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Video by David from Fostudio - Thanks again David!
We had to wait a long one and half months until we at I Love Markets could hold the second ever Portobello Rocks, and a battle with a struggling Hammersmith & City Line was not going to hold us back any further! With 20 lovely stallholders in tow and a ream of ILM bunting, I Love Markets and team were ready to rock the westside once again. The question was, was it going to rain?
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| Some beautiful customers at the ILM stall! |
For three of our fabulous stallholders, this was their second Portobello Rocks also. The Golden Grass Company dazzled as always with their beautiful jewellery which is made from a natural Brazilian plant, and only when completely finished is the jewellery allowed to leave the country. We're very glad it reaches us eventually!
Haus of Artisans also returned with their stunning collections of jewellery and clothing. Previously a 'trader of the week' at our beloved Netil Market, the ladies behind the brand are advocates of keeping cultural craftmanship alive, resulting in beautiful pieces like this Crystal Quartz Hammered Ring:
Our final serial Portobello Rocker was the lovely Trina from Trina's Delicacies. Delighting us as ever with her organic and fairtrade treats, the only problem she causes ILM is that we never know which one to choose.
(...OK, we had to choose in the end. This Lemon & Earl Grey Cupcake was a first-timer for Trina and we were extremely willing to be the guinea pigs!)
Standing on your feet all day means you stand to lose a lot of calories, so luckily Trina wasn't the only one trying to save us from such a loss. Petite Douceur truly opened our eyes to the wide world of exotic jams (sweet potato jam anyone?). Our only issue was that the ILM stall was right next to Thaina's, the genius behind Petite Douceur. This resulted in a lot of jams being 'sampled' and a current refusal for said jams to get out of our heads. The Guava was one of our faves - and available to buy in the ILM shop, by the way!
Our savoury teeth were also satisfied by Omar, Lubna and family. The team had been up since three in the morning to bring us incredible Indian and Pakistani delights, and you could very much taste the labour of love in the food! The bhajis were amazing, but as our words don't quite do them justice, you can come sample for yourself as they will be joining us again in November.
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| Lubna and family |
Our stomachs full, we were also astounded by some of the aesthetic effort some of our stallholders went into. Magda from Monster Threads looked like she'd set up her own little pop-up shop amongst all the market bustle, her stand complete with a typewriter on which customers could leave their emails for her mailing list.
Queue also Ava from Ava Designs who had stayed up all night making delicate origami birds to decorate her stall. ILM's Hollye could not stop raving about these beautiful creations (they were a lot more effective than the origami hat that ILM's Ben had recently made), however Ava's jewellery was also very beautiful!
Bag ladies were in for a treat at this October's pop-up as we had not one but two stalls dedicated to the wondrous products. Made of Carpet did just that, and gave us beautiful bags created from different styles of floor carpet. They need to be seen to be believed! Yildizandi took a more traditional leather bag route, however their clever upcycling skills and cutting edge eye for design resulted in something that was truly unique... no wonder their stall was so popular!
If you thought you'd never see a leg dressed in a beautiful frilled sock fly across Portobello Green, you were wrong. Frills by AD brought a playful but stylish stall to Portobello Rocks and provided the perfect addition to any fashionista's collection. Unfortunately the wind played a bit of havoc with the props on the stall... but that made the socks look even cooler!
Next to Frills was a subtle reminder that the Day of the Dead is upon us. Juan is Dead never fails to delight us with their illustrative stories of Juan, Alberto, Lucia and all their skeletal mates, who seem to think that life (or rather, death) is one big party. You can read how the founder, Leah Reeves, came up with this magical world here.
Directly opposite Leah, Juan and co was Made by Bea. We discovered Bea's handmade goodies way back, when ILM's Katie bought a baby blanket from her in Old Spitalfields. Needless to say we were more than excited to see her set up with us at Portobello!
Jewellery lovers were spoilt for choice last Saturday, with every taste being quite easily catered for. First of all we had Crystal and Stone, who's stall had a constant crowd flocking to see what the designer, Amanda, had on offer. We're not surprised - this silver Stacking Ring is inescapably on trend but only £13!
Next we had GN Jewellery and T+A Total Accessories. Although Gosia and Ana were clearly great mates, their styles were distinctly different. T+A's lovely scarves also seemed to be calling when the weather turned later in the day!
Despite the lack of sunshine on Saturday, Kenza Accessories bought some much needed bling to the market which kept Portobello shining! Founder Gemma has a diverse range of standout pieces that range not just from earrings to necklaces, but also clutches, hats and scarves.
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| Kenza Accessories |
Iguana Jazz brought a spectacular spot of statement to Portobello in the form of truly trending jewellery with incredibly good prices! We were very tempted by their beautiful £7 necklaces. The duo behind it all, Naomi and Connagh, came to see us all the way from Manchester and also had illustrated t-shirts which were very cool indeed. We want the whole collection!
The phrase 'time flies when you're having fun' was very relevant to Saturday's pop-up; however we still couldn't help stealing a peek at Wendy Boorer's stall, Clocky Wocky. If clocks could create rainbows, then it would have happened here at Portobello Rocks! Wendy lovingly makes the clocks by sourcing and reworking old records, as well as other bits and pieces (Barbies, for instance!). We love the Floral Shabby Chic Wall Clock.
Speaking of clocks - we all know they went back this week, which meant it got dark pretty early at this Portobello Rocks. However we had nothing to fear as Pangham were selling a mystical collection of fairy lights. We're used to seeing innovative jewellery designs from Pangham, so these glittering balls of magic were a captivating surprise. Plus - they were only £15!
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| Pangham |
Last, but - and we must stress this explicitly - by absolutely no means least, came the latest addition to the I Love Markets family, House of Immy. Providing us with a treasure trove of fabulous vintage, their stall was full of enchanting clothes, shoes and accessories. ILM's Hollye was quite literally ecstatic to purchase the below shoes, for only ten measly pounds! She would quite happily visit the House of Immy every week.
So that's it - October's Portobello Rocks is over and has established itself as Portobello's most fashionable place to be once more. But we are not done popping up at Porto; our next dates are November 30th and December 7th, and we are hoping to see you all there!
Plus - if you fancy becoming a Portobello Rocker yourself, we'd be delighted to hear from you. We have a couple spaces left for both November and December so please have a look at these details and nab yourself a spot! Until then, keep on rocking...
Oh P.S - it DID rain very heavily, but not until we were packing up to go home. Nature obviously wanted to enjoy Portobello Rocks as much as we did!
Hollye Murphy
*Portobello Rocks happened again in 2014, read more.
