Despite the cold weather on Saturday, the first Handmade Fair at Sinan Mansions was intimate with a lovely vibe.  Some nice new designers on the scene.  Looking forward to the next one.

Rain or Shine!  Come by and say hello!

The Spring Eco Design Fair is just around the corner on Saturday, April 14 from 10-5pm at the Waterhouse and Cool Docks.  It’s always exciting to connect with other eco-friendly businesses and meeting customers familiar with my paper or just discovering it.

Love this year’s poster which was designed by a British designer from the studio,  It Could Be Like This,  who is based in Shanghai.   I think they captured the fair’s theme of”Explore, Create & Grow”, quite nicely.

Hope to see you that day, and don’t forget to mark you calendars!

If you’re in Beijing on December 10 come out to the first Handmade Holiday Fair from 11am to 6pm at No. 32 Qianliang Hutong, Dongsi, Dongcheng District (tel: 6404-6297/13436702545)  featuring the very best in art, designs, home furnishings, clothing, plants and more.  Visit the Paper Tiger Shanghai table and say hi to Juliet!  Food and free mulled wine will be on hand to keep shoppers happy.   Map to the cafe below.

12月10号周六11点到晚6点 又到了为亲爱的人挑选礼物的季节。我们搜罗远近，找到最珍贵，最有个性的手工礼物。第一个纯手工礼物市集，艺术的，设计的，家居的，织物的，植物的，还有更多！ 欢迎早来参加抽奖。可口小食，圣诞热酒。温馨提示：只能接受现金。另外，胡同里不好停车，请乘坐地铁或公交，或者无惧严寒的你骑车来吧！ 地址：北京市东城区，东四北大街，钱粮胡同32号.  电话： 010 6404 6297 / 134 3670 2545

Quick, get this one into your calendar

The Christmas Bazaar season frenzy officially kicks off this coming Saturday, November 19th at Concordia International School in Pudong.   Hope to see you at one of these!

After almost 2 years in Beijing, I finally got myself to Panjiayuan Antique Market on Saturday with my friend Juliet.    More flea market than antiques, the open-air market features trinkets, ceramics, vases, books, textiles, silver, jewelry, furniture, jade and more.   No bargain basement prices here, unless you’re prepared to haggle hard for stuff that can also be found at Gaobeidian and Dongjiao market, at better prices with less hassle.  However, if you look hard, there are some cool finds that I haven’t seen before.   The ‘antiques’ of the market’s namesake are long gone, but still worth going to see for the number of vendors and the amount of wares laid out.  Also fun to do if you like a good ‘hunt’ for something unique.  The market’s open from 4:30am- to 6:00pm Saturday and Sundays and from 8:30am-6:00pm Monday to Fridays.   A few of our ‘finds’ below:

A) Cute ‘Nong Jia’ (country home) home-made crafts, textiles and bags found towards the back of the market.  B) Mix of old vintage signs, cameras and these old address plaques.  This stall owner had alot of these –would be fun to make something out of all of them; cover a wall perhaps or a door? C) No shortage of pottery, ceramics and plateware.  D) Lots of stones and rocks being sold outside by the wall.  If I had a garden or a fountain I would surely line it with these.

A) Horse-hair (the tail) brushes tied with twine at the brush table.  Good for cleaning jewelery?  B) Flat ceramic painted ‘dolls’ found outside by the wall .  C) Bought this cool little vintage (looking) metal food container.  It was randomly amongst some old looking tools.   D) Silver cutlery and serving spoons.  E) Wood-handled tools.

A) One of a few retro tables at the market  B) Etched ceramic vase found outside by the wall  C) Silver ornaments perhaps hung from belts  D) Taxidermic bird found perched along with fellow birds and a couple of dogs outside of the market.  E) Tibetan beaded headpiece.  F) Zeiss film projector found in one of the shops that line the market.

It was so great to be back in Shanghai for a few days for the Eco Design Fair last week.  The number of companies in Shanghai that are committed to being environmentally sustainable and responsible left me excited and hopeful that it’s not too hard to be a responsible citizen especially in a city that’s heaving with people and development.   That’s the NEST table above featuring a ‘picnic-themed’ table and (yours truly) Paper Tiger Shanghai at the left end of the space.

Shanghai Mulan Gifts Co., provided a great creative space for kids to create DIY art on a blank cardboard canvas frame using organic items such as beans, rice, dried pasta, textiles..etc.   Local fashion label Finch showcased her Spring collection at the event’s fashion show.   Finch’s clothes are made using organic fibers grown without pesticides and toxic chemicals and low-impact dyes.  The Good to SH group featured sacks of soil for your own DIY urban farming at home.  Their goal is  to create a community of environmental and social initiatives that aims to provide people with insightful and actionable ways to practice ‘sustainable living’.

I’m headed to Shanghai tomorrow to participate in the annual Eco Design Fair, taking place on Saturday, Apr 16 at The Waterhouse Hotel in the South Bund.    I’ve been away from the city for 2 years and didn’t know this property existed, and I’m really looking forward to seeing it.

The Eco Design Fair is an annual event that is a collection of local businesses creating, producing and selling things that are made responsibly with sustainable and eco-friendly materials.  I’ll be there selling my paper wares at the NEST table.  Come by and say hello!

Participated in the Spring Bazaar at The Embassy House today and there were loads of great vendors.  Being in China, I’m respectful of not taking too many photos of other vendors wares, lest they think I’m trying to copy them.  I did manage to snap this one off of graphic designer, Iona Jackson’s new line of cushions, aptly named “Pillow Talk”–an eclectic mix of cushion covers with wonderful trim and feather-stuffed cushions, sold on its own or with the cushion.  Contact Iona at ionabeijing@gmail.com.    That’s a snap of my own little table, displaying my new Spring paper collection and Elisabeth Koch’s gorgeous head pieces created using my paper.  My next post will be about these great hat creations.