The Story behind ‘Flamenco’

Showing Anna’s ‘Flamenco’ range at the Gift fair, Sydney Feb 2018.

Anna’s new exotic ‘Flamenco’ range of homewares, textiles and ceramics is one of her brightest ever. But where do her ideas come from? And how do those first scraps of inspiration evolve into a new range of over fifty different homeware products? Here’s Anna’s story:

Spanish Inspiration

“I was visiting Madrid late last year to show my husband the sights of two of my favourite cities, Toledo and Segovia. Our hotel was full of character and very Spanish. On the walls were  old Feria de Sevilla posters from years gone by, full of gorgeous Spanish flamenco dancers in colourful costumes.

Posters on the wall in our Madrid hotel

Just around the corner from the hotel was a shop selling flamenco dresses, earrings and accessories, a cave of vibrant colour.

Inside the Spanish dance costume shop in Madrid

Inspiration is around every corner in Spain.

Spanish Inspiration

My husband Michael and I set off on a walk across Spain, soaking up the inspiration, the culture, history, Architecture and of course the Spanish food.

Travelling in Spain

We were impressed by the strength of the Spanish culture. Unlike other parts of the world, Spain is still uniquely Spanish, proud of it’s identity and seemingly immune to the worst of the modern world. Fast food is nowhere to be seen. Three generations sit together each evening in the town square, enjoying life.

Walking in Spain

In some parts of rural Spain, nothing seems to have changed for hundreds of years. I loved that.

Spanish architecture

When I got back to Perth, the patterns of the Spanish shawls were still swirling in my head. That’s when I sat down in my studio and started distilling what I had seen and turning it into a tablecloth design.

Flamenco tablecloth

I always bounce new design ideas off my wonderful manager, Mirna. She has been a part of our team at ACD for over twenty years and has a sixth sense for what our customers will like. I knew from Mirna’s reaction that I should create more products for the homewares range”.

‘Flamenco’ plate and mug

Anna’s new ‘Flamenco’ range now includes a stunning floral velvet throw and cushions, vibrant beach towel, colourful velvet purses and bags, unique fold-up shopping bags, exotic table runner, matching mugs, plates and placemats, with more products to come. The whole ‘Flamenco’ range will be in store by the end of March. A complimentary range to ‘Flamenco’ is the new ‘Pink Embroidery’ range.

 

 

Where does the inspiration start?

Our customers often ask “Where does Anna get her inspiration?” In the case of ‘Spanish Tile’, it took a walk of 850km across the North of Spain which started Anna thinking about a new Blue and White design to add to her successful range of homewares products.

‘Spanish Tile’ inspired by walking the Camino.

Of all the countries in the world, no country has influenced Anna’s designs more than Spain. Anna and her husband travel to Spain regularly, where they like to walk the ancient pilgrim routes between timeless old villages. Along the way, Anna draws inspiration for her textile and ceramic designs from this beautiful and vibrant culture. ‘Spanish Tile’ is influenced by the classic Blue and White of the tiles which adorn the village squares, houses and fountains of Old Spain.

Anna’s other blue designs, ‘Fes Blue’ and ‘Patchwork Blue’ are timeless classics, still as popular as when they were first launched, and ‘Spanish Tile’ is designed to mix and match with these two other designs. Click here for all the mix and match classic Blue and White products.

Spanish Tile velvet cushions.

‘Spanish Tile’ is available in a large easy care canvas tablecloth measuring 140x250cm, as well as a range of soft luxurious and fully reversible velvet cushions. A velvet throw, also reversible, can be flipped for an instant change of look.Bags, purses, tea towel, runner are also available.

Back to Work after the Reed Gift Fair

Well the Sydney Gift Fair is over after a hectic week, and here at Anna Chandler Design we are already unloading containers and sending off orders to our stockists.

We had a very successful fair and best sellers included our new Portuguese Tile range of textiles in cool turquoise and white, plus Anna’s new colourways in the ever-popular ‘Bobble’, ‘Jellybean’ and ‘Patchwork’ necklaces.
Mirna, Anna, Michael, Myra and our loyal hard-working agents had a busy week in Sydney, setting up the fair and chatting to our wonderful customers but we still had time for some fun and shopping.
Now it’s back to work for all of us and working on new designs to unveil in Melbourne this August.

Here’s a gallery with some photos from the fair showcasing our latest products!

Come see us at the Reed Gift Fair 2017

We are excited to announce that we will be showing our latest products at the Sydney Reed’s Gift Fair in February. This will be the very first fair to be held at the world class new ICC Sydney Exhibition Centre in Darling Harbour.

Every year since 1991 we have shown our products at the fair, each year endeavouring to outdo the last year’s display, and this year’s trade fair stand will be no exception. Here is last year’s stand.

Trade fair 2016

The latest additions to our product lineup include ‘Portuguese Tile’, inspired by Anna’s recent walk on the Camino from Portugal to Spain. Other new ranges include ‘Snowflake’ and ‘Antiquity’.

How to find us at the Gift Fair

Stand – Anna Chandler Design stand #HH41

Venue – ICC Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour

Dates and Times

Saturday 18 February, 9am – 6pm
Sunday 19 February, 9am – 6pm
Monday 20 February, 9am – 6pm
Tuesday 21February, 9am – 6pm
Wednesday 22 February, 9am – 6pm

Register to visit here