Celebrating British Manufacturing!

I want to take this opportunity to salute some of the teams that help make our brand British:

Special thanks are due to two firms in Macclesfield (the famous ‘Silk Town’), which has a proud history of silk throwing and Jacquard weaving dating back to the late Middle Ages and was once the world's biggest producer of finished silk!

The two firms are Gaddum & Gaddum and RA Smart:

Toby, Emma, Norma and the team at Gaddum & Gaddum have built this amazing factory in Macclesfield and work with the community to boost manufacturing in Macclesfield by not only trading in silks and other textile products but most excitingly running apprenticeship schemes and providing youth training opportunities within its magnificent space  and with a team, packed full of energy and enthusiasm, driven by the owner Toby who is committed to making a success of it all in the interests of his team, the business and the silk industry in Macclesfield. We are privileged to be building our collection with them; Emma and Norma pictured here working on the dress collection. 

Silk prints just in from RA SMARTS

Emma rolling the Silver Dew Rainbow silk fabric.
www.gaddumandgaddum.co.uk

Emma and Norma colour matching the threads and bindings to the fabric. 

First sample dress being made up.

           

Seeing the prints for the first time, so exciting. 

                                                     
And RA Smart, who are one of the UK’s largest digital printers, and following the great tradition of Macclesfield, actively keep the art of weaving alive and well and where Alison and Louise have been fantastic and consistent in their support to the Taisir Gibreel brand from the beginning.  

Impressive printing tables at RA SMART where screen printing, devore, flocking and foiling all takes place.
www.rasmart.co.uk

Some of the wide selection of screens at the factory. 

Alison, Hatti (dear friend) and myself doing some posing next to a beast of a machine. 

Alison giving us the grand tour, so much to see so little time, heading to the weave room. 

  

Wide selection of fabrics and yarn, yeppie, like a kid in a candy store. 

Some delicious looking colours. 

Two lucky ladies getting the grand tour at RASMART. 

And at

Keep weaving and printing your magic……

To view the Taisir Gibreel collection of silk and wool scarves please contact Taisir to arrange an appointment:

Telephone: 07947 959 926; Email: taisir@taisirgibreel.co.uk

What we did next!

Wow what haven’t I been up to over the last few weeks!!!  First up a brilliant time at the Made in London Exhibition loads of sales and new, exciting, thought-provoking contacts and opportunities.

then a whole load of attention-grabbing  freelance design work for the House of Bruar and The Huntsman; 

http://www.houseofbruar.com

 http://www.h-huntsman.com

and an invaluable collaboration with the Age of Reason , Silken Flavour and  Claire Armitage;

http://www.age-of-reason-studios.com

http://www.armitagedesign.co.uk

http://www.silkenfavours.com

preparing for an inspiring exhibition for charity at the RCPE in Edinburgh; and planning for a truly thrilling exhibition in Germany in the New Year - and a serious venture into Europe – watch this space because 2014 here we come! 

and then…..

designing new prints for the Taisir Gibreel Collection 2014 and my stunning pure silk and pure wool scarves, skinny scarves and who knows what other deliciously colour laden, entrancingly fashion must-haves – so wait for it because then there will be –amazingly beautiful silk shift dresses we hope you will absolutely fall in love with!

http://www.taisirgibreel.co.uk/product/SilverDewWave/Silver_Dew_Wave

Lastly don’t forget my e-commerce site is up and running :  http://www.taisirgibreel.co.uk/shop

It's been a wee while.....

Been a wee while since my last blog – back in 2012 - so I feel it’s well time for an update! It’s truly been a roller coaster of a couple of months ever since I went free-lance back in August. Loads and loads of excitement from day one as I make diversity the name of my business venture both in design and products!! 

  SHOP NOW: http://goo.gl/ISQSWb

  

Whilst scarves remain at the heart of Taisir Gibreel I have also taken on freelance design work with the House of Bruar http://www.houseofbruar.com to name a few; exploring the development of silk shift dresses using my print designs and perhaps leather clutch bags - and maybe delving into the world of interior design……so keep watching this space! Dare I mention that I am even in talks with a couple of galleries in a move to exhibit art to wear alongside art to hang on walls………early days but how exhilarating would that be!

I have also been out and about a fair bit. My first ever visit to the USA took me to New York in August to exhibit at the New York Now exhibition http://www.nynow.com.

SHOP NOW: http://goo.gl/JLLoFG

I stayed in East Manhattan and the Trade Fair was in the Javits Centre. I did some serious walking around New York and was enthralled by every sight and experience. The Fair wasn’t bad either! I got some good sales, great contacts and useful potential links and partnerships for the future – can’t wait for next year!!  

The Best of Britannia in September was in the rustic Farmiloe building in Farringdon, where I met up with Ali from Age of Reason http://www.age-of-reason-studios.com  also a scarf designer, which has led to a thrilling collaboration on the production of our collections in the UK.

Been amazingly, fantastically, frantically busy working on my website; updating my catalogue - http://issuu.com/taisirgibreel/docs/taisir_gibreel ; developing promotional materials and getting to grips with all the classic necessities for promoting a business; pulling together a great product to exhibit at Trade Fairs, Retail Shows and of course online http://www.taisirgibreel.co.uk/shop and sell, sell, sell!  Although I’ve been busy beyond belief I have also had a lot of fun along the way and was fortunate to work with and meet lots of incredible people along the way – example the great team.

Who I worked with on my last photo shoot where we got some fabulous product shots which can all be seen on my great new website www.taisirgibreel.co.uk . Thanks to all of you.