Small Shop Directory : Home

Ceramics

Marigold and Lettuce create beautiful chunky white china. I love the way you can see the potters’ thumbprints in each piece. Best of all you can throw everything in the dishwasher which is a massive win in my book.

Florence Mytum. If you are a fan of wobbly china you will love Florence Mytum’s mugs and candle holders. I have the gorgeous wiggle mugs in the studio, they are robust and everyone admires them. Florence is a ceramic artist based in East London.

EOT Ceramics are all handmade in Cornwall. Emily’s designs are perfect someone who favors a paired back Scandinavian aesthetic. We particularly love the dimple mugs. Keep a look out for EOT’s winter collection launching on 13th November

Textiles

In Casa by Paboy : Paboy crafts the most beautiful cushions, towels and other accessories from vibrant cottons expertly patch-worked together. Each piece is a work of art. Paboy has the most astonishing and inspiring story and this is definitely a fantastic small business to support this Christmas.

Sunday and Story : Alongside sourcing amazing rugs from around the world, Josephine has a lovely selection of smaller pieces such as wool pouffes, pretty jute placemats and Kilm Cushions.

Poppy and Honesty : From pouches to huge scalloped edged quilts, we have a gift for almost everyone. All of our textiles are handmade from start to finish in Cornwall from Liberty fabrics, our exclusive linens and velvets. Please check our lead times for bedding sets and quilts.

Cards and Art Prints

Mimi Dickson : Mimi is the queen of beautiful tiny illustrations featuring little nostalgic joys such as Penguin Classics and jars of Marmite. Mimi makes beautiful cards and personally I would rather send x5 of her special creations that x50 generic Christmas cards from Tescos.

Charlotte Farmer : Bold coloured screenprints and wild designs (some even glow in the dark). These prints would be the perfect gift for someone with a sense of humour and a colourful home.

Rosie Harbottle : Gentle watercolour and pastel prints of still life compositions and more stylised images. Based in Dartmoor, Rosie’s beautiful paintings and prints are so pretty and nostalgic.

Other lovely things

The Appreciation Project : Natasha stocks the most beautiful selection of dried flowers which will look lovely and delicate on your mantlepiece even when the fire’s roaring and the heating’s wacked up. The Appreciation Project also sources the most exquisite marble vases.

Folie Chambre : Alongside beautiful bobbin mirrors and lamps, Natalie also makes candle holders and christmas decorations. Folie Chambre is known for amazing British craftsmanship as beautiful antique treasures.

I totally understand that shopping exclusively from small brands is not budget friendly for most families, however I hope that there is a small way you can support little independent businesses this Christmas. Please add your favourite small brands to the comments below, we’d love to know where you find your treasures.

Sophie xxx

Shop Early and Shop Small

According to everywhere, Christmas is on. As someone who won’t put up the tree until mid December and is likely to punch a box of mince pies if Maria Carey sings in the supermarket before next month, the prospect of Christmas shopping seems very premature. However if you are planning to support small independent brands it is important to get ahead with gathering your Christmas haul.

Small shops like Poppy and Honesty don’t have the capacity to stock all of their products as many of these are handmade to order. We offer such a huge range of sizes, that we ask our customers to allow 2-3 weeks for bedding sets and quilts to be handmade. Other small retailers will need longer lead times as they will possibly need to source materials to make your beautiful orders

The joy of shopping from small businesses is that there is no big guy in a shiny office taking a handsome cut from profits. Therefore your hard earned cash is more likely to be reflected in the quality of the product and will find its way more easily into the pockets of makers and small business owners. Think of it this way, your Christmas pounds could be paying for someone’s ballet lessons, school holiday, electric bill or even turkey!

I am absolutely no expert in economics but including shopping from small brands when you are gathering your Christmas loot seems like a pretty good idea. Over the next few weeks, I will be creating some mini directories of my favourite small businesses. If you have any suggestions, it would be lovely if you could add them to the comments below.

Happy November

Sophie

Quilt in Liberty Fabric ‘Ciara’

Duvet Cover in Liberty fabric ‘Poppy Forest’