SOURCE - our new ethical homeware range
Posted on 6 December 2014
A long time ago I helped my then boyfriend, Edward, get COOK started. 18 years later I am now in the lucky position (debatable!) to be his wife and we have 3 lovely and chaotic children. I worked with Edward growing COOK until we had Barnaby 4 years ago when I felt our young family needed all my attention. With them now all growing up (and being marginally less high maintenance), I have decided to come back into the fold and introduce a line of ethically sourced homeware.
I have spent the last six months with my great friend Kali scouring the world for Eco- friendly, fairtrade, socially responsible producers of really good quality products that will compliment COOK's core range. Our aim is to bring unique, well-designed items to our customers which not only bring style and usefulness to their kitchen but also provide a means of living to developing communities.
The products combine contemporary design with traditional skill and a focus on natural, renewable materials and sustainable methods of production which have been 'sourced' from responsible suppliers. All items have been chosen to compliment COOK food and to help customers serve it so that it looks its best, from our fabulous cheesecake plate, to the canapé platter and the wonderful hand woven bread baskets all the way from Dhaka in Bangladesh. There are lots of other lovely items that we still want to add to the range but due to long production lead times they aren't quite ready yet!
We have launched the range in 5 shops over the last couple of weeks as well as selling it at the Wealden Times Fair. The response has been fantastic with excellent sales at the latter and lots of interest and a steady stream of purchases in the shops. We are hoping to launch a larger, more comprehensive range around Easter 2015, but in the meantime would love to have your feedback, so next time you visit one of the trial shops have a look and let me know what you think!
The SOURCE range is being trialed in Sevenoaks, Banstead, Oxted, Barnes & Tunbridge Wells.