Provenance & Makers

Every piece we sell has an address.

We buy from the workshops directly wherever it is possible, which means fewer hands between the maker and your table and a fairer price at both ends of the transaction. Where we have to work through an agent, as you sometimes must in glass and in cutlery, we will tell you so.

How a piece earns its place

The hand. Something about the object should have been done by a person. A ground edge, a thrown foot, a hammered face, a handle turned and fitted rather than moulded around a tang.

The material. Solid where solid matters. Brass rather than brass-plated. Full tang rather than glued. Linen rather than something with the look of linen.

The life. We ask every maker the same question. What happens to this in twenty years? If the honest answer is that it goes in the bin, we do not take it.

Where we look

Spain and Portugal for ceramic, copper, cork and olive wood. France for glass, cast iron and table linen. Italy for glass, marble and steel. The Basque country and Sheffield for blades. Britain for garden tools, timber and things that have to stand outside all winter.

Repair before replacement

We would far rather mend a thing than sell you a second one. Where a maker offers a repair service we will arrange it for you. Where they do not, we will tell you honestly who can, even if that is not us.