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Top Ten Best Selling Glass 1 Trollbeads

 

I know how much fun it is to see what the best selling beads are at Trollbeads US and they have just published a list for the top 10 in each of the Trollbeads catagories. I have included links to their photographs. 

For Glass 1  (all sell for $31.00)

Beach  This bead has a soft sparkling within the blue glass giving it an appearence of the ocean on a sunny day.  One side of the bead has a sand color and sometimes dark grey which signifies the beach. It is incredibly clever and makes most customers smile when they see it.

Midnight Flower  A deep cobalt glass with floating aqua flowers floating differently within each bead

Whitecap My all time favorite because there is always a variety of colors, all in the same family but some have more blue and some have more green and that's not even addressing the pink that comes through occasionally.  (photographed above)

Grandma's Favorite  A lovely soft violet toned bead with darker toned flowers.

Conch  A wonderfully textural bead with many soft bumps.  A nice lighter neutral Trollbead to own.

Blue Petals  Blues in a soft pattern of petals.  A good balance bead for the Midnight Flower.

Sea Urchin  So much like the Sea Urchins from the Ocean.  Very natural and neutral tones.

White Stripe Alternating stripes of clear and white stripes.  You can never have too many stripes and you can never have too many white beads.

Azure Bubbles A perfect example how one Trollbead can have so many looks.  Hand created beads are the best.

Summer Dot In design, whether interior design or fabric design polka dots have always maintained  their popularity.  This bead is a soft and true pink.

In future Blogs I will be listing all the Trollbeads categories of the top 10 sellers.

 

 

 As a U.S. retailer for Trollbeads my head is spinning and I feel like I'm on a rail climbing the highest peak of a roller coaster and I only hope I can keep up with the gaining momentum. I'm holding on with both hands, knuckles white while struggling to keep my head on straight. Sounds dramatic doesn't it? Well that is exactly how selling Trollbeads right now seems to me. It's exciting to be a part of the new regime by way of being a retailer but I must say the specials that are in effect and the future specials will keep all of us retailers jumping just to keep up and to keep you all "in the know". Beyond the product specials being offered the company is also working on furthering its brand recognition.  The planning and hard work set in motion by worldwide CEO Peter Aagaard and now by the new United States CEO Michael Belleveau is coming to the surface and every day brings new events, new media exposure and new recognition daily.

Just to mention a couple of the recent public events:

Trollbeads  announced their partnership with Oprah Magazine to be a sponsor of O You! Trollbeads U.S. is proud to partner with this fine company which will bring heightened awareness to the Trollbeads brand.  This year's O You! event was at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia on October 15, 2011. As a sponsor of the event, Trollbeads personally met many of the 5000+ attendees.

 

Trollbeads attended, as an exhibitor, the Teen Vogue Fashion University on October 22, 2011. Trollbeads was a sponsor to this event and was recognized as "the" bead brand among some of the nations most influential young women, Teen Vogue readers. The 500 fashion savvy students learned about style-education through seminars and were exposed to the current branding trends.  The parent publication Vogue Magazine is the leading consumer publication for the fashion industry.

 

A couple current Trollbeads product specials:

 

Trollbeads Ring promotion: If you purchase a Trollbeads ring you will receive a free $31.00 glass Trollbead. If you haven't familiarized yourself with the rings...do it!  They are quite remarkable and remarkably affordable.

 

Free Bead Promotion: When you purchase a chain and an upgraded lock you will receive a free $31.00 glass Trollbead.  What better way to start collecting or start your Autumn bracelet or even your Holiday themed bracelet!

 

I will continue to relay information on the activity of this climbing momentum and suffice to say there are some very exciting events lined up for the new year.  To our collectors who enjoy wearing what they consider a quiet and exclusive brand fear not, the powers at be understand why you collect Trollbeads and will always keep quality as the number one priority, as you can see by the quality of the events it parnered with.  Trollbeads will never follow in the steps of the other brand of beads as it over-sold itself, always running our of product and by turning to huge jewelry "box" stores, shutting out the smaller retailers. From what I gather from their basic philosophy, Trollbeads will not go down this road.  They understand the close communication the smaller retailers can achieve and Trollbeads understands the importance this is to the brand. Yes there will be greater recognition but won't you be happier when someone looks at your wrist and asks "Oh, are those Trollbeads?" instead of what you have been asked in the past?

 

 

 

 

It seems that there are many collectors who have decided that the Pink Prism in the Breast Cancer Awareness set is new. Even after I explain the discussions I've had with Trollbeads explaining the history of the bead, I have been told I am wrong. I have heard that some collectors feel I am misleading people. For the honest people of Trollbeads and for me this is disappointing. How did this feeling of superiority develop with collectors and how did they come to distrust the truth? This irks me more when this is a fund raising event for Breast Cancer Awareness. When you consider the history Trollbeads has had with all of their humanitarian efforts worldwide, it's shameful.

Last year Trollbeads asked me for an opinion on what they should do with a box of old Pink Prisms uncovered when they were moving their offices. As you know Trollbeads does not get involved in the retired bead market however were sensitive enough to know by just releasing 2000 OLD Pink Prisms into the marketplace would hurt the value of this bead in the secondary market. Imagine Trollbeads collectors doubting the provenance of this bead when it was released in this manner to protect the value of their collections...

Knowing it needed to be in a limited edition format Trollbeads United States decided to use it in the Breast Cancer Awareness set. It would be win-win situation.  Newer collectors could have the old Prism and money would go to what I consider to be one the most important causes. There were also a number that went to Australia, as you all know, because the company likes to offer special beads to different countries.

After explaining the history to one collestor I was told that I was wrong that these were lighter and stamped so they were new. Having been a part of this decision process for little awhile I was obviously insulted and realized to what extent the damage by the ones feeling this way had gone. When I was confronted with this train of thought I knew I had to go to the source to ask Lise and Peter Aagaard to share with you what the story is. I explained that many collectors had decided, all on their own, to tell each other these Pink Prisms were not old. I am so disturbed that this uninformed way of thinking would hurt the Breast Cancer Awareness fund raising effort I am posting the personal response to my email from Peter Aagaard.

"Pink Prism is the real deal and from one of the original shipments. It is a type of glass which varies a lot (and why it was retired) – that is probably why it is different from other Pink Prism that they have seen. We found the beads unstamped when we moved – that is why the stamp is new – but the glass is old and I believe from one of the first shipments. Glass comes out different in different batches so one can be more translucent than another and also have variation in colors. The specific glass is not produced anymore so I can guarantee you that the beads are not new!"

 

 

      

 

Just recently I received an order of Trollbeads and as I was looking over the White Cap beads I noticed that out of 24 I had 2 that were so out of the ordinary, I put them aside!  The bright green was more dominant than the blue greens and I know they’ll be a use for that bead for someone for a design needing that color! You can see many of the White Cap beads above in this Trollbeads Bracelet.

When you want to be inspired to build a new bracelet look at the Glass 1, 2 and 3 Trollbeads but look for the differences and try to find something so different that it will be special.  There are many beads that have different appearances than their sister beads because the glass Trollbeads are all created by different artists with different subtle techniques and for a lot of the beads look for different sizes.  Many look at these differences as problematic but I don’t.  I look at them like they are “almost uniques” and I try to find a way to use these beads to their best advantage that I might not use their sister bead for. It seems that many of us Trollies love a good challenge.

Beads to look for these kind of differences in:

White Cap: Besides the bright green tones look for the pink deep within the bead!

Azure Bubbles: Now the differences in this bead really is quite obvious and this bead was created to be different and for this reason I always keep a couple of dozen on hand so everyone has the choice.  The colors I have used on bracelets because of the beads dominant color is: Purple, Brown, Sage Green and Blue.  If you haven’t seen a lot of this bead you may not know how many colors are represented in this one bead.Look at the variety of Azure Bubbles beads in the photo below!

Blue Desert: The color range in this bead can go from grey blue to sky blue and then you’ll see a few of these with swirls of yellow, pink and green.  We have collectors that ask for beads like this because the look is so different and the combination of colors is striking, like a sunset.

Pink Desert: This beads ranges all over the pink scale from deep pink with blue casts to a very light pink. All of these tones have a place to fit within the Troll color range.

Purple Prism: As we know many of the Purple Prisms are a shading of purple so the value is quite soft.  I love getting in the stronger color purple but it is a rare occasion! 

 Khaki Stripe: Rarely we will get the Khaki Stripe bead in with a strong hue of pink over the khaki and we have also had blue over the khaki and also has come in a soft yellow, which is quite pretty with the black contrasting stripes. In the photo below you can see a Khaki Stripe with pink!

 

Today the venerable interchangeable bead pioneers released a new kind of Unique beads, Universal Uniques.  The only thing that separates these from the original Unique Trollbeads is the size of the silver core at the center of the bead.  As the original bead line Trollbeads set the course for all other lines and the lines that followed them developed their products so anyone with Trollbeads could not use their chains.  With Pandora the end is larger allowing it only to accept its own beads that have large cores. Chamelia came out years later and they use the same closure, not allowing Trollbeads to be used on their chain.   I have to explain that many Trollbeads collectors know Trollbeads are the original bead brand and are questioning this move to modify on Trollbeads part.  I too was conflicted but now that I've learned the "why's" I understand and support this decision.

Universal Uniques are a meant to be, in Lise Aagaard's exact words, "a migration tool" for other bracelet wearers to be able to add our beautiful glass to their bracelets.  There are so many other people with other bracelets who have yearned for the Trollbeads product, especially the glass beads.  So Lise's idea was to make something for them without impinging on Trollbeads or forcing the other collectors to go without.

Having been a retailer for Trollbeads for years now I have seen many people who wear Pandora look longingly into our cases full of colorful glass beads, discussing the desire to have them but are simply not able to change the chain they wear.  (The glass beads from Pandora are very limited and they have a visually intrusive silver band running on the side of the bead and attached to the core with PANDORA all over it.) When you consider the collectable beads are often gifts from husbands and children (mother’s day being our biggest holiday) the Pandora or Chamelia wearer’s may want to add more color to their bracelets but they don't want to offend the gift giver.  Or maybe it's the cost of starting over but whatever the reason the Universal Uniques will stretch and break the boundaries laid down by the subsequent bead brands. No other bead brand has the history and experience of creating and offering glass beads like Trollbeads and this seems the best way to accomplish sharing of the beads! The Aagaard's are inclusive by nature and want all people from all communities to be able to try Trollbeads while keeping the integrity of the Trollbeads Mantra... excellence is craftsmanship, materials and design.

On Trollbeads Gallery Forum there is an on-going discussion by collectors on the pros and cons of this decision and both sides have valuable merits and you may want to read this discussion. Please join the forum for the most up to date Troll beads information.

This isn’t the first time Troll has offered the larger cores.  In both of the charitable collections one being the breast cancer awareness beads and the beads created to raise funds for Haiti’s earthquake survivors both used the larger core so all collectors could take part in the fund raising efforts.

My personal experience in seeing the Universal Uniques for the first time was overwhelming and if you know me and my history with Unique beads I have always offered them and I am not easily overwhelmed.  Just last week at the jewelry show in Las Vegas dealers were given the opportunity to select their own sets from large bowls filled to the brim with some of the most glorious beads I have ever seen.  Having only met Isabel Aagaard prior to this show I was excited to meet Lise and the rest of the family. I was also beyond excited about the new beads.  For a week prior to the show I kept on imagining myself rushing right past Peter and Lise, the two people I have been dying to meet for years, to dive into the Uniques!  Well it just about played out exactly as I imagined but I did it with a smile.  My son was the first in the booth and had already pulled his selections for Starfish, the Trollbead store in Boulder, Colorado- so I was the natural second.  I want to finish by reporting after my first day of sales they are being met with strong enthusiasm and so far my collectors have been all Trollbead collectors!

If you feel strongly one way or the other I would love to hear your comments.  If you have already left them on Trollbeads Gallery Forum, please also leave them here for the people who don’t visit the forum. (imagine that!)

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From l to r:Peter,Isabel,Lise Aagaard,Krista,Louise Rogers,Robin A, Alex Rogers and Nicolas Aagaard at Las Vegas party!

...but were afraid to ask!

Part 1. It's All in a Name

The Unique glass beads by Trollbeads are undeniably the one category of Trollbeads that is open for all kinds of interpretation depending upon your own experience with and knowledge of these incredible beads. To begin this discussion let’s start at what to call  these beads as this is one area that confuses many collectors. I remember a couple of years ago having a debate with our Trollbeads Gallery Forum members on what the best name is and it was really quite arbitrary with the name being different on different websites and in different countries. 

Lund (our past U.S. Distributor) referred to them as “Assorted Beads” but that name was too vague for me and we were permitted to call them anything that fit but not "OOAK".  Many dealers in the U.S. chose to call them "limited edition" beads but for me this didn’t work either.  Owning an art gallery my idea of a limited edition is something that has a finite end and I’m sure no one has been counting the beads as they were being made. Another problem with calling them limited edition is that Trollbeads had actual limited editions such as Brilliant Hearts and later Crazy Lace Agate, for two examples. Calling them "Limited Edition" would surely confuse the collector because these releases had nothing to do with Unique beads.

In Europe the dealers were selling these beads as “OOAK” beads  (which is  an acronym for "one of a kind") but as I mentioned Lund did not allow us to use the term due to legal ramifications. They believed the term to be misleading, where most all of these beads were not one of a kind.  This difference in the terminology may not seem like a big deal yet it was for the U.S. dealers.  At this point in time collectors the world over would run computer searchs for the term “OOAK” Trollbeads and where we could not use the term, it cut us out of a lot of internet searches. This was a big drawback for the U.S. dealers but I also understood the issue involved. The discussion I mentioned on our Trollbeads Gallery Forum brought up interesting points but I remember one of my Forum members telling me that “Unique” literally meant one of a kind and she was right of course but my use of the word was more about something being different from the norm. Since we had been using the name on Trollbeads Gallery since the early days, people had come to know the Unique beads on Trollbeads Gallery were in fact the same as the OOAK beads in Europe.

So call them what you want but on Trollbeads Gallery they will always be known as Unique!

In future blog articles I will be discussing the styles, values and origination of the Unique Trollbeads. Please contact me if you want anything specific or have anything to add!

The photograph above was taken of the Unique Trollbeads I was sent for Trollbeads Fest 2010.  I can't wait for the Unique beads to arrive for Trollbeads Fest 2011!

 

At the end of this past February the distributorship of Trollbeads in the United States changed.  The new distributor is Trollbeads-United States a company based in Princeton, NJ completely owned and managed by the parent company, Trollbeads Headquarters and the Aagaard family.  The past month has been a busy one for the Aagaards and Trollbeads-United States from setting up their ordering and shipping processes and hiring management and support staff.   Many of the U.S. Trollbeads stores have been eagerly waiting to see the changes implemented and to find out what the changes will mean to both retailers and to our customers.  While the drama is still unfolding I can tell you, as a retailer, the changes worth noting are all positive.

One change that is most notable is the availability of Unique Beads and the quality of the Unique Beads.  The original U.S. distributor offered the Unique beads only to the premier dealers and limited them to a certain number each month.  Unique Trollebeads are now available to the retailers wanting to offer them and their quanitities are not limited. The beads themselves are altogether different and in time this change of style will create a time frame for collectors to judge the date of these beads.  To accelerate the sales and clear the stores of the old style Unique beads, Trollbeads-United States has allowed it’s dealers to run a special price event for the month of April.  Both our website, TrollbeadsGallery.com and Rogers Gallery,our actual store, is offering 3 Unique beads for $75.00.   There are many "old" familiar styles going away and they will be missed so check out your local stores and the websites and get them now before they are gone!  A sample set from Trollbeads Gallery is shown on the left.

Replacing the old beads will be the beads we have become familiar with through the European sites but are now available to the U.S. dealers.  The new Unique Trollbeads are extraordinary and are works of art showing more detail and more degrees of difficulty to create.  Isabel Aagaard, who is working in Princeton on a temporary basis, just visited Rogers Gallery during our Special Event* and she spoke about the new Unique beads explaining how some of the designs are executed which of course left us all wanting for more! Our attendees listened with focused attention as Isabel, who is the owners’ daughter, explained how she creates Unique glass beads. Isobel was also the designer for the “Origami” Trollbead.  This leads me to one more important change in the United States.

Based on availability, Trollbeads designers will be visiting the U.S. stores during Special Events and will be sharing how glass beads are made, to the extent of eventually having them make glass beads at the event.  Demystifying this process will only serve to support our love of these beads and will make collectors want more.  I know I do.  We plan on having the glass bead artists at Trollbeads Fest! 2011, in September.

Now in its second month of operation, Trollbeads-United States has shown us the promise of a great future for Trollbeads here in the United States and this discussion will be continuing in another blog soon!

 *Shown above at Rogers Gallery is Isabel Aagaard, Louise Rogers and Kristine (from Denmark Trollbeads).

This week Trollbeads United States published a list of their top selling beads for the last 30 days.  As expected the list is dominated by new beads but it's fun to see what has made it to the top 15! I have created a link to make it easy for you to see the beads. Just click on the bead's name and it will take you to the bead.

As someone who works with Trollbeads everyday my favorite new bead is White Cap, pictured below! Each White Cap Trollbead is very different, much like the Azure Bubbles Trollbead is different.  Some have darker blue or light green running through the bead and some even have stripes of subtle red running near the base.

Both new Kits, the Flower Kit and the Bead Kit have made it to the top 15 as this is the first time North America has been offered the glass beads in Kits. The benefit is saving money because you pay for 5 beads but you get 6! 

Shown to the left is the Beach Kit!

 

 

The List!!!

#61424 Pastel Flower

#61421 White Petals

#11149 Cherry Blossom

#63037 Flower Kit

#61415 Conch

#63036 Beach Kit

#61417 Beach

#64605 Kimono Kit

#61418 Sea Urchin

#61422 Grandma's Favorite

#11405 Double Heart

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Trollbeads Universe

 

  The end of February brought more than cold winds over from Europe, it also brought us the Aagaards. Anyone reading this Trollbeads blog is well aware, or should be, of the Trollbeads family from Denmark. The end of February was a turning point for Trollbeads in the United States because that is when the Aagaards took over the Trollbeads distributorship for the U.S. I have written about it in past blogs so if you need to catch up you can check back at the older articles. As predicted this change has been monumental for dealers and for collectors in the U.S. I think one of the biggest changes this has brought about so far, most obvious to the U.S. collectors is the loss of the TrollbeadsUS.Com website. Lund Trading, the former U.S. Trollbeads distributor, had a dynamic site for collectors and many enjoyed the use of the registry and of the bracelet builder. Unannounced, the site was taken down last week. That means anyone who still had their registries on the site, lost them. But worry not because the Aagaards have a terrific site for you to play at www.TrollbeadsUniverse.com.You can have a registry, find retailers, find events and read about the history of every Trollbead ever in production. The history of Trollbeads in Europe is long and so much can be seen through the museum they have featured on the site.  It may take a while to adjust to the new playground but in time you’ll love it and feel right at home.

Here (no pun intended) is a friend you can see in Trollbeads museum on TrollbeadsUniverse.com.  He is one of the 3 Monkeys individually created by Svend Nielsen in 2003 and it was also retired from the line in 2003. Apparently there was no monkey business in 2003.  Whatever the reason for it's short life the 3 Monkeys are very rare. This week a very kind soul from Europe was willing to sell me her monkey, "Hear No Evil" and he arrived and stands proud amongst his fellow retirees at the U.S. Trollbeads Museum at Trollbeads Gallery. The museum grows daily!

Shown above is the Nielsen and Aagaard Family

This article has been written for you the Trollbeads collectors, to keep you informed about last weeks procedings between Trollbeads and Lund Trading.  Don't fear the changes, celebrate them! As I write this I am sure many other changes will occur before all is settled and I will report them to you.

As many of you know there are many changes in the air for Trollbeads and for its U.S. retailers. On Tuesday, January  31^st U.S. Trollbeads retailers received a letter from Trollbeads Corporate explaining they would be taking over the distributorship for Trollbeads in the U.S. and ending their relationship from Lund Trading as of January 31^st.  You can imagine as retailers we were very concerned as to what this would mean for the future of Trollbeads here in the states.    I personally needed to have more clarification before I was certain the transition would be smooth and without any legal ramifications. As retailers we have been working closely with Lund and have enjoyed a positive working relationship with the office support staff so the change has sent unsettled feelings though many retailers.  We needed more information to understand the reasons and the purpose for this drastic change but with the new bead release in the balance retailers were in a very difficult position.  Hour by hour we tried to work out what the best course would be.  Some retailers placed the new bead orders with Lund and some went right over to Trollbeads without looking back.

On Wednesday we received a letter from Lund’s attorney telling us, in brief, their contract with Trolllbeads was still in place and would be until 2014.  It went on to say that any attempt by any third party to sell to us would be dealt with by legal proceedings.   For retailers the legalese came across as threatening and at this point I was contacted by other retailers worrying as to the seriousness for them and for the orders they had place with Trollbeads and did these orders place them in legal liability.  In reading the document over while it felt threatening I believed the warning was only meant for Trollbeads.  It was also the next step any attorney would have taken at this point. 

Still at a point of not knowing where to turn and whose allegiance we should place out trust in, Lund took action and placed a temporary restraining order on Trollbeads at the a state level.  Trollbeads was in the position of having to send a letter through their attorneys, to retailers explaining due to the terms of the court order we were not to contact them in any way and vice versa.  Once again retailers were sent into a tailspin not knowing where the new beads would come from and if they would come at all.  It was my feeling that Lund had determined that the well -being of its retailers was not its main concern.  The letter from Trollbeads attorneys explained in greater depth the reasons what led Trollbeads to break the contract with Lund.  Among them being the owner of Lund, he reportedly had made secretive actions to create his own brand of beads while having parameters within his contract not to be involved with any competing companies.  In essence we were brought into the loop and given the respect due to us as the main vehicles that drove Lund to the success that it had within the U.S.  It wasn’t much to ask and Trollbeads showed us more respect in what was only their second communication, than Lund had in all of our years of dealing with them.  The letter went on to propose that in creating and producing his own line of beads, Lund’s owner had not only ignored the terms of his contract but he used information he received from Trollbeads to do so.  So there we were as retailers with no clear captain at the helm and I can say for myself as aTrollbeads retailer for 4 years and as the top U.S. dealer as I write this, I was extremely concerned and lost a lot of sleep.  We were assured this order would be dissolved but when?  Courts can take all the time in the world.

On Wednesday night, February 2^nd we received a letter from Trollbeads telling us a Federal Court judge dissolved Lund’s restraining order with lightning speed.  Trollbeads United States would immediately commence with the shipping of new beads.  It was great news but tempered by the fact we also know it may be only until Lund can come up with another blocking tactic.  In the long run it is evident who will be the victor but the turmoil Lund has involved us all in is not right. It was between Trollbeads and Lund and the retailers should not have been dragged into it.

 This change was more than necessary and it will mean great things for Trollbeads dealers and collectors in the United States.  The visions the Aagaard’s have for Trollbeads and what it wants to invest in marketing will make the company so much stronger and it’s visibility in the U.S. will rise to where it should be and for this we should all be excited.  What we will be a part of is a whole new generation of the Trollbeads evolution and of the Trollbeads family.  Trollbeads-United States will be managed and run by Lise Aagaard’s (CEO of Trollbeads International) 2 sons, Robin and Nicolas and her daughter Isabel.  For a short term they will be directed by Lise’s husband Peter, who will stay as long as the transition requires the added and experienced management.  All of this is very important for me because this familial continuity is why Trollbeads stands so far above all the other interchangeable bead brands.   The endless fount of inherited creativity along with the steady steerage by the Nielsen/Aagaard family exhibits a perfect balance between artistry and business acumen.   Earlier generations have created, nurtured and maintained this brand and with this next generation, it will continue to thrive and offer their collectors an even greater depth of Trollbeads development.

To see the new 2011 Spring Trollbeads Collection follow this link.