Shimu lighting the way for Bond, James Bond

As one of the UK's leading specialists in Chinese antique and oriental furniture, Shimu are often the natural choice for theatre groups and production teams to supply furniture or accessories for use as props in plays or films. Their biggest and most high profile project to date is working with the production team for the eagerly anticipated Skyfall movie; the latest and some are saying greatest Bond film starring Daniel Craig. Much of the film is set in Shanghai and on an island off Macao so Shimu was a ideal choice to supply some of the oriental furniture and accessories required to turn the set at Pinewood studios into modern day China.

The buying team first contacted Shimu around this time last year looking to source several items to be used in various scenes of the film. Over the following months they supplied a whole range of pieces, many of which were produced to order through their workshop in Shanghai or via suppliers in Beijing. Amongst these bespoke items was a wooden towel rail; based on the robe hangers of ancient China and was used in a scene set in a Macao hotel, as well as brass hardware to accessorise window panels and a number of antique stools and reproduction tables.

The biggest challenge was to provide dozens of lanterns in various shapes and sizes, based on the large wire and canvas lanterns that they offer as part of their range of oriental home accessories. The production team needed several of these lanterns to be made in a larger size than standard, as well as smaller table lanterns and light shades. These had to be supplied to meet a very tight filming schedule, the team at Shimu managed to get the pieces made and shipped, arriving on set the day before they were required. See above, Shimu's standard lanterns and the bespoke versions, created especially for the film.

The production team were delighted with the finished lanterns, which were to be beautifully lit for a scene set in Macao, overseen by the cinematographer and nine times Oscar nominee Roger Deakins. If you've watched the Skyfall trailer or have already been able to see the film then you will have spotted the lanterns and the stunning effect they have.

Following their timely supply of the products used in filming, Shimu were recently contacted by the event team organising the UK premiere, which takes place this evening at the Royal Albert Hall attended by Prince Charles. At short notice they once again met the event teams requirements and supplied another 30 lanterns for the event, including 5 for the VIP room; to be seen by both British and Hollywood Royalty. Skyfall is on general release from Friday the 26th October, look out for the lanterns!

To 'get the Skyfall look' please visit the Atom Online Image Library where you can download any of Shimu's high resolution images directly to your desktop.

Other recent product loans include a request from the Royal Shakespeare Company asking if they could order some of the Wooden Pails and Calligraphy Brushes, seen below, to be used in a forthcoming production of The Orphan of Zhao the classic tale of revenge, occasionally referred to as the 'Chinese Hamlet'.

Shimu have also supplied big production movies such as The 47 Ronin due out next year, starring Keanu Reeves as one of band of Samurai out to avenge the death of their master, where they supplied 25 red lacquer folding stools to be used in one of the crucial scenes of the film; you can find out more on Shimu's blog. 

Celebrating Summer

As the evenings start to draw in we thought we would say goodbye to the Summer in a suitable way. There have been a lot of things to celebrate and to be proud of this Summer from a British point of view including The Diamond Jubilee, Andy Murray winning at Wimbledon, The Olympics and Paralympics, not to mention Britain’s Gary Craig setting the new world record for the most underpants worn at one time!

And despite any gloomy news that has been about; every cloud has a silver lining. For example, although our British Summer was the wettest in 100 years, this has meant phenomenal leaf growth, lots of chlorophyll and increased sugar levels in our trees. The result should be a fantastic firework display of Autumn colours as the chlorophyll breaks down.

You may also know that recently, on the 4^th of October, it was National Poetry Day. On the day itself here at Atom we discovered that Roger, our MD, is a poet… and we didn’t know it! So without further ado we hope you enjoy a poem that he wrote some time ago about walking in a typically British wood. This is the first time it has been published and we hope you enjoy:-

A Summer's Day

Walking on a Summer’s day,

Through leafy glades by streamy ways,

Neath tangled ivy covered trees,

In cooling shade where sun’s relieved.

Where all that’s heard is nature’s song,

To feel alone and yet belong,

To timeless ever changing tides,

That ebb and flow but never die.

©Roger Illsley 2012 All Rights Reserved

Let’s hope that the Autumn colours are as good as they are billed to be and that there are still more sunny days left to enjoy. You never know, as an encore we might persuade Roger to put pen to paper in celebration of the Autumn too…

Not with a fizzle, but with a bang.

     

      The London 2012 Olympics are officially over, leaving Britain a little shell shocked at its own success.

Wherever you were, televisions across the country were being heckled by hoards of red, white and blue painted punters, flag-waving families and tweeting teenagers. GB joy could be seen in every little village, town and city up and down the UK, in a blaze of patriotism and pride. Who would have guessed that a recession ridden Britain could shrug off its financial burden to enjoy sport together?

But that is what happened. Miraculously, Britain put aside the past and remembered to be proud of its country. As the confidence of our GB team grew, so did the decibel level of the cheering crowd. Flags were waved into a blur, faces grinned beneath the face paints; Britain was reminding the world that it was called Great for a reason.

Unexpected heroes were born during those 16 days. And I am not just talking about the record-breakers, the Olympic champions and the Golden under-dogs. Time and time again, organisers and athletes showered the volunteers and the crowds with praise for their energy, enthusiasm and positivity. Who were the real heroes? Why, the British public of course. Us mere mortals, who (most of us) couldn’t row a boat if we tried, brought the games to life. The thousands of volunteers proved that, even in lean times, we Brits can have a generosity of spirit.

What were your highlights? Was it Mo Farah’s fantastic 5 and 10 k Gold wins? Was it Bolt’s lightning-fast 100 and 200m sprint? Or perhaps it was both athletes swapping signature moves, the Lightning Bolt and the Mobot, out of mutual respect. Were you screaming at Murray to destroy the world champion, or perhaps Tom Daley’s longed-for Bronze brought a tear to your eye? Surely only those with hearts of stone could not be moved by Jessica Ennis' glorious win, crowned Queen of the Olympic Gold-medalist champions.

Whatever your highlights were, the fantastic two weeks ended Sunday night not with a fizzle, but with a bang. The closing ceremony was packed with pop music throughout the decades, with a light show described by creative director Will Case as “the most extraordinary visual experiences ever seen on this scale”. It was an eye-popping evening that promised a seriously good after party. Jealous? Us? Never.

So with a tinge of regret, Rio takes the Olympic flag from our fingertips, ready to host what is arguably the greatest sporting event on earth. We wish Mayor Eduardo Paes and Brazil the best of luck. But the drama and excitement is not quite over yet. In just 15 days, the Paralympics will begin, with a record-breaking 2.1 million audience tickets already sold by those desperate to experience the event. Set to be the best Paralympics yet, we're counting down the days!

The Olympics officially kick off today!

The Olympics are set to kick off today, two days early, with Britain’s female football team playing their first match against New Zealand. Hopefully raising the profile of women’s football, the team face the daunting task of launching what is set to be the British sporting event of the decade.

How are the women coping with the pressure? Kelly Smith, GB’s fantastic Forward Player, seemed rather relaxed this morning on BBC Radio1. Perhaps the beautiful sunshine has put a smile on her face, that and the 40,000 fans who have bought tickets to cheer her on. Fingers crossed the sun won't be the only thing that keeps GB fans happy, even the weather is supporting our atheletes!

And it’s not just the thermometers that are rising; things are hotting up for the heating industry here at Atom too. Roger and Daisy have left for the day to have a productive pow-wow with the lovely Eurostove, and their own brand, Mendip. The future looks cosy for all of our heating clients, who are already preparing for a potential turn in the weather and a (hopefully far away) chilly autumn.

We hope that you enjoy what will be an explosive start to the Olympics. Our thoughts are with our London-based clients such as Bleinham Carpets, The Odd Chair Company and The Original Bedstead Company, who face the perils of public transport!

Hopefully the Olympics won’t disrupt business too much, for now, we're cheering for GB and all our British manufacturers.

Wimbledon might be old news this 2012, but it still has punnets of patriotism.

Hurrah! Wimbledon has arrived!

The tennis event, so interlinked with summer, has finally started this week. The wonderful word ‘Wimbledon’ incites memories of stretching out on garden lawns, sun-bathing and listening to tennis on the radio, or spending long evenings in pub gardens where the occasional “IT IS MURRAY’S YEAR!” can be heard puncturing the air.

Looking back on 2012, unless Murray actually wins it, Wimbledon is unlikely to be remembered at all. This year has seen the Jubilee and the Olympics completely dominate the headlines, squeezing out the highlight-of-any-other-year tennis tournament in to the shadows. That and the droughts and floods, does Wimbledon stand a chance?

However, despite Britain still recovering from a post-Jubilee feeling of too much Victoria sponge and bunting, and the growing excitement of the Olympics, not much has really changed this summer for Wimbledon. It dutifully plays on, with shocking defeats already headlining the media, such as Venus William’s first-round loss and the defeat of British hopeful, 18-year-old Laura Robson. Rain still forces the ball-boys to sprint across a green fit for the Queen, and punnets upon punnets of strawberries and cream are the number one super-food snack of the event.

Looking back on this summer, despite the Jubilee, Wimbledon and the Olympics, the true British symbol of 2012 has to be the strawberry. The Jubilee saw supermarkets stock-pile crates upon crates of the fruit, with Sainsbury’s alone predicting the sale of over 10 million servings over the four-day weekend. And a whopping 28 tonnes of the red heart-shaped fruit is expected to be eaten at Wimbledon this year, priced at a recession-conscious £2.50. As for the Olympics, whose opening ceremony is based on the British countryside, who wouldn’t want to join the 10,000 volunteers in a picnic in the stadium on the grass, with a red-chequered rug peppered with delicious strawberry treats.

Strawberries are so truly British, so understated and yet so utterly wonderful, they have to be the true symbol of 2012 British patriotism and pride.

Recipe of the week: Strawberries dipped in melted chocolate and nuts – as seen in Landscape magazine.

Makes 30 strawberries

150g white chocolate

150g dark chocolate

30 strawberries

30g chopped pistachios

30g chopped hazelnuts

20g desiccated coconut

2 small freezer bags

Clingfilm

Break white chocolate into a bowl and melt over a pan of hot water. Repeat with the dark chocolate. Carefully dip each strawberry into melted chocolate. Prepare 15 white and 15 dark. Leave to dry a little. Roll 10 white chocolate strawberries to coat in pistachios or hazelnuts. Repeat with 10 dark chocolate strawberries, using coconut on some as a variation. Put 1-2tbsp of white melted chocolate in a freezer bag and repeat with dark melted chocolate in another. Cut a tiny slit at one corner of each bag. Decorate 5 white chocolate berries with dark spots and 5 dark chocolate berries with white spots. Cover a tray with Clingfilm, lay out the berries and refrigerate for 15mins. Enjoy!

Olympic Opening Ceremony announced- and we love it!

When you think of an Olympic opening ceremony, fireworks and somersaulting gymnasts comes to mind. However, this year, the London Olympic stadium is to open its doors to the world and reveal… the British countryside!

What says ‘British’ more than a landscape of rolling green hills, flowing rivers and a farmyard of live animals? All are to be recreated inside the stadium, with a mind-boggling 10,000 volunteers acting as farmers, picnicking families and even a few cricket-players having a game on the green.

Here at Atom, we LOVE the idea. Some of our clients, such as Garden Arts Plus and InGarden, have created some fantastic new lines in the spirit of the summer and the Olympics. With their lovely products, the ceremony, titled ‘Green and Pleasant’, could be hosted in your very own backyard.

Many of our clients manufacture right here in the UK, and represent what we think are the best of British businesses. By staying close to home, our clients benefit the country and its economy by trading right here. So whilst the Olympics might be good for Queen and Country, we know the real unsung heroes are the British business-owners who keep the economy moving!

So don't bin your bunting anytime soon, and keep those post-Jubilee flags close to hand – because in less than 50 days time, we will be cheering on our team, our country, and the best of British business!

One year in and going stronger than ever!

This week marked a year's anniversary for your lovely Atom account managers, so naturally we celebrated in style...

We'd like to take this opportunity to let all of our clients know we've thoroughly enjoyed working on your accounts for the past 12 months and look forward to a long future ahead. We hope you've enjoyed working with us too, it's lovely to see these fantastic companies grow from strength to strength and know that we've been a part of their success.

Our next Quarterly PR Update is on the horizon which we've begun work on here in the office and we're pleased to announce there will be some shiny new client entries on there too but you'll have to wait and see who. 


In the meantime we wish you all a wonderful weekend, let's hope this sunshine sticks around a little longer :-)