10 Reasons why Easter is the best festival in our calendars March 20, 2024 Number 1 - There is nothing more joyful than daffodils. Put them everywhere. They're £2 in the supermarket, or free from the garden if you're lucky. I put them on the table, in...
An Update from Burma: March 2024 March 19, 2024 We were in Yangon last week to catch up with our team and makers. I took Jenny, our new Operations Lead, who had never been to Burma before. It’s always...
Kalinko Curated by Alex Stedman March 15, 2024 Alex is the editor of the award-winning website The Frugality and the owner of a beautiful Edwardian house which she and her husband have renovated very slowly over the past three years. She...
Our Sustainability & Human-Rights Manifesto February 22, 2024 How do we support our makers within the most challenging of contexts? We have recently launched our HRDD & Environmental Sustainability Manifesto to walk you through it.
Podcast: Monocle, The Entrepreneurs December 06, 2023 Sophie sat down with Tom at Monocle to chat about how Kalinko came about and the challenges it is overcoming. Listen to the episode here.
The Changing Seasons October 19, 2023 Oooooh it's getting chilly. Did you have socks on in bed last night? If you have a fire, presumably you had it stoked. This morning, there are smiley faces in...
Can design affect our health and happiness? September 27, 2023 Last week, as part of the London Design Festival, Sophie joined the panel at Inhabit Hotels for a discussion around design and wellbeing, alongside Richard Holland from Holland Harvey architects and Marie Carlisle...
A Home for your Herbs July 25, 2023 Coriander is the king of the herbs in Burmese cooking. It goes in everything; Mohinga noodles in the morning, curry for lunch, fish for dinner. So it makes sense that...
Noodles July 05, 2023 When I first moved to Yangon in 2015, I worked in an office on one of the busiest streets in the heart of downtown. I lived about half a mile...
Magical Monsoon June 21, 2023 Yesterday morning it rained in London. Proper rain. Big, splashy, drenching rain. Rain that carried on plopping off the leaves for ages once it had stopped. And for 20 minutes,...
Meet the Makers: Downtown Teak Collection March 08, 2023 This is Aung Myat Lin and Jack from IDEA Woodsmith. They've been reclaiming teak from downtown Yangon buildings since 1999. Well, that's not quite true. They're too young for that,...
Introducing The Downtown Teak Collection March 01, 2023 This is a new collection that celebrates three ideas close to our heart: 1 - homegrown, sustainable, reclaimed materials 2 - timeless design 3 - IDEA Woodsmith, an extremely skilled carpentry...