Atelier Divalys & Kosas - Holiday open house. 04-05-06 December

Hello my lovelies, 

December is almost here and Christmas is around the corner. I am teaming up with my good friend Kako for a 3 day holiday open house at her workshop in Sai Ying Pun. 
Stop by and discover her handmade and unique jewelry using gold, silver and gemstones.

I will be selling my Nomade travel jewelry pouches as well as the Savasanaahh yoga eye pillows. 
Remember 04, 05 & 06 December from 2 to 7pm!

Inspiration board

Hello friends,

When I worked in the fragrance industry I used to create moodboards  regularly to describe scents that the perfumers were creating for our clients. Those moodboards were the best way to show clearly what the fragrance smelt like, and to show why the perfumer wanted to express. I would put together a medley of pictures of people, ingredients or landscapes in order to capture a moment that would best describe the perfume; there would also be colors, textures (if I made it on paper) and keywords. 

I loved creating these inspiration boards and I still do. In my office I have a wall where I stick pictures from magazines that inspire me, words that motivate me and remind me of my goals, quotes from people I admire, and also some ribbons and pieces of liberty fabric. I regular change the photos and new ones find their place amongst the old ones.

Lately, I have ben playing with the idea of changing my blog. So far it is only about things I make myself, but I have the feeling there is so much more for me to share with you.

I want to talk about places I go to in Hong Kong, cities (and countries) I travel to, food and healthy lifestyle, photography and art, and off course my craft and inspirational DIY for you. This is still in the making but in the coming months you'll see more from it.

For now I have created a moodboard for my Atelier Divalys blog in order to have a better idea of what I want. 

What do you think?

Friday evening

I wish you all a wonderful and creative week-end. Enjoy it!

Lets's go to the market on Sunday!

I hope you have no plans for Sunday 11th because you are invited to come and see me in Discovery Bay for the craft market organized by Hand Made Hong Kong. 

I will be selling Savasanaahh eye pillows and Nomade travel jewelry pouches. 

All the products I sell are unique and hand made by myself. I buy fabrics in the countries I travel to and only in limited amounts. Not two are alike! 

I use Chinese silks, Liberty of London, Indonesian Batiks and other cute prints, like some Corean cottons I found on my last trip to Seoul. 

Savasanaahh

These eye pillows are best used for yoga at the end of your practice to help you relax deeply. They are made with silk and cotton and filled with rice (for the weight) and lavender (for the relaxing scent). Just put them on your closed eyes and your relaxation will be enhanced.

Nomade

These travel jewelry pouches are ideal to carry your necklaces, bracelets and other pieces of jewelry without them getting entangled. I have tried all kinds of shapes, but these have eight inside pockets that make them perfect for traveling or to put in your gym bag!

My table will be on the right hand side of the market, number 27 on the map. 

See you on Sunday I hope,

Virginie

For all of you nomads

After years of looking and searching and trying, I have finally found the perfect travel pouch for my jewelry. You must all know this problem, you go away for the weekend or on a vacation and take some jewelry with you: a few necklaces, some bracelets, earrings and rings fitting with your wardrobe, necessary accessories! The problem is that amongst the dozens of zip pouches that you have, all the necklaces still get entangled and you end up either spending an hour detangling everything, or giving up but feeling totally stressed....

Recently my friend K showed me an old pouch that she had kept from Japan. I did not like its aesthetics, but it looked like the perfect little bundle. So I started crafting and trying as soon as I got back home. I have this whole collection of fabrics that I bring back with me when I travel, and after creating the yoga eye pillows (more on that later I promise) I mixed and matched prints with cottons and silks. 

The idea is simple. You open the pouch and have eight individual pockets inside, where you can store your jewelry. I made it bigger than the model I had seen, as jewelry tends to be on the bigger size these days. To close it, you just pull up the ribbons and make a bow. Each pocket inside will then be shut and your rings and bracelets won't mingle together. Neat!

By the way, if you were wondering how they are called, I also found the appropriate name: NOMADE. 

Here are a few pictures of the ones I managed to make before they sold out....this summer was the perfect time to travel with style and all my friends needed  their own Nomade! ;-)

The feedback is fantastic, which is great.

I am doing a whole production at the moment as I will be selling them at the outdoor market Hand Made Hong Kong in Discovery Bay on October 12th. Make you you stop by if you are around.

Give me color

With the heat coming back I feel like having color around me. This morning I picked a few color beads, some liberty fabric and voilà. 

I can imagine all these colors and fabrics. If you want something made to measure, let me know. 

inspiration is everywhere

A few months ago I went to Bangkok for a few days. It was the first time I was there and I loved the city. What I liked most was the warmth you feel everywhere in the city, the soft colors, the omnipresence of gold, and how every part I went to inspired me.
I made some photos of some details I found around me on walls of temples. For those of you who know me, you are aware that flowers play an important part of my life, and more importantly of my craft. Here are a few of the photos to inspire you for the weekend.
Njoy!

I love those flowers. very simple yet powerful. a few layers of several sizes and colors, and here you are! the second photo with what looks like a plate is amazing! I remember seeing some in a temple in Dalat in Vietnam. I have made some as brooches in many different materials, in a similar manner.

Aren't those colors amazing. I realize that since I live in Asia and have a lot more sun in my life, my relationship to colors have changed. When you live in a grey country with lots of rainy days, you have a tendency to wear dark colors, but now in Hong Kong I wear all those colors and mix them all together. It feels good to do so. 

I like this mix of gold/blue/green/yellow and white. Maybe I should o back to work and create a bracelet like this.

Starting fresh

When I first started writing this blog, I was not sure at all in which direction it would go. Honestly, I have so many interests, how can I put all of them down here: photography, craft, fashion, trends, food, jewelry… you name it. I would need 50h per day to post about all these. I see so many beautiful things on the internet and on blogs, so many talented women who all seem to find the right words, the perfect photos, to express themselves. where do they find the time to live their lives, do all the things they do, write about it and document it in such an inspiring way???? One thing is sure: the challenge is a big one, but   I think I will just have a go at it, go at my own rhythm and see how it goes. The core value of Atelier Divalys is creativity. I will share projects I do things that inspire and motivate me and hopefully you’ll be happy to follow me along the way.

The last few days I feel like I was a little bee, going from flower to flower, starting a project here, another there, going back to the first, and in the end never finishing any of them….rather frustrating. As it is the beginning of the year (Chinese New Year at least) and still time to take those resolutions (yes yes, never too late!). This morning I decided I would finish one project and it would be the first of a new series on the blog.

The idea came up last week as I was getting a fresh towel from the cupboard; I did not like the smell at all, humidity had settled in the fibers and given the towel an awful smell. I thought about  a lavender bag I still had from Provence, and decided to make a little lavender sachet, like my mother used to make in the summer; it has the double advantage of smelling nice and of keeping moth away. I decided to give it a personal touch so that it would not be boring... I chose some fabrics that fitted well together as well as some ribbons and started cutting, sewing, ironing and finally filling the little bags with the wonderful lavender. I love the resultIt and it smells like summer (although it is freezing cold here at the moment…). 

 The little lavender sachets have now found their place in my cupboard and my towels (now freshly washed) won't be getting the humidity smell any longer.
Yesterday we were invited for dinner and I brought our hostess one of the pouches, and she liked it very much. I like to bring something personal when I am invited, and these will be great to slip in a bag before going out.

If you like the sachets, or anything I make as a matter of fact... you can drop me an email and I will be happy to sell it to you or to make a new one for you.

Have a good sunday,