The French Riviera’s best kept secret has just been revealed – Welcome the Ellisium Partners.

For all of you who haven’t yet heard the whispers and gossip in the luxury market circles here on the south coast, the Ellisium Partners are taking the Côte d’Azur by storm. The idea behind the company started bearing fruit towards the end of 2009 within the luxury market circles – having already signed up some of the areas finest (in the luxury property sales, rentals, technology, finance and architecture markets) the list of companies wanting to join the partnership is growing…

The Ellisium Partners have a bold mission statement:
“We understand that our clients have exacting standards, at Ellisium Partners, so do we.”

Pure Design are delighted to reveal their partnership with the Ellisium Partners as their preferred and recommended supplier of website design and graphic design materials. We will also be on hand to supply luxury printed materials and offer excellent rates to the partners. Working together with MMMarketing, the Ellisium Partnership’s future looks bright…

The packing has carried on through the night with boxes mounting around us, the Apple Macs being the last boxes to fill….

During the packing some of the smaller members of our team were packed away making a calmer move possible : )

Our new phone number will be:
+33 (0)970 446 297

For anyone based on the French Riviera, the recent ‘chatter’ and gossip about THE new online lifestyle magazine soon to launch here on the Côte d’Azur has been gaining pace. Pure Design were first contacted back in December 2008 by Wayne Brown and his team regarding project assistance on the ‘machine’ we now know as FR2DAY.

Launching on 13th May in Cannes, FR2DAY is a sassy, punchy new online lifestyle magazine and is the sister magazine to the LA based LA2DAY. Written by locals and edited by top UK entertainment and showbiz writer Karen Hockney, it will carry information on showbiz, local talent, shopping, food, style, fashion, travel and what’s on from Monaco to Marseille.

Primarily aimed at the ex-pat Anglophone residential market on the Cote d’Azur, a French version will be launched later in 2009.

Pure Design are proud to be working with Wayne and his team at FR2DAY and hope the project proves to be a huge success.

So here we are 7 days into 2009.  We closed our doors over Xmas and New Year and enjoyed a nice relaxing time back in Preston in the UK with the family.  I managed to get through all my “to do’s” from my list this time: – drinking locally brewed beer, playing the drums in a band, organising a treasure hunt for several under 8s, taking my dad on the football and not getting ill!!!!

Back to France on the 8th and ‘BANG’ – ill!!!!!  Sounds like everyone has had it, has it or will get it – seems like 2009 is welcoming everyone with’les bronchites’!!!

Work has been kind – several website proposals have come to fruition and end of January deadlines are looking ‘do-able’.  We’ve had half a dozen new enquiries, everything from print, branding and eCommerce sites.  I’ve even helped a friend of mine set up his own design company over in Le Tignet.  Full of enthusiasm and talent, I’m sure he’ll be a success!!!

So, I’m sorry I’ve not followed the hoards and sent out a generic ‘Happy New Year’ card – I thought I’d just write a few words here in the rambling corner of Pure Design and wish you all a successful year (even with the newspapers trying to scare us silly with stories of woe and suffering).

All the best!
Ben

On the 9th November 2003 we packed our little Corsa up and set off down the M6 heading for the south of France. Today, we have celebrated 5 years in France with a warm baguette, slab of cheese and some cheap, but rather lovely red wine. Our 5 year anniversary in France funnily coincided with my first year as ‘a blogger’.

What a lot to celebrate!!!

Someone recently asked if I have any regrets regarding the move.  Of course Alice and I miss our families, and I have regular cravings for Sausage and Chips, proper Beer and the odd live Preston North End game. The arrival of ‘baby William’ in February of this year has been a real highlight though!!!  Now just over 9 months old and exploring everything from plug sockets to spare slippers, he has made us wakeup and realise France is actually a pretty nice place to bring up a child.

The hospital experience was sensational….. We had 6 amazing days in Nice Lenval, with beautiful sea views, hot coffee and croissants, and lovely, lovely medical care.

Our weekends are spent either at the beach, diving, walking in the mountains, mushrooming, skiing or just lazing by the pool…. it certainly beats Saturday afternoons walking round B&Q Warehouse.

And work is pretty good too.  The last year has seen business increase by 400% – whether this accountancy statistic means I was not doing much 12 months ago or that business is booming remains to be seen, but the quality of clients, the relationship we have with every single one of our clients and the high level of work being produced tells me we must be doing something right.  

We are being recommended by printers in Italy to companies from Australia.  We are working with American advertising giants when they visit France. We are developing websites for some of the most exciting new business brands establishing in Cannes.  We are being approached by leading UK marketing agencies to set up French Offices.  We are working with L’Oréal, Coca Cola, Sunseeker and Sony….so ‘yeh’ we’re doing OK.

This doesn’t mean we have become ‘just another advertising agency in France’.  I always make a point of meeting my clients face to face….. business is fast becoming VERY impersonal with agencies, freelancers and designers claiming it can all be done ‘by remote’.  But this isn’t meant to be a ‘commercial post’….its about 5 years in France…..and 5 great years in France.

So, where we will be in another 5 years is anyone’s guess – in France for sure, running Pure Design for sure, more babies…. more than likely…..

Between email, MSN, Skype, SMS, and the office phone, I am pretty well “connected”. In fact, just flying over to the UK recently was strange as I was “offline” for four hours at a time! Wooooohhhhhh, shock, horror!!!!

Many people nowadays expect an immediate response. I cannot tell you how often I have had someone email me, only to call within a few minutes just because I have not yet replied. Most work, especially branding and web design for me, requires a good deal of concentration and quiet time. Two or three hours of uninterrupted productivity can easily equal an entire eight hour day of “work” when that work is constantly interrupted with emails, phone calls, etc.

One of the best things that I did a few years ago was turn off the “new mail notifier” in Mac Mail. When I really want to get work done, I might hit the “do not disturb” button on my phone and turn my mobile phone to “silent” mode as well.

This can apply to social events as well. Sometimes when Alice and I go to dinner I’ll leave the mobile at home – just to be unaccessible for an hour or two. Unless you happen to be on-call for work, there is not very much in life that won’t wait that long for you to respond to it – and the peace and quiet of an uninterrupted evening with friends or family is worth it.

So, turn off that email notifier, shut down instant messenger, and turn off your cell phone. Instead get some really creative work done, or spend some time with someone important to you, or just read a book. You’ll thank yourself.

This video really summed up one of my reasons for moving to France and how some people have REALLY bad days in the office – especially when it comes to computers!!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4a1z7NLnNk[/youtube]

If you’re spending over 50% of your time updating your website, creating marketing material and wasting time in the office on your PC, then its time to rethink your business. Using an external web design company or graphic design company to take care of all your marketing and advertsing needs takes the hassle out of life and you can rest assured that you are in the best of hands.

Based in Cannes, in the south of France, Pure Design International are an independant advertising agency specialising in website design, advertising and graphic design.

This is what one of our clients had to say about us:
We were looking for an english speaking webdesigner so we selected Pure Design to deal with our advertising when we arrived in France in August 2006. Pure Design dealt with everything relating to the launch of our new business from logo design, brand name, signage, website design and stationery. As advertising is very important to Eden we have entrusted this important work to Pure Design who ensure that we have the best possible advertising our budget can afford. As a business, we can fully recommend Ben who has looked after us so well.
Roy B. – Director – Eden Garden Design and Build

If you DO just have a bad day and end up wrestling with your PC, you may want to call Riviera IT Solutions afterwards!!!

English food, in France?  How VERY dare you!!! The thought of moving family, friends, cats, dogs, jobs and all the junk you have accumulated over the years to go and start a new life in France may seem daunting…. but the rewards of sunshine, blue skies, fine wines and provencal food make up for all that worry and stress…. baguettes, pates, cheeses, hams and fresh salads…. just the mention of french food is enough to start your tummy rumbling!!!So why do people make all this effort to move to France just to go and eat English food? This question was put to me by a friend who has a house in France, and visits twice a year….. and she was ironically the answer to her own question!!!For some reason, my friends and family still in the UK tend to think we just sit around all day, munching on baguettes and sipping chilled Provence Rosé….I did that for the first 3 months in France and then realised I had put on over half a stone and struggled in a 25 minute match of football.So English Food Stores are set up to take advantage of these weak moments you have! Bacon butties, digestive biscuits,  vimto, meat and potato pies, horseradish, fish and chips….a decent pint of beer…..I know, I know…. its not exactly ‘slimfast food’ but every so often, as a full blooded englishman, an english food trip is needed and a lazy sunday morning fry-up organised!!!!For your local English food stores on the French Riviera:Geoffreys of LondonBrittains Home Stores

The world is my lobster! I have complete control! I’ll let my fingers do the talking, creative juices flow…….and yet my mind is blank! What sort of image will this be portraying to any friends, clients or just general readers…..Ben Collison, director of Pure Design International, and he’s gone blank!!!

A good friend of mine, and an exceptional web designer recommended I ‘do a blog’!!! I’ve always put the word ‘blog’ in the same category as ‘chav’ and ‘bling’ and….urm…..there you have it, my mind has gone blank once again!!!

I dislike the word ‘blog’!

But I’m taking the advice and at 21h03 on this Monday night here I go.

Ben CollisonMy name is Ben. I’m 30 years old. I live in the south of France with my wife Alice. I run an advertising agency here – Pure Design International – and work from home. Life is pretty good to be honest! I am 15 minutes from the beach and 45 minutes from the ski slopes. Sometimes I just sit here in my shorts and work, other times I am meeting clients in Cannes over a ‘working lunch’. Like I say, life is pretty good and a million miles away from my memories of England……

…..I worked in a gray office or ‘studio’ as they liked to call it. The carpets had flees, there were bars on the windows, I worked silly hours and had to share an office with a guy who I felt could and one day would do me some harm with the scalpel he carried around. My wife had just finished her degree in french and spanish and one wet, wednesday morning I’d had enough….

‘MOVE to France, as in live?’ was Alice’s response…..it took some persuasion, and promises of ‘yeh, just for 6 months’…..we packed our car full of pots, pans, duvets and an old Apple Mac, ready for me to take the French design field by storm and set off without a job, accommodation, £1000 in our pockets and my dad shouting after us ‘see you in 6 weeks, silly kids!!!’

4 years on and the business is flying. Website design, graphic design, corporate identity, advertsing….the enquiries are coming through daily, its hard to keep on top of things and its important I keep focused on whats important – my wife, my 9 week old unborn baby, my family back in the UK, and my chili farm….

Thats me really, whether this is what ‘blogs’ are all about I don’t know, but its been kind of fun!

Thanks to Andy for his blog inspiration http://www.creativecaravan.co.uk/blog/