A few thoughts about our craftspeople…

One of the most enjoyable parts and a key principle of The Lost Corner is finding and developing our relationships with the family businesses and craftspeople we work with around the World. They are based throughout UK, Europe and Asia, and we strive to bring their creativity and individuality to our clients. Finding them is not easy, and some of our sourcing trips end up with nothing to show. In many cases the most creative people are not big self-promoters.  Discovering them is the challenge!  Luckily, we enjoy the journey, seeing new sights and we like to sample the local food and wine on the way!  The real fun starts when we find them.  We like to understand how they work and what their story is.  A bit like a good bottle of wine, where the provenance is so important. We are continually amazed by their skill and in many cases an engaging unawareness of just how good they are.

As a guide, there is limited inventory and most products are made to order. The subsequent discussion around the detail of the order is all important.  A key part of this is factoring in time to delivery which can be 2 to 12 weeks.   Rush this process and you end up with wrinkles, as we call them…

Our approach includes patience, when the process can sometimes be slow or run into difficulties. An example of this would be, when our favourite potter in France had an inexplicable issue with the key ingredient in their blue dye, delaying the glazing and subsequent delivery of their casserole dishes by several months. We hope this approach stands out in a world somewhat driven by mass production and instant gratification.

We are also aware that over the last few decades, the United Kingdom has exported or lost many creative skills abroad. This can be for many reasons, including an inability to compete with offshore prices. Where we can, we like to support these home grown businesses, and provide an avenue for them to show their significant skill.