Christmas and New Year Greetings

As B&W HQ closes for another year, it’s hard to believe that we have reached the end of 2025 and 2026 is beckoning.   This can be a beautiful time, to finally slow down, reconnect and enjoy the festivities and traditions that surround us.

A huge thank you – to everyone who visits our website, comes to the fairs to say hello and share how their life is going and their love of blue and white, to those who engage with us on Instagram and subscribe to our newsletters – I appreciate each and every one of you.  The story of this company and how it has come to this is made from many parts.   The amazing team who so generously support me – at fairs, with photography, art research, customer support and business admin, and my loved ones, who temper my creative energies and help anchor me whilst keeping my flame alive; it honestly takes a community to build a business, with many levels of engagement.   A single conversation can inspire an entire new collection; such is the beauty of all these relationships.

This year, a special mention of thanks goes to my wonderful mother, who has been such a kind and loving presence throughout this entire process, from day one of this venture.  Her elegance, humour and inherent strength, has been an incredible bonus and pillar alongside all the inevitable bumps along the way that form part of a creative process.  Everyone needs a Scottish mother!  My personal view, naturally…

An incredible circle of friends also makes this a shared journey of fun – and I love blue and white as much as I ever did; more so in fact, as the years go by.  It’s gorgeous now knowing that so many of you share the same love, how lucky are we that we share this passion?

Ironically, the origin of the word passion derives from “suffering” or “enduring”, the root origin connected to words like “patient”.   In the 13^th century, it was a word that was used in reference to Christ or Christian martyrs; the suffering of Christ is often referred to as The Passion.  Yet for many, the wings of passion carry us forward and somehow help to navigate the complex path ahead.  Lucky then, that come the 15^th century, the word came to mean a strong and positive emotional enthusiasm and desire.   Thank you to our kin in the 15^th century, for re-thinking this beautiful word.

Wishing all those who celebrate a very merry Christmas, and a happy and healthy New Year to everyone.  I truly appreciate that this can be a very tender time for many people and my thoughts are with you in particular – I hope that 2026 becomes everything that you would passionately wish for yourself.

Until the New Year,

💙

Juliet

 

 

 

“With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls,

For stony limits cannot hold love out,

And what love can do that dares love attempt“. 

Romeo

Act II, Scene II, Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare