When I bought my first house it quickly became filled with Ikea and Homebase furniture in an effort to create what I thought was a cohesive and grown up look (I'd just turned 24, I didn't know any better). We'd gotten married earlier that year and I guess I wanted to feel like I'd arrived somehow. As years have gone by, the Ikea and Homebase have been purged (all except for the Pax wardrobe that is actually wedged in between the wall and fireplace, and I plan to get an axe to it early next year) and slowly as our family has grown, we are shaping up to be a household of doers who don't really value "stuff" that highly, but do love what we have to tell a story.
I was strolling through the Trafford Centre Selfridges one day, I think Dominic was just a baby at that point. Pedlars caught my eye, I remember them being a lifeline in a surrounding sea of perfect blah... I can't quite remember exactly what it was that caught my eye, but I've been hooked ever since. That point in life was somewhat of a re-birth for our family. After a false start and a lot of grey days and beige thoughts, colour slowly seemed to creep back in. It seems somewhat poetic that 5 years on I'm now not only stocked by Pedlars, but have been collaborating with them on neon screen printed Christmas cards (available here).
Pedlars (all products chosen by founders, Charlie and Caroline Gladstone) have an eye for blending old with new and picking products that will become (or at least reflect) the fabric of your life. New goods are brought to you because they are the very best of their kind and built to last, with Pedlars often collaborating on items to get them just so (check out their new Signet Pencils here). Their Friday Vintage selection brings the most excellently collected vintage items from across the globe. I have a lovely set of vintage arrows that are waiting to be mounted and hung that serve as a reminder of my Hunger Games fetish and 31st Birthday doing archery with my family and a "Come in, We're Open" sign that I plan to hang on the door to the office of my "campsite" one day. I have my eye on their stripy fleece blankets that will become part of our growing camping kit as we begin our overnight outdoor adventures (now the littles are not so little that I'm afraid of them freezing to death camping anymore). I have every faith they will continue to seek out and sell products that become part of my narrative and I'm so very proud to be stocked by them. Hello Pedlars...
All images taken from pedlars.co.uk