For two weeks every year Fairtrade Fortnight gives the issues surrounding Fairtrade production to a much higher profile. That’s great of course as the publicity is certainly helpful, however for us it is something that is always on our mind in our hunt for products that give a better life to their producers (and their surrounding communities).

It’s also a good time to clarify how the Fairtrade mark works as you will notice only a few of the products we stock carry the official Fairtrade mark of the Fairtrade Foundation (shown above). This Fairtrade mark is only available to use on certain categories of products eg cotton, fruit and  chocolate. Most of the products we stock don’t fall into these categories so there are no official guidelines published for the suppliers to work to.

The main thing we look for from our fair trade suppliers is a close and direct relationship with the producers of the products. Our suppliers visit the producers regularly themselves (rather than relying on agents) and see for themselves the positive effect their production has on the communities.

We also look for the marrying of contemporary British design with the inherent skills of the producers. And for as much of the product to be developed in the country as possible (rather than just a fair price paid for raw materials). In this way the producers can add value to the raw material turning it into a higher value product rather than just stripping a country of it’s valuable resources.

One of the best examples of this Zulugrass by The Leakey Collection – a collection of unique jewellery made by the Maasai women in Kenya. Katy & Phillip Leakey live among the women in the bush in Kenya and harness the raw materials they have on hand (the grass the jewellery is made from) together with the beading skills the women have as part of their heritage. Finally Katy designs the jewellery to appeal to a western market with vibrant, contemporary colours. Find out more and see the range of jewellery here.

Taking lunch into work is definitely something that more and more people are starting to do. It is a great way of saving money, reducing packaging waste and also using up leftovers. However very few ‘lunch kit’ products are designed for adults or have any sort of style about them.  That is why we were so pleased to find the U-Konserve range of high quality, practical products with a definite fashion edge. My favourite piece is the Saffron Insulated Lunch Tote with its adjustable strap and chunky zip – guaranteed to make any leftovers look a little more glamorous! Also available in Slate grey.

As January draws to a close the mood is (hopefully!) about to get all romantic and to help inspire you we’ve popped a few ideas for valentine’s gifts on our home page. Our favourites? Our beautiful rose heart bath melts are always well received – what better gift than a relaxing soak in the bath! And for the men – our ‘Grow your own Chilli Garden’ makes a fun gift – and is something they can enjoy all year. Just make sure you are not the one who has to do the watering!

Following conversations with our courier company and the Royal Mail we understand that there is currently a lot of pressure on the delivery system. Our courier had it’s biggest day for collections ever on Monday and then again on Tuesday.

As a result we have suspended our Next Day service as although we will continue to send orders out the day after the order is placed (and often the same day) we cannot control what happens after the parcels leave us.

We hope you understand our position and that all your deliveries arrive in plenty of time this year.

Happy Christmas to all our customers…

A nice mention of our Sranrom hand cream set in the Sunday Express ‘S’ Magazine today. It is part of their Gifts for under £10 feature and makes a perfect stocking filler!

We’re proud to be supporting the Rainforest Foundation’s 12 Days of Christmas Auction this year by donating a set of bambu bowls and an EarthLust bottle. The auction is on ebay and started on the 12th November (for 12 days!). Our products have already had a few bids and everything raised will go towards the protection of the world’s threatened rainforests. We’ll let you know how much they raise. www.ebay.co.uk/12days

We’ve just done a Christmas Makeover at our shop The Inner Yard. Lots of colour going on this Christmas! Here is a picture of how it looks – you can try and spot some of the lovely things that will be coming onto the website over the new few weeks…! You can see more pictures at our shop website.

We’ve added some lovely new EarthLust bottles to the website over the weekend including the stylish Urban Farm collection. New designs include Rabbit, Artichoke, Squirrel and ‘Rooster‘ (well – they are American!). My favourite is the Rabbit (I love the eau de nil coloured bottle) but I think the Rooster is also going to be very popular as there are a lot of people out there who love their chickens!

We’ve just started receiving fruit and vegetable deliveries from a local branch of Riverford Organic after seeing them at the village fete. Much of the produce is grown locally and the selection changes each week so delivery day is quite exciting (is that sad?!).  It’s also great for the kids to see carrots and potatoes with mud on! But my favourite part of it is the lack of packaging that we now receive. Most things come in open boxes that we return at the end of the week – such an improvement over all the plastic packaging you get from the supermarket. Visit www.riverford.co.uk for details of your local branch.

Just a quick post to say we’re really sorry if you’ve tried to order this weekend and found our store closed. We haven’t yet got to the bottom of why this happened but promise you our web guru is on the case.

We are definitely OPEN for business and will have many lovely new things coming onto the website over the next few weeks to help make your Christmas shopping that little bit easier this year.  We’ve also got Zoe joining our team this week to help Deborah in the warehouse – not great timing after the store has been closed for a couple of days but I’m sure we’ll be able to find something for her to do on her first day!

We hope we haven’t caused you too much inconvenience and that you are still wanting to browse through all our lovely things (and hopefully find something to buy too!).