Monthly Archives: October 2011

Tokyo Day 2: Sunae with Naoshi!

Posted on by in Japan Trip, Travel.

This was the day I was most looking forward to out of the whole holiday and it didn’t disappoint one jot. It was super fun!

For those of you who don’t know, Naoshi, is a Sunae (sand) artist from Japan and all of us here at HZ are madly in love with her work so when she kindly agreed to do a sunae class with John and I in Tokyo we were very happy indeed.

We met Naoshi and her friend Kaori (who did a lot of translating – thanks Kaori!) at Kichijoji station and headed to a cafe called the Love and Leaf which is a circus cafe, but sadly there were no performances this afternoon. We had a ‘omurice’ (omelette with rice) for lunch then started work on our sunae.

Naoshi had brought some bear, rabbit and circle shapes with her so we could choose which we wanted and then design a face for it. Both John and I chose a rabbit, and Naoshi and Kaori went for bear shapes. After a little bit of sketching and choosing sand colours we got down to the serious business of cutting which was much harder than I thought it would be.

Naoshi took us through the steps to create our sunae and we all got to take them home with us wrapped in a cute clear bag and sealed with colourful ties, Japanese style!


I was pretty happy how mine turned out, but wish I’d used more darker outlines and made the fangs bigger (you can *just* see them).

Here are Naoshi and Kaori’s finished sunae…

We were all laughing at John as he took so long, but it was a pretty awesome effort, looks great don’t you think?

Thank you Naoshi and Kaori, we had great fun and it was so nice to meet you!

Tokyo Day 1: Ueno

Posted on by in Japan Trip, Travel.

Konnichiwa!

Hello from Japan! We arrived yesterday after a fairly stress free flight where I managed to sleep a little and watch a couple of films I wanted to see but never got round to (Bridesmaids and Midnight In Paris). Since we arrived at 8.30 am but couldn’t check into our hotel until later we spent the day mooching round Shibuya, particularly in The Loft, and drinking coffee and feeling a bit grotty.

Today we woke up super early and headed off to Ueno to go to the Zoo. I feel a bit conflicted about zoos, one one hand I hate seeing the animals caged up and kept out of their natural environments but on the other hand I love being able to see them so close up, I imagine a lot of people feel this way.

Today I saw a lot of animals I have never seen before, it was pretty amazing. Highlights include giant pandas, red pandas, the slow loris, lovebirds (amazingly cute!), an enormous hippo, a giant Galapagos turtle and a sloth! There was also a petting zoo which was super fun. Here are some pictures, not good ones I’m afraid, but pictures none the less :)


I think the animal that amazed me most was the Hippo, I’d never realised how huge they were before today, not sure if you can tell from this photo but they are MASSIVE!

To finish the day off we went for a ride in a swan boat. Ace.

Until tomorrow,

Rachael x

 

Cute winners!

Posted on by in Competitions.

Oh man, this was a tough decision and I wish I had more poker chips so I could send them to everyone who entered as there are some seriously cute pictures here! But, I said 2 winners, and that’s what I have…

Firstly Hannah Duce with this adorable panda picture (I do love a panda)

And Megan with this super cute hedgehog picture (which reminds me of John because he sticks his tongue out when he’s concentrating).

Let me know your addresses and I shall get those goodie bags out to you asap!

Thanks so much to everyone who posted a picture, I really enjoy these little competitions we have and will do another when we’re back from Japan too so keep your eyes peeled…

Rachael x

PS I’m actually going to make more poker chip necklaces to send out to everyone who entered our cute competition, but it won’t be until next month once we’re back from Japan. If you would like one and you don’t mind the wait please email me your address.

PPS Contact details here http://www.hannahzakari.co.uk/contact-us

 

Not over yet…

Posted on by in Competitions.

So, yesterday was our last day of birthday celebrations, which means Lucky 7 is over :(

Or is it…

We have 2 of our little cutie limited edition Lucky 7 Poker Chip Necklaces left and we’re going to give them away to two of you, along with a wee Hannah Zakari goodie bag packed with awesome stuff. Natch.

It’s very easy to enter, all you need to do is post a picture or link to your favourite cute image on the internet in the comments section of this blog and the two we think are the most cute will win! Easy peasy!

We’ll announce the winners on Monday afternoon and get your parcel in the post before we set off for Tokyo on Wednesday.

Of course, if you RT us on Twitter or link to HZ or our blog from somewhere we might look upon you more favourably :D

So, let me see your best cute!

Rachael x

And today’s prize is…

Posted on by in Competitions.


Yep, that’s right! Every 7th order placed today using the code LUCKY we will refund in full! And every one who uses the code will get a beautiful print version of our Lookbook and if you spend over £15 you get one of our limited edition Lucky 7 Poker Chips – how do you like them apples?!

For all the details you need please check out our previous blog post all about our Lucky 7 7th Birthday Celebrations, and GOOD LUCK!

Lucky 7: Day 4 Postcards from Japan

Posted on by in Competitions.

So, we’re halfway through our 7th birthday celebrations and it’s kinda been fun so far but today I think we have our best prize yet…

If you are a Lucky 7 winner you won’t get a prize with your order, instead we’ll post you a parcel of goodies all the way from our favourite country in the world – Japan!

Next week John and I are off to Tokyo on official HZ business (exciting!) and to meet an old feline friend (maybe) and we’ll be blogging to update you on what we’ve been getting up to, hopefully daily (but we’ll see how that goes).

So if you are a lover of anything kawaii, super cute stickers, Hello Kitty, Mameshiba or other crazy Japanese stuff, today’s Lucky 7 prize is the one for you! We’ll let you know in your order if you should expect a surprise parcel in a few weeks time :)

You can get all the details you need on our previous blog post.

Good luck!

ps if we look very young in that photo it’s because it was taken 8 years ago!

Time to Celebrate!

Posted on by in Competitions.

The time has come to celebrate 7 years of Hannah Zakari online! It’s been a killer keeping this secret for so long, but we’re really excited about what we have in store for you… it’s our
Lucky Number 7 Giveaway!

Since everyone’s a winner at HZ, each customer who enters the LUCKY code will receive beautiful hand bound copy of the Hannah Zakari Lookbook with their order, and if you spend over £15 you’ll also receive a limited edition **Lucky 7 Poker Chip Necklace/Keyring/Brooch absolutely free! They are super cute!

You won’t know if you’re a Lucky 7 Winner until you receive your goodies, and everyone will receive a cute HZ playing card so you’ll know what number you were (little bit evil, I know).

We’ll update here daily, so check back to see what’s up for grabs each day!

Rachael x

**The Lucky 7 Poker Chip Necklaces/Keyrings/Brooches  are limited to one per customer per day.

 

birthday preparations are go!

Posted on by in Competitions.

A few weeks ago on Twitter I posted a tiny picture which was a sneak peek of something we’d been working on for our 7th birthday celebrations. Today we’ve been making the picture into an actual wearable ‘thing’ – how exciting!

But what are they? Well you’ll have to wait until Friday to find out, but everyone here at HZ is getting veeerrrryyyy excited about turning 7 (lucky for some!)…

These are a few of my favourite things…

Posted on by in New Collections and Designers.

I’ve added so many new things to our new look website this week and I thought I’d share a few of my very favourites with you. Starting, of course, with some new designers – yay!

Firstly we have these vintage china pieces from Stay Gold Mary Rose, a beautiful and unique idea. We’ve had this range in our Shoppe for a while now and I thought it was about time I spread the love to our online customers!

Another new designer, both to the shop and website, is Pretty Zoo. As soon as I saw these quirky pieces I knew I had to have them for Hannah Zakari, they are just too cute…

not even halfway there yet…

I’d like to reintroduce you to Spanish designer Depeapa. We’ve been a stockist of her work for a few years now and after a hiatus she’s back with these gorgeous new pieces. Stay tuned for more from Depeapa very soon.

I’ve lost count of how long I’ve admired Lee May Foster’s work at Bonbi Forest now, and I’ll go as far as to say that this latest collection is her best yet – what do you think?

And last, but by no means least, is Australian brand Polli. A firm favourite at the Shoppe, I found it hard to narrow this down to just 3 items, so I did 6 instead!


 
I hope you like them too!
Rachael x

 

New Website

Posted on by in Everything Else.

I’m so excited to finally be blogging from the new HZ blog about the new HZ website, it looks pretty swish doesn’t it?!

We’ve used some of my favourite shots from our Lookbook on the front page and Gill (now the official HZ graphic designer!) has worked her magic to make the brilliant images.

 

I can’t tell you how pleased I am with the way it looks and hope you like it too. I’d love to hear your feedback, so feel free to leave comments or email your thoughts to rachael@hannahzakari.co.uk to tell us what you think or if you have any suggestions.

Oh, and one more thing, to celebrate we’re offering free worldwide shipping all month.