This year Top Drawer and Home were held in London Olympia, which as I found out is a much much larger venue then Earls Court (where it was in previous years) If I'd known I would have worn comfy shoes- it felt like I'd walked miles by the end of the day.

I met my friend Nic Squirrel and marched past gifts and toys to the greetings card area. Oh my gosh there were rows and rows of eye candy. Luckily I had been stalking a few of the card companies on Instagram and Twitter in the last fortnight and it seemed a great way to strike up a conversation. Jessica Hogarth kindly chatted to me briefly about manufacturing and the quality of her drawing skills over the years.

I was amazed at the sheer amount of beautiful work at Stop The Clocks booth. Most of the designs were on a light or neutral background which gave all of their collections a very unified and harmonious look.

I finally found Nella cards run by Belinda and James at the very far end of the hall. Belinda was my first design manager when I was fresh out of college and we've kept in touch over the years. They gave me a brief glimpse of the highs and lows of manufacturing, dealing with buyers and handling stock. What came across from everyone who was kind enough to talk to me was how much hard work there is involved - I totally salute them for their sheer dedication.

There were also amazing booths in the gift section - I'd forgotten how much I liked ceramics. One of my favourites was by Magpie - I pretty much wanted to everything they were showing. The Gift section was vast and varied from candles and teepees to rugs. I just couldn't take it all in and was suffering from visual exhaustion by the time I reached the Home section.