Archive for the ‘Home & Garden’ Category

I must admit I’m counting down the days until the children go back to school – it has been a long 6 weeks of juggling everything! Uniform is ordered, school shoes need doing this week (gulp!) but one thing I have sorted is lunch boxes. That has been made easier by the fact that we have some great products designed to reduce all that horrible packaging that tends to come with school packed lunches. First a stylish EarthLust water (or squash) bottle so they don’t need expensive juice cartons. Then a selection of our funky Keep Leaf baggies – ideal for keeping sandwiches and snacks fresh without using plastic bags. And finally a cool bambu spork – half fork and half spoon so perfect for whatever happens to be in the lunch box that day.  So a practical (and stylish) lunch kit that just needs a wash at the end of the day and doesn’t end up in the bin. Now I just need to make sure it is all named and comes back home every night!

With warmer weather on the way and the nights getting a little lighter, Bambu‘s wonderfully colourful range of kitchenware really comes into its own. If your kitchen is looking a little tired after a long, hard winter, perhaps it’s time for a style facelift to let some vivid, robust, cheerful colour into your life. Hello Spring!

Thankfully the days of minimalist interior décor have long gone and we’re enjoying filling our living spaces with beautiful colour again. So stash your plain white crockery somewhere safe and let the life back into your kitchen. It’ll give you a real emotional boost as well as lifting your living space into a different, happier dimension. And all this comes with rock solid ethical credentials.

Bambu’s delicious collection of nesting baskets are a great place to start. Choose from tall baskets in warm, natural woven bamboo, food safe and durable. Or go for a fresh green, bright scarlet, subtle blue-greens, mellow browns or multicoloured baskets. Use yours to display fruit, keep odds and ends safe in your living room, store your make up and cosmetics conveniently, display posh soaps in your bathroom… you name it.

Also available are oval baskets in natural or multi.  These are perfect to use for serving dry foods like bread, sandwiches, crisps and will certainly add a splash of colour to any table!

Why not treat yourself to a fresh set of bowls for your kitchen or dining room this autumn? They’ll deliver a  wonderful splash of colour and you’ll enjoy all the practical uses of these amazingly sturdy, natural bowls.

First there’s our coconut bowls by Bambu, innovative and beautifully chunky, created by carefully lacquering coconut shells. Every coconut is unique… and so is every bowl. Made from half a cleaned, polished coconut shell, the inside is coated with durable, food-safe PU lacquer, perfect for hot and cold foods. As you can imagine they’re not safe for dishwashers but they’re nice and easy to clean with warm, soapy water. And the colours are mouthwatering! Choose from bright, warm yellow and stylish leafy green, rich orange and turquoise. Mix ‘n’ match or buy a matching set. Either way they make a marvellous and thoughtful ethical gift.

Alternatively take a look at our deliciously simple, colourful and sturdy bamboo bowls, created from coiled strips of bamboo, shaped by hand and finished with a natural food safe lacquer that comes from the cashew nut tree. Lovely to look at as well as highly practical, they’re a really attractive addition to any kitchen. They’re safe for hot and cold foods and, like our coconut shell bowls, they’re easy to clean with warm, soapy water.

Use our bamboo bowls in the bathroom if you like, to store soaps or cosmetics. Fill them with pot pourri for a fragrant bedroom treat. Or store your jewellery in them. Whatever you use these bowls for, the natural cashew lacquer gives a tough waterproof finish. Choose from red, purple, lime green, leaf green, deep blue, fresh turquoise and cool black… plus a restful natural bamboo finish. Beauty, ethics and practicality rolled into one… how can you resist?!

Its been a long summer with the children at home  (particularly the last bit in the rain!) so we thought we’d suggest a few gifts you could treat yourself with – or give to someone you suspect may be in need of a little TLC too.

First up is our soap gift box, containing 10 beautiful soaps from Heyland & Whittle. These soaps are made from completely natural ingredients, and are gentle and kind to the skin. Made from essential oils and natural glycerine it is perfect for anyone who sometimes finds soaps can leave the skin dry or irritated.

Next up is a personal favourite for relaxing, either in the bedroom or the bathroom, and it’s our Green Tulip lavender candle. It’s long been known that the scent of lavender aids relaxation and this great value natural wax candle is scented with lavender essential oil. Definitely an excuse for a long hot bath!

Finally, my third choice is the cute Bamboo Delights. These are tea light holders made from bamboo and with a unique shape that is very attractive and a little different. Tea lights are great for popping on shelves, window sills or in small places, offering a warm, soothing light.

So now you have a moment do put your feet up and treat yourself to a little me-time – after all it is only a few weeks until half term (but don’t worry – we won’t mention Christmas yet!).

A spork? What’s a spork? Before I came across this brilliant little Bambu kids spork I wasn’t terribly familiar with the concept of a spork, but I was convinced very quickly.

A spork is simply a combination of a spoon and a fork, with the two utensils combined into one handy method of moving food from plate to mouth once you’re out and about. In this case the Bambu kids spork is ideal for feeding your child when you’re on the move, and it makes it so convenient.

Sometimes you need a fork for feeding your child, and sometimes you need a spoon. But with a young child up to the age of 18 months you generally need a third hand. One for the spoon, one for the fork and one for the bowl.

Actually, a fourth hand is quite handy too, armed with a wet cloth.

The Bambu kids spork means that you are no longer required to grow additional arms, as the two utensils are cleverly combined into one. One of the questions I’m often asked is why we choose bamboo over alternatives such as wood or plastic? Clearly plastic is not an environmentally friendly solution, and whilst wood is good, bamboo is actually better in many respects.

Firstly, it grows really quickly without the use of fertilisers and pesticides, and our Bambu kids spork is made from bamboo that’s organically grown. Secondly, bamboo is a good deal tougher than wood, is heat resistant, doesn’t stain as easily and can is easy to wash. (A quick note about washing – we recommend hand washing to keep your bamboo utensils at their best.  However they can be put in the dishwasher but might soften over time in the way wood does.)

If, like me, you find picnics and days out result in you running out of hands or arms, and have a picnic basket the size of your car’s boot, then why not pick up a Bambu kids spork. It will save you at least an arm, and may well help save your sanity a little too! Convenient, durable, organic, sustainable and with a great name that’s a talking point in itself!

Well, after the first barbecue of the summer (the first of many I hope!) our Bambu veneerware has gone down a treat. In the past, like many people, I’ve gone down various paths as far as serving food outdoors is concerned, especially for barbecues where the food is hot, sauces abound, and most of the eating involves standing up, moving around and holding food over a hard and unforgiving patio.

Having had more china plates cracked, chipped and dropped than I care to remember I switched to paper plates – a disaster. I refuse to use plastic plates, knowing that they cause an even bigger carbon footprint than my somewhat smoky barbecue, but paper plates are hardly the greatest idea for a barbecue.

Transferring the heat directly from the food to your hand or your lap means a continual shuffle to relieve the blistering fingers, whilst at the same time wolfing down the food as fast as possible before the plate completely disintegrates and deposits the food in your lap.

The Bambu veneerware is made of bamboo – well, you can’t get much more natural than that. But because it’s made of 3 ply it is very rigid, completely failing to fold up at the merest site of a charcoal hot dog in a bun, and protecting the supporting fingers from incineration nicely. As well as three sizes of plates and trays, we also do cutlery sets and funky ‘sporks’ so guests don’t have to suffer the indignity of trying to eat coleslaw with their fingers!

I know my guests would agree that the Bambu veneerware combines the best features of plastic (smooth) with china (firm and more heat resistant) and with paper plates (disposable and biodegradable). The Bambu veneerware biodegrades completely within 6 months, which is almost as long as it might take to scrape the burnt bits off my barbecue for next time.

We’re pleased to introduce our new ‘Bambu Boutique‘ as part of the Green Tulip website. We’ve been running Bambu Boutique as a separate website for the last 18 months, but felt it was sensible to bring it into Green Tulip so customers get the chance to shop across our wide range of ethical gifts as well as the beautiful bambu range. We hope you agree!

We also have many new bambu products from the 2010 range arriving in the next couple of weeks.  First onto the site are the new coconut bowls – each one is unique and we think they will quickly become a best seller…