If like us, the recent sunshine has made you itchy to get creative in the garden, join us at The Country Living Fair. It’s packed full of beautiful and creative pieces to enhance outdoor spaces, plus lots of pretty homewares that allow you to bring the loveliness of spring indoors. We’ll be exhibiting our unique metal obelisks and contemporary arch, as well as two brand new pieces; our traditional arch and trellis. If you’d like to come along,  the show is at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London and runs from Wednesday 23rd until Sunday 27th March. Join us if you can!

Yes it’s that time of the year again. Time to dust off our showpieces, get planting our unique metal obelisks and prepare to  meet you, the great British Public. That’s because this week is our first show of the season. From Tuesday 15^th until Wednesday 16^th February we’ll be exhibiting our contemporary garden furniture and metal garden obelisks at the RHS London Plant and Design Show in Westminster. The show will promote the best of urban design and will include for the first time, two rooftop gardens. There will be a selection of growers from across the UK with the finest spring plants to get you ready for the new season. There will be ‘ask the experts’ sessions and the opportunity to do some shopping among the garden accessories stands. If you decide to pop by, come and see us in the Lindley Hall in St Vincent Square and see our new metal garden arch. It’s so new it’s not even on the website yet! Drop by our stand and let us know what you think.

If you love the look of our seats, but would like to try them before you recommend them to your clients, or buy them for  yourself then we’ve some good news! We are planning on exhibiting our seats at a range of shows and exhibitions in 2011. The provisional list is looking a little like this, (we are always agreeing to do last minute shows too, so if you think we should be some where, let us know!).

15-16^th February, RHS London Plant and Design Show

23-27^th March, Country Living Fair, Business Design Centre, London

12-15^th May Three Counties Show Ground, Malvern

24-28^th May Chelsea Flower Show, Chelsea, London

9-13^th September Maison Object, Paris, France

22-25^th September 100% Design, Earls Court, London

As well as exhibiting, we occasionally loan our seats out to other shows. The London Affordable Art Show in spring 2011 will once again feature our seats in its garden foyer. Pop down and try them for yourself and find some great value pieces of art too.

It’s going to be a busy 2011 for Moore Designs, but we’ve always time to meet new people and talk work! So if you’d like to see us at any other time, give us a ring and pop down to our workshop for a private chat. You can speak to Alex, or Kim on 01444 473898 or email alex@mooredesigns.co.uk.

If any of you visited Hampton Court this year, you’ll appreciate the headline. It was scorching hot! Because of the weather we spent a lot of time on the stand talking with people who were surprised to find that our metal tree seats and benches weren’t any hotter than their wooden counterparts.

That’s because stainless steel doesn’t hold the heat as much as other materials and when polished is super reflective. Our painted benches with their lacquered surfaces also reflect the sun’s heat, meaning they aren’t any hotter than traditional wooden varieties. Metal really is magic when it comes to outdoor furniture at any time of the year.

This year’s Chelsea Flower Show was our first as exhibitors. We’ve visited many times as guests, as Alex has often made pieces for show gardens, but being there as an exhibitor was a very different and exciting experience. After months of preparation to finally be there talking to customers and royalty – I had an interesting chat with HRH Prince Philip – was amazing. It’s always interesting to be face to face with customers and hear first hand what they think of our products. Mostly, I’m pleased to say, the feedback was terrific.

People really appreciate the plant-friendly shapes of our ‘upside down’ obelisks and our curvy conical arch was extremely popular. Our seating was also much admired, particularly by garden designers, and international visitors – we’ve been especially busy since Chelsea getting shipping prices to Europe and America.

If you didn’t make it to Chelsea, have a look at our pictures for a flavour of what you missed. Let us know what you think, we’re always keen on customer feedback. We really enjoyed our Chelsea experience and are already planning the stand for next year. Hopefully we’ll see you there.