abigail*ryan Concession Shop at Atelier-Design - Belfast City Centre...

 

Just a stones throw from the iconic City Hall, Atelier-Design opened it's (newly revamped!) doors on the 6th of November and unveiled a unique vision for a new brand of destination shopping in Belfast city centre, one which we at abigail*ryan, are very excited to be a part of! 

No. 7 Wellington Place is a stunning three story Georgian town-house, which has housed the second-floor Interiors showroom of the lovely James Fairley and Victor Branco's Architecture and Interior Design practice for the last two years. You might remember our lovely exhibition here, back in April?

When the opportunity arose to take over the entire majestic building, the creative duo jumped at the chance, and have spent the last few months designing and working towards an incredible curation of high end Furniture and Design brands, many of which are not available anywhere else in Ireland. 

They began their sourcing in Portugal,Victor's home country, and are bringing over a sumptuous and inspiring collection of hand made furniture and lighting.

Speaking about this exciting undertaking Victor had this to say...
" We were inspired by some of our favourite destination shopping environments around the world such as Liberty of London and Merci in Paris! We felt passionately that we could create a small piece of magic for Belfast shoppers to revel in, right in the heart of the city. We are so proud of the luxurious and inviting space we have created here."

In addition to our full abigail*ryan range, Atelier-Design are also stocking exciting brands such as MUNNA and DELIGHTFUL. The store will also be the first stockist in Ireland for DESIGNERS GUILD FURNITURE and Atelier-Design have been appointed brand ambassadors for CHRISTIAN LACROIX. They continue to be the premium stockist for high-end mid-century furniture pieces in the city, and have a wonderful sourcing service if you are looking for something in particular.

Atelier-Design are well renowned for their UrbanLUXE signature style. Expect deep, opulent colours, vibrant and luxurious fabrics and finishes, layered with unique patterns and prints alongside pops of uncommon colour and high end materials such as hand spun brass, marble, velvet and smoked glass. It's a unique look, that is at once contemporary and edgy, welcoming and nostalgic. Always, exciting and engaging.

We are delighted to have such a vibrant, and luxurious backdrop for our first concession store. You will, for the first time, be able to browse and shop our full range in person, including blankets, cushions, fabric & wallpaper, napkins, tea-towels and gift sets. 
We will be shortly be launching our first line of scented candles (we're EXCITED!), and will be having a Christmas shopping evening to show them off, so if you would like to receive an invite (mince pies and mulled wine!) then do sign up to our Mailing List… we have several in-store exclusives already, and will always be adding to the range. 

Make sure to pop in to the shop and showroom and get a jump-start on your Christmas shopping! 

Atelier-Design / abigail*ryan
No. 7 Wellington Place (just along from City Hall)
Belfast, BT1 6GB

Opening Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 10.30am-5.30pm (7pm on Thursday)

French Vintage Vie is also housed inside No.7, so make sure to stop off here for all your authentic French-sourced goodies!

abigail*ryan Irish Linen Landscape Collection...

We're so excited to have launched this beautiful collection of Irish Linen plains at the weekend... we've been so inspired by the beautiful colour palette in Ireland for years now, and always incorporate amazing colour combinations we see in nature in to our patterned designs... 

So (!) we thought it was time to add some beautiful plains to our range of fabric yardage - many of which are designed to pair beautifully with our prints, and some of which are just awesome stand alone colours, and so inherently 'Irish', we just couldn't remove them from our plans.

At the heart of this collection is it's Heritage. Woven and dyed in Northern Ireland by a family firm who have milled linens for over 150 years, we're incredibly proud of and in love with these cloths. Brights, Neutrals and interesting, workable shades that will look incredible in the home, all with the most stunning texture, flow, slub and weight... this is fabric to live with, that will live with you and just give and give. Irish linen has a remarkable heritage, and, as a young Irish brand, with a studio in an old linen mill (Conway Mill), we're so excited to be full circle and presenting this gorgeous collection to the public and our clients... we've used Irish Linen to back our cushions and make our Heirloom Quilts since we first started abigail*ryan, so we're delighted to be able to extend it's footing in our collection.

We hope you love our presentation for this range as much as we do... we've paired some of our original photos and inspiration for the palette with the fabric swatches so you can be transported to Ireland with us!

... most of our colour names are quite self-explanatory (though we hope deliciously evocative!), but we thought you might like some translation for the three Gaelic words we included...

Anfa (AHN-FAH) - Irish for Tempest or Storm...

Caschoill (CASH-ILL) - Irish for Scrub or Bush...

Farraige (FAH-RI-GUH) - Irish for Sea...

Don't these gorgeous colours and words make you want to visit Ireland right now?! ;)

Come see us!

A&R

Dundrum...

 

We spent a lovely day on Sunday down in Dundrum (County Down) visiting some friends who have just set up home there... we went for a wee dander around Dundrum Castle, and it's ruins, and then down to the beach. Such a nice time!

We are just obsessed with the incredible colours found in nature, noticing the particular palette which is instantly recognisable as 'Ireland' and which contains such a rich variety of diverse and interesting natural neutrals, always contrasted with the brightest of brights... so, so beautiful. And so much for us to look at!

I took far too many pictures... hope you enjoy them!

A&R

*SUMMER SOLSTICE - Outdoor Dining Linens Special!*

 

 

There's something so lovely about Summer, when the days get long, hot and hazy and we all pile outdoors to light BBQ's,  to eat salads, or sandwiches, catching any hint of rays we can during the work week. Lounging in the sun all weekend when we can. Long may it last!

At chez a*r, we love setting the table outside beautifully... our coloured floral linens, brightly coloured glasses and stripey straws all layered together, a bunch of country-style flowers - making that little bit of effort - and taking our meal outside. Have a riot of colour!

Today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of Summer, and to mark the day, we prepared a feast. Roast chicken, charcoal grilled summer vegetables on the barbecue and juicy raspberries. A celebration it was!

We want to spread the love and are running a variety of Summer Promotions on our LINENS for *outdoor dining*...

THIS WEEK - buy a box set of four napkins, and we will give you a tea-towel for FREE - buy a box set of eight napkins, we will give you two tea-towels for FREE! The designs are of your choice...

... so, next weekend, you'll be able to throw an out-door dining feast that looks just like ours, thoroughly bright and cheerful - 'abigail*ryan' style.

Enjoy some beautiful out-door dining on us! Get Shopping and get outside!!
love,

A&R

BOXA Box Scheme for Northern Ireland...

 

 

 

Good, home cooked food from sustainable, traceable sources, is something we really care about here at abigail*ryan... we're both keen home cooks (sweet and savoury), and, for a long time now, have been committed to only buying free-range / outdoor reared / organic meat and as much locally grown produce as we can (I often buy the savers/everyday vegetables packs, because it's from UK farmers, and they use their out-size and unusually shaped produce which was, in the past, rejected by the supermarkets and a drain on farmers profits)...

A lot of the time, we can't afford to buy the free-range organic meat we want to (chicken, especially) so it's simple. We don't. We always buy Free-Range eggs, though, without exception. We feel quite strongly that the only way to fight the ethically devoid meat industry is to vote with your wallet... buy good meat when you can, and if you can't, then don't invest your pennies in to cheap meat and give the supermarket bosses that old excuse of 'there's a market for it!'. You don't have to eat meat every day. But that's just us, and our views!

ANYWAY - for a long time, we've been trying to find a box scheme (initially for Veg) in Northern Ireland, as we thought it would be a good way to support local growers, eat seasonally, potentially save a little money, or at least know the money we were spending was doing more good... a few weeks ago, Ryan came across the BOXA scheme, run by Rita Wild.

Rita works with Northern Irish farmers, together doing all sorts of good things to produce organic free-range and delicious meat boxes, buying and raising the animals from infancy through to slaughter in the best environment possible. The  meat is then flash frozen in to family pack bundles, of mixed cuts, and it's even insulated with wool rather than nasty polystyrene! They do all sorts of boxes, from Beef to Pork, recently adding Free-range Chicken, Fish and more... you can read all about Rita and the good work she does over on their facebook page > https://www.facebook.com/boxagoodness

Today we took a trip down to Helen's Bay near Bangor to pick up Ryan's Mum's box (she had ordered a Beef Box, with extra cuts, and a Pork Sausage Bundle - it's BBQ weather, you know!). We went along to have a nosey, and to pick up some organic Veg, which we were told was sold from the little farm shop... BOXA also deliver all over Northern Ireland, but Rita is at the farm for a pick-up window for those local enough to stop in themselves.

I couldn't help snapping some photos of the gorgeous Gardens and Crops growing everywhere, of course I got carried away with the flowers... but it was a lovely wee day out, and Ryan's Mum is very excited to try her meat! Children would love it too, as there are chickens on site, horses and lots of fruits and flowers growing to look at, and a little picnic bench too. Blogger Belfast Mummy also recently wrote about the BOXA scheme, so you can read her post too to find out a little more from another perspective! Belfast Mummy, Clare, mentions that the sausages are 85% meat, which she felt left room for a lot of fillers... however, as you struggle to find sausages in the supermarket that have much over 69% meat, we think 85% is amazing, and 'fillers' doesn't mean bad ingredients, necessarily, and certainly not in this case...we've done a bit of research, and, in fact, most top chefs recommend that sausages have a mix of breadcrumbs, herbs, seasoning, or a little fat in them, otherwise, the sausages are too dense and dry. So, for us, 85% meat sausages are something we are VERY happy with. Again, everyone is different...

REALLY glad there's something like this happening in Northern Ireland, so I wanted to give it a big shout out here! Well done Rita for all your good work with BOXA. We look forward to buying boxes from you in the future ourselves...

Abigail xo