Model/Designer/Client/CameraWoman

I just had to share this beautiful picture taken by my talented friend, Sara Chitambo. This woman is dangerous behind the camera. She commissioned this ring with me a few months ago.

Genuine Turquoise and Silver Ring by Jinn

Sara, rocking this Silver Necklace and Ring by Jinn 

...and that jumpsuit! I just loved the fabric's colour and print, and the tailoring was impeccable. Her design ,btw.

How Many Things Can You Change In 3 Months?

August – I started an inspiring, thought-provoking course at UCT GSB. Monday evenings are now the highlight of my week and I cannot begin to describe the growth path from then till now. I wont say much more on it but I will say this… One day, don’t believe anyone that says Jinn happened suddenly and its success is inexplicable. Paradigm shifts are happening, every Monday, from 6 to 9 and in my mind for the 6 evenings that follow.

Also changed my hairstyle. Total 180.

September – I moved into my first house! Two bedrooms, with a harbor view, wooden floors and high ceilings. I only just realized how much my spirit was stifled in my previous living box once I was out of it. I have set up my jewellery studio in one of the rooms. A home filled with beauty and inspiration is an absolute necessity. How did I ever live without?

October – I left the twenties! I'm officially 30 and threw a bangin’ houseparty.  The pics tell the thousand word story of the oodles of fun that was had that night. I am so blessed to be walking through my life with all these great people. Such powerful spirits!

Getting down

Vogue

I even got on the decks at one point and laid those ‘90s jams on thick like my dad’s sandwiches. A major highlight of the evening was when my dear friend, Nkoto, stood up and sang for me, impromptu, just after the toast. This woman brings fire.

Tears!

Here are the lyrics to the song she sang, from The Wiz, an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz:

Dorothy
If you believe
Within your heart
You'll know that no one can change
The path that you must go
Believe what you feel
And know you're right because
The time will come around
When you'll say it's yours

Believe there's a reason to be
Believe you can make time stand still
And know from the moment you try
If you believe
I know you will
Believe in yourself right from the start
You'll have brains
You'll have a heart
You'll have courage
To last your whole life through
If you believe in yourself
If you believe in yourself
If you believe in yourself
As I believe in you

If you believe
Within your heart
You'll know that no one can change
The path that you must go
Believe what you feel
And know you're right because
The time will come around
When you'll say it's yours

Believe that you can go home
Believe you can float on air
Then click your heels three times
If you believe 
Then you'll be there
That's why I want you to
Believe in yourself
Right from the start
Believe in the magic
Right there in your heart
Go ahead believe all these things
Not because I told you to
But believe in yourself
If you believe in yourself
Just believe in yourself
As I believe in you

Now those are words we should all live by.

My age, my stage, my location, my capabilities, Jinn's future, my hairstyle, my repertoire,  my level of daily contentment. 3 months. I am rollicking with excitement at the thought of what the next year holds.

Istanbul, where I left my heart

I haven’t written in forever, and now I have so much to say. Quality over quantity. One of life’s biggest lessons and one that eludes most. So, I recently went away on holiday. It was for a mere 2.5 weeks, but felt like a year. Maybe because I spent what I may have spent in a year were I to have remained in Cape Town. Maybe because I discovered, learnt and had the amount of revelations I would have had in a year were I to have remained at home. Maybe because for 2.5 weeks solid, I felt alive and hopeful, anticipating of tomorrow and thankful for the day. This is  how one should live! Should being the operative word. Most of our realities are not this way and we don’t take life seriously enough to accept nothing less. We should.

I spent 5 days in Istanbul. I travelled there alone. My best friend met me at the hotel and off we went for a 5 day shopping, discovering and learning experience...

Top 5 tips for travelers to Istanbul

-          Don’t eat at restaurants. They are unnecessarily overpriced. Go to the foodhall type spots. They have various hot meals and you can get a good balanced plate of local cuisine and a drink for under 10 lira (approx R46 at the current exchange rate). The food quality and taste is exactly the same as the restaurants, except these spots don’t serve wine This same plate, plus 2 glasses of wine will set you back 50 lira. Yes.

-          Buy a 10 trip travel pass. It will cover subway, ground rail and trams.

-          Don’t expect the taxi drivers to know street names. They will not and your charge will increase proportionally with his annoyance at not finding your destination. Go figure.


-          Do a cruise on the Bosphorus, but don’t opt for the sunset cruise. What they don’t tell you is that the boat stops at a random port for 2 hours. With nothing except a strip of restaurants to extort your cash, you will have to drop serious money on a mediocre meal and sour grape juice masquerading as wine, and come off feeling hard done by and stupid.


-          Don’t venture into a leather store at the Grand Bazaar until you have done some practice rounds of your bartering skills on smaller, much cheaper items. This way you will understand how they work. Generally you can get away with offering 60% of their initial asking price as your initial offer, then up it to 70-75% if he entertains that.

Istanbul had the prettiest handpainted ceramics, beautiful jewellery and stylish leather jackets. I had planned to buy 1 but walked out with two. See what happens when you are not a confidently seasoned barterer? Although Bestie assured me that our deal was good, my bargain-hunting spirit is still of the belief that we could have paid at least 20% less.

Precious and semi-precious stones go for a song, so dont be fooled by a price justification based on the stone featured in a piece. Ask about the metal used so that you don’t pay a price fitting of a sterling silver piece for some substandard metal.

Here are some photos of my Turkish treasures:

Coasters

Ruby bracelet with cubic zirconias and marquise cut ruby in sterling silver centre.

Rose gold plated sterling silver Hand of Fatima necklace

The Hand of Fatima (Fatima being the daughter of Mohamed) is believed to bring goodness, abundance, fertility, luck and good health and protect the wearer from evil forces.

Green and black onyx earrings

Pretty Precious Stones

I bought these stones on my last day there. Two labradorites, 2 green onyxes and a sapphire and ruby. Keep an eye out for their final resting places; one of a kind rings by Jinn at www.jinntrend.com.

What has been occurring...

So.... many...things...to...talk...about. First off, we had our first Pop Up at YMEWK market - This is the night market at the Labia on Orange. Admittedly I planned for it to be market research/exposure focussed, but it ended up being a really lucrative night! Also, Jinn got pulled into a shoot for the next day, and I almost could not believe it. The directive for the shoot was "Futuristic", which was right up our alley! All our simple, geometric designs were pulled in and from the sneekpeak I got, the geometric studs were mighty popular.

Here's to hoping it makes its way into a fab magazine (final destination is still under wraps but I will be sure to let yall know).

Then there was the Design Indaba. My soul always comes alive when I walk into the CTICC for this event every year. I love cruising the Emerging Creatives aisle especially. You will find some amazing work and even more amazing stories there. The best by far was definitely that of Songezo Baleni. This young man uses the grass weaving craft learnt as a child weaving baskets and applies it to his jewellery design skills acquired whilst studying at a Durban Tech to design and create absolutely magnificent pieces of fine jewellery. He uses very limited resources at home and gets quite creative in the method of processing the silver into wire for his weaving.Speaking with him was truly touching because although he was well aware and confident of his talent and future in jewellery design, he was also humble and sincere. I look forward to seeing this guy rise all the way to the top.

Whilst chatting away at the Design Indaba, I also managed to find studio space. Double freakn yay and a twirl from me! This has been quite a task. Having this new studio means that Jinn will be able to up production substantially and thus you, beautiful people, can look forward to easier access, not having to wait for markets or trips to Mememe Jhb.

And last but not least... We got our first fashion blog mention on Monday from Pessimiss. Check out how pretty our geometric studs look on this lady:-)

Ciao Ciao! Ps, if you have nothing to do and are in Jhb with money to spend, visit the Mememe page on Facebook to see our stock that arrived there last week.

Jinn Pop-Up Store

Here is one of the pics taken at the City Bowl Market last week. The stand was designed and built by myself and my dear friend Dylan. It turned out quite beautifully and exactly as I had intended it to look!

A little of this and a bit of that...

Jinn's first market day at the City Bowl Market went swimmingly well. There was a lot of support and good feedback. We handed out lots of our new awesome business cards designed by The Rabbit and The Robin , which resulted in an increase of hits on jinntrend.com *air punch*. A good day was had by all, enjoying yummy treats and artisan beer, as well as some shopping. I even got to snap up a discounted dress by designer Adam and Eve. They are also stocked at Mememe and I always seem to return to this label. The dresses are stylish and so well sown. In all the excitement, I forgot to take pictures. Hopefully I will get some from one of my friends and add to this post later.

Now look at these cool pics I found:

http://www.thesartorialist.com/

How chic is this old man?! The haircut, ring on his middle finger and collar flipped up. Also follwoing the untied last button rule. I hope my future husband is this stylish at that age (minus the cigarette, of course)
Here's another Stylish Old Man pic, also from the same site:

Imagine what he would have looked like with those sunglasses on instead of in his hand?
And now for some design inspiration... I have an obsession with cufflinks, and when I find the patience to sit down and design a full range of them, they may just become half of Jinn's offering! Look at these beauties I spotted on Mr Porter

I know! Fan yourself. Calm down.

I'm trying to blog more regularly. I hope I keep this up!

Oh, if you haven't yet, please check out all the new pieces on http://www.jinntrend.com/ :-)

Ornate is absolutely awesome!

City Bowl Market on Hope Street this Saturday!

New Tings Agwan

Oh wow, how time flies when you procrastinate on updating your blog! I think its best I write when big things are happening, like…um…now. As you all know, last year I was mainly selling through Mememe JHB, Pulchritude at Arts on Main and India Jane (until they closed down). I am taking the next step in 2012 and am going to sell directly to the public. I aim to target a few markets around cape Town, depending on how my work is received. First up… The City Bowl Market on Hope Street – 28 of January. Although it will be a small space right in the corner, reserved for the market newbies, it still marks a milestone is the development of little baby Jinn. I cant wait for her to be a tall grown up woman with a model’s gait. Sigh *starts daydreaming with a smile on my face*. Okay..um…where was I. Yes, very excited about the Fashion market at month end. Im glad that this one is not as mainstream as the one in Woodstock. The food is cheaper 9but just as  yummy) and its generally not crowded, which works in my favour when I usually grab a quick bite on a Saturday morning between gym and heading to the studio.

Jinn also has its first proper photoshoot coming up. YAY! We are working with the designer at The Rabbit and The Robin. I have total faith in this girl’s creativity. Cant wait to see what she comes up with. You will be able to view it soon enough on www.jinntrend.com.

This just in… as in two minutes ago… Jinn will be at the You, Me and Everyone Else Market as of March! Double freakn yay! For those of you who don’t yet know, this is the night market that is held once a month at The Labia on Orange Street.

Hope to see you pretty people there!