One great thing about running an on-line business is the potential to have anybody from pretty much anywhere in the world visiting your shop and placing an order. It just feels great when people thousands of miles away find your products exciting enough to actually want to have them shipped over from another corner of the globe.

One of Caradiaz's international orders last year came from Italy. It was a straight forward order for a Tawy necklace so we checked the item as usual, packed it and sent it. When the customer received the parcel, she sent us a rather nice email telling us how pleased she was with the necklace, the packaging and how quickly she had received it. She then went on to mention that she was actually an independent writer who had been commissioned a book/guide on internet shops worldwide by a major Italian publisher and she'd like to include us in it.

We were completely taken by surprised but absolutely delighted, of course, to receive such praise and be one of the chosen companies for the book. Most of these shopping guides are just sheer advertising paid for by the on-line companies appearing in them. But this time it was a genuine, first-hand recommendation from someone who had actually used our website and made a purchase.

So we would like to say 'grazie mille' to author Paola Cicuttini for the vote of confidence.

You may have noticed from our collections that at Caradiaz we work mostly with Spanish jewellery designers and manufacturers. At the end of the day, I come from Spain so there is no language barrier and I'm familiar enough with the 'mañana, mañana' syndrome to know how to handle it. But it was also important to be close enough to our sources to develop a good business relationship and have as much control as possible on the production of our products.

More and more companies are outsourcing their manufacturing to countries like India and China to benefit from cheap labour but quality tends to get heavily compromised. In fact, last year we worked with a designer who had all her pieces made in India and when we received the goods, we had to send back more than seventy per cent because of the quality (or rather, the lack of it!). We inspected all the pieces one by one (we always do) and found all sorts of problems, from broken beads to missing beads, wrong assembly, dodgy wiring and more. Needless to say that we stopped working with that designer straight away in view of the experience...

Fortunately, some Spanish companies can still produce quality goods at competitive prices in their own local sites and employing skilled adults. So for us, India and the Far East shall remain places to draw inspiration from and enjoy wonderful holidays!

We are delighted to welcome French designer Jeanne Bataillé and her ParIstanbul jewellery to Caradiaz.

Jeanne is a talented ‘fashionista’ currently living and working in Istanbul. She started her fashion career in Paris working with renowned designers, such as Sonia Rykiel, and prestigious fashion magazines like Elle and Vogue. She then moved to Istanbul and shortly afterwards launched her first jewellery collection, a range of delicate necklaces and pendants in semi-precious stones and glass, inspired by Parisian chic.

ParIstanbul jewellery is highly sought after by young, trendy women in Istanbul and its success is now spreading fast in Paris and London.

When buying jewellery for Caradiaz, I tend to go for unusual pieces that have some kind of 'stylistic' connection with an ancient culture.

I find all ancient cultures simply fascinating, although I'm particularly drawn towards Ancient Egypt and Ancient China. So it's probably no surprise that we have pieces like the Aida, Amarna, Tiye and Qin necklaces on our website.

You may have also guessed that I didn't miss the exhibitions on the Terracotta Warriors (British Museum) and Tutankhamun (The O2).

Tutankhamun was a bit disappointing, although they had some gorgeous ancient jewellery on display. But, with or without jewellery, I enjoyed the Warriors more. It was really impressive to be able to get so close to the statues and see the differences in the costumes, faces, etc. Mind you, my friend and fellow internet entrepreneur, Sophie Garrett, (who runs www.yours2share.com) came with me and my husband to see it and wasn't so impressed. But she has actually seen the real thing in China, so I guess she had a very good point....

A little anecdote before I go. I bumped (quite literally) into the now retired Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani at the Warriors exhibition. He was unconspicuously walking about amongst tourist and other visitors at first but, after a while, his dark orange tan and artificial-looking hair gave him away, particularly amongst a group of Italian student girls who tried to capture Mr. Garavani and one of his (rather) young male companions with their mobile phones.

We were thrilled to see the Pipa necklace (one of Caradiaz's best sellers) on tv last February. Actress Sharon Small (Mistresses, Inspector Linley, etc.) was a guest in The Saturday Kitchen show on 16th Feb 2008 and, much to our delight, she choose to wear a Pipa necklace to accessorise her outfit.

Thank you, Sharon!