A small preview of the map we’re giving away this week to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. Remember that during this week all the products in our store will have a 10% discount using the coupon THREEYEARS.

Jositajosi will turn 3 years old next saturday. Last year has been by far our most succesful period, and it has been posible only thanks to you. 

To celebrate this happy event we’ll have a small raffle on Oct. 8 between all the friends that have bought one of our products in the last year. We’ll give away this beautiful map of Iceland:

The map is a high quality vintage reproduction of a 1963 map originally commisioned by the Danish Geodetic Institute and will be the perfect companion for that white wall in your studio. We’ll contact winner on Oct. 9.

Why Iceland? Because just like you, Iceland has been a very important friend of Jositajosi in the last year, since we moved here for a change. We want to say thanks to both of you and this seems to be the perfect way :)

Jositajosi Anniversary Week

More goodies coming! During our anniversary week (Oct 1 - Oct 8) all the products in our store will have a 10% discount. Looking for a new style for your iPad? A Christmas gift for your best friend? A sleeve for your new Kindle Fire? Just visit our store and get our high quality sleeves cheaper than ever!

Sixty years ago Armi and Viljö Ratia founded Marimekko and to celebrate the anniversary, during 2011 Marimekko will recover some of the biggest hits of its history:

In celebration of the anniversary, we’ve chosen 60 gems from our treasure trove. Each month we’ll feature new gems. Explore our stories and find your own gem!

As big fans of the brand, we also wanted to celebrate the anniversary making a sleeve for iPad and MacBook that oozes the simplicity and colorfulness of the finlandic company… and this is the result:

Made with Unikko, probably the most popular Marimekko’s fabric and our favourite, this sleeve it’s water resistant and it’s perfect to bring some happiness to those boring and cloudy raining days that appears from time to time.

We hope you like it enough to buy one: 65$ is a real bargain for this insta-classic timeless sleeve!

“Un Euro por Japón” is an initiative created by the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Segovia that will be held on 16 and 17 April in Segovia to raise money for Japan’s last natural disaster. Another non-profit association called “Artistas con Corazón” will join the initiative in order to get even more money to help our japanese friends, who right now are having one of thoughtest time of their History.

(Poster by James White)

On this occasion, “Artistas con Corazón” will pick products of artisans and artists from around the world and make a collective exhibition to sell the products. Jositajosi, that collaborated with the association last year, will be present again in this exhibition trying to raise money.

Segovia is only 35 min. away from Madrid by train and it’s a beautiful place to spend a sunday’s morning. During the weekend there will be many activities, concerts, games, etc… so please, if you’re near those days just help us to raise more money for a good cause.

(If you are an artisan and want to help, you can send any of your products to Paula, just see the instructions here)

We really hope the exhibition to be a success and that together we’ll raise lots of money for helping Japan’s people.

In this post we want to introduce you to Karmele, which is the person behind the Olelé brand. She crafts with their own hands and lots of imagination to create some great fans that  they have already flown to homes of the entire world.

We met Karmele in the network. But while Jositajosi were into a market where we participated, she came to meet us in person.It was a kind gesture that says a lot about her.

Karmele always was related to crafts. When she was a child, she tells us that she spent hours drawing and experimenting with handy materials. She had never been considered a person with an aptitude for art, despite having graduated in Fine Arts!!! The fact is that she is a restless person who still likes to experiment with new techniques as she did as a child. Anything that involves learning creating appeals to her.

Fabrics used for her precious fans serve as inspiration for their work. “I like touching and watching the cloths for a while, finding repetitions and deciding how to fit the pattern within the fan. There are fabrics that appear to have been designed specifically for it, and others that I love but are very difficult to cut.”

Most materials are bought online because Karmele lives in a relatively small town. She would have to move out to buy the materials so is more economical to order them out online.

By the moment, Olelé only sells at Etsy store. Karmele decided to start little by little and learn how it works the online trade. Etsy allows her to place your shop in a short time and easily. Perfect for the beginings when you still do not know exactly how to do a lot of things.

From the first, she knew that she wanted to open his shop in English and with prices in $, as the market is wider. Most of Olelé orders come from the U.S.A., especially California and New York. She also has Spanish and Australian customers and recently she had an order from South Korea which was received with enthusiasm and excitement!. Karmele is considering participating in a fair, looking forward to meet other designers she already knows through the net but not in person.

From Jositajosi, we wish you good luck! 

Today I want to tell you a fun initiative that takes place every March here in Iceland to help raise funds for the fight against cancer in males: Mottu Mars. 

Mottu Mars is a project of Krabbameinsfélag Íslands, a nonprofit association founded on 1951. The aim of this association is to support and promote the fight against cancer through different initiatives: 

• Promotion of awareness and education about cancer & cancer prevention
• Promotion of cancer research, including collection and processing of scientific information
• Promotion of search for cancer in its earliest stages and support advances in cancer treatment and care of cancer patients. 

In March, the men are encouraged to show their solidarity growing mustaches, and sharing pictures of them in a website built specifically for the initiative: http://www.mottumars.is

Then people can show their support donating money to their favorites moustaches in the website through online payments or sending SMS to a number with the “MoustacheCode”. All the money collected will be used by Krabbameinsfélag Íslands in the fight against cancer.

Your contribution really makes the difference since current estimations say that with more research one of every three cancers can be avoided. For this reason, we want you ask you to support the cause and help them raise funds to support the fight against cancer. 

Finally you can also show your support in the Facebook’s page of the initiative.

Jositajosi always felt particularly attracted to Scotland. In fact, all members of our team have visited Scotland on some occasion and we have come back fascinated. Maybe because of that nature in its purest form, perhaps by the timeless traditions or the charm and hospitality of its people… We don’t know.

I think we love Scotland in part because of its similarity to our land (Basque country), where we also have the good fortune to enjoy great landscapes and ancient traditions. Either riding through its green hills or strolling along the banks of majestic lochs, a small part of Scotland was recorded in our hearts.

OK, but how we ended up creating a series of products inspired by the land of the thistle? As mentioned above, we felt an affinity and we already were experimenting with different tartans. We just needed a customer with a custom order with the fabric of his clan to spark the project.

And here’s the result! Each of the patterns in this collection we named after two Scottish Islands. Skye Island and Lewis & Harris Island.

iPad Skye Sleeve

• Hand-made crafted with 100% cotton cloth, velcro, foam and elegant lining of Holland & Sherry.
• Velcro flap closure for extra security. Keep your iPad safe!

iPhone 4 Case - Lewis

• Hand-made crafted with 100% cotton cloth, foam and elegant lining of Holland & Sherry.
• This sleeve is avaliable for
  - iPhone 4
  - iPhone 3GS
  - iPod Touch 4

MacBook Case - Harris with flap

• Hand-made crafted with 100% cotton cloth, foam, velcro and elegant lining of Holland & Sherry.
• Velcro flap closure for extra security. Keep your MacBook safe!.
• This sleeve is avaliable for:
  - MacBook 13”
  - MacBook 15”
  - MacBook Air 13”
  - MacBook Air 11”
  - MacBook Pro 13”
  - MacBook Pro 15”
  - MacBook Unibody 13”
  - and all MacBook models.

We’re really hope you like them.

Many of those who follow closely our steps will notice that in last months we have redesigned a little our macbook and ipad sleeves.

As time goes by we discover new materials, fabrics and we also think about new patterns for making superior sleeves. That is the way we believe we can give you a better quality in all our products. So we wanted to present these improvements officially on the blog.

Arguably, we have made 3 significant changes in our cases:

1. Round corners. We rounded the corners of the cases, both on the
flaps and on the lower sides, making them more fit to the shape of the
devices.

2. Inner fabric. After many tests and searches, we have decided for
Holland & Sherry. The Scottish brand spent many years making the
finnest cloths for suits, once tried their fabrics we could not find
another material that will enlighten us more.

3. Foamy padding. Our first sleeves were filled with cotton padding. It was a pretty good protection although sometimes it was unevenly distributed. That did not match with our sleeve concept. Then, we tried different paddings. Finally, using foam we achieved a sleeve with better protection and a perfect finish.

We hope that this post will help you to understand our quality standard and to bring you closer how we make our products.  

Have you seen our new designs for MacBooks and iPads?

Winter Tale

Lumberjack Love

Both sleeves are availables for all MacBook models.

We are back again from second edition of EsconditeDITE (2010, October 1st-3rd). An independent fair of design focused on kids and located in Madrid. We would like to share our experiences from there.

As in the previous edition, event was used to promote a film premiere, it was turn to “Despicable Me” from Universal Studios. This time, the scenario taken by the minions has been -Moda Shopping- shopping center in the centric Castellana street.  As always, organization was pretty good and there were all kinds of activities for the smallest, which include several plays and children’s fashion parades.

Jositajosi has been able to help by lending some of our clothes to parades’ organization. Our colorful dresses and hoodies were complemented with creations from others designers. Among these items, it was also included our newest creation, a set of scarf and matching hat. As you can see, despite the shyness of the kids, they have walked down the catwalk with lot of grace.

Regarding people, we have to say that we met a lot of new artisans this time. It was a pleasure to met Judit and family ;) from “El taller de Baöbab”. Judit makes jewelry and handcrafted “rag dolls” with felt and fabric. She also contributed to fashion parades with her creations. Take a look to pictures.

Jositajosi did not want to miss the opportunity to share stand with our friend Laura from “Melopasopipa”. Although she was unable to bring with her one of her awesome furnitures, our stand was good enough. We are cooking a video about it, stay tuned to future posts.

Last day of the fair, organization delivered different prizes. Some of them for the best stand set in the movie, to the best product of the fair, another one to the best picture, they also gave cinema tickets and t-shirts of the movie to the children who used as models and even they gave to us a prize for being those who put most work into it!!!

Jositajosi and Melopasopipa took the opportunity to take a couple of minions. Who knows maybe we get to sew for us…