Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos)

Acknowledged in many other cultures, 'Day of the Dead' is a public holiday celebrated in Mexico and by people of Mexican ancestry living elsewhere, particularly within the United States. The festival today has spread all over the world and is often a three day celebration, where friends and family will gather together to remember and honour the dead, helping them along their spiritual journey.

Over the years, the celebration has moved from the Summer to the Autumn to coincide with the western Christian Allhallowtide - All Saints' Eve, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day.

Frances Ann Day summarizes the three-day celebration, the Day of the Dead:

“	On October 31, All Hallows Eve, the children make a children's altar to invite the angelitos (spirits of dead children) to come back for a visit. November 1 is All Saints Day, and the adult spirits will come to visit. November 2 is All Souls Day, when families go to the cemetery to decorate the graves and tombs of their relatives. The three-day fiesta is filled with marigolds, the flowers of the dead; muertos (the bread of the dead); sugar skulls; cardboard skeletons; tissue paper decorations; fruit and nuts; incense, and other traditional foods and decorations.	”
— Frances Ann Day, Latina and Latino Voices in Literature

We have a variety of pieces designed with a 'Calavera' [Skull] - a depiction of a Human skull often used in the Mexican celebration 'Day of the Dead' and the Western 'All Souls' Day.

Here are a couple of our favourites:

Available from our Covent Garden London store, or online HERE

FRIDAY FRIGHT NIGHT!

Our Friday 'Fright Night' film choice of the week:

From the adaption of Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' is the cult classic 'Nosferatu', directed by F.W. Murnau.
Due to copyright infringement, Stoker's heirs sued over the adaptation and won, with a court order being issued to destroy all copies. Fortunately, a few prints survived and were kept alive, making Nosferatu and 'Count Orlok' an influential masterpiece.

Here is our very own hand carved 'Nosferatu' ring in Sterling Silver, available in store and online:

Visit our online store: http://crazypigdesigns.com/en/




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24HRS LEFT TO ENTER!..

There is less than 24 hours left to enter our t-shirt INSTAGRAM EXCLUSIVE GIVEAWAY! 

Either re-post one of our tee images or screen grab to share VIA Instagram.
Make sure the post is public using the hashtag #CrazyPigDesigns so that we can see your entry.
Find us on Instagram [at] crazypigdesigns

One male and one female winner will be picked at random on Friday 30th September at midday (UTC+1)

Good luck! 💀

Guitar-EXP review from French magazine Guitare Xtreme

Hello friends,
Pick up your September copy of 'Guitare Xtreme' - the #1 guitar magazine in France!
Featuring Eric Clapton on the front cover, Armand Serra's GUITAR EXP gets the full French treatment in this month's issue.

Bonjour les amis,
Ramasser votre copie Septembre de 'Guitare Xtreme' - le #1 le magazine de guitare en France !
Doté d' Eric Clapton sur la couverture , Armand Serra GUITAR EXP obtient le traitement complet français dans ce numéro du mois.

  
Learn more at: www.guitar-exp.com

PLAYER MAGAZINE JAPAN reviews GUITAR-EXP “the ultimate collection"

Welcome to all our Japanese guitar friends and collectors.
Guitar EXP would like to thank PLAYER magazine for the great review in their latest issue.

As always Japanese fans are hard core collectors, and GUITAR EXP is currently shipping many copies of the two available Limited edition box set.
Just a quick reminder that both editions have been produced in very limited numbers:
Only 250 copies of the SUPER DE LUXE set signed by BILLY F GIBBONS and RICK NIELSEN,
And 2000 of the De luxe edition have been published.

Many copies have already sold! Don’t wait too long!

GUITAR EXP is a truly Deluxe book set, a must for all guitar lovers, fans, collectors, players and anyone into CLASSIC ROCK music from JIMI HENDRIX to the SEX PISTOLS- You will not be disappointed.

Order now online, or pop in to Crazy Pig Designs, London where they are available in store:
http://guitar-exp.com/#pre-order

Visit the website for further information:
www.guitar-exp.com

Translation of PLAYER magazine (Japan)

"THE GIBSON LES PAUL STANDARD 1958-1960", published in the end of July as a special issue of Player Magazine is a gorgeous book in B4 size with a hard cover and contains beautiful pictures of more than 80 Bursts, and is generating good interest.

However, other great guitar books still exist in the world.
"Armand Serra - GUITAR EXP - The Ultimate Collection" is a super gorgeous vintage guitar book filled with many very rare instruments never seen before.
Two books in a special slip case packaged in a robust carton box, the size for the book is 275mm x 320mm, and the total weight is approx 5kg!
Wow! It would hurt if you dropped the book on your barefoot!

Astonishingly, more than 200 super rare vintage guitars are shown in full colour pages.
Those guitars are from the private collections of Mr Armand Serra who is a world famous guitar collector in London, UK.
He compiled this book by himself as the culmination of his collection.

You will be surprised, not only by the number of guitars in the book and gorgeousness of the book but also by the importance and depth of the collection.
Multiple Les Pauls and Stratocasters from their debut year to each following year, 5 original Flying V’s from 1958, the super rare "The original" explorer is also in the collection.
In addition, guitars, basses and amplifiers used by legendary guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richard, Jeff Beck, Jon Entwistle, Pete Townshend, and many more are crowded in the book.

Stories regarding each piece in the collection, memorabilia of concerts the author went to, like tickets, flyers, pictures, and autographs of musicians are also shown in the book.
We can truly sense the author’s love and respect to those guitar legends and rock music.

Many vintage guitar book have been published before, but this GUITAR EXP is not just a book, this is the book showing Mr Serra's passion and love to rock music and guitars all crystallized in this box set.

The author of this book, Mr Armand Serra was born in France, and went to London for the opportunity of pursuing career as a rock guitarist.
Fascinated by vintage guitars, he has been mainly collecting guitars played by famous guitarists as well as working as a professional guitarist; he also started jewellery making and design.
Today, he is very busy working as the owner and designer of Crazy Pig Designs which is world renowned Rock n Roll jeweller.

GUITAR EXP is currently not being sold at book stores in Japan, so you will need to order the book from the official internet site:
www.guitar-exp.com

No doubt this is “THE” book well worth buying!

Order now online, or pop in to Crazy Pig Designs, London where they are available in store:
http://guitar-exp.com/#pre-order

Visit the website for further information:
www.guitar-exp.com

RAY BURTON adopts Cliff's infamous pose Feat. Crazy Pig Designs

RAY BURTON, father of Metallica’s late, great bass player CLIFF BURTON, is pictured here in a newly released photo by his family. He adopts the well-known pose of his Son wearing Crazy Pig Designs:

Left:
PLAGUE SKULL RING - A classic Crazy Pig Designs Skull ring that sits next to our infamous Large Evil Skull ring #27. As worn by Metallica's Cliff Burton, hand carved by Armand Serra in 1983. Made from the original master carving, 100% guaranteed! This skull ring features a worn effect with an opened jaw screaming full skull face.

Right:
LARGE EVIL SKULL RING - A true Crazy Pig Design classic skull ring, which has most notably been worn by James Hetfield & Cliff Burton of Metallica. This item is made from the original master hand carved by Mr Armand Serra in 1983.
Also available in a small (#471) and mini (#740) version.
 

 
As Cliff would have said: KILL EM ALL!
Armand SERRA,
Crazy Pig Designs

 Image copyright to Ray Burton, for the new publication 'Metallica: Back to the Front' by Matt Taylor, Moonrise media.