The pursuit of something beyond the mundane and that which might be remembered and loved beyond your own life span is what I continue to strive towards. A neck tie that might be picked up by your son and worn to his first cocktail party. A bow tie that after you're gone he cherishes and will never lose because he can remember the first time he saw his father tie a bow tie. It makes me well with emotion to be honest. We are not here for long, we leave an impression mostly on our family members, not many beyond that. A few great friends if we are lucky.
This pursuit of mine is not guaranteed, we sit on a knife’s edge. My plane could crash, my Italian counterpart might finally clip a bus as we negotiate the narrow windy roads of Lake Como. I won’t go into geopolitics but I will venture to say all the wrong countries have nuclear weapons it seems.
I got off a plane the other week from Milan, three days later I took my daughter to the ski fields, upon my return I ran a sale so you all could clear off the first batch of the new silks. I am spent. I am run down and my nose runs accordingly. Yesterday we knocked out some beautiful worry beads. Really, I believe they are the best in show. In Mykonos a few weeks back I was in a jewellery store and their range was less than desirable. I haven’t been able to find better quality anywhere. And the new 18k gold plated butterfly separator bead and medallion now makes them definitively ours. Yesterday I was working with garnet and Indian rubies and I finally learned how to make them myself. Until then I was solely reliant upon my assistant Andrea.
I love working with you all but I must admit, it does upset me when you only purchase our products when on sale. I would venture to say it is below par but then I note that I myself always wait to shop sales and I duck across the border to Switzerland each time to get my fill of underwear and ski accessories from Foxtown where things are often 30 cents in the dollar. Hence why I run my sales I guess, I understand that people need something to entice them. Out of respect though I ask that you at least endeavour to bring us new customers and help us build the brand that I aspire to be. It really is not that easy attempting to do it all from Sydney, Australia.
After all these years of fabrics I am surprised how much I still love finding new ones and in Biella two weeks ago I found some stunning cashmere for blankets, a lot of it Loro Piana, one in particular, not cashmere but Alpaca is so exquisite that I am not sure it will ever make it to the website. I also found some Loro Piana cashmere blankets but again, they have been sold before ever making it to the website to our best customers.
And, about our best customers I want to say a big thank you. All we do is send you the new silks and there is no dispute, you pay the invoice and the work is done. For that I love you, not that I don’t like our 80 per cent off customers, you perform your function, but I will say that the support from our core group is so rewarding and greatly appreciated. I love you and I hope that we will stay friends until I can no longer breathe air.
And on that note, please take a look at what we have loaded today.
With love, Nicholas & Co
