Alabasta stockist focus: Dovetail Living

One Alabasta stockist where you can purchase a selection of the Folk Stripe collection is Dovetail Living, a webshop that specialises in carefully selected interior accessories from both world renowned and up and coming designers. We are delighted that they have chosen Alabasta as one of their designers - they now stock the best selling red 38cm tray, 10cm coasters and glass platter in the Folk Stripe range as well as the Love Birds tablemats. These sit alongside such design classics as the Secto Design range of lighting - another example of innovative use of steam bent Scandinavian birch wood. I also really like the Variopinte range of enamel dishes which have simple stripes of colour so they coordinate well with the concentric circles of the Folk Stripe range. Owner Samantha Mureau is an ex TopShop buyer and has done a lot of trend forecasting for the industry so has a keen eye for new products and trends. According to Samantha, now that summer is around the corner it's all about French style market shopping and mixing up your platters and your plates for effortless casual dining...

30cm Folk Stripe heatproof glass platter - ideal for cheese, breads or even as a hotplate for saucepans

Dovetail Living - see their Blog post here

Alabasta Folk Stripe tray in Plaza magazine, Sweden, April 2013

This month the white version of the 38cm Folk Stripe Alabasta tray has been featured in the Swedish interiors magazine Plaza, in a lovely al fresco photoshoot styled by Sandra Hamilton and photographed by Karin Foberg. It makes me hope that Summer is round the corner, although here in England we haven't experienced much Spring like weather yet. Anyway the photos clearly show how useful these trays are and how they can add a splash of colour to everyday dining.

Plaza magazine, Sweden, April 2013

Thank you, Plaza magazine.

The trays are made, sold and distributed by Åry Trays. See the stockists page for where to buy them.

Alabasta Love Birds placemat in House and Garden magazine April 2013

The Alabasta Love Birds placemat can be found within the Decorators Notebook section of prestigious interiors magazine House and Garden this month, nestled amongst some fresh blue hand dyed linen and some deluxe paper carpets. Compiled by Sudhir Pithwa, this page showcases elegant linear imagery combined with tactile natural textures:

29x22cm Alabasta Love Birds placemat available from Avenida Home

Thank you, House and Garden!

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