Thank you for all the support you’ve given Tzarist. We have gradually come to a point where we enter a new chapter in life; one that requires us to explore our boundaries, take up challenges and brave a new world. With limited time and capacity, we have decided to close our online store for now. However, do join our mailing list if you want to be privy to the small and spontaneous collections that we will launch irregularly, because we will no longer put them up online. We have decided not to stretch ourselves maintaining a website so we will only do private sales from now on, and only those who are in our mailing list will be kept updated.

It has been a great and inspiring journey and we know that this is not the end.
So good luck and take care till the next time we meet again

Yours sincerely,

Em & Mich

We’d both be heading to London & Paris over the next two months (separately). So we’d revive this place with Europe-inspired trinkets and charms from world-famous flea markets! Promise.

Last Friday on an impulse we decided to drive over to Fort Canning for a picnic. Despite the weather forecasts of having like 80% chance of rain, we went anyway. Char didn’t think it’d actually happen so she came in jeans, haha!

Picnic @ Fort Canning

Michelle & immobilized Puffy

Sandwiches, sushi & juice

Char in Jeans

Perfect Evening <3

Was a really good catch up time See you folks around!

Michelle and I are sprinting the final lap in our education so we’ve been a little preoccupied. I can’t believe it’s March! Goodness! Two more months and we are done with school. That is an exhilarating + scary thought.

A quick update -

Wii night!

We become like children when it comes to games, seriously! We will make lots of noise, get damn rough and we don’t give chance.  Our good friend Edna has returned to Australia but it’s nice to know that every one will be back in June this year.

Teh Halia

In other news, I’ve got a new darling in the house! My sister picked up an orphaned stray from SPCA and we’ve been hand nursing her. Although its quite a bad timing because I’m already burning midnight oil every night to finish my work, here comes a baby who’ll cry through the night and require attention 24/7. But when you look at that face, how not to give in?! If any of you have any tips on rearing a kitten do bounce them my way.

We are working on a new Tzarina collection! Once this storm passes it’ll be up and we’ll send a mailing list alert. We’ll still be uploading new items on a weekly basis. Thanks and ketchup with all of you soon!

Emerald and I have grown too in our own little ways. My unforgettable experience in Harper’s Bazaar and ELLE magazine, fashion projects and dreadful school commitments; Emerald’s long arduous days in Ogilvy, Sewperlative, ups and downs in and outside of school… But I’m glad Em ended the year with a bang in Tokyo. Especially since she got to visit Disneyland Tokyo for the first time! Aren’t the pictures lovely? I think one very distinctive common interest between us (and we rarely have common interests, even if you don’t believe it) is our love for disney. We are suckers for princess fantasies.

On the other hand, I started the new year with a bang as well, in Tok-ky-yo too! Instead of going to Disneyland, I went to Disney Sea and it was awesome. Kyoto was breathtakingly beautiful. I really love how traditional the streets are at Gion and best of all we were really lucky to have spotted one maiko and three geishas. Sarah and I had a go at dressing up as maiko ourselves too.

The trip to Japan was really a great big break for both Em and I. 2009 exhausted us but we’re ready to take on 2010 with much vigour (no matter how scary the thought of graduating this year may seem) and we hope to bring more innovative and beautiful designs for all our customers who have been nothing but fabulous.

I hope all of you ended 2009 or started 2010 with the same amount of fun as we did. On behalf of Em and Tzarist, I wish you all a very very happy new year.

Much love, Michelle

When: Saturday, December 19th 2009. 12pm to 8pm

Where: Coleman Room on Level 1 at Grand Plaza Park Hotel on 10 Coleman Street (In between Funan Centre and Peninsula Plaza) 1 minute walk from City Hall MRT

MRT: City Hall. Take the exit that leads to Coleman Street then cross the street and walk towards Peninsula Plaza. You will see the hotel before you get to Funan Centre.

Do take note that this is a CASH-ONLY event, so bring more moolah if you’re ready to do some last minute Christmas shopping. But if you don’t have enough, not to worry, there are plenty of ATM machines around the vicinity.

I look forward to seeing you guys there!

Cheers, Mich

Tzarist Cake, Dec 2005

Xmas is always special for Michelle & I. Not just because the year-end always evokes an unexplainable desire to give, its the month we sat down four years ago to give birth to Tzarist. We were both very amateur (arguably still is compared to many pros out there), but we were bubbling with dreams and very excited. So we bought our domain (Tzar was her idea, and I just added ‘ist’ to make it Tzarist) and started planning.

My memorable Atom Baby

We self-taught and shared tips. We fumbled in the dark and thrived on passion. When it was first launched, Michelle threw a party at Tanglin club for us with a group of close friends to celebrate. I made lantern earrings that day – my first wire-cage pair called ‘Atom baby’ cos it spun like an atom and Serene wore it beautifully.

Then, our website received zero responses in the first month. It was very hard to get traffic with a domain that popped out of nowhere. We were quite forlorn (cos like I said we had big dreams). But it slowly started to pick up, and word got around, and one joy led to another – and that is how we get to meet many of you who came to Tzarist. By the third year we had sent out more than 3000 pairs of earrings. Thank you for all your support through the years. We know we’ve had our share of blunders and we thank you for your patience. It’s been a really rewarding learning curve for us, and if nothing else you have to believe us when we say we are sincerely grateful for your support and we never stop trying to improve ourselves.

This Christmas we are having a storewide sale of 20%. To enjoy the discount, join our Tzarist facebook group where we will reveal the discount code for you to key when you checkout. Remember to hit ‘update’ button and the revised amount will appear in the black bar. If you are buying gifts for Christmas, try to send in your order as early as possible. Preferably before the 15th because the post office gets busy closer to the big date!

Lenka Concert Ticket Giveaways

Also, as promised, we are giving away 3 pairs of tickets to Lenka’s concert this December 17th. Winners were picked from the pool of facebook group fans. We picked the 4th, 44th and 144th person in our list of facebook members because its our 4th year. The winners are Shawn Tan, Lareina Ng and Marie Tan! We will be emailing you shortly to mail you the tickets.

More instant updates and promotions in the future on our facebook page so don’t miss it!

The girls were in for a treat though, I made some necklaces specially for them.

Click below for close-ups!

Love spending time with my family here. It’s so warm and comforting..

<3 Mich

Michelle will be in Hong Kong but before she leaves she is going to leave me with the stuff she has been saving for this Fashbash. It’s over 2 days so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t come and see me

It’s always lovely to meet you ladies and we hope you will like what we have worked so hard to bring you this time round. Can’t wait!!

To begin our string of Christmas activities, we will like to give away 3 pairs of tickets to Lenka’s Asia Tour Concert! Simply be a fan in our Facebook group and you’ll stand a chance to win 1 pair of tickets.

If you don’t know who Lenka is, I’m sure you’ve heard “The Show” some way or another. The concert will be held at Zirca, on the 17th of December, from 08:00pm. More details are available at our Facebook page.

Quickly click here to join us!

More exciting stuff will be coming up in December. Can’t wait to share with all of you!

Siping is having her first exhibition after she has graduated from Lasalle and we were invited to her preview yesterday! It is part of the Design Festival 2009 and honestly we think her exhibition rocks. A Void Experience represented a web of estranged neighbours and showed sneak peaks into their individual lives (you see it through the mailbox!).

By the time we got there, the crowd was somewhat dwindling and we had the whole space to ourselves to camwhore. That short one hour of silliness and Emerald’s “Michelle, your cheeks look like they’re growing fatter again”, makes me impatient and anxious for the holidays to come! I can’t wait to spend time with my friends and loved ones… Fly to HK, spend Christmas together, count down to the new year and visit Tokyo’s Disney Sea. Can’t wait.

Anyway! To visit our dearest friend’s exhibition, just head down to Compassvale Link Block 277C. The exhibition is in an open void deck, you know, A Void Experience? It will be ongoing from 27th November to 6th December, 09:00am to 11:00pm daily. For more details about the exhibition and Lim Siping, please visit their website.