Hello Holidays!

Tu Media Naranja Collection

barton&bell's 'tu media naranja' is a Mexican love story...
'tu media naranja' chronicles the journey of finding your 'half orange' - that other half, your perfect match...
Inspired by the colourful designs of the game Loteria; El Corazon (the heart), La Rosa (the rose), El Sol (the sun) and La Luna (the moon) have been selected to tell a tale of love and romance.
In a bold bright colour palette reminiscent of the playful theatre and colourful traditions of Mexico the collection weaves together luxe leathers, silver, brass and semi-precious stones encapsulating imagery of Mexico and it's unique culture and arts.

'El Sol & La Luna'
The sun (masculine) and the moon (feminine) are seen as a love story. Where the sun will bear down on any given subject the moon softly enfolds our attention. She is considered a luminary but produced no light of her own accord. She is reliant upon the sun's light to make her 'glow'.

All Artwork by Danny Sixx for barton&bell

'Dia de los Muertos' (Day of the Dead)
A day of celebration, November 2nd The Day of The Dead focuses on family and friends gathering to remember the dead. A day to truly celebrate and enjoy those they remember the Mexicans are unique in their culture for on this day they will laugh and even joke about the deceased. Graves are visited and private altars are built with gifts of marigolds, the favourite food, candies and beverages of the departed and brightly coloured sugar skulls. After a full day of festivties the people continue the gathering to eat the food left on the altar.
The arts of Mexico are heavily influenced by imagery from 'Dia de los Muertos'.
This range depicts the brightly decorated sugar skulls synonymous with the Day of the Dead.

Quote...

"Like poetry, fashion does 

not state anything. 

It merely suggests".
Karl Lagerfeld

The First Day of Spring!

The excitement of this glorious first day of August could be sending me a little crazy but I think somewhere inside I have this belief that the moment the first day of Spring begins the sun shall not stop shining for the next six months!
The birds were singing louder today, the ocean smelt more beautiful than yesterday and the coffee art* at my favourite cafe seemed to be dancing around that cup this morning!

I am ready for the sunshine.
I am excited to be bringing you a beautiful new collection of jewels.
And I am most certainly ready for creams, neutrals and beautiful tropical colours to wear back with layers of our barton&bell 'Leilani' necklaces.

Leilani [lay-LAH-nee] (Of Hawaiian origin) Heavenly flower or heavenly lei. A lei is the familiar Hawaiian necklace made from flowers or shells. It symbolizes regard and love for the person to whom it is given.

Happy first day of Spring!
x

* Is it still called 'coffee art' if I haven't grown up yet and am still drinking hot chocolates?!

Melbourne Art on the Street

Just a quick post to share these pictures I took when we were exhibiting in Melbourne.
One night while walking alongside the river to dinner we came across these beautiful artworks drawn in pastels on the walkway.
Such beautiful drawings with so much emotion captured in them.
Unfortunately there was nobody around. I would have loved to have known who they were by.

WIN our Lotus Earrings!

We now have a barton&bell Facebook page and are starting things off with a great competition!

Here's how you could WIN our beautiful Silver plated Lotus Earring pictured below...

Come join us on facebook...here!

Then simply click the 'Suggest to Friends' link on our page and suggest us to 10 of your friends you think will love barton&bell. Email us at info@bartonandbell.com with your name & the names of your friends and you and one lucky friend who joins our page could win a pair each!

Competition closes in 7 days. 

Good luck. x

Good morning sunshine...

The Sydney sunshine this week makes my heart sing. And it seems it is singing to the tune of Creedence Clearwater Revival!
With less than ten days left until Spring (hey who's counting!) I have begun dreaming about my Spring wardrobe...and perhaps a trip back in time to Woodstock.
They say dream big right?

Here's what I will be wearing...

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barton&bell - Fallen Feather necklace

Strummer - Opportunity Dress

Valerie Salacroux - Sabot Mali Veau

www.strummer.com.au
www.valeriesalacroux.com

I want to go!

Next week we will be in Melbourne to exhibit our latest collection to boutiques.
If it were not for the fact that we will be tied up doing showings the whole time here's where I would be headed...

Melbourne Winter Masterpieces: 'TIM BURTON The Exhibition' at MoMA

'The exhibition brings together over 700 works including paintings, drawings, puppets, costumes, storyboards and film. Discover the elements of gothic fantasy, dark humour and motifs that characterise Burton's work...'.

Red Queen Concept Art - sketch by Tim Burton

Filmmaker, illustrator, painter and photographer, Tim Burton is a creative genius that's for sure!
He is the mastermind behind a collection of charming outcast characters including Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands & The Corpse Bride and has an ingenious ability to create hauntingly beautiful landscapes that come alive before your eyes.
He has reinvented Hollywood filmmaking as an expression of personal vision and is an inspiration to a generation of young artists.
(I once heard an interview where he said he wore stripey socks to curb his craziness and that only made me admire him even more!)

While browsing the MoMA website I found a collection of beautiful images inspired by the work of Tim Burton submitted for an Online Art Exhibition. Here's a couple of my favourites...

The Key by Simon Jackson

Blackbird by Charlotte Tizzard

For more information on the exhibition visit:
http://www.acmi.net.au/timburton.aspx

"Everything has meaning. It's just whether you can see it or not." Tim Burton

Mixta - San Miguel de Allende

A few months ago I squealed with excitement telling my boyfriend how my jewellery was now being stocked in 'his country'! My boyfriend is Mexican so it is especially exciting to have my jewellery stocked such a long way from home.

I have just returned from my first 'real' trip to Mexico. (Yes, I am deeming crossing the border into Tijuana for 1 day in the 90's invalid!). We visited my boyfriend's family, travelled around this beautiful country and of course made a trip to meet our stockist in Mexico.

Mixta is located in San Miguel de Allende an absolutely gorgeous city with cobblestone roads, colonial architecture and the most stunning church made from pink granite. The owner Anna is such a lovely, welcoming lady and has filled her beautiful store with giftware and homewares she travels and sources; from cushions to Mexican print aprons, bags, artworks & books.

It was such a pleasure to meet Anna and to have barton&bell sitting alongside all the other wonderful things in her store.

Mixta

Here are some pictures I took when I was in San Miguel.

The beautiful pink granite church (we are the tiny little humans below!)

A section from a mural depicting the history of Mexico.

A beautiful sunset overlooking the city (taken with Margarita in one hand and camera in the other!)

San Miguel de Allende.

If you are in Mexico or go visit some day you must head to San Miguel.

And if you are in San Miguel some day you must head to Mixta and say hello to Anna!

Ok, one last photo just for a laugh!

Secretly this is my favorite photo taken in San Miguel - me with a donkey!

(My poor boyfriend indulged my love for silly tourist photos and snapped this one!)

Dead Letter Chorus

These gorgeous people are my friends.
This is their latest video.
You really should have a listen....

TREATS

I have just had a lovely friend over for afternoon tea. I have been drinking black English Breakfast and eating macaroons. I am a sucker for treats!

This is one of the latest from our barton&bell collection.

The 'Treats Bangle' (named so because the beautiful colours of the pink opal and amazonite remind me of the boiled lollies my Great Aunt used to bring us every time she visited).

Bon appetite!

barton&bell New Collection

I have been quiet on the blog of late, largely due to the fact that I have been designing away ready to launch a new collection.
Designing to my heart's content - I am so pleased with it!

Here is a little preview from our latest shoot.
I hope you love it as much as we do.

From the 'Fallen Feather' range.

From the 'Myra' range.

The new collection will be in stores from mid March.
I will keep posting some new pictures over the next few weeks.
Make sure you visit your nearest barton&bell stockist to view the collection.

x barton&bell