After a little hiatus (an escape to my favorite place on earth – the Carribean island of Hispaniola), we are very happy to announce that the Spanishoegallery Blog is one year old! This year has been so much fun – getting to know lots of awesome people, taking our first steps in the realm of social media, keeping up with what other bloggers write about fashion and Spain, but, most importantly, thoroughly enjoying writing about the world of Made in Spain.
OUR GALLERIES
Looking back, this past year we’ve hosted five interactive galleries featuring some of the most exciting names in Spanish shoe and accessories design:
OUR COMPANIES
Of the companies that we’ve been forming relationships with over the past year I’ve especially enjoyed talking to Andrea, designer and co-owner of the Barcelona-based Xavier del Cerro Jewelry, Nima Ferrer of Pons Quintana in Alaior, Menorca, David Garda of Maians, Barcelona, Carlos Mendoza of Fashion Hand Fans, Elena de Mingo at eMe Shoes in Madrid, Adele, fashion assistant at Paloma Barceló and Ignacio Fidalgo at Las Bailarinas Shoes in Elda.
OUR DESIGNERS
We talked about the passionate designers and entrepreneurs who run these companies:
Pura López of Pura López.
Pedro and Mila García, of Pedro García.
Agatha Ruiz de la Prada of Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.
THE WORLD OF FASHION
We’ve followed Spanish designers to Madrid, New York, and Miami Fashion weeks:
SAY “SHOES”
introduced a series called “The Spanish Say” with shoe-related sayings hilariously illustrated by our talented artist-in-residence Sasha Naumov:
PARTY, PARTY, AND MORE PARTY!
celebrated the San Fermines in Pamplona, Fallas in Valencia, Carnival of Cádiz and the Magic Kings:
THE WORLD OF ART
talked about flamenco, remembered Paco de Lucía,
THEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES
cheered for the new King and Queen
and much more.
OUR SOCIAL MEDIA NUMBERS
While these numbers are modest by many people’s standards, we’re very proud of them. There is more to social media than quantity. Our experience so far has been that:
a) you really have to earn those numbers
and
b) it pays to accumulate them gradually, because that way you are really getting people who are genuinely interested and are interesting themselves.
My two favorite platforms are Instagram and Twitter. Twitter is very responsive and immediate – a quick way to get up to speed and to include people in your conversation. On Instagram I love how people communicate through images. It takes a lot of work, though. Instagram is original content, which in my case takes a while to produce, not to mention that I’m still working on getting contributions from other bloggers and lovers of Spanish shoes.
In any case, a huge thank you to all our followers and subscribers! You mean so much. We are looking forward to embarking on our second year with your support.
I want to thank my Spanish blogging counterparts like Bárbara de Cárdenas of the Los Zapatos de Bárbara blog and Ana Durá of the Los Zapatos de Dorita blog. They are really smart, funny women with a great taste.
OUR BLOGGING FRIENDS
Bárbara de Cárdenas, Madrid, Spain
Dharia Lézin of Dharia’s Closet is a warm and genuine person, with a great visual talent.
I love her voice and her creativity.
The Attire Club blog is one of the most intelligent and cool fashion blogs I’ve seen.
COMING UP:
Introducing Deux Souliers – a shoe design company from Barcelona (with manufacturing in Menorca). Highly-structured avant garde look, comfort and quality.
Paco Herrero and Paco Gil, shoe making firms from Elda, Alicante, well-known for their chic style and traditional shoe making pedigree.
Munich X Fall-Winter 14-15 collection is mind-blowing.
Popping into Gravity Pope – Toronto’s “IT” shoe & clothing store, with the biggest selection of Spanish shoes in the country.
WELCOME TO OUR NEW YEAR!
Yours,
Ann & Sasha
