Newsround

News of The Secret Arcade reaches residents of West London

The Secret Arcade was featured in October's issue of The Resident Magazine - a substantial guide to all that is of interest to the culture aficionados of West London. As it was for the interior section Turner Pocock was singled out and the Louise Body window selected from The Secret Arcade's Home Decoration passage to illustrate an internal view - we are sure this piece will have found its way into the little black books of many of its discerning readers for future reference.

Honourable treatment for the littlest room in the house

Louise Body gets a second mention this week. She was commissioned by UBM the organisers of Decorex to design some bespoke wallpaper for the rest room foyer area. Designing the toilet wallpaper at first sounded like a dubious honour but it was incredibly well received and they are now planning to add it to the collection!

To view all of Louise Body Wallpaper designs and Interior accessories visit her shop in the Home Decoration passage of The Secret Arcade.

Find winter refuge at The Secret Arcade

Winter nights are drawing in fast and we have been thinking of ways to spend cosy evenings indoors. As new knitters and sewers we don't need much encouragement to spend a happy hour or two (or three!) with a bag full of gorgeous wools and fabrics. One of our new favourite shops is Ray Stitch - an Aladdin's cave of fabrics and wools. They have a lots of new treats in store this month ready for you to dust off the knitting needles and sewing machine to create something stylish for the autumn wardrobe? Maybe you're already thinking about getting ahead of the game for once and having a few beautiful hand made presents ready in good time for Christmas? And what about seasonal parties and social events? It's never too early to start thinking about that. Are your party outfits lined up and looking tickety-boo!

You can view a whole host of haberdashery delights in the Ray Stitch shop which is located in the Fashion and Accessories passageway at The Secret Arcade.

Newsround

'Believe' New film from Beautiful Soul

Nicola Wood, the creative force behind the fashion label, Beautiful Soul has made a stunning short film 'Believe' to promote her SS11 collection. "Growing a fashion label is a challenge, and every season is an experiment. It is really early days for Beautiful Soul and I work hard at finding innovative solutions to promote my brand (on a very limited budget) and build a platform from which I can really work my magic. This season, I wanted to make a short, creative film to celebrate our new offering, which represents the energy of Beautiful Soul’s unique designs.

Beautiful Soul SS:11 Believe.

Visit Beautiful Soul 's shop in The Secret Arcade here to view collections


My name is Tallulah....

Launched in 2005 Alexia Fashion is the brainchild of designer Alexia Parmigiani. Her unique designs combine intricate beading, hand picked jewels, with touches of bohemian fabrics laid the foundations for what is now the highly-recognisable Alexia signature. The latest offering is the Tallulah Bag - an oversize black sequin bag perfect to fit all your life in!

Visit Alexia Fashion's shop in The Secret Arcade here

New apparitions from Ghost Furniture

Ghost Furniture creates beautiful new pieces of furniture from old finds. Each piece is unique, has its own history and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity By using traditional techniques and new eco-friendly materials wherever possible bringing furniture back from the dead and made it into something hauntingly beautiful. To view their new pieces visit Ghost Furniture's shop in The Secret Arcade here


Radiance Lighting - new virtual tour

Here at The Secret Arcade we are all about recreating as close as possible the 'real' shopping experience online. Hannah Nunn, the designer behind Radiance Lighting has made available a new virtual tour of her brilliant (bricks and mortar) shop to her online customers. It’s pretty cool. You can look round the shop from every angle...and even go and sit on the ceiling (should you feel a need) Visit Radiance's shop in The Secret Arcade.

Two New Dark Horse Collections for Autumn/Winter 2010/11.

Designer Jenny Hattersley, the power behind Dark Horse has been very busy creating two great new collections of her wonderful jewellery. The High Voltage collection has been inspired by Seventies glam rock and the drama and sequins of its iconic stage heroes and their costumes...slick black leather cuffs, necklaces and the ubiquitous star motif all feature heavy glitter panels in gorgeously murky, burnished hues for a tough and sophisticated take on glitter.

In contrast the new "Phoebe" collection explores the use of lace featuring broad cuffs, sweet shirt-style collars with ribbon ties and playful hairbands, all of which are in a muted colour palette of palest mink, grey and black. To view collections visit the Dark Horse shop in the jewellery passage of The Secret Arcade.

Up coming events

Visit Molly-Meg's traveling shop at Mid Century Modern 14th November 2010
For the next 2 weeks you can see our window display at the beautiful Verandah store on Chamberlayne Rd, Kensal Rise.

Simply Roses will be at the Hatfiled House Frost Fair from 19-21 November and the Chelsea Physic Garden Christmas Fair from 26-27 November.

Dark Horse at Canterbury Festival we are proud to be participating in the Canterbury Artists' Open House scheme and as part of the Faversham Trail, we will have our work on display at Creek Creative Studios each weekend throughout the festival. Come and visit our mini boutique for gorgeous one-offs and samples at a fraction of their retail prices for this event only!

Newsround

We are cock-a-hoop this week due to some great press - after the hard work of designing the site early this year and finding all of the wonderful shops that constitute The Secret Arcade we are really delighted at the recognition that people are giving it. Firstly we are thrilled to be featured in Vogue Portugal's September Issue - what an honour! They included a great picture of the front of The Secret Arcade which has already tempted quite a few people through the gates. A big thanks to the Vogue Portugal team! (See the piece in 'What's in the Press' on the left side column of this blog.) Secondly we were given a right royal audience with Queen Marie from The Kingdom of Style - one of our absolute favourite blogs. She has said some great things about The Secret Arcade and has chosen one of Leju's statement necklaces as one of her favourite pieces. Another big thanks to her! (You can view the Leju necklace by visiting their shop in The Secret Arcade's jewellery passage.)

Close Up and Personal with Books and Prints

We love the fact that you can buy artist made books and original limited edition art prints from The Secret Arcade. We have also learned this week that two of our shops are taking part in some great events that for anyone interested in getting close up and personal with these brilliant artforms can go along and do just that!

THIS WEEKEND ONLY ! A Little Bit Of Art at The Palace Art Fair

The team at our favourite print shop is showing some of their artists at The Palace Art Fair this weekend (8th - 10th October) and if you can make it you will be in for a treat. There will be masses of wonderful original prints for sale - a great way of owning your own piece of art!
Visit A Little Bit of Art blog to find out more details. If you cant make the art fair you can always visit their shop which is located in The Book, Prints & Art passageway at The Secret Arcade where you can browse dozens of fabulous artist's work- all for sale at very reasonable prices.

Get creative and make your own beautiful artist book

Ciara Healy is a book artist and has a wonderful shop in the Secret Arcade where you can view and buy her handmade books. If you would like to be more hands -on she will be running a book making weekend workshop in November and December - places are limited so it is a good idea to book a place soon if you want to learn to make some beautiful handmade books for Christmas presents! The workshops will be taking place in Guildford at the lovely Ochre Print studio. Learn a range of simple book making skills. Apply these skills to your creative style and develop your own artists books! This course is for anyone who is willing to experiment and explore visual arts materials, images and expression. No direct previous experience is required, this is not a traditional bookbinders course; it is a more creative version suitable for printmakers, writers, photographers, textiles and artists of all kinds. Starts Wednesday evenings 3rd November, 2010 for 6 consecutive weeks.£138 members, £152 non members - Basic materials included. To find out more about Ciara's workshop here

To see more of the books and prints by A Little Bit of Art and Ciara Healy visit the Book, Print & Art passage at The Secret Arcade.

Children's Classics From Olive Loves Alfie

The iconic 'Miffy 'Lamp

We love the 'Miffy' lamps that have newly arrived in the style hive that is Olive Loves Alfie. Based on the iconic rabbit design created in the 1950's by Dick Bruna it sits at 80cms with a little sister arriving in time for Christmas! Miffy can be used as a night light in a child's room or as ambient light in a more grown up environment.

Stylish Nostalgia - a new autumn/winter collection from Little Duckling

Due to arrive hot of the press at Olive Loves Alfie this week is the new collection of brilliantly cut children's clothes by Little Duckling. We love the sense of nostalgia that they create with their fresh colour palette and quite brilliant pattern cutting. Going from strength to strength with another outstanding collection we love the new AW10 collection even more than the last. It is due to arrive in store any day so will be available on line next week.

Miffy lights and the new Little Duckling collection are available from the Olive Loves Alfie Shop in the Children's passage of The Secret Arcade.