The other HOT section was of course the Shinzi Katoh stationery. Many of the memo pads, letter sets and pens are now also out of stock, as are all the pencil tins. Be quick if you want to grab what’s left before we start a big waiting list for these too.

Good steady sellers were the Kimono range of fabric purses, make-up pouches etc. We KNOW these sell hand over fist, so we were well prepared and still have stock available. Top picks from this range are (as always) the Kimono Glasses Cases, and anything that comes with a mirror, such as the Kimono Tissue Case with Mirror, the Kimono Zip Pouch with Mirror, or the new Shell Pouch with Mirror. All perfect for Kris Kringles, Teacher Gifts and those difficult-to-buy-for Aunties that always pop over for a Christmas Drink. We have lots of new fabrics coming through so they will look nice and fresh in store.

Overall, although the cute Tea for Two Sets were the quickest to sell out, when we got back and looked at the sales reports, the top seller of the fair was the Kimono Large Concord Clip. Not really surprising, because it is consistently our top seller. It's a great strong clip that grips really well in all kinds of hair. Practical and gorgeous! By using kimono fabrics to make each one individual, customers are reporting many repeat sales on this clip in particular. Buy one, love it, and you have to go back for another, and another, knowing you can choose a different design every time.

The August Gift fair is looming (we're on the road to Melbourne next week), and soon after that the mountains will be eroded away until there's room for the next container of stock to arrive in October. By Christmas, instead of hide and seek, the kids get out their rollerskates and we have our own mini roller rink... until the January container arrives in time for the February GIft fairs and we start the year all over again...

If you are not coming to Melbourne to touchy-feely all of our gorgeous new products and pick up a catalogue yourself, drop me an email and I'll post one out to you.

Hot picks for this year are our stackable Tea for Two Sets, especially the new Bumble Bee and Matryoshka Doll sets, and the new black and red Rusui fabrics for hair claws, ibis clips, bangles and rings. Check the catalogue for new stationery, accessories, canisters and more.

Felt like that a bit at the July 2010 Home & Giving Fair. Yes, we knew it would be a much smaller fair than usual, but we weren't quite prepared for the complete lack of visitors. Where were you all?

Thankfully the few retailers keen enough to turn up this early in the year were thrilled with our new ranges and the number of orders was very positive if we calculate on a per-visitor percentage.

It's a bit too early in the year for us too, having only just got back from Japan, it was a struggle to get any quantity of stock, or even samples of the new things in time for this fair. So now we are faced with our big fair of the year, the Melbourne Home & Giving Fair 7-11 August, with some items already sold out.

Never fear, if you get your orders in early you will be first on the waiting list when our next container arrives in October. I've just put all the new things up on the website and the new catalogue is at the printers right now, so it's all go for Melbourne!

Don't forget!! We've been moved back to the Melbourne Showgrounds site at Flemington, so make sure you hop on one of those free shuttle buses from the city and make the trek out to see us there.

There will be more exhibitors at the Showground than the MEC, and of course all the new exhibitors with all new things, so it is definitely worth the visit. We've been exhibiting at these fairs for over 10 years now and we are still too "new" to make it into the MEC, so just think how old and uninteresting everyone exhibiting in the MEC must be. (ha ha ha -just joking guys-you know we love you, don't forget that dinner in China Town we were planning...)

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside the trade fairs, so I can't show you the new things on order - yet. And I was extra disappointed I couldn't get a photo of an incredibly ugly tea cup we saw that cost wholesale price about AU$1500.00. I didn't even want to ask how many were in a carton, or whether there was a matching teapot.

Wandering around stand after stand of gorgeous ceramics, piled on fold up tables as if they were in a garage sale, but with price tags that seemed to have a few too many zeros (even for yen), it really brought home to me the importance that Japanese people place on design and particularly on ceramic wares.

A typical Japanese kitchen will have cabinets filled, I mean literally stacked to the brim, with bowls, plates, and cups in an absolute jungle of designs, shapes and sizes. A Japanese Mum will know just where to find the perfect bowl for each particular dish, and it is quite likely that none of them will match at all. Yet once they are on the table it all seems to work together.

When they are out shopping they might spot a particularly beautiful bowl and just buy it. No thought to what it might go with, or what you might put in it. It's just beautiful, and once it's in the kitchen there will inevitably be something you can use it for.

I must admit I do have a white dinner set in the cupboard, and I do use bits and pieces of it at meal times. But thanks to a growing collection of ex-samples, slightly faulty glazes and odd bits from broken sets, my kitchen cupboards are beginning to look more and more Japanese. Besides that I have a mini collection of tea cups, mostly hand made, and mostly a bit wonky, that I've picked up from visiting local potters all over the world. I love the textures and the glazes, and if everyone sitting around my table is warming their hands on a completely different tea cup - all the better!

Unlike the big gift fairs in Tokyo where everything is in one massive exhibition, the Ceramics Fairs are a group of smaller fairs held over about a week in Nagoya, and spread out all over the city. Some may only have 2 or 3 companies exhibiting at one venue for one day, so it's always a real juggling act arranging our schedule to see our regular suppliers, and try and spot some new ones, while running all over town to various little fairs.

We never see everything. I can't imagine it's possible without a helicopter, and probably a time machine, but we'll give it our best shot!

Yoshi Jones has been my favourite place for fashion since way before the store became a J Style stockist. I was so pleased with myself when Yoshi first walked onto our stand at one of the Gift & Homewares Exhibitions and said, "I like your skirt". Of course! It had her name on the label. It's not surprising that many of my long term customers say the same thing - when we are both wearing Yoshi Jones.

I always time my trips to Sydney to fit in a detour past King Street to replenish my wardrobe. It used to make me so miserable every time I read one of Yoshi's email newsletters about a terrific sale with champagne and special prices for loyal customers. Always on a weekday evening when I had to take the kids to tee-ball practise.

Now Yoshi has finally launched her new online store. Yippee! I'll be able to order online from way down here in Wollongong and have beautiful clothes sent straight to my door. Anyone who has spent time in Wollongong will know there is a serious lack of fashion beyond the chain stores down here, so I have come to rely on the internet for my wardrobe updates. More on that next blog post...

So, besides a nice selection of J Style accessories, what can you expect to find at Yoshi Jones? You will not be surprised to hear that some of my favourite pieces are made using kimono silks. You knew that was coming didn't you? The skirts and dresses Yoshi creates using brightly coloured kimono fabrics are so elegant you won't want to wait for a special evening to wear them, you'll want to wear them every day. Besides that, her pants are so comfy and practical. I DO wear those every day.

www.yoshijones.com.au

Newtown Store
134 King St
Newtown NSW 2042
ph 02 9550 1663

Waverley Store
275 Bronte Rd
Waverley NSW 2024
ph 02 9369 2116

Simone Dennis makes absolutely gorgeous pendants and other jewellery using Japanese chiyogami paper. I have to say I've got quite a collection of pendants and earrings myself because I'm a sucker for anything with a Japanese look. Besides, a chiyogami pendant is the perfect thing to wear with a shirt, jeans and one of my J Style chirimen belts. They also go very nicely with all my Kimono hair accessories, bangles and rings. I have a bad habit of covering myself in Japanese accessories! It's one of the hazards of this business.

Simone also has a lovely little retail store in Kincumber on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia, called Ruby Tuesday. Of course they stock J Style products too, so it is a great place to head when you're looking for Japanese Style.

There are only 2 weeks left to go see this fantastic exhibition at The Art Gallery of NSW, so shut down your web browser and get out of the house and go see it!

Kitagawa Utamaro lived from around 1753 to 1806 and is one of the best known ukiyo-e artists. Ukiyo-e are wood block prints and the term literally means, "Pictures of the Floating World", which is usually taken to mean pictures that show the impermanent, fleeting beauty of life. They often show scenes or characters from the "pleasure districts", a realm of entertainment where you can forget the worries of your more permanent and dreary "real life". Utamaro was particularly famous for his bijin-ga, or pictures of beautiful women.

I once watched a Japanese documentary where a man owned an original Utamaro woodblock, as well as an original print from the block. An ancient old man who was an expert in woodblock art, used the original woodblock, old style inks and the "instructions" written on the block, to create a new print from the original block. The new print showed a depth of detail that no-one had imagined was possible in a woodblock print. It really showed what a talented artist Utamaro had been. It also impressed on me what a valuable art form woodblock prints are. To be able to reproduce the artist's work centuries later in the same way it would have been printed in the 1700's, was just amazing.

Although the Art Gallery of NSW has understandably snapped up much of our stock, J Style does have two washi paper canisters available with prints of ukiyo-e by Utamaro on the paper. The Purple Ukiyo-e canister is Toji San Bijin "Three Beauties of the Present Day" by Kitagawa Utamaro. The Three Beauties in question are Nanbaya Okita, Takashimaya Ohisa and Tominoto Toyohina. Three highly regarded courtesans of the late-1700's.

The art on J Style's Red Ukiyo-e canister is Sugatami Shichinin Kesho "Seven Women Applying Make-up in a Mirror" by Kitagawa Utamaro. Of course this is just one of the seven women in the series of prints Utamaro created, but it is by far the most popular.

Search the web for Utamaro and you will find a wealth of information about the artist and his art. If you are too far away to visit the Art Gallery of NSW, a browse of the internet will give you a least a small peep into the art that has become synonymous with The Japanese Beauty.

When I was down at the music shop I was also tempted by a bright pink Hello Kitty guitar... but I think the sparkles are really more my style. I wouldn't mind a decopage of washi paper, or maybe someone artistic could airbrush some cherry blossoms onto it for me.

I might keep my eye out for some blossom decals I can stick on. Like those removable wall stickers. I could re-decorate my guitar every month or so to suit my mood.

There are a lot of crafty people in Australia, and we all love to have something unique and personal. I really do think that "deco" is eventually going to take off in Australia. It may be 10 years after Japan, and we may take a more subtle approach to our deco style than your typical Harajuku teenager, but we do seem to be slowly getting the hang of personalising our belongings.

If anyone out there has something they've personalised in "deco" style. A phone, a handbag, whatever, share your photos and let's see what Australian deco artists are coming up with.