Nora's Bigger Nest

 

The first hit...

At the beginning of January this year, we embarked on an exciting new chapter for Nora's!

Following a good few years of 'ummming' and 'ahhhing' we decided to extend the size of the shop by knocking through in to what was our store room!

Several months of planning, four weeks of building work (plus a significant amount of dust) later, we're beyond excited to bring you a sparkly new Nora's!

Here are a few pictures of our journey from the start...

 We hope you like the bigger space we have created and we're really looking forward to welcoming you all!

Our Store Room (looking tidier than ever before...)

                   

 

The wall coming down...

Building the floor up

Ceiling lowered and new stud wall

Plasterboarding

Flooring 

Almost done...!

Ta Dah!

            

 

So there we go. The next chapter begins...

I love you more than chocolate...

When I discovered Katie Dobson's 'upcycled' antique silver cutlery at the end of last year, I have to confess I desperately wanted someone to buy a piece for me...  Despite several 'hints' I am still waiting, but hopefully Valentines Day might provide the necessary encouragement!

My other half LOVES chocolate so I will be more than chuffed if this one appears in my cereal bowl on the morning of the 14th February!

And for the serious romantic...

Katie is based in the Cotswolds and all of the silver cutlery she works with is antique and sourced here in the UK, with some pieces dating back as far as the 1920's.  She then hand hammers a special message into the spoon face to create a wonderful keepsake that the recipient will no doubt treasure forever.  

Each piece shows evidence of its previous 'well loved' life and the hand hammering means that they are all slightly different.

We currently have a lovely selection of different ones at the shop with more arriving soon for Mothers' Day:-

                                        

Prices from £13.00

New Year, New Finds

Firstly, Happy 2012 everyone!

After all the hustle and bustle of November and December, inevitably life resumes its more standard pace in January so apologies for my tardiness in blogging.

• I have been trying to get inspired for the coming year and I've been busy hunting out some fabulous designer makers, one in particular has cheered me up no end this month with their fantastically bright leather accessories.

Designed and hand made in Cambridge by partners Ros & Ed this collection of glasses cases, iphone cases, card wallets and make up bags from 'Stabo' are made from soft nappa leather and images are carefully screenprinted on to create unique accessories that suit both ladies and gents!

Buy the Glasses Cases Here

• Second on our list of 'finds' manages to successfully continue our 'Stationary Revolution' - as you know, we are committed to keeping the art of letter writing alive and we're sure that with the help of  'SORT' (The Society of Revisionist Typographers) we will succeed!

SORT consists of Messrs. Thomas Boulton and Theo Wang.  They specialise in typographic design and use traditional letterpress techniques and fuse them with contemporary digital processes to create whimsical, unique stationary that we just can't get enough of!   Arriving very soon so we can hopefully pass our obsession on to you too...

So, here's hoping 2012 will be a great year for you all and we're looking foward to sharing it with you!

Over and out...

Christmas Gift Idea #1

As there are only 33 sleeps until Christmas, we thought you might like a little bit of gift inspiration to get you in the mood...

In the run up to Christmas we'll bring you different gift ideas for the special people in your life:-

#1

On Friday we took delivery of some beautiful solid silver jewellery by Libby Jubb; a local lady who creates timeless and stunning pieces from her home studio in Ilkley.

Her latest creation for us is a silver bangle with the phrase 'May you wings never be clipped' stamped around it and a lovely little silver dove charm.  

 

Price - £65.00

(Limited availability)

Nora's Online Shop is NOW OPEN!

After months of planning and numerous sleepless nights, we are delighted and excited to finally announce Nora's Online Shop is open for business!

When designing the online shop we wanted to stay true to our aim of creating a unique shopping experience that inspires you and reflects the feel of Nora's Ilkley.  

As with the shop in Ilkley, we have carefully selected the products we have chosen to sell online and we are proud to bring you many of our British made and most well loved ranges . We really hope you will enjoy browsing at your leisure.

For our local customers, we also offer a same day 'click and collect' service - browse and order from the comfort of your sofa and we will have your items gift wrapped and ready to pick up when you're next in town!

So what are you waiting for?  www.noras-shop.co.uk/shop

Orwell & Goode Textiles

Back in April we went to the British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate - probably our favourite fair that showcases British handmade talent at its best.

Out of all the brilliant stands, one really stood out to us - we love new upcoming designers and we think that Bronagh and Zuzana of Orwell & Goode are going to take 2011 by storm!

Their stunning range of textiles and prints are quirky and beautifully finished - we love them and think you will too!

Mrs Orwell and Mrs Goode met in 2008 when Mrs Orwell taught Mrs Goode how to silk screen print.  Mrs Goode had a blast and thought Mrs Orwell was such a brilliant teacher she returned twice more. They had lots of fun working together and giggled far too much!  Mrs Orwell and Mrs Goode were on holiday in Ireland together when they had the idea to design a collection together and so came about 'Orwell and Goode'.  Together along with their small and very talented team they design, hand print and stitch their many many ideas into the most beautiful of creations for living, dining and giving.