New Alabasta Blue Fish placemat and tablemat design

In addition to the 28cm round Blue Fish placemat we now have a rectangular version in two sizes launched with summer in mind. These are coloured in the original rich dark blue as the trays - the round version is in a brighter ultramarine. The new ones feature five swimming fish in typical intricate Alabasta style against an ivory background with a faint pale blue wave. The design works well on both placemat and tablemat sizes, depending on how bold you like your patterns. The coaster with the fish coming up for air is now also currently available in the darker blue and in a square 10cm format as well as the round in brighter blue. They are all available to order from Avenida Home whether you are an individual or a shop purchasing wholesale.

Alabasta Blue Fish 29x21cm placemat and 10cm square coaster

Alabasta Blue Fish 38x29cm tablemat

New Alabasta tray: 11cm Love Birds mini tray

The Love Birds collection has just had another addition in the form of an 11cm 'mini tray'. Instead of repeating the format with two whole birds which would have scaled the pattern down a bit too much we decided to just have the heads of the birds on this one. They are still enjoying each others company and the little heart is on there too to clarify the subtle sentiment. These mini trays work well as coasters or small plates and because they are dishwashable are ideal for food use.
If you are a retailer they are now ready to purchase in boxes of four from The Åry Trays website in addition to the other four sizes of the Alabasta Love Birds trays. Flat 10cm coasters depicting individual male and female birds with black velour non slip backing are also available from Avenida Home here.

11cm Love Birds mini tray sold and distributed by Åry Trays

10cm square Love Birds coasters sold and distributed by Avenida Home

Alabasta Love Birds tray in Homes and Antiques magazine, March 2013

The new 38cm Love Birds tray with the peeking bird and heart has just been launched and I'm really pleased to see it featured in this month's Homes and Antiques magazine on one of their shopping pages. An ideal present for Valentines Day next week:

Thanks, Homes and Antiques!

Alabasta trays at the Maison et Objet trade fair, Paris

Åry Trays are still on the road and selling their vast collection of birch wood trays to the world. This weekend they have been showing at the enormous Maison et Objet trade show for the first time and again Alabasta has proved to be one of the company's best selling designers. I visited yesterday and caught up with their Swedish sales team Joakim Sohlberg and Madeleine Hyding, who were busy taking many international orders for shops in countries such as Italy and Belgium. For this show they decided to use birch ply as their stand build in keeping with the product and also helping the whiter trays stand out:

Åry Trays, Hall 6 at Maison et Objet, January 2013

Alabasta trays at Maison et Objet, January 2013

Alabasta trays at the Home 2013 trade show, London

Åry Trays are currently in London and wholesaling their entire collection of trays at the Home show at Earls Court, including the four Alabasta collections. It's a massive show in only its second year but it already feels very established. It accompanies the long running Top Drawer giftware show which is situated next door at Olympia, and when I went yesterday the atmosphere was buzzing. We had some very good orders from some existing and new customers and the reception to the new Love Bird and Folk Stripe Woven designs was really encouraging.

The Åry Trays stand at the Home 2013 trade show

Alabasta trays at Home 2013

Next stop Paris, at the even bigger Maison et Objet show next weekend (Hall 6, stand Q26).
As ever, news of where Alabasta products are selling will be added to the stockists list. If you are a stockist that hasn't been mentioned please do get in touch and I will add you too!

New year and a new 38cm Love Birds tray

Happy New Year! I hope 2013 is a healthy and prosperous year for all. I personally started it unhealthily with a stomach bug so it can only improve as far as I'm concerned. One way to start off the January detox albeit a bit premature..

Once again Åry Trays are coming over to the UK to show at the Home trade show this month, and they will be exhibiting their entire collection of birch wood trays including the Alabasta Love Birds, Folk Stripe, Folk Stripe Woven and Blue Fish collections. To complement the existing Love Birds trays we have one brand new 38cm Love Bird tray launching at the show. On this one the male bird is poking his head cheekily onto the tray and beadily eyeing up the lady bird who appears to be rather enjoying the attention:

38cm Alabasta Love Birds tray

It's now on the Åry Trays website ready to order so if you are a retailer you can order from there or see them in real life at Home, the London home wares and interior accessories trade show at Earls Court from 13th - 15th January. A week later they will be at Maison et Objet in Paris (Hall 6 stand Q26) then Ambiente in Frankfurt, also trade only. Busy times!

Seasons Greetings..

..and a happy and healthy 2013. Thanks for stopping by - please visit again in the new year and be the first to see how the Alabasta brand is developing.