Cameron and I took a little trip to Madrid last week to meet our Momiji family in Spain. Here's a picture of the very lovely Sergio who looks after Momiji business over there. Thanks for your hospitality, Sergio! We had a great time.

Yep, the heroes are back; seven Momiji to celebrate those people that rock your world and inspire you. In honour of their arrival, our team of interns hit the streets to ask the fine people of the UK who their heroes are.

Check it out and let us who you'd have chosen.

We're very proud to be working with Gwen Stefani at her charity event in LA next week. Following the devastation caused by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Gwen will be hosting a Harajuku themed tea party at Royal/T in Los Angeles on Tuesday 7th June.

Like Gwen, we've been hugely inspired the culture, art, design and fashion of Japan. Drawing on this theme of creativity Gwen invited Momiji to be part of the event. We'll be heading over to Royal/T next week and we can't wait to tell you all about it. We won't give too much away just yet, but make sure you check back here for news, photos and exciting updates

All funds will go to Save the Children’s Japan Earthquake-Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund.

One of our favourite retailers; A White Room in Lancashire, hosted a Momiji painting workshop over Halloween weekend.

Everyone had a great time painting Momiji dolls and dressing up for the occasion.

The party was a great big hit and a percentage of the ticket price was donated to a local boy who desperately needs an operation to make his quality of life better.

A great big thanks to everyone who came. If you’d like to find out more about Robin, the local boy who has been helped by this event, click here.

Our next Momiji workshop will be taking place on the 20th November at Thought Bubble in Leeds, see you there!

A few of weeks ago our friends Laura and Jason at Mystik in Retford organised a charity fire walk to raise money for the wonderful work done by the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Although we weren’t brave enough to expose our tootsies to hot coals, we did send up a big bundle of Momiji goodies for those heroic folks that were. Laura just sent us over a few pictures of the event which looked amazing and raised heaps of money for vital equipment and services for local MS patients. They rounded things off with a party and music by one of their favourite bands Digging for Elvis.

Nice work, Laura and Jason! There’s a little video of the action here.

If you heard a mysterious high pitched squeal last week, we ought to apologise. Most likely it was the sound that escaped from Momiji HQ as we read the email below from Adam.

Dear Momiji,

I have a story I would to share with you:

Around 4 years ago I met someone very special (Lisa), we started dating and had been dating for around 4 months when Christmas came, and for christmas I had a gift that i did not expect, it was a Momiji, her name was "promise" and inside there was a message, the message as it turns out was written in code, and took me a little while to decode!! I loved it, it was very japanese like which fitted with my interests and I loved the idea of a hidden message. So when valentines comes around I decide I know what I can get for Lisa, I will get her a Momiji!! So many to choose from!! but I bought one and put in place my secret message!!

From here a trend started, each time it was an important event, Christmas, Easter, Birthday, Valentines, Buying our first house a momiji was bought to mark the occasion. This went on for about 3 years. After dating for nearly 3 years, I decided something BIG, I was going to ask Lisa to marry me, but how? What i wanted to do was propose in a way that was very true to us, and what better way could I think of than in a Momiji!! All i needed to do now was pick the right momiji, after searching, I found it!! One that said it all, her name was "Love". Along came our 3 year anniversary I gave Lisa a very special Momiji, to which after the shock and excitement she said yes in a rather high pitched voice.

So a year and a bit later (that’s about now) and around 35 Momiji's we still continue to get momijis to mark the occasion, I especially loved the new set, "Snuggle" was very suitable for Lisa as she loves Toadstools and fairies.

But this not the end of the story, next year in August 2011 we are getting married!! and this is why I am contacting you. We tried to decide what should take the place on top of our cake and the most appropriate thing we could think of was infact a wedding pair of Momiji!! Unfortunately these do not exist and this is our request, please can you make a set of wedding Momiji so we can complete our story.

Kind Regards,

Adam



What a perfect tale of romance and loveliness. Big thanks to Adam and Lisa for sharing their story and photos. (We’ve had quite a few requests for wedding cake toppers so perhaps 2011 will be the year, as long as we get slices of cake in return. Watch this space.) Until then, keep spreading the love. xx

Our creative friends have been snapping away this month and filling our Flickr pool with lovely Momiji photographs.

There were so many great entries this month; it was a little difficult to choose just one. But –Astrid1979- and her Happy, Happy, Happy photo has taken the prize.

The colour and texture in this photo really reflect the happy Momiji personality.

A selection of Momiji goodies are winging their way to you now, Astrid.

If you’d like to have a go, click here to find out more.

We caught up with our number 1 fan, Melissa this week, and asked her a couple of questions about her tattoo…

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

“As far as some info about me, I am a radiologic technologist at a hospital here in Milwaukee, WI and I love my job. When I get free time from work I like to bake and cook. I have been vegan for 5 years, which I believe has been my inspiration to get involved so heavily with cooking and baking. I love to bake delicious desserts, especially cupcakes. I love everything about them. I also enjoy riding my bike around the city and reading. “

We love your tattoo here at Momiji HQ, You must be very brave! How long did it take to get done?

“I'm glad you love the tattoo, thank you! It took about an hour and a half to get done.”

What ‘drew’ you to Bakey-C? (excuse the awful pun)

“One of my best friends, Brandy, is actually the one that found Bakey-C. She knows my infatuation with cupcakes and as soon as she showed it to me, I knew I wanted to put it on my body. It is such an amazing piece of art. I love the style of all the Momiji dolls, but the 3 tea time inspired dolls are unlike all the others. I love that Bakey-C is so unique and rare. She is exactly my style and captures so many things that I love. I'm excited that I am able to display her on my body every day.“

What’s your favourite Momiji item?

“We don't have too many places to buy Momiji products here in Milwaukee, but while I was in Portland, OR I stocked up on some things. My favorite purchase was a pack of stickers I got from the Japanese Gardens. I didn't really know what to do with the stickers, so I decided to decorate my boring white laptop with some of my favorite ones. Now I love the way it looks!”

Do you have any more tattoos in the pipeline?

“I have plans for more tattoos, but I haven't decided if I'm getting another Momiji inspired tattoo or not. I'm sure if something catches my eye as Bakey-C did I would definitely get it. I get a lot of comments on my tattoo. People love it. 99% of people have no idea what it is, so I'm constantly explaining what a Momiji doll is. It's like I'm a walking advertisement for Momiji! Every time a friend of mine hears something about a Momiji doll or sees one they tell me about it. It's kind of neat. It makes me feel good to know that people love my tattoo as much as I do.“

Thanks, Melissa.

She’s definitely spreading the Momiji love around Milwaukee and we’d love to meet her again for some tea and cakes.

“You know you’re famous when people start getting tattoos” or so they say. And If that statement is true then we’ve made it to the big time as our new best friend, Melissa, has proved. (Pics by Brandy Boyd from Hot*Pop)

She’s been inked with a picture of Bakey-C and it looks absolutely amazing!

I’ve asked her if she’ll answer a couple of questions for me about her tat, and I’ll post the interview here when I have it.

We might not be brave enough to go through with it here, but what do you think about Melissa’s tattoo?

We’re starting to lose track of Gem’s whereabouts; every time we speak to her she’s in a different city. She’s doing a good job of sending us photos from her travels though (and making us all jealous). First up a few pictures of her first Lobster boil, in San Francisco. Loving the Obama apron!

Next stop was Chicago. Here’s a picture of Richard with Tulip in the showroom, followed by cocktails on the terrace at Trump Towers (another tough day at the office huh Gem?)

Seattle next...Gem met up with Tim and Nicole (who you can just see hiding in the picture below) and they headed over to an amazing store named Retrofit which is a great place to get your Momiji fix. Finally Gem finished off her time in the city eating chocolate éclairs by the river with Carrie and mooching round the market which looks pretty spectacular. More news from our globe trotter soon...she’s in Atlanta this week...we think.