Firstly, a new collaborator in La Mandarine, Jenny Morrow, a friend of 20 plus years, has come on board and together we hope to bring you an exciting new range of textiles, prints and accessories for the home as La Mandarine Maison, menswear as Mr Mandarine, our fledgling Mini Mandarine range and of course our beachwear range.
Secondly, travel to India was once again possible. Given the current global restrictions and strict testing regimes, it was with a degree of trepidation we boarded our Dehli bound flight at Heathrow. Finally reaching Jaipur it was great to reconnect with suppliers and friends and we received a warm welcome from our Indian hosts.
We’ve been considering your invaluable feedback, comments and ideas in the design stage and hope that Spring/Summer 2022 has something for everyone. It is particularly exciting to see our long hoped for homeware collection begin to take shape, with lots of colourful block prints for creative tablescaping coming soon.
Unfortunately on arrival in Dehli , the temperature was unseasonally chilly. We wrapped up in all available woollies for our busy appointments schedule. On the other hand, we were warmly greeted by our host Abishek and his team in Villa 243, who did their utmost to ensure a comfortable stay.
It was energising and invigorating to be back in the ‘Pink City’ particularly as our visit coincided with the 2 day Kite Festival, marking the beginning of summer here. The skies were decorated with thousands of paper kites by day and lit by paper lanterns after sunset.
Following a difficult couple of years for everyone, its been encouraging to see the optimism from our Indian partners who continue to bring us their best. We are committed to supporting small local artisan businesses and we wish them well during these challenging times.
That’s all for now and thank you for all your support. Summer is on it’s way
Namaste
Rachel & Jenny