3 rooms, 130 cutting edge designers, 1 exciting event! 23rd October saw the preview of the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair. Indie Quarter (Vanilla Storm’s design blog) was delighted to sponsor the prize for best stand. The event was officially opened by Thomas Heatherwick (designer of the B of the Bang - the inspiration behind Great Northern’s logo).

We arrived early to judge the award and had a very difficult task in picking out a winner. The standard was particularly high as we made our way through row after row of creative and imaginative displays. After three laps, we finally decided on Susan Kane of Calico Angel. We loved her ‘nature meets shabby chic’ theme and the way this had been developed. Her stand was transformed into a woodland hideaway, complete with bird house, wooden panel walls and matching bunting. Susan was presented with a certificate and a £250 cash prize.

Yep, we’re on the move again. We’re packing up our ice cream van and moving up the road to Heaton Chapel.

The move will take place on Friday 5th September and the office will be closed from 3.00pm on Thursday 4th September until Monday 8th. From Friday our new address will be

Vanilla Storm Limited
Suite 302
Ashbourne House
334 Wellington Road North
Stockport
Cheshire
SK4 5DA

Telephone: 0161 282 4525.

We look forward to welcoming you to our new offices!

This position has now been filled.

We are currently looking for a temporary Project / Admin Assistant to assist the team over the next couple of months. This would be an ideal holiday job for a student looking to work within new media.

Duties will include:

- answering the telephone and dealing with customer queries
- filing
- greeting visitors
- corresponding via email and letter
- general research
- collating and organising client information
- general admin duties to assist the directors

Candidates must demonstrate the following:

- excellent written and oral communication skills
- good keyboard skills including using Word, Excel (basic) and email
- attention to detail
- a basic knowledge of Photoshop (not essential – training can be given)

An interest in the internet would be an advantage.

Hours: Monday to Friday, 9.00 to 5.30, with an hour for lunch.
Salary: £7.50 per hour

Candidates should telephone Jenny Hudson on 0161 249 0901 in the first instance.

Closing date for applications: Tuesday 5th August 2008

STRICTLY NO AGENCIES (not even to ask why haven’t considered using an agency)

We love Levenshulme and are proud to be part of a vibrant and diverse community. We care about our surroundings and want to do our bit to continue to make Levenshulme a thriving and exciting place to live and work. That’s why we took the business pledge and have recently received the bronze award.

The bronze award demonstrates a commitment to raising awareness in your business. It includes:

- designating responsibility
- reporting incidents of environmental crime
- ensuring correct waste disposal
- compliance with waste legislation
- creating a clean premises plan

The steps are relatively simple to implement but can make a big difference in improving your environment. To see how you can make a difference, visit www.manchester.gov.uk.

We’re delighted to introduce our new ‘Web Design South Manchester’ service, a unique ‘web site surgery’ covering everything you’ve always wanted to know about web design but were afraid to ask.

The surgery is open each Thursday evening from 6.00pm to 8.00pm. If you have any burning questions, would like to discuss your ideas or would like a professional view on your own site, come along for a cup of tea and a chat.

Please phone ahead on 0161 249 0901 to secure an appointment and avoid disappointment. We look forward to welcoming you.

Welcome to the new look Vanilla Storm. We’re proud to introduce our brand new website. A new look for a new era.

We’ve been working on some exciting projects which you will find featured throughout the site. The portfolio and testimonials pages have been expanded to highlight our most recent work and to share our customer feedback.

Also new is the blog. We’re all avid bloggers and will be updating you regularly with all the news from Vanilla Storm and some interesting snippets that we think you may find useful.

As you can tell, we’re very excited.