Here are the new colours....

CANDY - think pink, delicious double weave in thick pink and a thin red
Lining shocking pink with a pink zip, yum!





Tange - think juicy mandarine, thick orange thread with a light dark orange double weave
Tangerine lining with a pink zip, juicy like watermelon



SKY - Like a summers breeze, light and airy, cool and refreshing.
A double weave in a heavy light blue with a contrasting silver light thread.
Shiny blue lining, with a blue zip.

Live in the workshop today.... not somewhere in China...... putting some finishing touches on the new colourful Makeup Maxi’s!
Greg was too busy working on robots, so I got on the soldering iron myself.
Those Airplanes are going nowhere!!!!
If for any reason your Airplane came loose, send it in & I am more than happy to attach another one!

If you ex was a robot why not inscribe their name on a one of our fabulous metal handbags.

What a fantastic night last night in Wanaka.
Great venue, great production and fabulous fashion and super models!


Ruby is wearing a beautiful dress by A La Robe.

The long awaited addition to our range is the V V Kiss, to be unveiled soon, in metallic fabrics, vinyl and leather.......

I would highly recommend the Langham Hotel for a fantastic get away and the High Tea was fabulous!
Enjoyed Auckland’s fashion boutiques, dropping in on one of my favorites “ World” a must see!

We made the finals for “The World’s Most Romantic Proposal” competition posed by The Langham hotels.

To become the winners we had to put together another creative, original movie and then gather votes via Face Book.
We filmed a very sweet beautiful love story call High Tea Love, a love story including a flame rekindled over a love potion in a tea cup.





Help us win the Romantic Journey Prize!

Follow the link below and give us a LIKE....
http://on.fb.me/lsfPzZ Scroll down and find HIGH TEA LOVE
Click on the movie and scroll up to watch Watch the movie Click LIKE Write a comment
Thanks for your support every one!


We are now sitting at 289...... 60 behind the lead....

The beautiful and talented Wanaka Country singer BeX Murray has taken the “Girl about Town” out of town!
BeX is off visiting Zarah Phillips (The Queens Grandaughter) on route to America, living the dream!

I set myself a goal this year to have Von Avi Handbags in Seven Boutiques in Seven International Cities.
So when this competition came up with The Langham Hotels, I thought what a great way to travel experience some Romance & visit seven cities.

Jane & I made a movie for the subject “The worlds most romantic proposal”
It is judged on creativity and popularity so get voting !
Vote for “True Love” Kaz von Heraud-Parker
www.romantic.langhamhotels.com/en/gallery.php

Well I watched the movie at the beginning of this year for inspiration. If you haven’t watched this movie do its so much fun.

On my visit to Auckland last week I was lucky to visit a leather manufacturing company. I just loved being surrounded by all the richness of leather, knowledge and craftsmanship.
I felt like I was walking through the Kinky Boots factory & I was so pleased to see there are some companies that can remain in New Zealand, and long may they prosper.

In the words of the Kinky Boots Movie

“The man from Milan, he say yes”........

It was a full house at Wanaka’s Passion for Fashion.
I had lots of fun Judging the Designers Competition. I was happy that the winner was a stand out piece of a woolen hot pants, come roman princess ensemble, that easily stole the show, making my job easy!

Loved working with 47 Frocks & their amazing creation featuring the Von Avi V V Belt.

Womans Day NZ have just given Von Avi the Editors Choice on page 48 of the latest edition for the Cocktail Queen!
Now available in a range of coloured linings. My favorite is Fushia, Turquoise is divine, Red is exciting, and you can always do with black.

The Cocktail Queen is great for a special event, and is equally at home as a casual about town accessory.

RAFW was fantastic!!
We meet some amazing people and saw some very exciting cutting edge design and it wasn’t all New Zealanders either!




I thought I was dressed for the occasion in my newly purchased 5 inch heels, but alas the Australians were far too tall for me!


We had a fab time in Sydney checking out all the sights in the evening!





Loved the Aurelio Costarella show with lots of leather, fishtails and metal!

We are now producing Cocktail Queens with an absolutely fabulous range of internal lining colours

Peggy Krainz has come over from Germany to give us a display of her wing walking.
Having tried it once myself I was keen to get a close look at how the professionals do it.
Very inspiring!
Loved her Boeing Stearman Biplane.

Von Avi has just compleated a short video to go onto the Pass It On website. Have a look and don’t forget to pass it on.

Did you hear the latest, we are giving Air New Zealand Airpoints members the chance to win the new edition to our range the “Cocktail Queen”.
So if you are an Airpoints member, don’t forget to open your on-line magazine, just out today, and look at the sensations section. If you are not an Airpoints member.....join now!
www.airnewzealnd.co.nz

Well we though it was about time to bring our shop into the new decade.
We are in the process of intoducing Pay Pal to make it more user friendly.
It’s taking a bit of nutting out for the professional web sitte developement team, but it’s taking shape!
Watch this space!

For those of you that didn’t get to see our movie entry for the Air New Zealand Innovation award, I have posted it here so you can check it out.

Well you must have all been to see Avatar by now. I sat right up close to the screen and was totally absorbed by the 3d effects, loved it.
My beautiful husband Greg, was the leading hand for building the flying fleet, it wasn’t all animation. In fact probably alot more work than building one that flies.
Our handbags are built using the same technique, as the Avatar helicopters!
Only we don’t use any glue at Von Avi!
Have a look at some of the making of the aircraft Greg helped to build.













More pictures can be seen on www.mayefilms.com

2009 was a very exciting year for Von Avi, and congratulations to all those winners in the Amelia competition.
Von Avi are excited to anonce a new stockist, Decode on Camp Street, Queenstown.
Decode is a very interesting shop, full of creative design clothing and also some great art and furniture. Decode features David Truebridge’s furniture & light fitttings also.

Now for a funny Xmas story.....
Well I was off to get my xmas tree and just before I jumped in the car I received a phone call. Putting my Von Avi handbag on the roof of the car to retrieve my phone I jumped in the car and drove off with the Gal About Town on the roof.
2kms down the road traveling at 70kms/hr, I wondered what that was bouncing down the road in the reavison mirror......
I am please to report that the Gal About Town has now been tested off the the roof of a car at 70kms undamaged, and a few extra petena marks to add to its life story!
Needless to say I got the tree, opened the presents & drank the wine!

If you find yourself wondering what to wear with your Von Avi handbag, give Carmel McCormick a call.
This is the beautiful Linda body painted as a sexy maid.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a gathering of amazing women in Oamaru at a Her Business function arranged by Sue Morton.



This is the cover of their September Issue with another fantastic painting by Carmel.



Sue Morton of Waikaki Bacon and Ham, runs a very strong and supportive
Her Business network from Oamaru.
Her Business Magazine is owned by Annah Stretton, a truely inspirational New Zealand fashion designer and business woman.
Sue is standing next to a Stich and Bitch poster, a great name for a very clever sewing kitset, making sewing fun!





Loading the goods into the Woolshed building where the Sunday expose took place.

Gallery 33 is the most amazing haven of Art & Jewellery I have seen in one shop.
Greg & I both found our engagement rings, by Barry Clarke, here and we also had my wedding ring made here by Anne Culy.
Von Avi’s hand bags look fantastic in the window, and we really wanted Wanaka to be able to come and see for themselves the exciting business that they have all got behind and supported. Thank you Wanaka !
A chance to have a closer look at the dress we designed for fashion week as well, thank you to Natalie Norman

Very soon we will be stocking our hand bags in Queenstown at Angle Divine & working our way up the country.

Watch this space for a stockist near you, or email us if you think your town has a great shop where you would like to see our Von Avi

Below is Lydia Baxendall and Anna Muirhead from Gallery 33

With my hot date in tow, Andrea Ord direct form the Art Department at The Auckland City Council, we headed out for a fun evening immersed in Trelise Cooper fashion & fun. The venue Hopetoune Alpha is outstanding & a great turn out to support the cause for Habit.

It was lovely to meet a lot of interesting people, including the beautiful Tina Cross & of course Trelise Cooper. The lovely ladies that had put a lot of effort in to organising the night were very happy with the turn out & support for such a fantastic cause.
Very inspiring to meet successful & interesting women.


Myself with Trelise Cooper

Loved having a brief chat with Tina Cross who played a few Joany Mitchel songs.
What a beautiful lady.
My favourite photo of these men checking to see what is in their goodie bag.

Heading off to Auckland tomorrow for this fabulous cocktail party & looking forward Trelise’s fashion show & meeting her lovely staff that we worked along side with building the Habitat house for Freida.

It has been a good unwinding session after Air New Zealand Fashion Week, it certainly was a huge event & by all accounts everyone has been regrouping.

Wanaka has turned on some stunning spring weather including a major snow storm last Saturday, the longest winter by a long shot, always a great opportunity for creativity.

Von Avi is working on our Man Bag Range, that was highly sort after, by eagerly awaiting fashionista blokes!

The glad rags are going back in the case & its back to Servilles for another exciting do for the big party.

Hi everyone, the voting is in full swing! Here’s the link, as it wasn’t live before.
www.airnzfashionweek.co.nz.
Another week has slipped by in a flash with a multitude of situations popping up, with some fantastic solutions..... the snowball is rolling smoothly through the white outs to Fashion Week!
We had some very exciting news this week......
VON AVI TAKES TO THE CATWALK!!!!

We are so excited to be invited to be part of the Designer Selection Show, which will be on show about 7- 10 times during fashion week!!!
We will strut our ICONIC outfit bags and all on the runway.
Madi you did a great job as our Wanaka Model.

If you want to book a ticket to the Designer Selection Shows go via www.nzfashionweek.com

Natalie Norman has booked her ticket to Air NZ Fashion Week! Go Nat!

Now all you have to do everyone is VOTE VON AVI

Well, we designed an Iconic outfit & made a 2min movie for the Runway to the Runway Innovation awards. It really was a mission getting it all together with everything else happening.
Thanks to all those people that helped. Natalie Norman, Teresa Goodwin, Joss Harris, Judy. Coco Bella, Robert Brook & all the supportive bystanders. Thanks to Annie Trengrove for the Bubbles & to Waiwera Estate for the Pinot Noir.
Now its time to vote, so go to www.airnzfashionweek.co.nz & vote for Von Avi & enjoy the movie.

Well it has been another busy week getting ready.
I’m now sewing my clothes to wear at the show, Natalie Norman & I have been busy putting together a great design selection to wear. Natalie is very gifted pattern maker & also a whizz on the machine, my sewing skills only get me so far! Between the two of us I’m sure my wardrobe will be looking fantastic.

Jane and Odessa have been putting in the hours tweaking all the final details.

Meanwhile the boys out at the Airport have been really showing off some talent with their final run on our Range of Hand Bags. We feel very confident that every one will be very taken back by such an innovative new idea. Everyone that we have been dealing with has really been amazed with our new designs.

Now its down to ironing out all the paperwork & booking wrap party tickets......

We have volunteered our services to help build the habitat house that will be erected at the Viaduct Village during Fashion Week. It sounds like an interesting experience, lucky there are not many earthquakes in Auckland.
The count down is really on, our team is growing by the day, getting our range together.
Without a doubt there are always obstacles to overcome, & blocks that present themselves, but I believe with a positive & enthusiastic outlook & a supportive team on board anything is possible. Thank you to all those that melted the walls this week! Read More...

We had a very successful photo & film shoot last night at Wanaka Airport.
Our Model Madi Chamberlain looked stunning in her provocative futuristic out fit.
We were very lucky with the weather & our support crew were out in force.
The one thing that really made me think, was that in deciding to manufacture in New Zealand, avoiding the temptation to make our products cheaper on the shelf by manufacturing off shore, this provides so many opportunities to many many local & nation wide businesses.
Involved last night we had photographers, videographers, hairdressers, makeup artists, set designers & art directors, graphic designers, local school students studying drama & many more local people experiencing an event. It was a very rewarding experience & we look forward to sharing our media footage with you all. We all wait with much excitement for the “Face of Von Avi”!
Special thanks to Theresa Goodwin, Joss Harris & Coco Bella for a fabulous pair of shoes!

We received our “The Guide” to Air New Zealand Fashion Week magazines today. Great reading, all our team & support crew have been pouring over the pages.
Theresa Goodwin from Fair Hair Salon is very excited about creating a fabulous do for Madi’s hair. Theresa organizes & manages the Wanaka Wearable Creations Show that is held here every two years & loves getting involved with putting her creative imagination to the Runway! Teresa is also a very talented singer.
We have the team at May E Machine working on a new metal belt for our photo shoot, & it is looking fantastic.
Hayley, from Hayley Inder design has chosen some lovely pieces of jewelry from her new collection for Madi to wear.
It has been a very busy week & looking like a busy weekend ahead.

Five weeks to Fashion Week! Thank you to everyone for your amazing support & great feed back!
Our poster photography shoot is planned for next Sunday 23rd.
Thanks to Robert Brook for allowing us the use of his Mustang Fighter Plane.
May E Machine have been very ingenious with their manufacturing process with our handbags.
Thank You!



20/8/09

We have created a fantastic dress for our model to wear for the photo shoot on Sunday.
Natalie Norman has been working with me, designing, pattern making & sewing, showing her skilled eye for detail & design.
Our model, Madi Chamberlain, is a dedicated dancer of Hip Hop & Jazz. Madi also teaches Hip Hop at the Dance Wanaka Studio where she trains.
Anna Allan will be taking the photos, she has won an incredible 24 Kodak Gold Awards, so we are very much looking forward to seeing everything coming together.
The weather in Wanaka has finally hit “spring” after the longest winter I can remember!