls, sterling silver and 18ct gold plate is elegant and stylish.

And finally, Allie and Holly, what’s in your bag?

Allie: I’m going stand up and show my complete geekness here: I’ve only just got my hands on an iPhone 3Gs on o2 (shown above F, £745.89 GBP from Amazon) and it’s already changing the way I work with a wealth of apps that tie in with the things I do online.  I’ve used Moleskine Pocket Notebooks for a few years now (shown above B, Plain Cahier £3.96 GBP at Borders). They’re gorgeously tactile and the pocket size fits perfectly in a bag. I always go for the ruled version.  Finally the Montblanc Meisterstuck hommage a Frederic Chopin Platinum Line (shown above C, £235.00 GBP at Wheelers Luxury Gifts), which writes beautifully and feels gorgeous. It’s not available to buy online but can be found in most John Lewis stores or from Montblanc boutiques.

Holly:  I use Clinique lip gloss (in Air Kiss, shown above A, £13.00 GBP from Debenhams) because it has an spf factor and keeps your lips soft through out the day.  It also has a lovely understated colour with a beautiful shine.   I use the Montblanc Boheme roller ball pens (shown above D, £235.00 GBP at Wheelers Luxury Gifts) – they’re beautifully designed, and have a lovely shape and weight making it a pleasure to write with – even if it’s a cheque! It was given to me as a gift and has very happy memories attached to it hence I never leave home without it in my handbag.  I also carry Bliss High Intensity Hand Cream (shown above E, £18.00 GBP at Amazon). When my hands are feeling a little unloved this is the product I reach for. It’s the ideal handbag size for use on the go. The cream is quite rich so you don’t need a lot but doesn’t leave your hands feeling greasy. It also means that it lasts along time.

Thanks so much for letting us have a nose through your bag and your store Allie and Holly! To check out Plush Jewellery for yourselves, click here!

As our regular readers know, we here at Desirable HQ love shopping locally and promoting local talent – we feature British-based independent craftspeople, artists and designers every Sunday in our ‘Shop Local Sunday’ spot.  You can imagine our utter joy, then, when we came across this website:

We’ve only just discovered Find A Fashion Shop.co.uk and we already think it’s the best thing since sliced bread.  Not only does it allow you to sort the listed boutiques and stores by style, BUT you can also sort by location.  So we can look at all the lovely shops listed for Edinburgh without having to feel depressed about what we’re missing out on elsewhere.  Great idea, and makes shopping locally so much easier!  Bravo, FindAFashionShop.co.uk.

Over the last few years, the majority of major high-street brands and department stores in the UK and Europe have made the leap onto the internet, offering online shopping facilities to their customers.  Many brands did this whole-heartedly right from the start; others took a bit longer to catch on.  Some of the more high-brown brands such as Liberty of London, Harvey Nichols and Harrods offered only select ranges on their websites to begin with; other brands showcased their range with a mail-order catalogue sheet rather than an online shopping checkout facility.  Either way, the overwhelming majority of the brands we know and love here in the UK took a leap of faith and have come out the other end remarkably well – sales figures have stayed steady despite being in the middle of a global financial downturn, and sales seasons in particular see large numbers of shoppers doing their transactions online.  So why are some of the biggest high-street brands still dragging their feet?

There are three major brands that we can think of which have yet to open up their ranges for online purchase.  Two more have only recently taken that step, several years after their competitors.  So what are the arguments for and against? Is there any real reason for a major brand to avoid internet shoppers?  Are they afraid of the potential security problems or is it mere laziness on the directors’ parts? Read the rest of this entry »

Desirable.co.uk has a new obsession in the form of Supermarket Sarah, one of the most innovative and forward-thinking shopping concepts we’ve ever come across online.  Using the living room wall of Sarah’s house as a canvas, this uber-talented vintage fashionista uses her shop’s wares as tools for creating incredible works of art – and what makes this even more amazing is the items shown are purchasable simply by hover-and-clicking (obviously not on the image below, but on the actual ‘wall’ on Supermarket Sarah’s website!!):

Supermarket Sarah’s current ‘Shop Front’.

Sarah runs her shop from the front rooms of her house which is located just around the corner from Portobello Market in London (jealous!!).  Read the rest of this entry »

Hooray! An awesome brand now on an even more awesome internet sensation!  French Connection are now on Twitter and update regularly with their new items and promotions.

I’m fast becoming a big fan of Fashion-Conscience.com’s Ethical Fashion Blog – it’s well written and thought-provoking, but has a great twist of fashion thrown in as well… much like a properly made Gin and Tonic. What?  It’s after lunch – I can start thinking about G&T’s without it being socially unacceptable!

Leading the charge for fair trade, organic and ethically sourced clothing is Equa – an awesome boutique on its own, made even better by the fact they have a regularly  updated Blog AND Twitter account!  Go Equa team GO!