Buttons contemporary jewellery
How did the idea of buttons.co.nz come about?
The idea for ‘buttons’ came out of the desire to build a hall for our children’s school on the south coast of Wellington. We were having our annual fair and our usual brainstorming for new and interesting stalls, when the idea of button necklaces came up. We all did a bit of rummaging round in the op shops and our cupboards, then came together with our collections of buttons and loads of ideas.
The stall was a huge success and more importantly we loved it and enjoyed working together.
What do you enjoy most about running buttons?
We all have such fond memories of our own mother’s and grandmother’s button jars, bags and boxes and we share this memory with so many others.
It’s been an amazing progression from a few buttons simply threaded together to the intricate work we do now, and the cohesive collection we’ve developed. Our first necklaces we made bear no resemblance to our current collection. We love the entire process of making our jewellery. The huge fun there is in gathering the buttons, the fact that we are creating something beautiful out of lovely old thing, even the envelopes we make as our packaging are made from gorgeous old wallpaper. As a group we have all brought such different skills and strengths together. Luckily for us they are all very complimentary and we are still having fun… It’s a great feeling.
When did you set up buttons online?
After working with our current retail stockists around New Zealand for almost 2 years, taking buttons online seemed the next logical step to take. Luckily we had friends who were extremely talented and patient in this area and helped us develop and build our site… It has been a long process and huge learning curve and we are thrilled to have been up and running for about for 4 weeks now.
Our next challenge is to spread the word around the world!
Are you involved much in the crafting community in Wellington / NZ?
We love the local craft scene.Its so fantastic and inspiring to see what other people are creating . One of our local stockists (Mindy @Juniper ) runs stitching evenings at her store. It is so great that these traditional skills are being kept alive, shared and then given a new twist. We are always searching for new inspiration and new skills to learn. Given our diverse day jobs we are bound to come across something to share and then the next idea will be born and we’ll go on from there.. It’s a very natural progression for us… we can’t wait.
Filed in Uncategorized
Brown Sugar Kitchen
267 Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby, Auckland
Tel. 09-360 0593
We stopped in here on Saturday afternoon because we easily found a park within the shouting of, ‘Cake. Stop!’
The lemon loaves in the window wrapped in butter paper were a sight to behold. I found myself at an absolute loss for a decision and erred towards a raspberry mud cup cake instead of the usual passionfruit and yoghurt. I got the last lamington for Kevin and another mud cake cup cake for the baby.
At the back of the shop, a shelf piled high with biscuits all in pink icing were looking a touch magical there reminding me of my childhood. A display of gift cards also drew my gaze – some of the illustrations were simply delightful. And a shelf of perfect lollipops in all colours of the rainbow shaped as stars, moons and plain round lollipops. More childhood feelings. And the person who served me seemed; Just, really really nice. And genuine.
When I went to pay the brown sugar cinnamon rolls were beckoning – flaunting their gorgeousness so brazenly they were right by the eftpos counter. So many delicious things were left behind that day. But so many delicious days lie ahead.
Filed in Uncategorized
Margaret McHugh
To be found at various markets around Auckland
For info on her catering services, visit www.gourmetfoodstore.co.nz
We discovered Margaret at Devonport Farmers market. Muttering to ourselves “She looks like she knows what she’s doing” we made a bee-line straight over.
Margaret was most affable and chatty, giving us a piece of this and a piece of that to try. And it was all so delicious. Kevin the sausage roll aficionado gave this one the thumbs up.
We’d heard of the legendary date scones a few weeks earlier, so how lovely it was to happen upon them like this. No sugar, just the sweetness from the dates themselves go into making these the most delicious scones we have had since roughly 1978. We enjoyed these later in the morning in the blissful sun at a friend’s new flat in Stanley Bay overlooking the harbour across to the city – with a very fine coffee.
Margaret had been up since three that morning preparing the food at her kitchen in Sandringham. You wouldn’t have guessed it from the sheer energy she exuded. Margaret is a passionate foodie – and that’s exactly the kind of person you want to be buying your food from.
Having just obtained a full rundown of future diary dates we can confirm she will be at Sandringham market this coming Saturday, Albany Market on the first Saturday of each month over Summer, and in Greenhithe market on November the 18th.
Margaret is also to be found running her catering business and the café by the Auckland Courthouse.
** The email that’s being referred to below has been published at The Spare Room – where they’re using our now rather infamous photo.
Filed in Uncategorized
categories
international loveliness
