Apples and love, not sure why they have become such good friends over the years having in mind that an apple made Eve ruin Heaven for Adam in the first place…or so they say…
Somehow the magical connection between love, desire and apples decided to play a romantic part in our lives, sometimes without us really knowing it. For example, search for spells including apples and love and you’ll find out there is a whole bunch of them.

Gothic animals

Humans and animals share a microcosm in this grand universe of ours, it’s understandable therefore that we’d form bonds and alliances with our earthly cell-mates. From the dawn of time man and beast have co-existed and relied on each other for survival. But more than this, an elevation to friendship and spiritual bonds make our animal counterparts a glittering facet to our transcendental selves.

One of the most important ways for Alchemy to meet it’s trade customers, to showcase each season’s latest products, preview Alchemy’s new designs and projects and discuss ideas and issues, is through the circuit of international trade shows. Certainly one of the most important and by far the best of these to attend, (for both business reasons and fun!), is LondonEdge, a twice-yearly event held in London with occasional showings in exotic locations such as New York, Hong Kong or Berlin.

Dark culture vultures should wing their way to London this autumn, as the British Library are hosting an exhibition celebrating 250 years of Gothic literature.

We have evidence of jewellery used as decorative adornment dating back as far as between 90,000 and 100,000 years ago. But as mankind progressed and our understanding grew, jewellery changed from merely decorations to representations and reflections; jewellery started to serve as a symbol of wealth and/or status, as well as to protect against harm, ward off evil, and heal ailments. And through the years and across continents from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome, Asia and India to the Georgian, Edwardian and Victorian eras an indeed to modern day, shining examples of such adornment have opened a window to the soul of humanity and shed light on our thoughts, dreams, beliefs and desires.

Alchemy have become regular visitors to Bloodstock Open Air festival. While we were hard at work on the stall, our resident metal fiend Gavin Baddeley was swanning around enjoying himself. Here he explains why he reckons Bloodstock’s become an essential date in the metal calendar…

    He told me I had blood on my mouth. I looked at him confused yet quite amused at his observation. ‘Your lip is bleeding,’ he insisted. Grinning I licked my lips clean and tasted once again the blood that wasn’t mine. The last drop of my most recent sustenance.

Alchemy have attended very many open air rock concerts over the years going back to the 80’s, including the famous Donington “Monsters of Rock” events.

An ancient, Egyptian mystery? A late Mediaeval ‘science’? A secret Renaissance enigma? Yes, all of these, but in more recent history it’s cultural impact has directly affected more people than all of these combined – but this time from Alchemy England!

Wave-Gotik-Treffen is the world’s largest meeting (or “treffen”) of darkly inclined souls. The largest recorded attendance was in 2000 with over 25,000 people and this never drops down below 15,000.

We’re big horror fans here at Alchemy, so were concerned to hear that Dario Argento, director of such 70s cult classics as Deep Red, Suspiria and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage has suffered a serious accident. In a scenario that sounds a little like something from one of his stylish chillers, Dario fell down a flight of stairs at his apartment in Rome. Happily, he’s now out of hospital, and being looked after by a private nurse at home. Everyone here at Alchemy wishes Italy’s maestro of menace a swift recovery!

http://www.gavinbaddeley.com/

Wake up before dawn, walk towards a nearby lake and wait there…Just wait would you? When dawn makes its presence, what would you see? A lake, you say? Just a lake? Are you sure? Well I’m afraid that’s not what people saw at that hour according to my grandma’s stories and Romanian folklore.

While the dusty realm of the library’s seldom seen as a hive of excitement, a recent discovery at the library at Harvard University’s Houghton Library has been causing something of a stir. For experts have recently confirmed that a volume in the library’s collection is bound in human skin.

When it comes to love, we don’t need Valentine’s day to make us feel special. Love is something that should be experienced every day, every moment and every second of our lives. Love is beautiful, but it is also deadly if not answered.

Recently returning from my first trip to Chicago for the 20th annual Goth Convergence, I’m filled with a rekindled enthusiasm for a scene that I fell in love with as a teen and reaffirmed how it is still as relevant to me and my life in adulthood.