Lifeinstyle is over!

We had a fab 4 days at the the Lifeinstyle trade show last week, meeting lots of lovely stockists both old and new.

Our stand looked amazing - even if we do say so ourselves! and was right opposite the cafe - very handy indeed!!!

Our new Sacred Journey collection will be in stores in the next couple of weeks and online very soon. Here is a taster of the best sellers at the show.

We are having a little sale over at our online store http://leoniandvonk.bigcartel.com/category/on-sale

 and at www.hardtofind.com.au Pop over and have a peek.

Let Your Spirit Fly Bracelet RRP $187 now $118

Lifeinstyle Melbourne 2012

We are nearly Lifeinstyle ready!

The last few months have seen us busy creating our new collection entitled Sacred Journey and we are very happy with the results. The collection will be launched at Lifeinstyle next week at its brand new venue at the Melbourne Showgrounds - for all the details click here We are stand 5008 in Pavillion D.

Here is a taste of the new collection - hope you like!

Ametrine drusy pendant

Aventurine wolf's head pendant

Ocean Jaspar Buddha head pendant

We will also have a selection of gorgeous limited edition pieces on show on a first come first served basis. These include necklaces made from stunning natural stones like the drusy pendant in the blog heading above and antique and vintage treasures we have collected as seen below.

We hope to see all our lovely retailers next week!

Inspiration

Lifeinstyle Sydney is now only a few days away and we have been working hard getting the new range ready for it's launch.

This season's collection is inspired by the rich, texture and colour of Himalayan traditional dress, we have combined luxurious materials with our trademark sterling silver pendants and gemstones. Deep cobalt blue and tangerine are offset with shiny sterling silver and gold fill beads with a touch of turquoise, coral and red. Totally on trend the new collection includes beautiful statement pieces along with delicate, engraved necklaces and earrings.

Here are a few images which have inspired us

And here is a taster of the new range.

#Febphotoaday - Week 1

Here are the first 5 days of the Febphotoaday challenge we are participating in this month - its been fun!

Day 1 My View - walking the dog at Elsternwick Park

Day 2 Words - It had been one of those days!!!

Day 3 Hands - snapshot of a Frank Malerba painting

Day 4 Stranger - soon to be friend - watch out for him in our new display

Day 5 10am - Elwood lighthouse and sculpture rotated = 10 at 10am

All taken with our iphones and using Instagram

In Celebration of Colour

The weather this week in Melbourne has been glorious and has got us to thinking about celebrating colour and getting out of our Melbourne black! We are loving this fantastic Summadayze Colourfornia video - bring that colour on!

 The beautiful and quirky http://www.design-seeds.com/ has given us a great deal of enjoyment with its inspirational use of photos and complimentary colour palettes. These are a few of our favourites based on coral/orange which features in our new Spring/Summer collection.

Leoni & Vonk Coral and Sterling Silver Bracelet

Leoni & Vonk Coral and White Jade Necklace

How will you be celebrating colour this season?

Queensland Music Festival

We were asked again this year to design VIP gifts for the Queensland Music Festival which starts this week. We incorporated the Festival's logo into either a sterling silver keyring or sterling silver necklace - the end results looked amazing. Yet again the Festival's programme is varied and far-reaching resulting in a  major cultural and artistic success story with a national and international reputation. QMF aims to transform lives through unforgettable musical experiences.

We would again like to congratulate the Director, Deborah Conway on an incredible programme and wish her and her team every success. For all the details of the festival go to http://qmf.org.au/

From Downton Abbey to the "House of Art"

Being a Downton Abbey fan I was very excited to visit this great house this week - situated in the beautiful Hampshire countryside Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey) is still the family home to the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon. The house was also the home of the 5th Earl of Carnarvon who famously discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922.

The interior of Highclere Castle feels very much like a grand family home and those rooms used by the TV show are instantly recognizable - the drawing room, Lady Mary's bedroom and the bedroom in which the rather unlucky Turkish envoy briefly stayed in!

The house sits in beautiful gardens - the layout and appearance of the parkland has not changed much from the original Capability Brown design and contains many flower and plant species from around the world.

Petworth House in West Sussex is by contrast a much more formal building and was in it's day called the "House of Art". It is jam packed with Turners, Gainsboroughs, 2 beautiful William Blakes and many other stunning paintings and sculpture that the owners collected on their "Grand Tour" during the early 19th century.

Petworth also gives an amazing insight into the lives of "ordinary folk" and those that worked in the kitchens of the big house. The kitchens have also been restored to their former glory showing the vessels and tools of the chefs of the day

I have only touched on the wonders of these magnificent buildings - for more info go to http://www.highclerecastle.co.uk/ and http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-petworthhouse/

Anyone For Tennis!

Watching Wimbledon on the TV has always made me feel homesick for good old blighty. My trip home this year coincided with those 2 weeks in June and I was extremely lucky, thanks to some old friends Sophia and Andrew Castle to go to the great event. The All England Lawn Tennis Club looked magnificent - the sun was shining, the flowers were blooming and the tennis was great.

On the Saturday I watched Andrew play in the veterans doubles competition. His partner was the legendary Mansour Bahrami  - the master of the amazing touch and trick shots - and boy could he play and that was with an injured arm.The ball was flying everywhere and in one hilarious point played out in slow motion there was no ball! The umpire didn't seem to mind - in face she was happy to join in the fun especially when the champagne arrived court side! Andrew and Mansour's opponents Aussies Pat Cash and Mark Woodforde were also great sports and went on to win the match and ultimately the competition.

Mansour Bahrami, Andrew Castle, Pat Cash and Mark Woodforde

The next day was the men's final Nadal vs Djokovic at Centre Court - what a treat. We were seated one row above the players boxes and the tension between both camps was intense - alternate sides jumping up and applauding as each hardly fought point was won. The gorgeous Nadal was my favourite and probably most of centre court (and I have it on good authority he is a great guy too) but no one could deny the brilliance of Djokovic on the day.

Djokovic preparing to serve



Before and after the match I was able to do a touch of  "star spotting" in the VIP area - Rafael Nadal, Martina Navratilova, Pat Cash, Virginia Wade, Jeremy Bates and Boris Becker  to name but a few. Sophia and I were also on the TV briefly and spotted by many friends throughout the world - very funny!  A great weekend - cheers Andrew!

Photo shoot Summer 2011/12

Here is a snippet of our recent photo shoot - hope you like it!

Photo shoot for Summer 2011/12

We were blessed with the most stunning weather again today in Melbourne - just perfect for our summer 2011/12 collection photo shoot with our new model, the beautiful Julia. Here is a sneaky peek  - we think they are just gorgeous!