More ties that bind

Regular readers will be aware that I've been looking at hand-painted or at least individually designed ties recently. I was on stage speaking on social media for O2 this week and had a few compliments on the Victoria Richards blue bar model I was wearing at the time. She's due to put some new designs up this month, more on which when they arrive.

There are also some good new designs on Sue Forrest's site this week; I'm getting Pink Link from the Spring 2012 collection which will add a nice splash of colour to my neckware. Today, though, I wanted to draw your attention to Julie Riisnaes. She sells through Etsy which defaults to dollar prices but you can select pounds and she's in the UK.

Some of her ties are a bit brash for me but I have one of the Mosaic pattern (pictured with her permission) and it looks very good with a grey suit. The reason I draw these to people's attention is simple: they're hand painted, therefore unique, and look good - and at £16 only just over a quarter of the price you'll pay for a Victoria Richards, a third compared to one of Sue Forrest's.

There are reasons for this. Julie tells me she buys plain ties in and paints them - which is absolutely fine. they don't feel quite as solid as one of Victoria's, but then that's fine. So she doesn't make ties. She also paints the visible side and leaves the other blank apart from a signature.

So that's pretty much where the cost differential comes in - they're attractive and lively and I may well wear mine on TV sometime; I probably wouldn't if I were moving around on stage as the blank underside might show. But as long as you understand what you're getting, a hand painted design at this price makes something unique accessible to a much wider market. Recommended.