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Venice Carnival 2010 - Luxury Authentic Venetian Masks.

With the annual Venice Carnival all set to get underway again this Saturday (it runs from 6 February to 16 February this year), we thought we'd join in the festivities here in Nottingham by showcasing some of our brand-new Luxury Authentic Venetian Mask designs.

Luxury Authentic Venetian Masks

Venetian Masks have always been a central feature of the Carnival of Venice, of course, ever since the inaugural festival, believed to have been in 1296.  They were traditionally worn by the Venetians between Boxing Day and the climax of the Carnival on Shrove Tuesday, the last day before lent.   Rich and poor could celebrate together under the veil of their masks, which helped to release inhibitions and protect anonymity during the Carnival period.

Typical Venetian "street" scene...

Mask-makers (masherari) enjoyed a special position in Venetian society, with a statute of their own dated 10 April 1436.

By the seventeenth century, the Grand Tourists had got wind of the debauchery that went on during the Carnival, and they descended on Venice in their tens of thousands each year to join in the fun!

Ever popular Dr Parnassus Venetian Mask...

The party was halted when the Venetian Republic fell to the Austrians at the end of the 18^th century, however, and they promptly banned the Carnival.  There was an attempt to revive it after reunification in 1866, but it was again banned when Mussolini came to power and the wearing of masks was forbidden under fascist law.

It wasn't until 1979 that the Carnival was revived once more, by a group of young Venetians interested in the tradition and cultural history of their city.  Today, it attracts up to a million visitors to Venice every year.

Sam and I on one of our "buying trips" to Venice...

The art of mask-making has also been revived.  The papier-mache Venetian mask bases we use for our Luxury Authentic Venetian Mask range are all made in Venice, using traditional techniques and methods dating back hundreds of years.

We've given them a twist and added extra gorgeousness, drawing on our own history and traditions, such as the Nottingham Lace used on the Black and Ivory Cameo Lace Venetian Mask here.

Black and Ivory Cameo Lace Venetian Mask...

Our male Venetian masks come in a range of colours too - many of them unique to us....

Male Venetian Masks....

So, if you're off to a Venetian or Masquerade Ball in the next few days, or even off to Venice for the Carnival itself, have a wonderful time.  And if you're not, well, there's always pancakes.....

Martin Peach.

www.SamanthaPeachMasks.com

Celebrity Masquerade Masks 2009

Celebrities have been out in force in their masks again this year.  We'll let you be the judge of who looked hot, and who did not......

In February, over in Hollywood, former OC star Mischa Barton took to the dancefloor in her gold ball mask at a pre-Oscars masquerade party........

........meanwhile, on the other side of town, newly arrived LA resident Katie "Jordan" Price  was out shopping in her tracksuit and one of our New York designed masquerade masks (as you do.....)

In Venice, in the April rain, Mexican actress Salma Hayek had a big fancy masquerade wedding to rival the Rooney's, attended by Bono, Jacques Chirac and model-turned-actress Lily Cole amongst others.......

Kylie celebrated 20 years since the fall of Communism in Poland by donning a bewelled mask on stage in Gdansk in June.......

By August, Lily Allen was appearing in Elle wearing a metallic Agent Provocateur mask......

...........a mask also adorned by newcomer Paloma Faith in the Observer......

October saw the release of The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus - the last work of the late Heath Ledger.......

And Leona Lewis also managed to jump on the Masquerade Mask bandwagon, wearing a lace mask for her appearance on the X-Factor in November........

The prize for the most prolific celebrity mask wearer of the year though surely goes to Lady Gaga, who cropped up in all manner of masquerade disguises, including the iconic mirror-mask worn during a show-stealing performance on the Other Stage at Glastonbury in June.....

Bravo Ms Gaga!

www.SamanthaPeachMasks.com

Chicago The Musical - Samantha Peach Competition!

We're dying to see photos of you in your masks on your Big Night so we're offering 2 tickets to see Chicago at the Cambridge Theatre in London on 9th January 2010, (the perfect tonic to the post-Christmas slump!), to the person who sends in the best snap before 3rd Jan.


Just email us pictures or post them on our Facebook Page to be in with a chance.


Our Head of Production Beth went to see it last month and we've not been able to shut her up about it since!  Take it away Beth......


With only a single row of people sitting between us and the dazzling production that is Chicago, it felt like we were literally singing and tapping our feet along with them. On a weekend trip to London, I went to see Chicago in London's Cambridge theatre and I've been addicted ever since.

If you're curious to know what the storyline is, imagine a nightclub sensation female act that goes by the name of Velma Kelly, who clashes with a spotlight-seeking girl called Roxy Hart.. Both desperate to see their names splashed across newspapers and to hear the adoration of their fans.  Except the only man to help them is Mister Billy Flynn, a high-flying lawyer who can transform the most unworthy criminal into a celebrity...but after their crimes of passion and spell in jail, which one will get that stardom...and how?

Chicago has certainly been a success on screen, but to sit in such a charming theatre whilst talented actors and dancers perform metres away from your eyes is incredible.  It also made me quite envious, not just because they could do the usual of acting, singing and dancing, but because they made it seem authentic and they captured the story and mood perfectly, inviting us, the audience to live in that story too.

In my eyes, there isn't a single reason why anybody shouldn't see this production, what with the singing, the atmosphere, the costume (or lack of it some cases), the passion, the acting, the choreography, the orchestra and the stage-set itself, it's what a musical should be...and let's not forget the main element...all that jaaaaazz!!

Beth Shipley

www.SamanthaPeachMasks.com

Christmas Parties Past and Present at Samantha Peach Masquerade Maskss..

Works Christmas Parties were a mystery to me for a long time, self employed for many years I not only worked from home but completely on my own too, so was always madly jealous of friends with their Christmas bashes, some seemed to spend the whole of December rolling from one corporate Jolly to the next, whilst I sat up in my workroom with a mince pie and party hat on..

Things started to look up when Martin came on board, and our first proper Christmas Company Party was at a Burlesque night with some friends who'd also helped get Samantha Peach rolling that year..

It was the perfect end to the mayhem we have at Christmas, we run around like headless chickens making sure everyone who is going to a Christmas Masquerade Party or Company Masked Ball has the perfect mask to go with their outfit, that all the Bosses who decide last minute to make the Christmas Dinner Dance a Masquerade Event CAN get 300 masks delivered by the NEXT DAY ( true story!) and so after hundreds of calls about other peoples Big Bashes we're VERY ready for our own..

We had a grand old time at the very first Samantha Peach Christmas Party, and for me on my first own Christmas Party?..well I had a BALL..

This year there's a whopping SIX of us for the Samantha Peach Studio Christmas Do ( how times change..)and we're all going to be very up for it by the time it's here - if you happen to be out and about in Nottingham on the 18th December and you see a wild-eyed bunch trailing glitter and feathers, come and say Hello!

You can read more about our Money-Saving tips for Christmas Masquerade Parties and Balls here

Whatever you're doing for YOUR Office Party or Works Do this Christmas 2009, we wish you a shameless, glorious, brilliant One from all of us at Samantha Peach

                                                    

My Victoria Park

The last thing you expect to see out of your window in the bustling city of Nottingham are trees and grass, but luckily for me and the Samantha Peach gang, that's exactly what we see - Victoria Park.


When searching for a student house in our final year, me and the girls just wanted a nice, four bedroom house close to Nottingham Trent University. But when we were introduced to this hidden part of Nottingham, we knew we wanted to live in the bright blue house on The Promenade.  It was part of a row of houses that edged the park, each one a different colour to the next and each one having their own character and personality.

Victoria Park in the summer...

I lived on the top floor of our house, overlooking the park.  I graduated with BA Honours in Textile Design, my other housemates also doing creative degrees, so you can imagine the amount of papers, fabrics and yarns that would cover the floor.  We would sit in the garden in the summer, one of us knitting, the other sewing, another one of us sketching whilst somebody else cooked the burgers and sausages on our mini barbeque from Poundland.  And in the winter, making snowmen and watching families having snowball fights whilst some of the shivering drunks hid under the trees.

Fun in the snow...

Snowy Victoria Park...

I remember working in my room hour after hour and day after day drawing and sewing like some crazy person and looking out of my window, longing and wishing I'd finally finish this project, that project, the other project...and hoping that one day it would all be worth it and I'd manage to find myself a job at the end of it.

My room covered from floor to ceiling in design work...

I based my final project on woodlands and living next to Victoria Park played a huge role in this.  If I was ever stuck for ideas or inspiration, I'd just look outside and usually, something came to me.  I also photographed my final work in the park, dragging my housemate around as my model.  She was happy though, she got to sit in the park all afternoon and get a sun tan.

Final visualisations...

 
But what I do find quite surreal is that as I'm typing this, I'm looking at that same park that I did just a few months ago, just from a different window.  And that this window is from the studio at my desk at Samantha Peach...what are the chances of that?
 
 
Beth Shipley

http://www.samanthapeach.com/

Nottingham Lace and Us

Our home city of Nottingham has long been synonymous with the production of high quality lace, but finding a manufacturer and supplier in the city for our new range of luxury lace masks proved to be much more difficult than you would first imagine.

At its peak the lace industry in Nottingham employed 14000 women and 6000 men.  This is where the old myth that there are more eligible women than men in Nottingham originates from.  The numbers became even more lop-sided when the First World War broke out in 1914, but (...and listen carefully lads), I can confirm that this is no longer the case today.  

Ladies hard at it back in the day...

Today, the grand Victorian factories and warehouses of the Lace Market district have largely been recycled as swanky new apartments and trendy bars (filled with boys looking for twice their number of eligible girls), whilst the actual production of genuine Nottingham lace has all but disappeared.

Lace Market, Nottingham today...

Luckily, there is one company in the city still manufacturing high quality Nottingham Schiffli embroidered lace, and by COMPLETE coincidence they happen to be based on the very same street as the one Samantha and I live on and, until very recently, ran our company from!

Fewkes have manufactured lace from the same site for 99 years - 2010 is their centenary - and are now the last remaining lace embroiders in the whole of the United Kingdom.  Their clients include Harrods, the Royal Family (their lace was used on the royal wedding dresses of both Princesses Diana and Fergie), and now us!

Traditional manufacturing processes still going strong today....

Expect a whole range of new luxury designs using genuine embroidered Nottingham lace soon but, for a taster, please take a look at our Mysterious Lady Venetian Mask , the perfect marriage of Venice and Nottingham we think.

Nottingham's lace heritage is literally all around us - our studio is also housed in a converted Victorian former lace factory.  Built in the 1880s, it was state of the art when it opened, designed for making up garments from circular fabrics.  The factory operated in a vertical method: fabric was sent to the top floor and then descended from floor to floor by way of chutes, to be cut, sewn, steamed and packaged, eventually arriving at the Packing room on the ground floor.

An air-raid shelter going up outside our studio in 1939...

We reside on the second floor, surrounded by an eclectic bunch of people including vintage fabric lovers and recent Vogue stars Spinsters Emporium, a gospel church, recording studio, ska band, gym and even a cheerleading dance school, (amongst others......), and we do, indeed, love it!

Martin Peach.

www.samanthapeach.com