Spring has Sprung!

Not a day goes by without me being thankful for the beautiful flowers which grow in our garden.  They really do bring me so much joy.  This wonderful bunch of things which I picked last week certainly confirmed the presence of Spring here and even though the official first day of Spring occurred last Saturday, I think here in Brisbane we've been experiencing the loveliness of Spring weather for the past few weeks.

To celebrate the arrival of Spring, last Saturday we held an exciting and unprecedented Spring Flea market at Black & Spiro. 

We collaborated with a few local artisans including the very talented artist Pip Boydell whose work we have all fallen-in-love with since her first exhibition at Black & Spiro last Christmas.  Just like her first exhibition, her pieces on Saturday sold-out within the first couple of hours.  All 17 pieces...sold! 

We were also very excited to have the incredibly creative Kara Hynes & Ellen Newman from Lulu Lucky display their wares.  The girl's pieces were absolutely beautiful.  I couldn't help but bring a few of their divine pot plants home for our verandah...not to mention the fabulous multi-coloured Hmong clutches!!

My little garden posies proved to be very popular along with the delicious home-baked treats by Lora Calvisi...the proceeds of which will be donated to St. Vincent de Paul.  We were also thrilled to have a few of Vanessa Macphail's original artworks for sale and a huge thank you to her for doing the amazing chalk street signs...she is one talented girl!!

The other amazing, hard-working and talented girls I would like to mention are Olivia, Alexandra & Sarah...my wonderful team of girls at Black & Spiro.  Without them Saturday would never have been.  From sewing a patchwork of fabric for our window diplay and bunting for the street to organising the invitations, the stock, the packaging of the baked goods, the list goes on and on.  These girls are the backbone of Black & Spiro and they must be thanked and bowed down to because they are a wonderful, hard-working, happy and obliging bunch of girls!!

This brings me to you..the clients, the friends, the supporters, the followers...I must say that you, YES YOU, never cease to amaze me on days like Saturday.  I really was blown away by the turn-out with one lady lining up before I arrived at 6.30am and then as it approached 9am the line just got bigger and bigger and bigger.  I can't believe that you all line up there like that.  I really can't.  And you all do it so nicely and orderly and you are all so friendly to each other.  The sense of community spirit is there in that line-up and it follows right through to that dreaded line to pay.  I worked on the till at this event and I will admit to you that it stressed me to no end that you all had to wait so long to pay for your lovely things.  But again you all stood there so patiently and hapilly.  So I would like to thank you for your amazing support and I want you to know that I feel so special that you all come along and enjoy what we do. 

I would also like to say that we are planning a Christmas Flea which we hope to hold around the 1st of December....perfect timing for Christmas gift-buying.  What I want to achieve with these fleas is to encourage you all to support our local Brisbane up-and-coming artisans.  I will be calling for submissions for our Christmas flea as we would like to add a few artisans to the line-up we already have.  And next time I think we will hold it entirely in our carpark at Black & Spiro so that it can be bigger and better!! 

Thank you again and I really hope you enjoyed our first Black & Spiro Flea Market.  Let's support local artists, local craftspeople, local businesses because it wouldn't be the same without them!!

xx
Anna