Picnic I up - it's festival time!

Those long days where the sunlight lasts all evening, the grass smells sweet, the uptempo beat of the music keeps going sound tracking the chatter of your friends: that's what we love about summer.

We're not alone - perhaps it's the proximity to Glastonbury which means Bristol, our home town, is packed full of home grown festivals all summer long. We love it. This weekend is Bristol's biggest festival - the Harbour Festival - which is one of Europe's largest free festivals and takes place around the Harbour Side and other central sites. The crazy mish-mash of out there and loud local bands, contemporary dance troupes who can contort your concept of what shape a human body actually is, local history, the sweet dulcet acoustics of singer songwriters who sing poetry to music and a good helping of Bristol's best food and drink - all come together to make one amazing weekend.

Our new shop premises at Wapping Wharf is within the Harbour Festival site so it will be the first year we're fully part of it. To celebrate, we've a competition to win a set of Rice Melamine - the perfect companion to the festival picnic. The prize includes 4 cups and 4 small bowls in this summer's prints as well as a plate.

To enter all you have to do is like and comment on and share our posts on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter before the deadline 28th July 2017. Competition winners will be picked on 31st July and contacted via social media.

Have a Rice Christmas

For several years now we’ve visited Denmark on "J day" - not solely for the event itself but it happens to have been the time when Rice has invited us to visit their showroom. J day is the day that several Danish breweries launch their Christmas beer and the day is used as an excuse for a Christmas launch party across the country. We’ve joined in the festivities for several years at Copenhagen’s kitschest bar - Central Hjornet. This particular bar is known for it’s huge array of Christmas decorations - the entire ceiling is covered in baubles, so many that you can no longer see the ceiling for all the bling. 

It is part of a big tradition in Denmark of Christmas decorations - we know several small shops in Copenhagen who do a selection of glass decorations featuring everything from Father Christmas to random fruit and vegetables. These decorations are collected, a few each year, and treasured.

Well this year Rice have launched their own crazy collection of glass decorations in typical Rice style. Kitsch and glamorous, gorgeous, unusual and certainly unique, these little pieces of Christmas bling cheer me up. They are wonderful little Christmas birds and modern takes on Danish retro decorations which really catch the eye. If you are looking for an unusual way to celebrate then look no further.

Competition Time!

Our favourite company Rice launch a new range of 6 prints each season and each season tells a story. This season’s “Be Extraordinary” range is dedicated to the creatives amongst us. They feature hand drawn illustrations, unusual patterns and paint splodges. The soft and inspiring colour palette would look so at home in an artist’s studio that we want to fill them with paint brushes, squeezed out tubes of acrylic and scraps of torn paper ready to collage together something both fabulous and definitely extraordinary.

We’ve got a competition for you to win a set of these extraordinary patterns - just check in to our Facebook page, Instagram feed or twitter and tell us what you find inspires you to make something extraordinary. For each social network you interact on we will give you an extra entry so up to 3 per person.

You’ll also need to fill in the form below so we know how to contact you if you win. And in even more great news, we have a 20% discount code which will get you a discount on any of the “Be Extraordinary” Rice range so if you just can’t wait you don’t have to! Simply add anything from our Rice Autumn 2016 range to your basket and use the code MyExtraRice20 or mention the code in the shop. The code is exclusively for new Autumn 2016 stock.

Competition and discount code end at midnight on 20th November 2016. Competition open to UK residents only. Delivery to UK addresses only.

The competition is now closed.

Tissue Paper Flowers - Great for Gift Wrapping or For Easter Gardens.

When was the last time something a stranger said to you changed you? Conversations with strangers are forged of pleasantries about the weather and “excuse me but do you have the time”, not memorable things. But one year when I was exhibiting some of my glass work at the Totterdown art trail, a stranger replied to my “it’s just a hobby” with “But hobbies are when some of the best things are made - they’re when people make things because they want to, not because they have to.” It’s an easy thing to forget when working creatively - that feeling of the freedom to take your time playing and to do things because you want to do them.

I think of that conversation when I’m busy trying to get the best photo of something, make something for a shop display or create graphics for use online - if you make and do things with the freedom and joy of doing them for the sake of it, it will be better.

In the early days of Fig1 my sister and I used to make these paper flowers for shop displays - they’re relatively easy to do. Although we have some artificial flowers in stock it seemed good to spend a little time making some from some of the funky Rice tissue paper.

1. Layer up three or more sheets of tissue paper roughly 13cm x 50cm (50cm is the overall width of the sheet I was using - this size doesn't have to be exact).
2. Fold the paper into a concertina along the longer edge. I made the strips of the concertina roughly 2cm wide
3. Your now left with a 13cm strip of paper 2 cm wide. In the centre, twist round a pipe cleaner, some copper wire or tie with string. If using wire I used a piece 80 cm long in order to leave a long "stem" on the flower for gift wrapping. I used pliers to twist the wire so that it forms a nice tight grip around the paper.
4. Optional - you can shape the ends of your paper so that the tips are semi circles or triangles - this does make the paper more likely to tear in the later stages.
5. Open out one side of the paper into a semicircle then start to pull down the innermost piece of tissue into the centre of the flower starting at one side of the semi circle. Work your way round to the other side.
6. Repeat step 5 with the piece of tissue below the first and with each piece of tissue until this half of the flower is formed.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 with the other half of the flower.

The tissue can tear a little but then nature isn’t perfect either. These flowers can be great for gift wrapping or for making for your Easter garden.

A Warm Welcome After the Rice Spring 2015 Preview in Malmo, Sweden

Colourful, welcoming, bright, bold and a little bit crazy - not a list of adjectives you associate with Scandinavian crime drama. However Malmo, where we have been invited to preview Rice's Spring 2015 stock, is just over The Bridge from Copenhagen airport. Yes - the bridge from The Bridge. Øresund Bridge. For two Brits abroad it's an interesting start to the day, to be driven across the hugely long span between Denmark and Sweden, the low coast lines of both countries barely seeming to break out of the water amidst forests of eerily silent wind turbines. We islanders are not used to such international mornings - at least on the ferry to France there's time for a nice cup of tea.

Kristina's home near Malmo is full of
welcoming spaces for socialising

Luckily for us, the lingua franca between the Danes and the Swedes is English so we don't have to get too far outside of our comfort zone. Over dinner later that evening one Swedish blogger asks me if I'm Danish. I tell her that no, I'm English - did I look Danish? and she says maybe and that she just thought I had only been speaking in English for her sake - "we can't understand the Danes, they sound like they are speaking with porridge in their mouth". The Swedes generally seem to consider the Danes to be extremely laid back - a way of being which they think extends to their lazy way of talking - so many written sounds are dropped or half pronounced that, although the two languages are closely related, they cannot understand the way the Danes speak. Certainly the time we have spent in Denmark recently shows them to be a very informal. hospitable and friendly nation.

But if this Danish laid back and homely style is supposed to be in contrast to the Swedes, then the
particular Swedes we met have definitely caught a dose of the Danish. After the preview day we were lucky enough to be invited back to Kristina's beautiful home in the Swedish countryside together with about 12 other Swedish bloggers and buyers. Kristina works for Rice in the south of Sweden but definitely lives her work - her house is stylish, colourful, beautiful, eclectic, welcoming and just a tiny bit crazy, but of all these adjectives the most important for Kristina seems to be welcoming. To invite colleagues and customers to your house is one thing, Kristina was actually hosting 5 or 6 of her clients overnight and had decided to feed us all a beautiful feast too. "I just love to have visitors" she told us, as we helped ourselves to salads, pulled pork, dips and pita breads which she managed to conjure from nowhere. 

And her house reflects that welcoming hospitality - there are plenty of areas to sit and chat, with

An inviting, open and welcoming kitchen greets us after the preview day

The scene already set for us includes a warm and welcoming table

chairs facing each other, not solitary or facing a TV screen. Places which have been designed for chat and socialising. The kitchen is abundant and open, with dishes stacked high in vibrant blobs of Rice colours - inviting you to help yourself, to be happy, to eat, to drink. Visiting that house made sense for me of why we love working with Rice - that kitchen made sense of it. We have always loved feeding people, socialising with people, talking and eating together more than anything else. If there isn't food in the fridge and a drink in the cupboard to share with friends who happen past then home isn't home for me. And apparently this is a sentiment shared by all around the table that evening. It's a sentiment which Rice as a company is built on, from its strong ethical values to its bright and welcoming style. There are quirky and unusual finds including many lamps and candles dotted around invitingly and most of the pieces Kristina has chosen seem to be picked to make you smile. And that, in turn, makes you comfortable and relaxed. 

Below are some more pictures of Kristina's fabulous house and a preview of the some of the Spring
2015 finds from Rice. I hope you enjoy them.

by Mark Fletcher

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The Rice Spring 2015 collection is peopled with quirky, bright and colourful creatures. Living life in glorious Technicolor seems to be raison d'etre of all Rice products. The creatures on board this colourful life journey are fun and playful and bring a smile to your face. A full album of finds can be found on our Facebook page. 

But see the way Kristina styles her home with these colours and creatures and you'll see that as well as playful and fun, it can also be sophisticated. Below is a selection of some of the amazing lighting pieces Kristina uses in her house. The cosiness of using so many low lights and candles, together with her use of pattern, shows a great way of working with Rice and other designers to produce a colourful but sophisticated effect. Once again, a complete album of images used from Kristina's home can be found on our Facebook page.

Colourful Christmas Inspiration

Owl Candle Holder by House Doctor

I've become obsessed with my camera of late. In the Spring I treated myself to a Canon 70D and it has become my constant companion, my friend and my plaything. I may even be a little in love with it. Remember when you were young how certain presents at Christmas invaded your imagination with their newness and you couldn't stop playing with them? I was like that with every set of Lego Technics I was ever bought and I'm like that now with my Camera. And like Lego, it keeps it's newness because there is always another bit you can bolt on - lenses, lights, flashes and tripods - and always new things you can make with it.

Last week I had the opportunity to help style a Christmas photo shoot for a magazine with a friend of mine - Kirstie Young - an inspirational photographer. It was a great opportunity to combine the visual styling side of my day job with some practical experience and learning from a great photographer. The day left me inspired to put together my own Christmas shots for Fig1.

Below is a sneak preview of some of the Christmas table ideas I've been working on. We have a collection of more traditional decorations in the shop too, but this was a chance to experiment with colour. Working so closely with the Danish company Rice for the last few years has been a shock treatment in the possibility of quirky and unusual colour combinations - I love throwing different colours into the mix and seeing what combinations take flight in my imagination. Some combinations come alive when you put together, seeming to tug at you invitingly. So why not? While I have the chance to play with colour and experiment with my camera, why not build, make and create something different?

_________________

by Mark Fletcher

In the pictures: I've taken some of the geometric and metallic influence from our other Danish companies House Doctor and Bloomingville and added in some crazy, quirky Rice-style colour combinations - mostly thanks to their beautiful ceramics - to get a non-traditional Christmas look. For me, a neutral background is essential to any bold use of colour to keep a sense of calm and to make the colours you want sing out. 

The presents in these pictures are wrapped in House Doctor double sided wrap, again with unusual quirky geometric patterns, the double sided nature of the wrap means you can turn back an edge to reveal a stripe of the pattern on the reverse of the paper. 

Character, fun and playfulness: characters like the Owl candle holder, bird and gnome candles add a sense of fun to an otherwise sophisticated setting. I like having something in the room which makes people smile when they see it. The photo below is my favourite from last years Christmas photo shoots and it still brings a smile to my face.

Keep an eye on our Facebook fan page for more Christmas ideas as we get closer to the big day and check out our Christmas section of the site and the Rice ceramics section for most of the products used in these photos.

Competition Coming Soon....

We have a competition to win 2 Rice kids storage baskets arranged with the Green Parent Magazine - out on 7th November - grab the magazine off the shelves or keep an eye on our Facebook fan page or our blog for more details around that date.

Summer Moods - Competition

Loving the summer? We are. As well as the summer mood boards we published earlier this month, we're running a competition - a chance to win a set of the melamine pictured above worth around £50. All you have to do is to tell us which of the 3 "summer moods" boards featured on our blog is your favourite and why? - comment on this or one of the mood board posts and fill in a quick form on Survey Monkey so we have your details if you win. The competition closes at midnight on Thursday 3rd July 2014. A winner will be chosen completely at random. One entry only per household, UK residents only. Winners will be informed on Friday 4th July 2014 by email.

Everyone's a Winner

Each entrant will also receive a 10% discount code to use on our site. This will be on the last page of the survey and it will be valid until Friday 4th July 2014. This code will be additional to the discount already on our mood board items. You can also use the discount code in our shop.

Follow us on Facebook?

If you follow us on Facebook you can also enter by commenting on the post on our Facebook page - it's a great place to find out what's new at fig1.co.uk - we update regularly with news and offers. 

How to Enter

To enter the competition please:

1. Comment on one of our Summer Moods blog posts or on the Facebook Page
2. Fill in the form on Survey Monkey so we have your details
3. Do all of the above before Thursday 3rd July 2014
4. The competition is available to UK residents only. Only 1 entry per household

The prize consists of 4 bowls and 4 cups from the High Summer Rice Melamine collection.

Please note - all comments on our blog are moderated and may not appear straight away.

Summer Moods 1 - The Village Fete

Strawberries and cream, Pimms and lemonade, hay bales and the tombola ... the Village Fete was the highlight of life in every Cotswold village for miles around when I was growing up. It wasn't summer unless you were batting a rat or racing with three legs, a spoon and an egg - in a sack whilst singing along to the Wurzels. In celebration of summers past and this summer yet to come, we've put together the first of our "summer moods" selections. And to get the party started, they're all in our summer moods 15% off offers on our site together with a few other choice summer party bits.

We're developing some other mood boards so watch this space for more ideas and offers.

1. 10 Cake Decoration Sticks Assorted Designs by Rice DK
2. 10 Paper Cake Decoration Cones 5 Assorted Prints by Rice DK
3. Kids Sequin Masks 6 Assorted Designs by Rice DK
4. Small Paper Lantern Available in 2 Assorted Prints by Rice DK
5. Original Bunting by Engel
6. Melamine Bowls in Assorted Prints with Lid - Set of 3 by Rice DK
7. Carnival Set of 3 Cake Tins by BlissHome
8. 6 Picnic Plastic Wine Glass with Glitters Assorted Colors by Rice DK
9. Paper Cake Stand in 2 Assorted Prints by Rice

Rice DK Autumn Preview Near Malmo, Sweden

Design with a social conscience seems to go hand in hand with Denmark, so when our favourite Danish design brand Rice asked us to visit to preview their Autumn Winter 2014 collection we jumped at the chance. As a small independent business we were really proud to find out that we are now one of the biggest independent stockists of Rice in the UK, a brand which we love promoting as it was always set up to be ethical. Rice are one of the smallest companies ever to be certified by "Social Accountability 8000", which is an international standard stricter than Fair Trade.

One of the things we particularly love about Rice is their bold use of colour. Charlotte Hedeman Gueniau, who started the company, is a colour fanatic and the company found a beautiful farmhouse just over the border in Sweden to display their new season's stock in. The farmhouse was spacious with white washed walls and rustic wooden tables - a neutral background which really made the colours zing. The team of stylists at Rice work so hard to make these events look beautiful and inspiring - great for us to pinch ideas for display in our shop and for our on-line photos.

Colourful Ceramics by Rice DK

An exciting decisions for us is that we're planning on taking on many more of the beautiful ceramics Rice produce. No other brand we know can combine both sophistication and fun so successfully - it's one of the great things about Rice. The soft organic shapes of their ceramics and beautiful colour combinations sit wonderfully with their quirky egg cups, mixed in with pieces of patterned melamine and crazy jugs of flowers. If eating and entertaining is theatre then the stage Rice presents is lush, opulent and populated with exotic creatures.

We love Rice Toy Baskets

One of the products we really love by Rice is their toy baskets - they're tactile and natural, made in a small village in Madagascar where the toy baskets now provide steady work and income for most of the families. Typically bright and bold, the new designs now fold flat for easy storage when not in use. As Fig1 is based in Bristol, home to the largest international balloon fiesta in the world, we're particularly keen on the new Hot Air Balloon design!

The Danes love entertaining, whether it is a few people or a party and the new collection is certainly ready for any knees-up. Of course, each season Rice introduce new patterns of melamine and this year is no exception, with both floral and geometric designs coming in for the party season. But we're also loving the disposable Martini glasses and the fabulous, bold and bright paper decorations. To be honest, we think it is all as suitable for a summer party as a winter one, but then, when isn't it a good time to have your friends around, eat, chat and entertain?