My beautiful friend Kaspia has opened her pop up store Kaspia’s Caravan this year at the old Garden Life shop in Surry Hills. Having dressed it up in the most glorious of colours, motifs and jewels, it’s the perfect location for her incredible collection of wares from around the world, take a look…

…Laly, where are you?…

I wrote about Kaspia’s Caravan earlier this year, click here to read my post with more info about Kaspia, and here to visit her website.

The shop is open 7 days a week – Monday to Saturday from 10-5pm, and Sunday’s from 11-4pm. Kaspia’s there herself from Wednesday to Saturday if you want to pop in to see her and say hi.

It will be open for 3 months, until the end of January, with new treasures arriving weekly.

357 Cleveland St, Surry Hills.

Congratulations Kaspia on creating another amazing place for people to get lost and found in, a true treasure trove.

With Love,

Pia xx

What a beginning to 2015, for all of us… much energy moving around, can you feel it? Old energy moving out, new energy moving in, big changes in the air. I have many thoughts on it that I’d love to share with you and I’d love to hear your thoughts, to see how we are shifting and changing as a collective. I haven’t been blogging much this past year, as many of you know who follow my instragram, there are a number of personal reasons for that. But I miss being here. I miss this space, I miss you.  And this year I have some ideas on how I can be here some more, with your help. Because I’ve come to see this is a special place, a creative passage I need in my life – a place in the past where I’ve been able to thrive, to create freely, to move forward. And it feels really important to keep it going, keep it alive and fresh, for all of us. It’s not something I take for granted, and I’m very grateful for it, for you, both silent and spoken readers – we share something together, something we can’t really see, or pinpoint. But it’s there, it’s present and strong and it needs to grow…

Today though, I wanted to share with you a creative endeavour of a dear friend of mine. Her name is Kaspia, and for years she has been dreaming of opening her very own pop-up shop, filled with incredible treasures she has collected from her exotic travels around the globe over the years. Kaspia has an incredible, unique style. I’ve long admired her sense of colour, wonder and energy, and I’ve been so excited for her, to see her dream become a reality and be shared with the world. You guys know how I feel about taking risks and following your heart!  Kaspia opened her pop up shop last month in the heart of Sydney in Potts Point, in the stunning artist’s space known as The Yellow House…

There are rugs, cushions, quilts and throws from the most remote parts of the world. There are necklaces, bags, boxes and bracelets, tables, day beds, lamps and baskets from Mexico, the Far East, the Himalayas and beyond.

The collection is out of this world and I urge you to go and visit before it closes on February 1st, 2015, that’s only two weeks away.

A big warm, all encompassing hug to Kaspia for making her dream come true and sharing it with all of us… If you’d like to learn more about her wild and wonderful life, read her interview on Daily Imprint, and for more information about the pieces in her store, you can read her blog, there is lots to learn about the collection, where each piece came from and how they are made.

To celebrate I’ve put a few copies of My Heart Wanders and Little Treasures: Made by Hand in her store as a package for $65 (instead of the normal retail price of $85) so that means you basically get Little Treasures: Made by Hand for just $5 when you buy both books together. I know that’s crazy, but I want to! It’s only for this two weeks, so I hope it will encourage you to get down to Kaspia’s shop pronto. Someone commented the other day that they received My Heart Wanders as a graduation gift from a relative and I thought that was a wonderful idea.

Looking forward to hanging out here in my blog house this year, in between working on my next book. Here’s to the new year, to celebrating our connections, and to being who we are meant to be, with our hearts open…

Pia xx

all photographs by Pia Jane Bijkerk

I’m so excited to reveal the details of a very special and fun event that fellow author Kelly Doust (aka The Crafty Minx) and I have been planning…

Kelly has become a dear friend since I moved back to Sydney.  Although I’d heard a little about her from our mutual friend Catherine while I was living in Amsterdam, I first met Kelly when she came along to one of the My Heart Wanders book launch events in 2011. I was struck by her incredible presence, her beauty and style. We chatted briefly at the event, she was so open and honest and at that point, I hoped we would meet again. And we have, many times since, and I feel honoured to have her as my friend – she enhances my world and I can’t wait to share her with you if you haven’t already gotten to know her yourself.

Join us in quaint Rozelle on Saturday August 9 to stroll through one of our favourite flea markets of Sydney as we share our tips and advice for uncovering unique one-off finds in homewares and fashion. After our wonderful treasure hunt we will head over to Ungaro Raw for an intimate chat over delicious sweet treats. Each guest will receive a signed copy of Little Treasures: Made by Hand and A Life in Frocks.

For more details see the invitation above. Tickets are on sale now with numbers strictly limited to keep the event intimate and exclusive. To purchase, just click on the ‘buy now’ button below.

I hope you can join us! Have a beautiful weekend mes amis.

xx

My dear friend Leslie recently sent me some of her latest creations from her studio in Amsterdam- pillow portraits, featuring some of her favourite once-forgotten portraits from her personal collection. They each have a name, and each their own little narrative which is screen printed in unique handwritten fonts on the back of each cushion. Here, I’ve taken some promotional photographs for Leslie to use. Below, meet Rolf…

…and Bridget, who tells us about journeying along a canal and finding the perfect shop …

I adore the anecdotes on the back of the cushions as much as I love the portraits themselves. There are six pillows in the collection thus far, and I secretly hope Leslie designs more. I can imagine collecting each one as they are made…

Leslie is happy to ship these anywhere in the world, so if you are keen to start your own portrait pillow collection, click here to read the details on her blog.

xx

PS I think my favourite is Rolf – he goes on walks and collects leaves and bits of nothing that mean something to him. Man after my own heart.

PPS wow, this time last year.

My first ever job as a stylist was assisting on a david jones catalogue, some 7 or so years back now. I was nervous, to say the very least. I had no idea about styling, or photo shoots, or anything of the sort. I remember walking into the windowless studio – a concrete room filled with hi-tech camera paraphernalia and trestle tables full of props – daunted by the bright lights and the fact that everyone in the room knew exactly what they were doing. That is when I met Jenni Booth, the stylist I was to be assisting. Jenni took me under her wing from that first moment, teaching me the ropes of styling for the many months that followed. Her generosity and genuineness never faded, and we soon became great friends.  I’ve always said that if it wasn’t for assisting Jenni, I would never have wanted to pursue a career in styling.

playing with props at Jenni’s place

A few years back, during a skype conversation while I was living in Amsterdam, Jenni let me in on an idea that she’d been nurturing for some time. We were rattling on about the frustration of never having enough time in a day as a stylist – so often we are allocated a minimal amount of hours to prep for a shoot, and those precious hours are spent rushing around from store to store, with most of it wasted in travel and trawling the internet for props. Even if we find something on the internet worth pursuing, we still have to get out there and pick the item up. During our conversation, Jenni asked me, “What if you could hire your props online, with clear photos and prices of each item. Would you use that service?” I answered, “absolutely! That would be awesome.” In the months that followed, Jenni got to work on creating just that – an online hiring store that would be super easy to navigate, with loads of great props, clear photos, and next day delivery.

Today, I’m super excited to be the first online to tell you about my dear friend Jenni’s new venture,  Prop Hire Online…

What makes Prop Hire Online truly unique is that it is an ONLINE ONLY store. It has been created to make the life of a stylist, art director, photographer – really anyone in the industry who requires props  – a lot easier and much more productive. It’s open 24hrs a day, so you can hire when it suits you. There are beautiful clear photographs of all items to show you exactly what you are hiring. It works just like an online shopping cart where items for hire can be added and tallied as you browse. Then, the items are delivered the next day to your studio or location and will be collected when the hire period is finished.

all sorts of props – from baskets, books, and backdrops…

Jenni has also included something rather exclusive to the range of items available – stylist supplies and kits. So if you have run out of masking tape or need a whole new kit, she can add this to your order and deliver it too. With this launch there are over 500 items available to hire for every kind of shoot, be it interiors, still life, food or fashion. New products will be added as they are gathered and a regular newsletter will keep you up to date with the latest arrivals.

One of the other things I love about it is that you can type anything you like in the search button – be it, say, the colour ‘red’ – and you get a selection of all the red props…

Isn’t that cool? Since shoots are often theme-based, you can narrow down your search this way. Let’s try, ‘green’…

I love it. There are so many gorgeous items. Looks at some of the crates…

and vintage bottles…

Last year while I was visiting from Amsterdam, Jenni and I were in a fabulous antique store in a little country town, and found this divine vintage French champagne bottle to add to the Prop Hire Online collection…

It’s one of my favourite items in stock, and I can’t wait to hire it for an upcoming shoot.

So if you’re based in Sydney or around, and are a stylist, photographer, art director, or just love photographing beautiful props for your blog, OR if you want a stylist’s kit of your own, then this is the store for you. Congratulations Jenni, after all the hard work and persistence, you’ve done it! And it’s more than fabulous. I am a very proud friend.

xx

-photo credits: first 3 images by me, fab product images by Alan Richardson.
–click here to visit Prop Hire Online.