This lovely review has appeared on www.yelp.co.uk a directory where customers can leave their own reviews. It was written by one of our favourite customers who moved out of London but who is still in touch with us. Here’s what she has to say:-
“It’s time to admit to my long-standing love affair with Olive Loves Alfie. It’s a really special place, with a gorgeous mix of new and vintage children’s clothes, furniture, toys, books and little lovely things you rarely find elsewhere, with a kind of hippy-Indo-Scandi vibe.
I bought my daughter the most beautiful black velvet coat lined with blue-and-white polka dots and printed with flowers, and everywhere she goes people ask us where it’s from. One lady even asked us if she could take a picture of it, as it was the most delightful thing she had ever seen. I’ve never seen that coat anywhere else, and that’s one of the things that makes OLA so brilliant – you feel like what you’re getting is unique and carefully sourced.
It’s not about kitting your kids out in the latest stuff, it’s about finding those little things you will treasure, and your kiddies will love and remember, like my daughter with her red and pink scandi-style slippers, or running around in her stripy legwarmers and Katvig bird skirt.
I love you, Olive Loves Alfie, and wish you would move up here so I could come and revel in your loveliness more often.”
When I am buying I love seeing how different people present their collections. Justine from Cotton and Milk told a lovely story with vintage props, black and white vintage photographs, metal coat hangers wrapped in ribbon and a huge vintage tin that she kept her stationery in. And the collection?…vintage inspired, beautifully styled and perfectly made merino wool pieces to treasure.
My Grandma had dozens of old biscuit tins and toffee tins that she kept her treasures in. I used to love looking through them every summer when I went to visit her in Lancashire. I still have some of them now with her button collection as it was probably 50 years ago. They have become memory boxes with hand written notes, cuttings from local newspaper, old watches and spectacle frames that all paint a picture of her life. At the age of 6 Olive is starting to be as interested in their contents as I remember being.
At 3.30 when school is out we get to see lots of amazing creations making their way home along Stoke Newington Church Street. Esther, age 6 , made this fantastically colourful woven art piece at school out of strips of fabrics and pipecleaners and an old cardboard box at William Patten Primary School. When she came into the shop with her mummy I asked her if I could take a picture of it to give other people an idea of something they could make at home. I asked her how long it had taken her to make it and she very proudly said “nearly all day”. So here it is…
Try it at home by punching a row of holes in an old shoe box a few centimeters down from the top along both of the short sides. Thread string or coloured wool from one side to the other, in and out, left to right to left and so on, to create parallel strings that make a perfect base for weaving. Let your kids collect strips of fabrics, pipe cleaners, ribbons and string to make their own colourful design.
I came across some photos yesterday that I thought I should post here.
Earlier this year the shop was taken over by about forty wide eyed 5 year olds who were on a mission to look at colour, print and shapes. They took photographs with their art teacher and talked about what they could see.
Ruby - 5 and three quarters
Back at Jubilee Primary School in Stoke Newington they created bold and brilliant pictures in paint and pastels on recycled cardboard squares with corrugated cardboard frames that had been inspired by the work of Howard Hogkin and what they had seen here.
Olive - 5 and a half
OK so it may be a drop in the ocean but small things do count as Olive and her friends have been saying. Kids seem to love to take charge of recycling at home, making models out of waste packaging and love even more to pull grown ups up for putting recyclables in the rubbish bin! We worked out that we received about 3500 envelopes last year and as of yet Hackney council don’t seem to offer a recycling service for businesses (correct me if I am wrong but I can’t seem to get an answer out of anyone!). I love stationery and some of the envelopes that end up on our door mat have got interesting stamps on them, words from franking machines and are in all sorts of colours so we are putting them to good use. All of our address labels for our internet orders are handwritten on envelopes that we are recycling and customising with rubber stamps.
We had a lovely feature in the Sunday Times Style last weekend that featured our house in Hackney. Lots of the things we have at home are from our shop or from friends shops, others are vintage treasures and hand me downs that I have collected along the way, and others are things I collected during my days as a shoe designer when I used to travel regularly to the Far East.
Some people wanted to know more about the fantastic wall vinyl that I commissioned Ivy Bespoke to design for me; the Love and Peace posters from Dandy Star and Olives ark. What was a little more difficult was to tell people where I got the original vintage Miss Selfridges sign, carousel horse in Olives room or 30’s shop fittings because I started things in my late teens.
Contrary to the article I don’t buy things from Vintage Heaven but funnily enough I do Margaret know the lovely lady behind it all who always has time to chat. Vintage Heaven is just as it says and is in Columbia road one of my favourite streets in London. Margaret has an uncanny nack for finding midcentury crockery and kitchenware that seems to elude most of us. She also sells kitchen and bake ware that reminds me of my Grandma Oddies kitchen where we used to bake cakes and make toffee during our summer holidays in Lancashire. At the back of the shop you will find Cake Hole the aptly named east London tea room. A quiet haven away from the hustle and bustle of the Sunday flower market outside you will be spoilt for choice with scrumptious home-made cakes and cream teas.
- Vintage Heaven, 82 Columbia Road, London, open Friday and Saturday 12-6, Sunday 9-6.
- Cake Hole, 82 Columbia Road, London, open Saturday 12-6, Sunday 9-6.
Last week Bubble, a relatively new children’s trade show, came to town. I was thrilled to be invited as the to join Doria Mancon from Milk Magazine and Laura Kirkpatrick from CWB magazine to judge the “Stand Out Award” for the most inspiring designers stand.
I love the DIY, lo fi, low budget but imaginative approach to most things and clearly share a love of blackboards (more of that later!!!) with Poppy a quintessential British children’s wear label. When I saw their stand and their collection I loved it. Low budget brilliance was at its best with a tin of black board paint and a piece of chalk. Their imaginative design is something that could inspire some really creative interior spaces.
