Direct from Market: Seattle
Caroline Kennedy -- Gifts and Dec, 2/11/2011 3:39:49 PM
Pacific Market Center
Seattle Gift Week began actively and optimistic and has continued on a high note. After a full day of robust buying, buyers at the Pacific Market Center were treated to a special fashion show wine and cheese event that raised funds for Gift for Life. The fashion show also served to increase awareness of what the new accessories showrooms in the building have to offer gift buyers looking to add freshness to their mix. An informal football pool on the Super Bowl added to the fun and funds that the event raised.
Washington State Convention Center
The temporary exhibits of the Seattle Gift Show opened on Saturday the Washington State Convention Center with buyers lining up for badges and good attendance overall. The mood was confident. Even up to near closing on Tuesday, buyers were busily hurrying to complete their order writing before exhibitors packed up their booths.
A number of exhibitors have returned to the Seattle Gift Show after an absence of many years. Among those were plush manufacturer Ty and personalized gift vendor Paparte, the gift division of Inscribe. Both were exhibiting in much smaller booth spaces than we are accustomed to seeing them in. Ty's Owen Bishop noted that they were a late entry into the show and the small space was the only one still available. New this winter from Ty are Beanie Balls, ball-shaped plush with beanies weighting them so that they always land right-side up.
Purrfection by MJC is also another returned exhibitor. Marty Castro remarked that they had a great day on Saturday, opening day of the temporaries. The company introduced its new Beamerzzz, plush toy line - giraffes, elephants, moose, bears and more - with a small flashlight in the paw.
Laughing Elephant
Just for Kids
Seattle-based Laughing Elephant continues to delight with its retro children's books, cards and stationery. They have classic appeal and offer a bit of nostalgia for parents, too. A new addition to its shaped book line is A Child's Garden of Verses with illustrations from the 1930s by Fern Bisel Peat. The company has also brought out a children's stationery set in a tri-fold case.
At Sugar B Sales, French import DecoDelire, a collection of fashion accessories for the young and young-at-heart was drawing of lot of buyer interest with its fresh designs. There are laptop bags, totes, wallets, cosmetic cases and more in stylized florals and tween-appeal characters.
An exclusive at Lolly & Co. in the Pacific Market Center is a New Zealand import Wishbone Design's 3-in-1 bike system. This eco-friendly wooden riding toy is made of reforested eucalyptus and is designed to grow with the child from age 1 to 5. It begins as a three-wheeled vehicle that takes the place of a baby's walker, converts to a two-wheeled stability balance bike.
For bringing a little style to a youngster's room, new in the newly expanded Scarlett showroom is Homeworks Etc. Designs. This Canadian import offers wooden growth charts, wall signs, and coat hook boards with whimsical animal motifs. A hockey stick shaped hook board is a best-seller for boys' rooms.
The award-winning Stranger in the Woods children's book from Carl R. Sams II Photography has a new release with a striking 3D lenticular cover.
In the Toyology showroom, a game, Telepathy from LMD Enterprises offered buyers a chance at testing their skills of deduction and logic. Creator Derek Chinn was on hand to demonstrate. The game for 2 to 4 players has is a puzzle to be solved to find the secret square. The challenge has some similarity to the game Battleship in the way that it is played.
Magic Milk Straws bearing the official "Got Milk?" tag line offer a fun way to get kids to drink milk without the mess of syrups or powder mixes. The flavoring is contained in the straw that kids drink through. The flavorings have no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, are gluten and preservative free. They come in several kid-friendly flavors.
Hive candles
Candles Burning Bright
There are a number of small home-grown candle and personal care companies cropping up here in the Pacific Northwest. The big focus here is on natural and organic materials.
Among the candle offerings we found are Vance Family Soy Candles that are made of soy and are organically fragranced. The Munio Candela line at Nolita Home & Beauty offers pure soy candles with natural herbs, flowers and spices embedded in the wax to decorate.
Erin Jane Illuminations offers three different natural candle lines. A natural white soy wax collection that are hand-poured. Her Candle Nests are made of palm wax and come in three scents and colors. The palm wax has a natural iridescence to it. And there is also the Hive pure beeswax candle line in six soft fragrances.
In the Scarlett showroom, Makana Candles is a handcrafted soy candle line in attractive containers. Makana means "gift" in Hawaiian, making is a truly gift candle.
Sustainable Worth
Clean and Natural
Personal care is a growing small business manufacturing category here as well, with a number of family businesses introducing organic and natural lines in keeping with the green and health conscious movements so ingrained in the local culture. One such company is Sustainable Worth out of Twisp, WA, whose bath and body products are made with organically grown ingredients and handcrafted in small batches. The company grows many of its own herbs.
Out of California comes the HelloMellow line of natural products in brightly colored contemporary packaging. The company has introduced HelloPreggo and HelloKiddo lines designed for pregnant women and babies, respectively.
The Honey House Naturals line contains natural beeswax and royal jelly as key ingredients, while the 80 Acres line from McEvoy Ranch is "enriched with McEvoy Ranch organic olive oil."
Parlaying on the popularity of its Flip Flop foot care line, Northridge Gardens has introduced a new Gardener's Foot Repair line of balms in four fragrances: cranberry, lemon verbena, lavender mint and mango coconut.
How about a line that originates from the by-product of a by-product? Further Products is a soap, lotion and candle line in The Barron Collection showroom produced by a husband and wife team, Megan and Marshall Dostal. Marshall produces biofuel from local restaurant waste grease for his vehicles. The glycerine that is a by-product of the distillation process is then turned into the soap and other Further products.
Pampeana
Fashion Rules
Fashion accessories, especially fashion jewelry, continue to grow as an important category in the gift marketplace and at the Pacific Market Center, where a number of new jewelry and accessories showrooms have opened. Palladium Inc., which represents a number of artisan produced jewelry lines, is one of the new exhibitors. Among the collections represented are Seattle-based Pools of Light, jewelry made with rock crystal elements that produce a flattering light reflection around the face, and Grayling Jewelry, a Portland, OR-based artist who creates pieces from aluminum and semi-precious stones that blend an industrial look with fashion trends.
In the Ritz Sisters showroom,Tim Cleveling has reached out to gift and accessories buyers looking for unique things that not everybody else has. Cleveling is sourcing some collections from Etsy artists. One particular line, dcontruct jewelry is an attractive collection of pendants, bangle bracelets and earrings made from Ecoresin, an architectural plastic, with 40 percent recycled content. They come in array of different colors and designs.
For those interested in fair trade lines, Pampeana Art showcased a collection of fused glass jewelry produced by artisans in Latin America as well as items made from carved vegetable ivory.
Boyante Studio
Taking a different approach to fused glass artistry is the jewelry from Boyante Studio. The pendants and earrings feature photographic images fused into glass on one side and have an inspirational word or words on the other.
Lavishy has a new collection of affordably priced necklaces and bracelets featuring vintage images on two sides so that they are reversible. Leo Wang gave us a sneak preview of a collection that he is working on for the company's 10th anniversary, which is coming up. Watch for it!
This and That
A Little Bird Told Me... a new greeting card line designed by local artist Jessica Salazar made its debut. The square cards feature bird-themed collage artwork with clever sayings and meaningful quotations for everyday occasions. They are blank inside and are produced in an environmentally responsible manner. A percentage of profits goes to Women for Women International.
Seattle-based ribbon and giftwrap company Midori has a new owner, Aya Sumika, daughter of company founder Midori. Aya and her husband and partner Trevor John will carry on the tradition of presenting high-end quality ribbons and wrap to the gift and stationery retailers. Aya may be a familiar face to those viewers of the television series NUMB3RS.
At SPI white metal accessories are selling well over all the shows according to Ron Knutson. A surprise best-seller is the round mirror with leaf and branch metal frame and accents done in white metal.
And leaving us with a smile and warm feelings, in the new Taku Graphics showroom, was the whimsical handcrafted line of Snooter-doots, which are hand-knit and felted vegetable/bug/animal fantasy creatures. Ya just gotta smile when ya see'em!
We would love your feedback!
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