#TweetHeart

We’re all about saying it your way this Valentine’s Day – forget red roses and chocolate, 14 February should be about celebrating real people, real relationships and real feelings. That’s why we’re offering our Twitter followers the chance to give their valentine a truly personal gift.

We’re teaming up with The Coopers, a musical quartet who won last year’s Futuresound award, who will be turning your messages of love into song. To serenade your valentine, simply tweet us (@nothsdotcom) with your special message, including the hash tag #TweetHeart, and on Valentine’s Day we will post a short music video of The Coopers performing your personalised message.

Get tweeting early to ensure your message makes the cut!

Posted by jenniferbaldwin on 09 February 2012
- 2 comments

staff picks: Sarah loves Karin Akesson's bird print

Sarah Wilson is our Head of Brand. She is charge of making sure our customers know what we’re about, and that everything we do fits with the notonthehighstreet.com vision. Her favourite item on the site is Karin Akesson’s bird print.

She says: “I seem to have become a serial wedding attender over the past few month, with lots of close friends going down the aisle. I bought this print as a gift for one of my friends who was getting married, and gave it to her on the morning of her wedding. The phrase ‘Today Something Wonderful Will Happen’ holds such a strong sentiment for someone on their big day, and it also served as a perfect yet unusual ‘something blue’ gift. The bride subsequently had it framed and it now hangs on a wall in her home as a reminder of her special day’.

Posted by jenniferbaldwin on 27 January 2012
- 1 comment

a notonthehighstreet.com Winter Wonderland

In December, we celebrated the festive season by coming together for the annual notonthehighstreet.com Christmas party, and we had some help from a few of our wonderful sellers to make sure we celebrated in style. Our wintry invitations were created by Pogofandango’s Gill and Emma. They transformed a simple snowflake design into a festive masterpiece, perfect for decorating our desks prior to the big night. In celebration of all things handmade, we also chose an assortment of handmade stamps from Billet Doux to complete the design.

The party was held at The Botanist in Kew, a short trip from our offices in Richmond. We made our way to the venue in our very own double-decker Routemaster, courtesy of Travel With Hunny .

With Rowen and Wren’s delightful glass-lined birch votives and a scatter of fairy lights strewn around the room, we were welcomed into a real winter wonderland. Each table was styled with gold table numbers by Ali’s House of String, and table runners lined with hearts and stripes Christmas ribbon by Seahorse. By Katie Sue provided beautiful name tags that were individually tied to delicious candy canes – a great idea for easy place name holders for a winter party or wedding.

A big thank you to all the partners who helped make our night so special!

Posted by jenniferbaldwin on 20 January 2012

One skirt, three ways

Every wardrobe needs versatile pieces, and we think this ‘Lucy’ Ballet skirt by Kiki’s fits the bill perfectly. Here we show just three of the ways you could wear it – from chic office wear, to weekend casual, or strong evening glamour. This is a piece to wear all year round…

‘Lucy’ Ballet Skirt, (shown throughout) Kiki’s, £35; ‘Bows aplenty’ Blouse, Nina Bon Bina, £65; ‘Addison’ Belt, Miller and Jeeves £42; Suede Courts, Mandarina Shoes, £110; ‘Sophie’ Lunch Bag, Clippy, £24.50; ‘Rosendahl’ Rose Gold Watch, ella georgia, £185; ‘Classic Ring No.5’ring, £95, and ‘Contemporary Classics’ cube earrings, £75, both Bronagh Kennedy. All items; notonthehighstreet.com

Skirt, as before; Alpaca fur tippet, Samantha Holmes, £199; ‘Royal Alpaca’ round neck sweater, Babi Alpaca, £70; Leather bow belt, Ageeta, £42; ‘Barella’ leather birkin bag, Maxwell Scott Leather Goods, £325.99; ‘Saidia’ embellished multi strap sandals, Love Art Wear Art, £215; Gold coin bracelet, Lily & Joan, £18; Gold star coin earrings, Lindsay Pearson, £396;

‘Betsy’ blouse, Silk & Sawdust, £65; Ottoman gold droplet necklace, Lemonlu london, £295; Square foldover clutch bag, Red Ruby Rouge, £129; Suede sling back shoes, Mandarini Shoes, £110; Hand hammered brass cuff, Ethical Trading Company, £20; Gold ‘Inlay’ cuff, Tuli Storm, £40; ‘Padparadscha gold filled crochet’ ring, Wrapped design, £85

Posted by emmahoness on 17 November 2011

the all new weddings department!

With a wedding gift list service that 97% of our brides would recommend to a friend, a wedding styling department packed full of the most unique and beautiful little touches for the big day, jewellery and accessories that suit only the most stylish of brides, a gorgeous selection of wedding gifts that delights any wedding guest… it’s no wonder that brides get super-excited when they discover notonthehighstreet.com weddings!

Our weddings department relaunched on monday and it is so beautiful we wanted to share it with you. You will find three categories in the department – for the wedding gift list service, styling your day and inspiration for guests.

Some of the new wedding features in the department include:

• Improved functionality including an innovative list builder to make creating a gift list incredibly simple and fun
• An informative blog with features on the latest wedding list finds, styling inspiration for your day, beauty tips, real bride stories plus much much more
• The choice from hundreds of unique wedding gifts and items to create a stunning wedding and home
• A personal service on hand for all your questions and needs
• A printed wedding stylebook for brides to be, a must-have for accessory inspiration and beautiful decor

To request more information about our wedding gift list service, click here

To request a free 24 page wedding stylebook, click here

Our wedding blog, www.tietheknotonthehighstreet.com, will be updated daily, giving you a source of wedding inspiration whenever you need it!

Posted by jokite on 23 May 2011

the adventures of Mabel

Last month we met Mabel, our merchandise and picture editor Carrie’s new puppy. We were instantly besotted and our obsession is only growing as the weeks go by and we hear more about what she’s been up to. She turned 13 weeks old this weekend and she already has a reputation for being a little mischievous! Carrie says, “working at home is now something Mabel has to be involved with. She often has her paws on the computer keys obviously trying to help me work. She even managed to send her own email to Holly by walking over the computer keys!”.

Mabel also made the mistake of kicking one of her toys under the sofa and getting herself stuck there whilst trying to retrieve it. Carrie came home to see her little nose poking out from underneath the sofa and had to lift it to set her free.

Our favourite story was when Carrie and Mabel went to visit Carrie’s nephew, Harry. Mabel discovered Harry’s skateboard and decided she would try her hand (well, paw) at it and skated across the kitchen floor. Sadly we don’t have a photo of her in action on the skateboard, but we will settle for these impossibly cute images of her. We can’t wait to hear what she gets up to next!

Posted by jenniferbaldwin on 11 March 2011

it's a pin-up...

Since we moved offices to Richmond in October, we’ve been working hard to make our new space feel like home. It goes without saying that we love anything craft-based, so when we discovered the work of textile artist Debbie Smyth, we had to enlist her to help us put our stamp on the place.

Debbie creates contemporary artworks which employ a variety of skills and techniques to transform unusual materials and objects into playful yet sophisticated pieces. We particularly fell in love with her pin and thread work (see examples above), where she creates a network of lines by stretching strands of thread between accurately measured and plotted pins, giving new life to simple illustrations.

So after adoring her from afar, we asked her to come and create a pin and thread artwork of the notonthehighstreet.com logo in our cosy reception area. We were amazed by how quickly and skilfully she tapped the hundreds of tiny pins into the wall, and then began threading the coloured cotton around each one. We are all really pleased with the result and feel privileged to have our own, original artwork in the office.

We’re thrilled to say that Debbie is also applying her talents to other projects, and will soon be selling a range of products through the site. Watch this space!

Posted by jenniferbaldwin on 03 February 2011

an illustrated life...

We always love learning about our new sellers, but we’re particularly excited about one of our recent additions, Illustrated Life. Selling a range of beautiful cards and prints adorned with hand-drawn illustrations, Illustrated Life is a one-man-band seller run by budding illustrator Emma Cowlam.

Emma studied textile design at Chelsea School of Art, before moving to New York to complete an internship. It was here that she developed her passion for illustration; “I have always been fascinated by figurative images and images of people doing things. I was so inspired just by being in New York, I was always out and about drawing in my sketchbooks and taking photos”. And so the idea of Illustrated Life was born, an outlet for Emma to create and sell her beautiful designs. Our favourite product from her range is the illustrated greetings cards. Each one is individually hand-drawn and sold at a bargain price of £4 each for an original piece of artwork.

Emma’s work has recently be featured in the Swedish edition of Elle magazine (pictured above), and is soon to be seen in the April issue of LivingEtc. We’re excited to see her business go from strength to strength over the coming months!

Posted by jenniferbaldwin on 24 January 2011

a life more chocolatey

Our sellers really have been spoiling us the past few weeks… first Halloween treats from Edamay, and now chocolate goodies from Cocoapod! We’re known for our sweet tooth at notonthehighstreet.com HQ, but we especially love edible products that allow us to get creative! Cocoapod sent us some of their chocolate do-it-yourself funny faces and a chocolate Christmas tree kit. We had great fun creating our funny faces and a festive tree (both of which would be a great stocking fillers for children) then ate the lot! Right, now to find a seller with gym clothes…

Posted by jenniferbaldwin on 16 November 2010

we've got the doodle bug!

We love to celebrate innovative designs from our partners, and one new product in particular is experiencing great success. The doodle duvet cover by Stitch designworks has been awarded Best New Product at Top Drawer, one of the most prestigious trade fairs in the UK. The doodle duvet is a 200 thread count, white cotton single duvet cover designed to resemble a giant piece of file paper. It comes with its own pack of eight wash-out colour pens, for drawing a masterpiece, writing a story or leaving a message – then the duvet cover can be easily washed to start all over again!

Chrissie Probert Jones, founder of Stitch designworks and creator of the doodle duvet cover, said the product was born from her passion for both textiles and stationery: “I just love the idea of going to bed under a blank sheet of paper to decorate at will, and then be able to wash and change completely. I love the slightly subversive side of giving people permission to draw where they normally shouldn’t and the freedom of totally wash-out colour so there are no limits to what you can do – a really positive addition to your interior and one you won’t tire of!”

We have a sneaky suspicion it might be the most talked about children’s Christmas present this year…

Posted by jenniferbaldwin on 22 September 2010

our new website has launched!

We are all so absolutely overly excited and joyously happy to announce that our gorgeous new website has launched, giving you a totally refreshed shopping experience with us.

So what has changed? You will notice immediately that the new site is bigger, and that the design and navigation have changed. The beautiful new design and larger size were natural progressions, and with over 35,000 products now selling on the site, it became time for a navigation overhaul! The mega drop-down menus may appear a little daunting at first, but they soon become really easy to use and make it much quicker to find your way around the site. The search facility is now more advanced, and includes a predictive element – this means that when you start to type in your search term, we guess what you might be searching for and show you the options. Just so clever. We have also created even more inspiration sections for you to discover, as we know what style-hunters you are. You will also soon see a new addition to the top navigation bar called ‘discover…’. This area will pull together all of the inspiration sections of the site, giving you a wonderful journey down discovery lane whenever you want. Whether you are seeking a gift, or something for yourself, this section will give you loads of gorgeous and original ideas.

Start looking around and you’ll see lots of other fabulous new features too, including a product summary zoom on product lists (just so slick) and a drop-down shopping basket showing you a little summary of everything in your basket when you hover over it – you don’t even need to click into it. In addition to all this, there is another brilliant feature that will transform your lives along with ours. You can now ‘view all’ on product pages (no trawling through 10 pages of products) – just keep scrolling and the products keep appearing! Now not very many sites can do that, you know. We know how precious your time is, and these little tricks save our customers all those unnecessary clicks.

We’ve also joined forces with a trusted independent feedback forum called Feefo so you will start seeing reviews being added to products. This will help guide you when making a purchase. You can now read reviews from customers and will be invited to write your own following a purchase. You can also see our overall service rating in real-time.

The website refresh team have been extremely dedicated in producing the best customer experience possible and have been working all hours researching, building, designing and fine-tuning the new website. We’ve consulted customers, usability experts and brand afficionados to make the site, in short, absolutely brilliant. A huge thank you to the team for doing a wondrous job, and to everyone who contributed along the way, including our customers!

Now have a play, and do tell us what you think.

Posted by jokite on 09 August 2010

time keeping Holly-style

The white walls in our office just cry out for some statement style, and luckily we have plenty on hand. The most recent stylish addition is this bold giant sticker station clock by Brume which follows the oversized trend that is currently gracing the pages of the most fashionable interior magazines. It’s rather novel – the clock face is made of stickers which you apply directly to the wall, and a set of battery-operated hands which can be fixed in the centre. We had a lot of fun putting it up (we made the odd mistake – luckily the stickers are movable!) and all our visitors are impressed by the clever design. The clock has pride of place above Holly’s desk – now there is no excuse to be late for meetings!

Posted by jenniferbaldwin on 21 July 2010

Princess Martha Lady Gaga

That’s not her real name of course, but it’s the name she likes to be known as! And how gorgeous does she look in her fushia tutu from our seller Rocket and Bear, beautifully-captured in these fabulous photos by Zoe, Martha’s clever mummy and our customer. Zoe took the pics to get some photographic evidence of Martha in the skirt before it gets completely destroyed, as Martha is now refusing to wear anything else.

We think it’s a very stylish look and we wish we could copy it. Rocket and Bear, fancy doing adult sizes??

Posted by jokite on 01 July 2010

squ-eel for Heidi

It was a delight to see Heidi Mottram featuring in today’s Metro, for all you non-Londoners who might have missed it. Her stunning eel skin bags and purses have been a huge hit on notonthehighstreet.com ever since she joined us, and we love them in the office for their softness, satisfying shape and vibrant colour palette. As graduate from London College of Fashion and Central St Martin’s, she has worked with many of the most famous fashion designers, and continues to develop the use of eel skin so keep an eye out for upcoming new designs.

The perfect gift for your best friend, or to add to your wish list…

Posted by jokite on 17 June 2010

featuring... your life

For a stunning home style and a unique way to use glass cake stands when they’re not being monopolised by your latest iced masterpieces, combine a collection of domes to showcase your favourite interior accessories, jewellery or faux flowers. Chop and change at will, depending on your mood. For an edgier look, encapsulate more masculine, industrial pieces such as a pyramid of cards (glue is required!), traditional, colourful toys like rubix cubes and slinkies, metal letters or engraved stones.

The hotel Mama Shelter in Paris (a fabulous Philippe Starke hotel frequented by a couple of members of the notonthehighstreet.com team) has one filled with old cotton reels.

Buy glass domes here

Posted by jokite on 04 May 2010