It's all about packaging

Hi everyone! : )

I'm super happy that I got to have two days off because of the Easter holiday at my new (and awesome) workplace.  My head is filled with new ideas for patterns and colour mixes for Spring and Summer and yesterday I got in my mailbox the new beads that I ordered, yay! I was all hyped this morning when I got up but since the sun never showed up, I won't be able to make my photoshoot today and show you some of my new designs…. :S I hope I'll have at least one day of sunshine, I can't wait to post new items, it has been way too long…! :) I have some delicious greens and luscious purple awaiting in my studio, I can't wait to share! :D

Since the time is gray and dull - but hopefully and slowly spring is getting warmer - I decided to focus on packaging. I'm always troubled on how to present Kirameku on a visual level for it's branding. This project is so dear to me, so close to my heart is seems I'm having a hard time making some basic decisions, compared with any of my customers where I always get a clear sense of which directions they are heading and have a clear idea of what they want. I guess Kirameku is really not black and white because of it's multitude of inspirations and that's very hard to depict all at once, especially since it's about both jewelry and artwork.

For now, this is the packaging I have for my earrings and rings. It's cute, but not quite where I want it yet. For my earrings I have some transparent plastic ring holders with a pearlescent sticker and a sturdy metallic box and bleu ribbon for my rings and necklaces.

I want to upgrade both my packaging for when I'll be shipping and on my table at my craft fairs this year. After all, it is all about presentation, therefore all about packaging.  I really want you guys to have a lovely experience when you'll open up the envelope from your order but I want to keep things ''simple'' if I may say, so to have as less waste as possible. I think goods are now way too over packaged. I've seen more then once two plastic bags plus a cardboard and a little foam for one simple item…! (And no it wasn't a precious and delicate item like a glass teacup that could break easily.) We have to think about our planet! I really wish I could have my thank you cards on plantable paper, but unfortunately I can't ship any seeds with Canada Post regulations - which also makes sense in a way. If ever you guys have some green ideas, please feel free to let me know! :)

Craft fair season might not be quite here yet, but it does take a little bit of planning ahead - depending on the size of the craft fair of course. My craft fairs for this year are of ''medium size'' (if I can put it that way) and I wish one day I could attend the One of a Kind Show in Toronto, but Kirameku is still too small to attends such an event. I wouldn't be able to fill their huge tables - for now. And believe me there is plenty of stock at home. I guess when you attend such shows you really need a big atelier, in any case much bigger than why I have right now. I keep my fingers crossed that temperature and time will be on our side this year as I really want to go see the event myself. It seems like a fabulous salon and I heard they have some great finds! :)

Here's a picture of my kiosque last year at Henryville at the end of the first day. As you can see there was a lot of improvement made from my first craft fair but I still have much to do! Last year I made some tiny displays out of upcycled wooden boxes and they turned out great. Next improvement : more levels! I think I need many improvements done on my presentation before I can thing about attending huge craft shows like the OOAK.

I'm hoping of having this great display for all my artwork as I want to triple my stock from last year (and it will feature the artwork I you saw in this blog post). And you can see that for now I can't really go bigger than an 8 feet table with my inventory. The tricky part is always to have something light and not too massive on your kiosque to block your client's view and with a dozen of 9x12 artowrk, it is going to be a big challenge. Oh well, let me start with the packaging and I'll get back to displays later as we go.

On this everyone, enough said about packaging and displays, it's time to go grab a bite.

On this, happy Easter everyone! :)

* M *

Kirameku in 2014

Good evening everyone ! : )

Oh yes, as I mentioned in my previous post, time has fly. But what about Kirameku you might say? Did you left it on the side too like your blog? Well, yes and no… I didn't had enough time on my hand to do as many new products and promotions as I wish I had, but I enlisted in more craft fairs than in 2011. Some were good and some were bad but overall, I love it as much as the first time I tried it and I want to do 3 craft shows at least this year. I'm very glad Etsy has a Local market prototype and I can't wait to use it! Basically you can put up in your shop the location of your upcoming craft fairs. That is awesome! 

Now, I've had more free time on my hands from the end of 2013 and for the beginning of 2014. So, as a good graphic designer, I wasn't totally satisfied about my shop's image, so I rebranded it! Let me show you, I'm so proud of it! :D

Here's the Valentine's day shop banner. A lot of my visitors loved the bookeh effect on the Christmas banner, so I decided to keep it for this one too.

 Here are the ads that you will see on a few blogs and websites.

And here is the wonderful mini-cards from Moo! :D I simply love Moo and I love their products  Quality print, affordable prices, funky options and made from sustainable sources …? What more can you ask?! 
And now I still have to work on my packaging. I'll keep you guys posted : )

Frosted Berry rings for the Holidays

The Vintage Berry collection 

The Dangle and Drop earrings

And the Mother of Pearl earrings

''But, what about the paper earrings'' you'll say. ''I loved those!'' Well, a new collection is still in R&D, but I found some amazing new papers and I think they will be perfect for this fall! Right now with the scarves and all, I don't think long dangling paper earrings are such a good idea. I'm a big fan of those, but it's such a mess when they get stuck in your favourite scarf… :S

Yep yep, I sure kept busy! I've also introduced a wedding collection in my necklaces - those have pearls and Swarovski crystals in plus of the classic berry charm.

Also, last but not least, there was a lot of re-shooting my products in the last few months. It was a huge task but I think it was definitely worth it! I read a lot about online marketing and I want to share a few articles with you about it. But that's going to be for another time.

So, let`s sum this up ! 
Sales : 123
Twitter follower : 627
Blog follower : 92
Items : 69
Heart shop : 750

Thank you so much for taking the time to check all my hard work ! : )

Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions below! :D