A Very Merry Christmas!

Last week we were all feeling very festive as we set off to our Christmas dinner at Jamie's Italian in Cambridge. It was a lovely setting to mark our festive 'do' and we all thoroughly enjoyed our meals, a few of us even went as far as to have a desert... Well it is Christmas after all!

Hannah could hardly contain her excitement as Friday also meant the unwrapping of Secret Santa presents, handing out the presents she was absolutely beaming with joy. Everyone did very well with choices for each other and we all went home happy with our gifts.

Not only did we enjoy a beautiful dinner and fantastic company but part of our surrounding were supplied by two of our lovely clients. With Thomas Crapper & Co. loos complete with a 'beer-engine' handle and a gorgeous selection of bespoke glazed tiles for H & E Smith we felt right at home!

As promised, Daisy made us her amazing iced spiced tree biscuits, although they haven't spent very long on the tree! We hope you enjoy whatever you have planned over the festive period be it spending time with family, jetting off on holiday or just enjoying a drink with friends.

So from all of us here at Atom we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Secret Santa

As the office gets ever-more sparkly and yuletide spirits increase, it was time to dust off the Christmas tree, get the tinsel out and start thinking ahead to our Secret Santa! 

A traditional part of Christmas festivities, Secret Santa is a fun, low cost way to kick off the merry season and show how well you know your colleagues and friends. As a massive fan of Christmas, Hannah was particularly excited about swopping gifts and set about putting our names into a hat (or more office-appropriate, an A4 file holder!) Everyone took turns picking out a little folded note from the box and while some suspected all might sneakily read ‘Hannah’ we got our thinking caps on for some fab gifts for each other.

 We’ve seen some great gift guides this season in some of our favourite home interiors magazines and also great tips on home-made tasty treats and beautiful DIY decorations, so there should be no abundance of ideas at the Atom office. (Daisy even promised to make some Atom themed tree-biscuits!)

Apparently it’s un-known when or where Secret Santa originated in its present form, but it’s thought the original Secret Santa was an American philanthropist, Larry Dean Stewart (1948 – 2007) who coined the name and spent 20 years doing random acts of kindness for people throughout the year. A moral that we are more than happy to get involved in, where we are all thoroughly looking forward to exchanging gifts and festive cheer at our Christmas meal.

Walking in the Air...

Atom was delighted to be one of the sponsors of ‘The Mayor’s Christmas Spectacular’ held on the 4^th of December in The Maltings theatre, located by Ely’s beautiful riverside. Along with various festive family games and activities including of course Santa’s grotto, the centrepiece of the show was a recital of Howard Blake’s uplifting score of The Snowman by Raymond Briggs performed by The Ely Sinfonia. The magical adventure unfolded to the music courtesy of narrator Jeremy Harmer and soprano Jenny Bingham who sang the signature solo ‘Walking in the Air’ beautifully. 

Held in association with ADeC - Arts Development in East Cambridgeshire, the monies raised from sponsorship and ticket sales went to The Mayor’s Charity which benefits numerous local children’s organisations. This was the first of what is hoped to become a regular annual event and judging by the rapturous applause and the smiling faces of little and not so little ones, we are sure it will continue to go from success to success.

'MO'st Grateful!

As MOvember draws to a close, here in the office we are assessing our ‘MO’gress this month. Roger has become slightly green with envy at the impressive attempts of his staff who are proudly representing the MO-sistas.

Roger would like to say a big thank you to everyone that has generously contributed to this years moustache which, as you know, is grown to raise funds for The Prostate Cancer Charity.To anyone who hasn't donated, he is only a ‘whisker’ away from beating the amount he raised last year so he is kindly requesting one last push in the final ‘MO’ments of MOvember, after all it is for a fantastic cause!

If you would like to make a last minute donation you can by clicking here.

Christmas is coming!

Daisy, Hannah and I had a lovely time at the Country Living Christmas Fair getting into the festive spirit. We managed to wrestle our way through the crowds to sneak a look at some of the gorgeous ranges on offer. Hannah couldn't resists buying some Christmas presents for family and friends! We also found some time to pull ourselves away for a moment to grab some lunch and were really impressed with the choice on offer. Let us know what you thought too! And of course we'd never miss a photo opportunity...

 

With Christmas in mind, we definitely recommend you have a look at Ingarden's a/w sale. With some lovely products at amazing prices you'll be hard pushed not to find your loved ones something for this Yuletide holiday! We've picked out a few that we'd love to receive as a gift!

 

The lovely terracotta birdfeeders are sure to promote some wildlife into your garden while the glass tealights transform your garden into a magical fairy land. Lastly, this arrow sign will certainly come in handy when showing Father Christmas where to deliver all your lovely presents!

11/11/11

At 11 o’clock today silence will fall over the United Kingdom in remembrance to those who gave their lives for our country. Prior to this, millions have proudly donned their poppies to mark this day. Here at Atom, we would like to give thanks to all those who have fought and to those who continue to represent our country.

Many of our clients are also keen supporters of various charities, the most recent example of this is The Playhouse Company who, in collaboration with Make-A-Wish, recently made one little boy’s wish come true. Thomas Goulsbra, of Grimsby, is one of 2,000 people worldwide who suffers from cystinosis, which damages organs such as the eyes and muscles. The Make-A-Wish foundation strives to make any suffering child’s dream a reality, no matter how big it may be. And this project was no different. When Make-A-Wish got in contact with The Playhouse Company to explain the cause, those at the workshop were more than obliging to provide them with a structure at a generously discounted price. They got to work creating the playhouse Thomas had designed.

Seeing the reaction on this little boy’s face was more than a reward enough. We hope he has many a happy play on his bespoke castle.

Movember

This week sees in the beginning of the penultimate month before the festivities begin and also Movember (@MovemberUK)! For the 3^rd year running our very own MD, Roger, will be growing his moustache to help raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. Remember to keep an eye on our regular tweets @atommpr to see twitpics of the progress, which we must say, has already been surprisingly noticeable, comments have included:

Jason Lee

Super Ted's Texas Pete

Timothy Dalton

Here is a little snap shot of last years efforts.

Please visit Roger’s Mo profile and help towards an extremely worthy cause http://uk.movember.com/mospace/512917.

Also, while you’re perusing the net maybe have a read of the Shimu blog where you can see their newly sourced antiques at www.shimu.com/blog.

Enjoy the fireworks this weekend but please all keep yourselves safe!

Busy, busy, busy!

Lots happening this week in the Atom office. We’ve today received some fantastic coverage in the ‘i’ for The Posh Shed Company’s Pukka Log Stores! Plus you can see lots of fantastic new images on the Online Image Library from Lazy Susan, The Odd Chair Company and The Furniture Barn.

Also, The French Furniture Company previously supplied their gorgeous Gigi Plum Sofa and Armoire to furnish The London School of Modelling for the new ITV2 show; 'Model's Misfits and Mayhem'. 

Previous episodes can be viewed online at http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=283671, the next episode will be aired on Tuesday 25th October 10:00pm. Models, Misfits & Mayhem follows all the drama at Britain’s busiest modelling school – The London School of Modelling. The school, run by no-nonsense principal Debbie King, trains up wannabe models (male and female) and sends the best off to castings for a wide variety of jobs, including TV commercials, magazine shoots, catwalk shows and much more. Don’t miss it!

And we hope you all have a lovely weekend!

New-look Website Goes Live

Although the chills of winter are slowly setting in, we've been graced with some beautiful sunshine this week, that we hope you've all been able to benefit from too. It’s certainly a lovely end to a very hectic week here in the Atom office, with the launch of our new-look website and the mail out of our Quarterly PRUpdate.

Our new-look website went live on Wednesday with great success. The added functions to our Online Image Library of searching by image reference and of course the wonderful light-box feature are proving popular with journalists, who are enjoying being able to browse all images while adding selected pictures to their ‘shopping cart’. And for any journo's out there who haven't had a look, do take a moment to try it for yourself, there are hundreds of stunning images just waiting to be downloaded directly to your desktop. Amongst these are the brand new images from The Furniture Barn and The Odd ChairCompany, as well as the beautiful new images of the Gloria furniture set from Lazy Susan.

We have also mailed out our hardcopy QPRU this week showcasing our lovely clients along with their latest news and images. An interactive PDF version can be found within the press section of our new site where you can also download to flick through flick through at your leisure (perfectly enjoyed with a cup of coffee!). Look out for the incredible oak and ash creations from Batheaston Furniture Makers and the wonderful glass kitchens from Quantum Fitted Furniture.

Atom Client Day

The Atom Client Day in association with Hearst Magazines last Friday at the Good Housekeeping Institute was a huge success! After a quick practice with the software we were to use during our presentations (and a cup of tea, of course) we greeted our clients at the door with champagne and canapés whilst everybody got introduced. We were welcomed by Jude Secombe, Publishing Director of Hearst’s Lifestyle Group, who gave us a short presentation on the changes at Hearst. We then moved through to the restaurant and enjoyed further presentations from House Beautiful and participated in a quiz game hosted by Country Living.

After a lovely lunch and a chance to chat with various members of the editorial team at Hearst, the Atom Account Managers took to the stage to talk about the imminent launch of our new exciting website. Hannah gave everybody a sneak preview of the new site (which is set to launch Tuesday 18^th Oct!) and walked us through the added functions such as the image reference search facility and light-box feature on our image library, allowing you to select images as you go and download them all at the end, much like an online ‘shopping cart’. Sara then discussed the fantastic new blog, which (as you know), is being updated regularly to inform you of all the news from us. Last but not least, Daisy gave everybody a run down of the new Atom twitter account (@Atommpr).

Soon after this and a brief thank you from Roger Illsley, Atom’s MD, it was time to depart from the GHI and take the short walk to The Source Below bar where the drinking and karaoke commenced with all attendees in tow. There we were joined by further media seniors from IPC, Conde Nast and BBC Magazines. The singing was, surprisingly, at a very high standard! Special mentions go to Zoe from BBC, Shakil from House Beautiful and of course our very own singing sensation, Roger.

The day (and night) was absolutely wonderful, and it seems that was the consensus all round as the phones have been ringing off the hook this week with thank-yous and reminiscent stories of the day. It was great to see all the clients that were able to attend and to those who couldn’t make it, we’ll have to catch up next time… Christmas is soon, right?

A big thank you to everybody that made the day such a hit.

Pukka and Proud

With stove and fireplace features currently filling the magazines; Eurostove & Carron have dominated the pages with their gorgeous range of wood burning stoves. To compliment the trend we now have a stunning product from The Posh Shed Company to keep your logs home and dry. ‘Pukka Log Stores’ are the newest addition to their popular selection of outdoor buildings. And of course they are not only practical but also aesthetically pleasing with the choice of two wonderful designs; Gothic and Contemporary.

Where else to keep your fire wood than Proudly displayed in your very own Pukka Log Store? It’s certainly got us excited about a winter by the fire.

Decorex

Tuesday 26^th September saw the account managers at Atom off to The Royal Hospital Chelsea to have a look around Decorex International. We managed to have a quick catch up with Blenheim Carpets and The Odd Chair Company before their stands were, yet again, flooded with enquiries! Due to this we were FORCED to look (or gawp) at all the other wonderful products on offer.

Sara wandered around with her head up in the air, enthralled by all of the amazing lights available, rather like a kid in a sweet shop. One company in particular that caught our eye was Tigermoth Lighting, with their incredible pendant, chandelier and wall light designs. We had a lovely chat with the owner, Harriet Daniels, who explained she too had had a lot of enquiries during her time at Decorex. It’s lovely to see success coming from everybody's hard work.

Another collection that really stood out to us came in the form of Fromental and their stunning hand made wallpapers and fabrics. The work that must go into such masterpieces is mind blowing! After a leisurely stroll around the stands, gazing at all the amazing things we are unable to afford we had a spot of lunch outside in the sunshine.

Another quick chat with our lovely clients and we were homebound once again. A great day had by all.

Welcome & Client Day

Very exciting times here in the Atom office! With a shiny new website on the horizon we have also added a range of social media features to run alongside, ensuring you’re kept up to date with all our latest news. You can now follow us on twitter by clicking here @atommpr and of course read this lovely new blog. Here we will update you on new clients, new products and all the gossip from the Atom office.

We have recently welcomed a few new Atomites on board, The Odd Chair Company, The Furniture Barn and Lazy Susan. Their beautiful roomsets and cutout images are soon to be gracing our online image library ready for you to download straight to your desktop.

This week, here in the office, we have been extremely busy getting everything ready for the Atom Client Day in association with Natmags. We’re all looking forward to seeing our lovely clients, unfortunately not all can make it and those that can’t will be dearly missed!

We have all purchased new items of clothing for the day (even Roger) to ensure we are looking sharp! Daisy & Sara have even had their hair done for the occasion. Clearly a fancy affair.
We shall be sure to update you with how the evening goes.