The campaign ‘Made In Britain’ includes a wide array of items, from products grown in Britain to products designed and or made in Britain.
Many imagine an item with the union jack emblazoned upon it, but when it comes to interior design it’s definitely nowhere near as limiting.
According to a resent survey by My Voucher Codes, which I read in more detail here. Many people, in fact 40% of UK people asked, would happily pay extra to purchase items made in Britain. This in turn is fuelling the industry and providing more creative and designer products for us to choose from.
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The modern geometric design is very popular at present. Here at London Design Collective we particularly like the striking jolt between the fabric of the chair and the black and white wallpaper.
Sian Elin who design and sell the fabric and wallpaper above, are a welsh based business that prides themselves on the fact that everything is made in Britain.
Everything at Sian Elin is made in the UK. Our wallpaper is printed in the North of England using eco-friendly water-based inks, resulting in the highest quality paper with exceptional colour reproduction. And our fabrics are expertly digitally printed at an 80 year old industry leading factory in the North of England. Our cushions and fabric lampshades are hand-made in Wales.
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After creating sofas for a number of well known high street stores, furniture designer Ian Archer launched Archer + Co, as a way of show casing his own designs, which he describes as ‘contemporary with a retro twist’.
The stunning sofa above named ‘Tango’, due to it being inspired by movement and dance, certainly lives up to the description of ‘contemporary with a retro twist’.
Archer + Co’s statement pieces are also made in Britain and use eco material as much as possible. Customers can also add to the environmental aspect of the sofa, by making eco specifications, for example the sofa can be made using natural latex padding, and natural hemp or recycled yarn upholstery fabrics, among many other materials.
The skilled team of artisans at Tom Raffield make contemporary furniture and lighting by hand, in a woodland workshop in Cornwall. They would like the products to last and one day become the much loved antiques of the future.
We believe in sustainability and want to be the solution to the throw-away culture that is omni-present in many of our lives.
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This modern four poster bed with an eastern twist is made in Sheffield by the Natural Bed Company.
Each bed is unique due to the manufacturing process, which includes sourcing the wood from managed forests (sustainable timber). The Natural Bed Company stated that this is because:
Buying timber from managed forests ensures that new trees are planted and the cycle of planting, growth and harvest can continue.
They have also purposely positioned their workshops and showroom only a couple of miles from each other, so that they can employ local people, and preserve the skills that they have learnt over the last 40 years since they made their first bed.
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How do they manage to make a simple object like a stool look so exceptional?
I love the story behind this stool (see below), and that for me is what highlights the difference between many of the items on this list and your generic item purchased from abroad.
Not only are they more eco friendly and have a positive effect on the British economy, they also have either a rich history or an interesting storey surrounding their creation.
The beech tree used in this stool used to stand proudly near to the small town of Newcastle Emlyn in West Wales. This tree was felled by Mother Nature during the December 2013 storms better known as Cyclone Xaver. She had spent generations providing shade and beauty for the local community but was no match for the ferocity of Xaver.
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With over 200 years history and a design that goes from strength to strength, the Rangmaster cookers are the Rolls-Royce of the kitchen.
Rangmaster to this day, are still making cookers and sinks in Britain, with a large workforce and new state of the art design and production centre in Royal Leamington Spa.
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On the Dualit website it mentions, that the nostalgic retro design of the Dualit toaster can be traced back to their very first toaster designs from the 1950’s.
Dualit have also proudly celebrated in 2015, their 70th year producing and trading as an independently-owned British manufacturer.
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This cream wood burning stove by elegant Town and Country Fires, gives a more subtle look compared with the usual black cast iron design.
Based in North Yorkshire Mores, Town and Country Fires is a family run business, and are one of the few who make the stoves from start to finish using British steel.
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AGA’s are a magnificent example of a Made in Britain product. It is such a well loved and trusted design, that the AGA of today is made at the company’s foundry in Coalbrookdale, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in exactly the same way as it originally was made in the 1920s.
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The Hug Rug company based in Huddersfiled produce not only very classically stylish mats and runners, but they also produce funky and modern designs. All the mats and runners are made in Britain and designed in a way that has as little environmental impact as possible. See the picture below for their credentials:
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