THE ROOM THAT STARTED IT ALL

A year ago today Me and Two of my dearest friends rented an office space at The Innovation Centre, we needed a place where we could run away to and just lose ourselves into our creativity! Priya and Suki are both students and they needed a space where they can concentrate on their work, and I had aspirations to begin my own business! We searched for a few weeks before deciding on The Innovation Centre which is part of DMU, it had everything we were looking for and more. 

We moved in on the 31st of March 2013, I remember I had packed up what seemed like my entire life into white cardboard boxes ready to be shifted into our room. All of my art supplies, folders, portfolios, sewing machine, sketchbooks and even small photo frames and trinkets that meant something to me came along with me. We wanted this room to feel like a second home, we wanted it to breathe colour and inspiration into our lives as we walked through those doors. Most office spaces were kept as they were but we were different and I think in some way we wanted people to know that! We went through our portfolios, picked out some of our best work and tacked them to the wall, M1.5 seemed like the only room to have any sort of colour on the walls and it really caught the eyes of people wandering the hallway. When we had settled in I had decided that I wanted to design and hand craft jewellery and so I spent the first month thinking of a name and designing a logo. This is where Prim and Propa was born, I took the simple saying and turned it on its head, I knew that nothing about my jewellery would be 'prim and proper' in fact it would be quite the opposite! My designs were edgy, quirky and dramatic and I needed my logo to fully represent the designs I had on paper. Priya and I spent a few nights scribbling down some ideas and one night we sketched out a logo and in my heart I knew that this was the logo that would represent my brand. I knew it was a little controversial but I wanted my logo to create a lasting impression and that is exactly what it does!

Prim and Propa launched in June that same year and I swear it was the best feeling ever, to have something that I had created for the world to see was extremely frightening but the feedback from friends and family made it all worth it. In the year that we had the studio I launched six collections and I couldn't be more proud. Sadly all good things come to an end and today we cleared out the room that started it all *sad face* Even though I no longer have the studio, I wont give up on my dream. I haven't been able to give any time to my jewellery line for a while due to the fact we were moving out however I am trying to convert my room into a mini studio! I'm sure I will keep you guys posted on that  but I will be back with my jewellery line and I promise it will be bigger and better than ever! I want to give a very big thank you to everyone who has supported me with the studio and my dreams! And  a special mention to Priya and Suki for being on this journey with me, I wouldn't have been able to do this without you guys.

Suki, Priya and I have many memories in that wonderful little room! Here are a few we would like to share with you :) 

1. For the first few months I had very early shifts and then would head into the studio, I was so tired once I set up camp underneath my desk so I could have a quick nap!

2. One evening we stayed quite late so there was no-one in the building, so we thought it was a good idea to crack open our lush face masks!

3. We bought in the Lion King on DVD to watch while we were working, however we upset our neighbours by singing way too loud to the songs! 

4. We loved playing tricks on each other so we would always hide behind things and jump out at each other. There was one time that I had popped out of the room for a moment and the girls locked the doors, shut the lights and hid in the room ... I actually thought they had gone home! 

5. Being the little nuisance I am, I decided to go in to the disabled lift thinking it would be funny, I ended up getting stuck inside! I was so scared!

If you would like to have a look at the collections so far head over to Prim and Propa Official now!

THE WEEKEND IN STOKE-ON-TRENT

Hey everyone! There was no blog post last week but that's because I was on a mini-break! Over the weekend I was visiting a very special little munchkin! 

I hopped on the train on Friday afternoon and may I just say that train stations are super confusing! I don't use trains a lot so I was scared of getting lost and it does not help that I have a serious problem with over packing! Once I was on the train I settled down and took out my crochet work, I'm working on a crochet blanket for charity and I know it makes me sound like an old person but I absolutely love it! I have taught myself a new skill and I'm doing a good deed. I ended up teaching Arti *the little munchkin* how to crochet too! Once I got to her room we had a good old catch up, put on a Disney movie and ordered a chineese takeaway! To finish off a perfect night in we did a face mask! We used Brazened Honey from Lush, It is a really good exfoliating mask that leaves your skin feeling fresh and glowy! The next morning we walked into Hanley because my phone charger had stopped working and I'm the kind of guy that feels lost without his phone! No trip into town is complete without a visit to Superdrug, and like always I bought way too much! We then met up with Hannah, who is just the most awesome person in the world! We ended up doing a huge shop in Tescos and we had a to get a taxi back. We spent the rest of the day doing another face mask! Yep another one! And getting dressed up for a night out! The night out was kind of a fail, however we ended up back in Artis room in our pj's and just spent most of the night talking! Sunday was going home day *sad face* I didn't end up leaving till quite late because we spent the day watching lots of movies and eating pizza!! Overall my weekend away was the perfect break, I got to spend time some the amazing people and just got some time to be stress-free! 

What have you guys been up to over the weekend? Let me know in the comments box! 

THE PASTEL TREND - WOMENSWEAR

Like clockwork pastels have hit the high street for spring, each year retailers release pastels and neons to bring some colour back into our lives after a cold winter. Pastels are a great way to add a spring back into your step and this year I am spotting a lot of ice-cream pastels! Below I have presented a look that I have put together to represent this trend.

THE PASTEL TREND - WOMENSWEAR by primal-m 

Whenever styling an outfit I always use a particular item to use as the foundation and in this case I used the statement necklace that I spotted in River Island. This was the perfect base as it had the right ice-cream tones that I was looking for, using the necklace as a guide I began searching for some jeans and a top. I found some jeans from Topshop that were an amazing pastel bubblegum pink, it is a very similar hue to the rope used on the necklace! Because the bottoms are a pink tone I knew I wanted to the top to be a blue and I ended up seeing this beautiful chiffon top in Topshop, now the top was in mint but I actually preferred this colour because it made the blue in the necklace pop! To finish the outfit off I thought I would incorporate another popular spring trend, neons. I love using neons to add some depth to an outfit but I think it has to be done in a simple yet effective way and so I thought to use an acid yellow pointed court shoe from Aldo and a lime shopper bag from Miss Selfridge! Now I know sometimes this amount of colour can seem a little frightening and so I made sure that each piece featured can be used individually to add a small touch of the trend!

Yellow High Heeled Pointed Court Shoe | Pink Joni Jeans | Lime Slouchy Shopper Bag | Light Pink Rope Statement Necklace | Split Side Chiffon Tee