We are safely back from Harrogate after a fantastic few days at the Home & Gift show.

We had our stand looking its best yet, with some new eyecatching shelving to show off our wide range of products and collections.  We have enjoyed talking to many returning customers and lots of new ones. 

Excitingly our new Men’s collection received some fabulous feedback and pre-orders, so we are even more excited about its October arrival.

As a result of the show we have had some new ideas, news of which will follow shortly…

Always busy designing the next new products, we are proud to announce the imminent arrival of our first Men’s range!

Available to preview at Home & Gift, Harrogate – DP1-104 the collection boasts four box products, two cufflink boxes, a watch box and a bedside Stuff Box.  In a very manly colourscheme of plush black fabric with a silver/grey stripy interior and trim, the new collection has a single word emblazoned on the lid of each box expressing its clear function.

The new collection will be with us in time for Christmas and will be available to order at Autumn Fair and Top Drawer Autumn with delivery in the first week of October.

For more details and preliminary images, please contact sales@seekunique.co.uk

With so many trade fairs on the horizon and the usual dread of setting everything up so it looks fantastic, I decided to get a little help in the guise of a Visual Merchandising course.  Sarah, the course tutor was great, with a wealth of experience gained at Harrods, Selfridges, M&S and Harvey Nichols I knew I would be getting some expert help. 

In very clear terms, Sarah explained that the key to all display was drawing the eye across your products by using one of two methods.  The first method, put simply, is to keep your display symmetrical – this doesn’t necessarily mean two of everything in a perfect mirror image, but instead keeping your display even on each side.  It is also important to use 3, 5, or perhaps 7 similar products as the human eye likes odd numbers!

The second method is to use an asymmetrical triangle (a triangle with its point off to one side!) so creating height in your display and leading the customers’ eyes across and down your selection of products by graduating the height of your products down on each side, and joining them up so there are no breaks where the eye might stop.

In either method its important also to use props to intrigue the viewer and to keep the interest and also have no more than 3 colours in a display, as more becomes confusing.  There are also a wealth of other tips and tricks such as the possibility of using repetition in a display to make it eyecatching.

I have already had a go at putting my new skills to the test, taking my prop – a dressing table, on to the top of a grassy hill with our new products.  I arranged the new Ruby & Teal products in an asymmetrical triangle using the dressing table mirror as the top of the triangle.  I was really pleased with the results, the products were really shown off to their best and I can’t wait to recreate the display at Pulse and Home & Gift.  You can see the image rotating at the top of our home page.

If you think a course in Visual Merchandising will help you in your retail enterprise, or need some consultancy, do get in touch with Sarah:

web.    www.visualmerchandisingcourses.co.uk  
tel.       07976 575 847 
email.  info@visualmerchandisingcourses.co.uk

Its almost here!  Our exciting new contemporary ranges, right up to date with current colour trends, Ruby & Teal are on their way.

A little delayed due to external factors beyond our control, the new ranges are due to arrive in the first week of June, shipping out the following week to all those who have placed pre-orders.  Orders placed at Pulse (6-8th  June) will also be fulfilled straight away.

More images of the ranges can be seen in our online store from today, take a look!