Biscuits and bloggers at Brick Lane

Hello! My name is Emily Prichard and I have been here at Tatty Devine for three weeks as a press intern, eagerly learning the ropes. After badgering Sonja for the chance to blog, she sweetly sent me to report back all the gossip from a very special event we held with a very special lady. Last night, Amelia Gregory of Amelia's Magazine swept into our Brick Lane boutique in a whirlwind of leopard print and our very own Giant Dinosaur Necklace to promote her beautifully illustrated new book of eco fashion, Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration. After seeing the arty action over at our Convent Garden boutique on the launch night of Amelia's tour, all the girls at Brick Lane were bubbling with anticipation - particularly when a parcel of amazing beauty products arrived from natural skin care experts, Dr Hauschka to hand out to all our guests. After restraining ourselves from slapping on face masks in the middle of the shop, there was no better way to celebrate than with the charming Biscuiteers girls. They hopped out of a cab just in time to set up their biscuit icing master class and teach a mixed crowd of fashion illustrators, textile designers and Amelia's admirers how to ice adorable edible tea pots and cups!

Here's Harriet putting her design skills to work...

Not only were we spoilt with artisan biscuits but we also had  brewed up a storm with some lovely Lahloo tea in soothing peppermint and Darjeeling - Kirsty even brought out her favourite charity shop china for the occasion. It was starting to get very busy in our Brick Lane shop with people squeezed into every space possible to hear Amelia's philosophies on fashion illustration.

Can you spy illustrator Emma Block with the perfect pixie cut? She brought her portfolio along and let us all coo over her amazing artwork! Her work appears in Amelia's book - here's a little sneak peek of her style:

The temperature kept rising as guests kept arriving, so we were very lucky to have the wonderful Juiceology send us a rainbow selection of their carefully blended juices to help us keep our cool. Our Press Manager Amy was a big fan of the Lychee, Berry & Basil blend!

Refreshed and relaxed, we all settled down to listen to Amelia speak about the origins of Amelia's magazine and her interest in eco fashion. Exploring just why she is so dedicated to unearthing interesting and original fashion illustrators, she revealed: "Illustration can be used to tell a story that you can't tell with photography - I believe really strongly in its power."

Amelia discussed in fascinating detail the switching of Amelia's Magazine, which had run for 10 years as a print magazine, to a digital production, highlighting the wider audience available almost instantly via the internet. Having championed young illustrators for many years, Amelia stressed the importance of social networking in carving out a career: "A must for any illustrator to appear in my books is to be in social media. For me to promote you, you have to promote yourself!" Everyone took this advice to heart and by the end of the night, countless Twitters had been furiously swapped and future collaborations began to emerge.

After a wonderful night, we all popped a final Biscuiteers treat into our handbags and headed home, itching to pick up a pencil and become fashion illustrators too. Thank you to everyone to came along and to Amelia for bringing her expertise to Tatty Devine!

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