Over at David-Louis product design we are very please to announce the unveiling of new sister blog Tankard Blog, which will be dedicated to all the world of things tankard. From the history of the humble tankard to today’s modern pewter tankards, Tankard Blog aims to keep you up to date with all things tankard! Furthermore we now have TankardTweet and Tankard Squidoo Lens, a twitter and squidoo page respectively to keep you up to date with all our Tankard goings on. Follow us and I am sure the favour will be graciously returned!

Also don’t forget to check out Tankardstore.com for our great range of engraved pewter tankards!

Over at Gifts of Distinction we are so proud to present this we might have to get one for ourselves. As seen in the Birmingham Post Newspaper, introducing our finest award design yet, The Bespoke Prestige Award, made from solid aluminium and featuring custom detailed screen printing.

The Aluminum Award effortlessly exudes achievement and reward and is sure to make any recipient know they are recognised and respected by their peers. Simply put, this solid aluminium trophy will feel like just reward for a job well done.

Exciting news over at David-Louis.com as we unveil 3 new videos showing off some of our exclusive contemporary product design. For more great kitchen and tableware ideas visit david-louis.com

Nebula Spiral Coasters

Take your mugs and cups into the farthest regions of the galaxy with the David Louis Classic Nebula spiral coaster set.Two interlocking Spiral coasters nestle together into one elegant Nebula shape. With a design that reflects David-Louis’s passion for all things historic, cultural and scientific, you can’t afford to miss this one!

Rockstar Coaster and Tabletop Bottle Opener

The Rockstar Designer Bottle Opener, shaped like a guitar plectrum, is destined to bring back memories of heady days and late nights of yore to any modern gentleman. So, grab a nice cool drink and kick back to some of your favourite records with another great David-Louis design.

Cool Chill Bottle Opener

Kick back and relax with a chilled bottle of your favourite brew with the Cool Chill Fridge Magnet Bottle Opener. Featuring a unique and quirky David-Louis design, This magnetic bottle Opener sticks directly onto the fridge door. Stay frosty with the Cool Chill Fridge Magnet Bottle Opener by David-Louis.

Phew! hope you enjoyed watching these vids as much as we enjoyed making them. Stayed tuned for more cool vids brought to you by http://www.david-louis.com.

I am quite often asked about the technical side of maintaining and cleaning your hip flask and/or Tankard after purchase and to this end I have put together a care for and cleaning of your hip flask or tankard guide. Please do feel free to add to it or to send us any hints or tips you have come across or if you need clarification on any issues contact us through one of our websites, Flaskstore, Tankardstore, Gifts of Distinction or David-Louis Product Design.

The metal and hip flask exterior:

We supply hip flasks and tankards in both steel and pewter.

Pewter is a soft metal and normally its lustre mellows with age but should you wish to return it to its original high polish, use a reputable brand of liquid polish such as ‘Haggertys’, ‘town talk’ or ‘Johnsons’. Always clean with a soft cloth, rubbing gently in one direction to avoid leaving deep scratch marks.

Pewter hip flasks age and develop character over time.

Stainless steel is a very hard metal and essentially will retain its finish indefinitely.

Stainless steel hip flasks tend to be manufactured using machinery to press, blank and shape the item, and are normally made in high volume.

Pewter hip flasks are hand made to order by a pewter smith, each one is crafted by hand here in the UK.

To clean the inside of a hip flask or pewter tankard:

Hip flasks and tankards should all be washed before first use.

1) Thoroughly wash the inside using a solution of clean, warm water and several drops of washing up liquid, then rinse thoroughly with clean water before use.

2) With new hip flasks, before first use, fill the flask with plain water, screw the top down hard and shake vigorously to ensure the flask is watertight before filling with spirit.

3) Always keep your flask clean on the outside, and clean the inside of the flask in between uses for reasons of hygiene.

4) For pewter flasks, spirit can be retained in the flask for a week or so and no more.

5) Pewter flasks are not suitable for use with soda water or carbonated drinks.

6) They are not suitable for use in a dishwasher.

I hope the information I have provided is useful to you; if you need some specific information, please do get in touch.

Thanks to the BBC props department for getting in touch about a ladies hip flask for a scene in Eastenders which was filimed last week. This is the elegant ladies flask used but of course we cannot reveal the plot lines ….yet…I can reveal however it will be used to secretly fill another vessel….The first person to spot it and tell us the character using it and the date of transmission will win a free hip flask so watch this space…email via our Hip Flask web site or follow us on twitter @davidlouisdsign

Over the last few months we have been investing our energy into launching our new sister brand tankardstore, the name says it all. We know metal, we know engraving, and we know beer…as Homer said ……..mmmmMMM beer.

Building on our successful ventures into niche products we now have a huge variety of pint and half pint tankards on tankardstore and have been receiving orders from across the globe.

You can see some of the feedback we are getting by viewing our testimonial page and we are pleased that our position as ‘specialists’ in the field of niche alcohol related products is growing.

I mean there is definitely something going on here, first we started by designing cutting edge bottle openers – selling the all over the world and licencing it to other producers moving on to capitalise on our knowledge of hip flasks, testing them rigoursly on my stag do and at various festivals, and now onto tankards – I will need to go on a field trip soon after my new baby is born this week.

If there are any spotters out there that know of a hip flask or tankard we should be selling let us know – we want to grow and grow.

This information was supplied by Andy Munroe of the Jewellery Quarter Regeration Partnership

This is not an exhaustive list but set out below are the main organisations which have influence or input into either marketing the area or business support: -

Advantage West Midlands

They are funded through central government and have a region wide brief with business support divided into ‘clusters’ including ‘interior and lifestyles’. Funding is provided to support projects which are usually subcontracted in the case of the jewellery industry to the Ceramics Forum and Birmingham City University. Contact is Mike Barton Cluster Manager on 0121 503 3360.

Assay Office

Charged with the responsibility of assaying precious metals, they also provide a number of other services such as ‘Anchor-cert’. They also have a marketing department. Assay master is Michael Allchin on 0121 236 6951.

Birmingham City Council Business Support Team

This team are responsible for the Design Space incubation scheme, the proposed Retail Support Initiative and the Business Space Initiative (the latter two due to be introduced in the early Autumn). Contact is Carol Alderson on 0121 303 4366.

Birmingham City Council Leisure, Sports and Culture

The brief includes attracting more people to Birmingham City Council Museums and the cultural offer including ArtsFest and Brilliantly Birmingham. They have a limited budget to support these initiatives. Contact for Brilliantly Birmingham is Sophia Tarr on 0121 464 9675 and for ArtsFest, Emily Bartlett on 0121 303 8489.

British Jewellers Association

This is a nationwide trade association but who have some local membership and support their members on a whole range of trade related issues. Contact is Geoff Field on 0121 236 2657.

Jewellery and Industry Innovation Centre (JIIC)

The JIIC are part of Birmingham City University, which includes Birmingham School of Jewellery, and their brief is to provide a range of services including new product development to the jewellery trade both locally and regionally. Contact is Gay Penfold on 0121 248 4578.

Jewellery Quarter Association

This is a lobbying organisation who also run bi-monthly networking breakfasts. Contact Dave Mahony (JQA Chair) on 0121 236 7070.

Jewellery Quarter Marketing Initiative

Made up of mainly retailers, restaurants and bars who pay a subscription to market and raise the profile of the Jewellery Quarter. This ranges from working with travel operators and the media to involvement in events. Contact Anna Gibson, Jewellery Quarter Marketing Initiative Manager on 0121 464 1191.

Jewellery Quarter Regeneration Partnership

Funded by Birmingham City Council the JQRP Team have a wide regeneration brief of which marketing is just one aspect. They also manage the Jewellery Quarter Information Centre. Contact Andy Munro (Operations Director) on 0121 464 1186.

Marketing Birmingham

Their brief is to market Birmingham but with the prime objective of attracting overnight visitors to bolster the economy. They are funded by Birmingham City Council, Advantage West Midlands and some private sector contributions with the aim of marketing the generic Birmingham offer.

David-Louis Capturing Imagination

Here at David-Louis.com we are introducing the next generation of two way consumer product design…..

Our vision is to capture your imagination by introducing lifestyle products that you can:

Modify the shape and appearence….

Decide via our web site the colouring of the products….

You will be able to cut lettering into the surface of each product you order…….

adding these features will create a product that is unique to you or the person you are buying it for.

We are currently developing a range of products that will allow you to innovate and create unique products…

Over the coming weeks and months we will put our ideas online – product ideas you can adjust and bend to your whim – you will enjoy creating the design and love the product even more when you recieve it.

If you are interested in this type of product please do one of the following, leave a comment here or join our mailing list.

We will keep you updated on our progress and will create a unique two way design process of the future.

Here is a nice image of Princess Anne revealing our wall plaque and an article about it too

As one of the visiting bloggers on the Jewellery Quarter Web site I try to put news on the blog that is happening as we speak, I have been lecturing at the School of Jewellery (Located on Vittoria Street) as a visiting lecturer on the topic of entrepreneurship, creative enterprise and getting a job as a maker / designer.

As part of the remit the students on the BA for Industry had to produce online portfolios / websites the goal was to display their skills and / or their work to the potential customers or potential suppliers so I wanted to give the soon to be graduates a platform to get their web sites / portfolios a wider audience – and this is you the reader.

Please do have a look at the creativity that is pouring out of the School of Jewellery, I have no doubt these graduates will go onto projects like design space, or as employees of local, national or international design businesses or into self employment as designer jewellers and silversmiths.

Here are some links to the students portfolios – please do peruse them and leave a comment or two if you are inclined.

Sinead Prosser

Jack Row  

Danielle Hall

Rowan Katherine

Rachael Briggs

Saima Hussain

Kirsty Davies

Katie Mitchell

Bronagh Mullan.

Thank you for having a look and supporting designers and makers emerging from the Jewellery Quarter.