On the road... again!

In true Sheila Fleet Jewellery style, we’ve kicked off 2014 with a raft of tradeshows that have seen the team travel the length and breadth of the country, as well as Europe!

With just enough time to catch our breath after Christmas, we started January with a visit to the Scottish Trade Fair in Glasgow.

As ever, the people of Glasgow were wonderfully friendly and enthusiastic. The Snowdrop collection proved particularly popular; suggesting many attendees were looking forward to a bit of colour (and hopefully some warmth!) promised by the arrival of spring.

Two of our sea-inspired collections – Creel and Pentland – also proved popular with attendees who liked how Sheila had interpreted this theme in very different ways.

After some rest bite back at our Orkney workshop, we hit the runway and the road again; courtesy of the annual Spring Fair at the Birmingham NEC.

A fantastic gathering that showcases upcoming trends and inspirational products for the year ahead, Martin and Janice represented the team in Birmingham where the new additions to our Wave Surfer collection went down a storm.

Perhaps the biggest date in our tradeshow diary, Inhorgenta takes place in Munich, Germany and is a magnet to jewellery lovers who travel from all over Europe and beyond to attend.

Last year was the event’s 40th anniversary and attracted some very influential names including German jewellery designer Wolf-Peter Schwarz , whom Sheila first met 40 years ago!

This year was special in its own way as we joined forces to co-exhibit with fellow Scottish designer, Linda Macdonald.

Both Sheila and Linda are inspired by the beauty and romance of nature – whether it’s the playful leap of a rabbit captured in Linda’s jewellery or the awesome force of a volcanic lava flow explored by Sheila.

Sheila and Linda have a combined 35 years’ experience in the jewellery business and visitors to our beautiful stand were treated to some super anecdotes, stories and insight into what it’s like to work as a jewellery designer capturing the essence of Scotland.

We met hundreds of wonderful visitors to the exhibition – many of whom had been to Orkney – or were drawn to the striking images of Scotland that we used to accompany the collections.

We were also once again joined by Sheila’s niece Kathleen who did a fabulous job interpreting for us.

Until next year!