SPRING FAIR 2006
(Click for each company, or scroll to read the whole report:)
There had been rumours before the Spring Fair that Ty was to introduce something special here. I am always annoyed when Ty introduces UK exclusives on Ty.com just days before the Spring Fair...it happens every year and it ruins the surprise of the Ty UK stand for me. All the other companies attending the fair and exhibiting save their most exciting products for the fair, and have a fantastic display of some great new products...so I was gutted to see Scrum, the new UK exclusive announced before the weekend. Scrum the rugby bear was on display at the show, beneath a quick printed sign reading "England 47 - 13 Wales" after yesterday's Rugby match. But, it was not quite total disappointment from Ty UK...the something special that they had saved for the UK show (yay!) was the new Beatrix Potter beanies. Now, before I go on, please take into mind that the beanies displayed at the show were labeled "working project", so I presume that the beanies on display are prototypes, and may not be introduced for a while yet. The Peter Rabbit beanie, I predict to be the most successful as he seems symbolic of Beatrix Potter. He is a brown rabbit, wearing a light blue jacket, and made in the traditional, plain Ty fabric, similar to Bones, Legs etc. Jeremy Fisher was complete with coat and clothes. He also has plain fabric for his body on the prototype and thick fabric clothes. Another symbolic character of Beatrix Potter is Jemima Puddle-Duck. Again, I think this will be one of the more successful of the range as she is one of the most famous characters. She also has plain fabric and is wearing the pink shawl and blue bonnet that she does in the story. Tom Kitten is cute and one of the more famous of all the Beatrix Potter characters, but not quite as symbolic as Peter Rabbit, Jeremy Fisher or Jemima Puddle-Duck. He wears blue clothes, just like in the stories. The fur on his body is the soft, shiny, spiky fabric, that is also used on Sizzle, the Champion beanies etc. The final two beanies of the set of 6 are slightly disappointing. Pigling Bland and Mr Tod are not exactly the most famous or popular of the characters...I was disappointed that Mrs Tiggy-winkle wasn't in the Ty set. Both Pigling Bland and Mr Tod are quite stiff, structured beanies but the detail on them is great (as is the detail on all the Beatrix Potter beanies). Mr Tod wears the soft, shiny Sizzle fabric, whereas Pigling Bland has plain fabric. All the beanies in the set seem of a much higher quality that anything Ty has done recently. They reminded us of the old Beatrix Potter toys that my sister and I used to have when we were babies. The quality is great, and the detail of the beanies are just like in the books...they seem an exact copy. They generally don't look like Ty beanies...they are such extravagant designs, yet if you look at the eyes or fabric, you can see Ty's touch! All beanies had no hang or tush tags.
Also, all the new products for February, as well as other current beanies were on display. Around the stand were Ty quotes: "Perfect Presents for Perfect Friends", "Hug Me, Love Me, Collect Me" followed by Ty Warner's full signature.
Quite a disappointment from the Me to You companies. Carte Blanche Greetings were not exhibiting at the show, so we hoped that Collectible World Studios would have something exciting to show us. Unfortunately, the company only had a few figures to show us. The only products that stood out as new: A gorgeous little angel bear. Tatty Teddy is dressed in a silver/white angel outfit, including a little fabric ballerina-style skirt, and a halo. Also, there was a simple bear wearing a pink/red t-shirt reading "I <3 U". Apart from the Angel bear, my favourite was Tatty Teddy sitting in a wheelbarrow with a plant pot. Unfortunately, there were no names or prices on display, so until they are introduced, we'll have to guess! I really love the little angel bear - it's so simple and beautiful. Despite these products, there was no sign of anything new, or any of the new Clinton's or H Samuel products, or the new mail order exclusive. The company did display the All for Love range, which now features more plush, boxed gift-figurines, keyrings, plush notebooks/address books and snowglobes. Also new, a range called Love Angel and the Boy as well as their usual ranges like Whimsiclay, Pocket Dragons, Maasai, etc.
A big display of new products from NICI UK. The first I spotted was a cute glittery range called "Magic Forest", featuring white and blue glitter unicorn plush. They are really cute and wintery! This I presume is linked with another range on display, the "Magic Meadow" range; different coloured cute bugs, featuring blue, pink, green/orange, and yellow. They are really colourful and eyecatching - adorable. Goleo VI was one of the most prominent (and noisy display...his area featured a widescreen TV advert). Goleo VI is the mascot of this years World Cup, and NICI have a Goleo for each country. They each wear their countries football strip with "06" on the chest for 2006, and the slogan for the range is "Your Team, Your Goleo VI". Also new for NICI is lucky bags...sealed paper bags filled with mystery goodies from NICI. One of my favourite of the new ranges were the NICI dogs...similar to the NICI bear range, but featuring two different brown dogs. They are adorable and the products that go with these characters are as great as the other animal lines. Also, taking up a lot of the stand, was a giant display of Lillebi the mouse. I'd never seen her before and she is so sweet - she's a little brown mouse with her own pastel coloured products!
Boyds also had some great products on display...the lovely Garden Sunflower range, featuring summery bags, plush, keyrings and cushions. I think it's the first time I've seen Boyds do so many textile products like the bags and cushions. The Basketbearies are a more gift-related range, similar to the teacups introduced a few years ago. These were bears in baskets, featuring messages and wishes. Similar to this, the Bearyblossoms range; ceramic mini-baskets of flowers for Birthday months. There were also a lot of Christmas decorations on display. Boyds seems to me like they are moving away from having a large range of plush tree decorations, and following companies like Russ, with bells, ceramics and figurine tree decorations. There was also a cute set of Christmas cutlery; plates, cookie jars etc.
Yankee Candle had a lot to show at the Spring Fair. New fragrances for candles include Wild Hyacinth (part of the Yankee Home range), Country Linen, Peach and Sweet Berries, Sweet Honeysuckle. There was a large display of new home-helping products in the 'Clean Scents' line, including Pet Odour spray, Countertop Cleaner, Fabric Refresher, All Purpose Cleaning Wipes, Soap. I think this is a really great idea, and a great way to get existing Yankee fans to buy more Yankee products...this way you can have Yankee scents all day, whatever you do! New designs for candle burners, lampshades, tea-light holders were aplenty! My favourite was a 1960's themed 'Kitschy Kitchen' including an oven tart-burner, electric whisk tart-burner, toaster tea-light holder, kettle tea-light holder, and ceramic lampshades with kitchen appliances and aprons painted on. There was also a spring-themed range featuring gorgeous teapot and teacup candle burners. Other themes for candle accessories included blue/pink with roses, green with daisy-style flowers, winter white with glitter snowflakes, pastel coloured spring cherries, and a cute summery sea shell themed range. For Easter, there was a set of Easter Egg shaped tea-light holders in spring colours. With this was a range of plain yellow and plain blue ceramic holders, including lampshades with rippled-stripes. One of my favourite products, was the flip-flop tea light holder...shaped light a flip-flop, with a little place in the middle for a tea light. It's so cute and funky! There's more in the set, like shoes, handbags and other flip flops. There was lots to see here and we can't wait to see them in shops soon!
Others: (ft. Emma Bridgewater, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dr Who)
While visiting the fair, we saw some companies that I thought a few of my visitors would like to know about. Emma Bridgewater Pottery is one of our favourite new collectible ranges. Made by artist Emma Bridgewater, her hand painted pottery is beautiful and colourful. We were happy to see her company listed in the show catalogue and they really had an impressive stand...there was a giant cereal box made from painted canvas, huge milk bottle (taller than me!) and a massive fiberglass cereal bowl complete with spoon (I decided it would make a very nice bath it was so big!) painted like her most famous range; the multicolored polka dot series. There wasn't really much that we hadn't seen before, but I thought I would introduce you all to it. Check it out: www.emmabridgewater.com.
Also of interest to some collectors maybe, there were lots of companies selling licensed Dr Who products and Pirates of the Caribbean. Companies included Star Images (www.starimages.co.uk) and The Cards Inc. Group.
Also an impressive stand at the fair: Bomb Cosmetics who we passed in the Toy and Gift hall. This company produces a while range of soaps and cosmetics that look good enough to eat! Mmmm! I know, nothing to do with collectibles or gifts, but I thought I'd share the site with you: http://www.planetbomb.co.uk/
** DEPESCHE UK ** (with LOTS of PHOTOS):
Yes, we all know that Depesche UK is always my favourite stand. Well, this time...it won again! lol It truly was the most impressive stand of the day. With tonnes of new products, everywhere you looked was covered in amazing, colourful, happy products! New ranges included Spring 2006, Summer 2006, Diddlina Pink-Blue, Diddlina Sports range, Diddl Bath line 2006, all the new School design series, Diddl Football line...and loads of individual products!
I think the best thing for me to do is to let you all look for yourselves...a picture tells 1000 words, so they say! hehe!
As the Diddl stand is so beautiful and the products are so detailed, I decided that the photos at normal size don't do the products justice...so click on a picture to open it big and enjoy the lovely new products!
Thanks once again to Depesche UK - always the best stand, the best company and with the best products! I always look forward to the Diddl stand most of all, and it never disappoints!
THANK YOU DEPESCHE UK!
Diddlina welcomes visitors to the Diddlina stand...a little bit of summer for February. The products featured are a few from the Summer 2006 range:
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The products of the Diddl School design series. From left to right (top and middle shelves): Diddlina and Galupy Red, Diddlina Butterfly, Pimboli Paisley, Diddlina Ballerina. Left to Right (bottom shelf) Diddlina Stripes, Diddl Circles:
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The cute Diddlina Pink-Blue range. I think this is the first range that features these colours...and it works so well. Just look at Diddl's blue and Diddlina's pink sections of the products!
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This is a range more suitable for the boys (well, not in my case, but generally, it's Diddl's 'for boys' line!) Especially for the World Cup, Diddl's Football series:
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Diddlina's spring range for 2006...so pretty, I love the pastel colours and the use of glitter on the gift boxes! This is going to be a great line for the girls! (click on the picture to enlarge)
The CD/DVD case is great - I love it! It reminds me of the tin/zip purses from Depesche a little while ago...it's another must for my collection!
Diddlina's Summer range...this is great! I love the colours! It's so bright and summery! I always love the fabric designs on the Diddl products: (click on the picture to enlarge)
Yay! The new Bath Line for 2006! The summer pyjamas are so cute, and I love the detail on the towels!
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This is one of my favourite displays of the whole stand...you know I love Mimihopps! lol Here she is with Pimboli in the spring range for this year...I love the denim and the colours...the skirt-style bag is going to be really popular with the girls!
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The Diddlina Sports range is adorable. Following a pink and green theme, this range is perfect for any active child (or child at heart). I am crossing my fingers that those Converse-style shoes will go up to my size! I live in the Diddlina and Galupy Slippers introduced in Winter 2005,so I'm hoping Depesche will go up to my size once again...they are brilliant! I was told that they will retail for just under £20...which I think is a bargain. Converse All Stars similar to these retail for £35 and these are so much cuter!
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The latest Diddl pads/blocks, featuring a pad inside a pad! Here there is a small cut out pad inside the large pad! The designers at the Diddl Workshop create some fantastic ideas...I don't know where they come up with things like this!
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Here are some of the new products that don't belong to a particular series or range!
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These are so cool - Diddl sweets! Now Diddl tastes just as sweet as he looks! These will retail for just under a pound and they are worth it! They taste yummy and they come in a great Diddly tin.! They come in cherry, apple and lemon flavour! I am really looking forward to these arriving in shops:
Some of my favourite products from Depesche...mobile phone charms! These are adorable, and much more fun that any I've seen before. The characters on the charms come with beads and pompoms! I think I'll have to get one of each design for my phone and swap them around! lol
And after all that, I'm exhausted! Only 365 days until next year! ;-)