Portrait of James at Mabel & Co by photographer Ben Mostyn
Land Tales is a place to find home goods that fit in with modern life, but many of the skills and production methods used to make these goods are centuries old.
Here I’m taking a closer look at five things you'll find in the shop that have been made in the UK using traditional and artisan skills, by people who are helping to preserve and celebrate traditional ways of making.
Letterpress printed stationery
Made by Mabel & Co in Suffolk
Working from an old wheelwright’s shop in Suffolk, Mabel & Co is a designer maker studio focused on sustainability and traditional craft practices.
Using letterpress printing and weaving, their work is a positive, thoughtful response to the harms of modern manufacturing.
Mabel & Co work from mainly historic equipment, which they have restored by hand. At the heart of their printroom is a cast iron treadle platen printing press, designed and built in 1860, which works perfectly following its recent restoration. They also have a number of similarly aged book presses and a guillotine for their printing and binding work.
If you’re in Suffolk, you can visit Mabel & Co’s beautiful shop at their studio at the Old Forge and Seed Store in Sudbourne Park.
And in the Land Tales shop you’ll find a beautiful set of pocket notebooks that have been bound on a c1890 German stitcher using vintage coppered staples, tucked within a cover and wallet hand letterpress printed on the treadle press.
Woven blankets
Made in Selkirk by Andrew Elliot Ltd
Established in 1965, Andrew Elliot Ltd are a family-run company based in the heart of the Scottish Borders at Forest Mill, a historic listed mill building dating back to 1838.
Tweeds have been produced in the Scottish borders for centuries, and Andrew Elliot are continuing this tradition, working on heritage looms within the old yarn store of the mill building.
They specialise in producing heritage and bespoke tweeds, and at Land Tales you'll find a selection of their recycled yarn blankets and throws which are crafted from yarns left over from the tweed making process, making them an environmentally friendly choice when adding soft textiles to the home.
Because they’re made using leftover and recycled yarns, every blanket and throw in the range has its own unique colour palette, with subtle variations in hues and little pops of colour running through the tassels.
Beeswax dinner candles
Made by Moorlands in Cumbria
Working from a workshop in rural Cumbria, the small team at Moorlands Candles have been making candles using traditional methods for over 40 years. You'll find their golden, honey-scented beeswax candles, which are made from British beeswax, in various sizes at Land Tales.
Moorlands use the traditional hand dipping method, which involves lowering wicks into a vat of hot beeswax, removing them from the wax, and repeating the process until the layers have built up to the desired width. The long wicks are suspended from their centre, to create a joined pair of candles ready for sale.
Household brushes
Made by R Russell Brush Manufacturers in Buckinghamshire
R Russell proudly hand-make their brushes from a workshop in Chesham, a Buckinghamshire town that was once a thriving centre for brush making.
They make brushes using traditional methods passed down through generations of the Russell family, who have been in the trade for over 180 years. Originally selling handmade brushes from the family run pub, Charles Russell went on to open the business's first workshop. His son George was listed as a brush maker and beer retailer along with his two sons Harry and Robert in the 1891 census.
Today, R Russell produce brushes for a wide range of industries, including power, transport and maritime, and their traditional household cleaning brushes make a great addition to the domestic space.
Their jamb dusting brush is good for keeping corners of a workbench tidy, and in my own home, their cleaning brush sees daily use sweeping up kids’ crumbs and still looks good as new.
Wooden tableware
Made by Selwyn House in Northamptonshire
From their rural Northamptonshire workshop, Selwyn House are helping to keep alive the centuries-old technique of wood turning. Many items in their range start their life on the lathe, and all pieces go through slow, considered processes by hand.
Established in 2017 by Sean Best and Ellie Smalls, Selwyn House create functional yet beautiful tableware from sustainably sourced British timbers including English ash, oak, and walnut.
Their range of wooden kitchenware and tableware, which includes boards, plates and utensils, as well as candlesticks in varying shapes and sizes, is born from a love of great food and gathering together for simple feasts.
Rather than the tropical timbers so often found in commercial woodenware, Sean and Ellie choose to use the fantastic hardwoods available right here in this country, working exclusively with trees which are grown in Britain and sourced in small batches from independent sawmills.
In this way, they hope to play a small part in highlighting the beauty of British timber and the need to invest in its future.
