The Luxury of Handmade

In a world capable of making almost everything by machine, there is something increasingly rare about an object still being made entirely by hand.

To us, luxury isn’t about expense or exclusivity. It's about creating high-quality, considered pieces by hand, using natural materials and skills that have been practised for generations. It means allowing time for the making process and recognising the value of the knowledge, experience and attention that skilled hands bring to every piece.

For more than 20 years, our collections have been made by our Fair Trade artisan partners in Bangladesh and India. Natural fibres are prepared, twisted, braided, woven, knotted, coiled and stitched by hand. These aren't simply finishing touches added at the end of a largely mechanised process. The hand-making is fundamental to how each piece is created, shaping its character from the very beginning.

Made By Many Hands

Handmade is often associated with one-off pieces made by an individual artist. But it can also bring together communities of skilled makers, while keeping human hands at the heart of every piece.

Making one beautiful piece by hand is one thing. Maintaining that quality across an ongoing collection requires another level of skill. Each of our designs is developed with our artisan partners with close attention to form, structure and finish. Once a design is ready to be made, those same details need to be understood and maintained by the artisans who make it, often working from their homes or in small communal workspaces. A shared understanding of the design details helps ensure each piece meets our expectations while retaining the individual qualities of something made by hand.

This way of working also allows us to grow our collections differently. As demand increases, the making isn't simply handed over to a machine. Instead, it can create more work for more artisans, supporting ongoing employment while helping ensure traditional skills remain valued.

The Human Touch

Of course, consistency doesn't mean uniformity. The subtle variations in weave, texture, shape and finish from one piece to another aren't flaws to be eliminated. They're part of what it means for something to be made by hand, and reflect the different hands, natural fibres and traditional processes involved in making each piece.

And there are many more hands involved than those of the artisans making the finished piece. From the farmers who grow and harvest the fibres, through their preparation and the many stages of making and packing, every product carries evidence of the people and processes behind it.

At a time when automation and the impersonal are becoming ever more present in our lives, pieces created with time, skill and human hands feel more valuable than ever.