Istanbul!

My second round-the-world trip has taken me first to the beautiful city of Istanbul and its gorgeous architecture and inspiring colors! Since we’re finally into production of our first line of handbags, there isn’t much maintenance or too many emails to respond to, so I thought I’d take a short inspiration trip to somewhere I’ve never been before. A few years ago, inspiration took me to Athens, though this was just before economics took a downturn in Greece. I could tell then there was slight unrest, but the beauty of the city didn’t seem phased.

I must say, Istanbul far exceeded my expectations! Hagia Sophia, with its awe-inspiring construction, architecture, and space, made me feel so small yet so spiritual. Thinking of all the people it took to build this great achievement and all the troubles, wars, weather, catastrophes, and political changes that Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya) had been through, it was if it wasn’t a day old! Thank god for people who are experts at restoring and preserving the beauties of the past. But not just Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Dolmabahce Palace, the markets, the hamans and Cagaloglu Baths, all of it was just glorious! I must say, probably my most favorite place was the Spice Bazaar.

Now, although I’m not a cook, chef, or anything of that sort, the spice market was incredibly beautiful. The colors, the warmth, the textures….I’d be hard pressed to say you won’t see some creative inspiration coming from the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul in our next collection! Serefe! (“Cheers” in Turkish…..)

Line sheets and Friday nights

I think I only know one other person that spends their Friday nights doing cost analysis and line sheets on Friday nights. But she gets paid for it.

I’ve drudged on and on about this before, and I bring it up again, not only because we have new product to sell, but also because I’m constantly finding new ways of being more efficient. The line sheets took me forever to figure out the first time, but now I think I’m beginning to see the story much quicker. Things just get easier as you go along. I keep correlating it to riding a bicycle. The first time you do it, you don’t think you’re going to do it without breaking both legs and maybe an arm or two. But the second time, you only worry about breaking one leg and two arms, and then the third time, you’re pretty much down to one arm only, and so on. Everything’s like riding a bike, or driving a car, or climbing a mountain, or building a brand, or doing line sheets and cost analysis breakdown reports….it’ll all just get easier.

xo, ella g

Boston!

Had a quick getaway during the glorious three day weekend to BeanTown, USA. Every trip is always a little bit of pleasure and a lot of work, but I was excited that I got an upgrade to an executive suite! And no, I don’t live the high life, I just spend a lot of time in Sheraton hotels. A lot of time….

Boston was great, I perused Newbury Street and the fab district of Beacon Hill for new things and potential boutiques that might be willing to carry us. A gorgeous lazy Saturday morning isn’t necessarily the best time to drum up business, but I did have marginal success in finding and thinking about new ways to market and distribute. Building a biz and a brand is really all about that—constantly forcing yourself out of the traditional box. And I think Boston helped me do that….

xo,ella g