March 08, 2021
To celebrate this year's International Women's Day and the theme #ChooseToChallenge, we wanted to highlight the incredible work of Zimbabwe's all-female, all-vegan, anti-poaching unit known as the Akashinga or 'The Brave Ones.' A branch of the International Anti-Poaching Foundation, many of the women that make up this incredible squad are survivors of sexual and/or domestic abuse. When coming up with a name for their group they chose Akashinga, ‘the Brave Ones’ in Shona.
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March 04, 2021
Whilst many of us adults have acquired a green thumb throughout our lives - and especially during lockdown - it is fair to say that children don't always get as excited to spend some time pottering outdoors. A lot of gardening is not much fun for children, particularly around this time of year when everything is all wet, they get cold fingers and there are endless weeds that are hard to pull! But while gardening right now might not be very appealing, plants are always exciting for children of all ages. Here are some projects using materials that are easy to find and which can all be done indoors in case of rain, or if you don't have an outdoor space. Gardening is for everyone!
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March 01, 2021
Mandazi, also called maandazi, n’dao, maandaazi, mahamri or mamri is a type of sweet fried bread from East Africa, especially popular in Tanzania and Kenya. They are often referred to as 'African donuts,' though they definitely have their own distinct elements. Mandazi is the word for a fried dough in the Kiswahili language, a Bantu language originally from Tanzania that has mixed with other African languages and Arabic.
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February 25, 2021
For two weeks each year at the end of February and start of March, thousands of individuals, companies and groups across the UK come together to share the stories of the people who grow our food and drinks. mine our gold and who grow the cotton in our clothes, people who are often exploited and underpaid. Fairtrade Fortnight is organised by the Fairtrade Foundation every year and is used as an opportunity to educate and uplift.
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February 22, 2021
Our ever growing basket collection exists thanks to the dedication and passion that our co-founder, Bee Friedmann, has for woven goods and supporting the rural communities making them. Born and brought up in South Africa, Bee has travelled extensively across her home continent to build personal connections with our basket weavers in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Ghana. We wanted to share with you a little about the differences between weaving styles in each country and how baskets help to support the wonderful women making them...
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February 18, 2021
It's no secret that living sustainably is incredibly important to us, and we know that it is also important to many of you. Most of us have made small changes to our everyday lifestyles in order to do our little bit for the planet, but there’s still a lot more that can be done. One area that many of us may not have considered making changes to but would make a huge difference is how we travel. With global tourism at a record high, doing small things we consider harmless could end up being very costly for the environment. We believe that it is possible to reduce these negative effects that travel can have on the environment and be a more conscious traveller.
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February 15, 2021
Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is a day celebrated in many countries around the world. It is celebrated in countries like the UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada. In France, the USA and other countries, it is called 'Mardi Gras' or 'Fat Tuesday'. In others like Spain, Italy or Brazil, Shrove Tuesday is at the end of Carnival. On this day many people eat pancakes to celebrate the start of lent. Lent is a period of 40 days before Easter when people often give up luxuries. Traditionally, during Lent, people don't eat rich foods like butter and eggs, so to use them up they made pancakes from these ingredients on Shrove Tuesday. Being such a widespread tradition, it’s only natural that many different variations of Shrove Tuesday exist across the world. This year, we thought we’d explore these Pancake Day traditions and see how they contrast with our own English traditions.
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February 11, 2021
Friday 12 February marks the Chinese lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, it is the most important celebration in the Chinese calendar and millions of people all around the world will be celebrating. In Chinese tradition, each year is named after one of 12 animals, which feature in the Chinese zodiac: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. This year is the Year of the Ox. In Chinese culture, the Ox is a valued animal. Because of its role in agriculture, positive characteristics, such as being hardworking and honest, are attributed to it. However, did you know that many of the Asian wild cattle species are actually endangered? In fact, of the 12 wild cattle species that exist, 9 are found only in Asia. All 9 of these species are threatened with extinction. These species are all threatened by human activities, including hunting and habitat loss. The Asian Wild Cattle Specialist Group work tirelessly towards the conservation of these endangered cattle and their habitats.
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February 08, 2021
Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and with restaurant reservations off the table for this year, why not take the opportunity to order in a delicious meal instead? Whether you're celebrating alone, via Zoom, with your partner or just fancy a nice night in with your family, we've found the perfect take-out meals for you! We love supporting our fellow local businesses, so all of the businesses listed are Thanet based - sorry to our customers from further afar! We hope you enjoy looking at some incredible food nonetheless. We love spicing up our dinner table no matter the occasion, but especially for a romantic evening meal. You can shop our full range of ethical serve ware here. Without further ado, here's our top Valentine's Day dinner picks!
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February 04, 2021
Today we wanted to talk about something you may never have considered - the environmental impact of dyes used in the textiles industry. Many commercial dyes are in fact incredibly harmful to the environment, something which many of us as consumers are unaware of. Colour is such a huge part of the fashion and textiles industry - including for us. We love making colourful and eye-catching textiles for your homes, but we know that these colours do not need to cost the Earth.
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February 01, 2021
With lockdown in full force, we know that keeping yourself and the kids entertained can be a bit of a challenge! If you're looking for some fun activities this half term we recommend trying out some at home DIY kits. Not only are they great for getting you and the kids creative at home, they are also a fantastic way to support your favourite small and independent businesses during these challenging times. Today we are highlighting a few of our favourite kits that we think will be perfect for keeping the whole family entertained during this unconventional half term break from DIY donuts to at home pottery kits.
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January 28, 2021
We recently sat down with one of our fantastic team members, Irene. Irene is our woman on the ground in Kenya. Head of Production & Quality Control Kenya, she has been part of our team since 2015. Irene works closely with our jewellery makers and is involved in the whole production process from delivering our designs to the artisans to quality control and packing and shipping the items back to us. W
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