Month: December 2012

Thank you from the ARTE Organisers

As 2012 comes to a close, with new sights for 2013, we have many reasons to be happy.

Here are a few of them.

– We are in high demand and we are being found by many who would like to showcase their work

– Our ARTE fairs receive increasing amounts of footfall, souk after souk.

– We receive fantastic and positive feedback. Any constructive criticism we receive are taken into consideration

– We have reached more than 8000 LIKES on our facebook pages and many of our blog posts go viral.

But, what matters the most to us are the stories that vendors share with us:

– I have had such a lovely day

– I made a new friend

– it is a social outing for me

– I sold well

– I have had such lovely feedback

Testimonial by ‘ Kinda Like Wasabi‘

“Another successful day at the last ARTE souq of the season…thanks to all you guys!!! Our heartfelt gratitude to our new and our old customers. To all those who stopped by with their lovely words of appreciation and encouragement. Also special thanks to those of you who spread the word and your love for KLW! And of course to all of you who liked our work and our page :D! We are amazed with the response and results each time and it would be impossible without you…”

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Kinda like Wasabi – Smiling all the way

Testimonial sharing profound words by Hitesh Kanwar of Paper Curves:
“First of all a big thank you to everyone on Team ARTE for organising ARTE and providing all the help. I see so many new fairs coming up (I attended a few) and I can see the great amount of difference between those and ARTE. The way in which you guys handle, communicate and promote( and give feedback), it shows the love with which you do it. Hats off to you.”

Quilling work by Hitesh Kanwar

Quilling work by Hitesh Kanwar

This is just a snapshot as to the joy that we bring to vendors who support us souk after souk.

Sure, we have some strong 2013 goals for ARTE. One goal is to improve the quality of product, and vendor displays. Offer creative help for new products and product displays. And finally, we are planning to introduce a Pinterest page featuring ARTE products.

But it is Your success at ARTE that makes us love what we do. Your good experience is one more than we have and for that we are grateful.

Wishing you a fantastic 2013 and see you at the ARTE souks commencing in January 2013.

New ARTE Bookmarks for 2013

The best part of the ARTE Souk is that you have three choices: You can take part in either the souk at Dubai Festival City (First Friday of every month) or the souk at Times Square Centre (Second friday of every month). Or both!

Introducing the new ARTE Bookmarks for 2013. What do you think of the more simplistic approach to the design?

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The above bookmark is for the Times Square Centre souks (note the orange). Please print them and distribute to your friends and those interested in buying locally handcrafted pieces of art and craft.

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The above bookmark is for the Dubai Festival City souks (note the blue). Please print them and distribute to your friends and those interested in buying locally handcrafted pieces of art and craft.
See you there!

Soap-erman Abraham

“Normal is boring,” was the first statement Abraham Shibu made when asked why soap-making instead of other forms of art. This is, of course, one of the fido-sophies that he has borrowed from 7UP’s mascot, Fido Dido (the others being: It’s cool to be you; Your best friend is your head; Dare to be different; and Life is short, live it up).

What he meant to say, of course, that soap-making, blended in with music, soothes his soul. As a printing technologist by profession, he loved colours. Moving quickly into advertising, his love for colours intensified and a general awakening to handcraft his own works of art began. For Christmas, he is working on the ‘cinnamon’ series of soaps! He is probably the first male artisan at ARTE to make soaps. Talk about MAN-made soaps.

Research into making soap took around three years. Abe (as his friends call him) was not impressed to find that soaps, in general, contain a lot of chemicals. His brand of soap called Aura soaps, is passionately handmade for the skin.

“The next time you walk down the soap aisle at your favorite store enjoying the fresh, clean scents and the bright colorful packaging, pay attention. Look at the labels. The vast majority of the products on the shelf don’t say ‘soap’ on their labels. They might be called beauty bars, cleansing bars, moisturizing bars, or body bars, but not soap. That’s because these bars aren’t actually soap and can’t legally claim to be; they’re detergents. The manufacturers have removed most of the ‘good’ stuff that occurs in the soap making process, and replaced it with synthetic lathering agents and harsh chemicals. These cheap, plentiful detergent bars are not only bad for your skin, but they’re also bad for the planet, too.”

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Find Aura Soaps and like them on facebook.