Niche products for your home

I have just found another store that I can’t help but love in London (sorry for all of you who live outside the capital!).

Niche in Kensal Rise is a treasure trove of antique and vintage finds. They have a wide variety of products from lovely antique jewellery to antique globes, which are mostly sourced from within the UK. Niche also sells a range of French and English furniture dating from the Victorian era to the 1950s. I could really spend all day searching the store!

Owning a product which has a history always makes it so much more unique and it's always good to 're-use' wherever possible!

If you are in the area and fancy stocking up on vintage signs or 1950s kitchenware, then be sure to pop by! There’s always something interesting to see.
Niche, 70 Chamberlayne Road, London NW10 3JJ

Architect in your house?

With the housing market in turmoil, increasing numbers of people are choosing to stay put and make the most of the space they’re in. But home improvement means more than just a lick of paint. Why not talk to an architect, and you could improve not just your home, but your quality of life, too.

Architect in the House, in partnership with the NHBC, is an innovative scheme that matches homeowners with an RIBA chartered architect who gives up an hour of their time for a design consultation. In exchange, the homeowner makes a suggested minimum donation of £40 to Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity.

To sign up to Architect in the House and help support Shelter, click here
I have signed up and will hear back from RIBA by July 1st when our consultation will be… I will keep you posted!

Make Hay whilst the sun shines!

Many friends of mine are lucky enough to be visiting the Hay Festival this weekend. The festival begins today and runs until 31st May.

The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Wales for ten days from May to June. Devised by Peter Florence in 1988, the festival was described by Bill Clinton in 2001 as "The Woodstock of the mind". The festival has expanded in recent years and now includes musical performances and film previews. A children's festival, "Hay Fever", runs alongside the main festival.

Fingers crossed the weather forecasts are right and the sun shines all weekend! Enjoy!

Introducing our new supplier...

Biome Lifestyle are delighted to introduce our new supplier from South Africa.

Nestled in a tiny town just outside the Eastern Cape is a community of women who produce the most amazing pieces of handiwork. Every product has been handmade from start to finish. The business was set up to help the community become self sufficient, and the women have been working together for 10 years. The women produce memory boxes, kids cushions and kids bedding all exclusively for Biome Lifestyle.

We look forward to a long and prosperous partnership!

Car boot sales

I saw on the news the other day that car boot sales are on the rise due to credit-crunch buyers looking for a bargain. After hearing a story about a man who bought a teapot at a car boot sale and sold it at Christies for £27,000 I am tempted to become a car boot sale fan!!

I love vintage stores and second-hand furniture shops so I think car boot sales could be my kind of thing! I always love finding old and interesting pieces of furniture, homeware or glassware - I think it really adds something unique to your home. Old furniture tends to have been made with much more care and attention to detail than some of the highstreet items which have been mass-produced in Asia. I feel a home should have individuality after all it's your chance to showcase your tastes, travel finds and personality.

Right, time to find my big bucks teapot...!

To find your nearest car boot sale, click here

New plant pockets!

It’s definitely novel and unique! Made from recycled materials, Maruja Fuentes’ green pockets provide a new angle for adding plants to your home.” Spotted at the 2009 Milan Furniture Fair, the super-cool ceramic tiles attach to any wall to create the illusion that whatever’s inside—herbs, plants, a flower or two—is growing directly out of a room’s surface

Biome Lifestyle thinks this is a great way to add greenery to your room!

Biome and Honda unite!

Biome Lifestyle are delighted to be chosen to be involved with the ‘Eco Test Drive’ of Hondas Insight car. Every Honda dealership in the UK is issuing a challenge to its local motorists – achieve the highest fuel economy over a set route and win £100 vouchers to spend at Biome Lifestyle!

The nationwide challenge is being used to launch the Insight, one of the UK’s greenest new cars. Using hybrid technology, its official combined fuel economy figure is 64.2mpg – an impressive figure for a petrol-powered compact family hatchback that can seat five adults and take their luggage.

At each participating dealership, the customer who gets the highest mpg – as displayed on the Insight’s trip meter after completing a set local test route – will win Biome Lifestyle vouchers worth £100.

Bernard Bradley, General Manager – Cars, at Honda (UK), said: “We know that the way in which different people drive has a big impact on fuel economy. So, to help our customers maximise the impressive efficiency of the Insight, it comes with technology that helps them adopt greener driving techniques.”
Biome Lifestyle are proud to be involved with the new Honda Insight car! Go take a test drive today!

Rainforest Organic Chewing Gum

The new biodegradable chewing gum is here! Chicza is totally natural and last month, at the Natural and Organic Products Festival in London, Chicza Organic Chewing Gum received the award for best new organic food product. The recognition is large for the community of farmers in Mexico’s rainforest that is beginning to introduce their gum to European markets.

The company is a fusion of rural cooperatives from the states; it integrates 53 communities and organizations with over 2,163 members, and started with the philosophy that to live amongst the nature of the land, one must work to conserve it. The consortium works within 800,000 hectares of Chicozapote trees in the part of the rainforest that was originally developed by Mayan civilizations, and much of the production practices of the Chizca gum follow Mayan traditions.

Biodegradable gum is a fantastic idea! I look forward to trying my first pack!

Dairy Milk to go Fairtrade!

Cadbury and the Fairtrade Foundation recently announced plans to achieve Fairtrade certification for Cadbury Dairy Milk, the nation’s top selling chocolate bar, by end of Summer 2009. This groundbreaking move will result in the tripling of sales of cocoa under Fairtrade terms for cocoa farmers in Ghana, both increasing Fairtrade cocoa sales for existing certified farming groups, as well as opening up new opportunities for thousands more farmers to benefit from the Fairtrade system.

Cadbury Chief Executive, Todd Stitzer, says, “This is an historic moment for our company. I am proud that the nation’s favourite chocolate bar will display the FAIRTRADE Mark. I was in Ghana last month and saw how vital it is that businesses support their partners and the communities they live in. We believe that by joining forces with the Fairtrade Foundation, we can further improve living standards and conditions for farmers and farming communities, and create a sustainable supply of high quality cocoa for Cadbury.”

“Cadbury’s commitment is breakthrough news for the farmers in Ghana who are very excited that they will be able to sell more of their cocoa as Fairtrade, bringing greater benefits to their communities,” says Harriet Lamb, Chief Executive of the Fairtrade Foundation. “We’re delighted to have the opportunity to certify Cadbury Dairy Milk, enabling all those who buy it to make a real difference for cocoa farmers with every purchase. This certainly sets a new standard for the mainstream chocolate industry.”

Biome Lifestyle is delighted to hear that Cadburys are finally making moves towards Fairtrade certification! Hopefully many more farmers can now benefit from the Fairtrade policies and practices.

Healthy and delicious recipes - what's not to love!

I love surfing the internet for new recipes as there are so many out there! However, there is one cooking blog I stumbled across & I am now a huge fan!

www.mostlyeating.com is written by Sophie, a nutritionist from Oxford. She says:

That the blog"is essentially about all those thought processes that go into choosing what to eat, where to buy it and how to cook it, something that many of us are starting to spend more and more time on. I am a nutritionist so healthy eating is major theme running through this blog and the other being my efforts to shop a little more ethically."

I especially love the Fig & Plum Porridge (I now enjoy that most mornings), the Pisto and the Spaghetti with courgette, lemon and goats cheese. Also the photography is fantastic and always makes my mouth water!

Take a look and see if you find something delicious to cook tonight!

My favourite market...

This weekend I think we will take a Saturday afternoon stroll around Borough Market. For anyone who has never ventured to Borough Market, wandering around the many delicious food stalls is a wonderful way to fill a Saturday afternoon. The market is always lively and there is so much to see, smell and taste it's a great way to spend the weekend!

Borough Market is a wholesale and retail food market in Southwark, South East London. It is one of the largest food markets in the world, and is regarded by some as one of the highest quality markets in the United Kingdom, selling a large variety of foods from all around the world.

Many of the stalls sell organic produce and as the majority are very small businesses, it's good to know you are supporting small ventures, especially during these tough times. To find out more visit http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/.

Ethical clothing

A few years ago ethical fashion seemed to be light years away from the catwalk trends. However, now thanks to a number of fantastic designers such as Ciel, Annie Greenabelle and Edun, ethical fashion is finally offering discerning customers fashionable alternatives.

One of my favourite online stores Equa - not only as they have a fantastic collection online, but they also have a lovely store in Islington about five minutes away from our office! A little too tempting though...! If you are not based near the Islington store then take a look online at their lovely collection.

Biome Lifestyle's student design competition!

Biome Lifestyle is delighted (and very excited!) to announce the launch of the Biome Lifestyle Product Design Competition 2009. Biome Lifestyle is keen to recognise and support young creative talent that is focused on sustainable design. This is the first year of the competition, which aims to unite the three foundations of Biome Lifestyle: good design, great style and strong ethics.

This competition aims to find a winning product design for Christmas 2009. The product
design needs to retain a Christmas theme or a Christmas use, with the winning design being
produced and sold on the Biome Lifestyle website from October 2009. The competition winner will receive a commission based on the sales of their product, calculated on a monthly basis. Biome will organise and pay for the manufacture of the winning entry, which will be assessed on its eco-credentials and made either in the UK or by co-operatives in Nepal, Vietnam or India. Products made outside the UK will be manufactured using sustainable materials including felt, bamboo and organic cotton.

The competition is open to students over the age of 16, and the closing date for entries is 1 May.

A winner will be chosen on 11 May, and the product will go sale in the run-up to Christmas.
Contact alexandra@biomelifestyle.com for more information or to enter.

Best of luck!

Wonderful women making wonderful products!

Biome Lifestyle is delighted to be working with a new fair trade producer in Malawi.

The women all hand stitch the beautiful linen cushions with raw and natural beads made from wood, coconut, shell, ostrich egg & bonehand stitched onto heavy weight linen.

The quality is fantastic and the attention to detail on the beadwork is truly wonderful.

Aside from being a great new addition to the Biome range, we are also delighted to be supporting the talented makers. The cushions are hand crafted in Malawi by single mothers, selected, from the local orphan program –

creating employment, empowerment and independency in an area where jobs are scarce. Each cushion is considered with care and the end product acknowledged with great pride. Welcome to Biome Lifestyle ladies!

Artisan Awards 2009

It's great to see that traditional crafts are still recognised and encouraged in the UK! Biome Lifestyle is always looking out for new designer-makers who are based in the UK and use traditional skills and crafts.
That's why we are loving the Country Living Artisan Awards 2009. Once country trades were passed down from parent to child, with generations of the same family specialising in one skill. Faced with a lack of training opportunities, today's craftspeople have to demonstrate self-motivation and creative talent in equal doses in order to succeed. Our Artisan of the Year for 2008, thatcher Jonathan Botterell, spent years travelling the country to learn the rudiments of his craft, while Andrew Seddon, winner of our Outstanding Support of Future Artisans Award, taught himself the skills needed to become a stained-glass maker, then began training apprentices to pass on his knowledge. Good luck to all those talented people who will be entering the awards! We look forward to reading more about the selected finalists in the near future.

Brazils new sustainable parks

Brazil was once known as the country that was destroying the rainforest. Now it seems they are trying to rebuild their reputation by pushing renewable energy and sustainable architecture.

The Brazilian government built this sustainable park in Sao Paulo on the site of an old landfill. Using only certified forestry lumber and recycled steel, they turned this brown site into a beautiful green vision of possibility. It is a free-flowing structure that is built like a giant continuous deck.

The architects also used the landfill’s old incinerator building to create a sustainability museum. It always does the heart good to see that with a little desire it is possible to undo serious environmental damage and create something beautiful.

Anna Dietzsch, Managing Director of Davis Brody Bond Aedas‘ São Paulo office and Levisky Arquitetos Associados designed this beautiful eco-park on what was once a contaminated brownfield in São Paulo, Brazil. The 130,000-square-foot site was previously the home to a garbage incinerator, so even after the area’s clean-up the team strove to minimize soil excavation by building a deck that, on average, floats three feet above the ground. Victor Civita Plaza also includes solar panels, the extensive use of reclaimed wood, and a retro-fitted museum that explains the sustainable features that were designed into the site. (Inhabitat))

Join in with Red Nose Day!

It's that time of year where the days are getting lighter, the days are slightly brighter and Red Nose Day will be on our TVs once again.

I have watched the Red Nose Day on BBC 1 show since I was very young, so it is something of a tradition to me stay in, watch and donate. Once it's over, I usually go to bed exhausted (I have to admit, I have never lasted the whole show!), after a night of tears & laughter.

Over the years, Red Nose Day has raised millions of pounds to help disadvantaged children from all over Africa and the UK. It's a wonderful cause which has done so much to help. Click here to read about the projects all the donation money helps to support.

The site says "we take some fantastic fundraising in schools, offices and homes across the land, mix it with the nation’s favourite celebrities getting up to all kinds of mischief, sprinkle a new Red Nose (or three!) across the entire UK and add a cracking night of comedy on BBC One to make Red Nose Day the phenomenon it is."

On March 13th, we will be wearing red noses in the office and I will be sure to make a donation both from Biome and personally too. I hope you all at least watch the show for some amazing heartfelt stories & some great comedy moments.

Best Fair Trade

Bestfairtrade.com is a new favourite website of Biome Lifestyle's! 

The inspirational founder, Leona Mani  created the site to provide an online guide to all aspects of the Fair Trade Industry. As Leona states "The main aim of the site is to act as a relative 'Private Eye' for the Fair Trade Industry, not placing our focus on simply being another listings site, but aspiring to engage with consumers through interesting and relevant news broadcasts, instead of bombarding them with relentless sales offers and uninteresting pieces of information."

The site is packed full of useful and interesting information, from clearly explaining 'what exactly is Fair Trade' to a useful round-up of some of the best buys & unmissable Fair Trade products on the market.

Keep up the great work Leona, we will enjoy reading your next updates!

Fairtrade still fares well!

New research in the UK has shown that a quarter of shoppers said they had purchased at least one Fairtrade item in the past month, compared with 9% in 2006.

This is great increase for fairtrade produce and also great to see that consumers are becoming increasingly aware of where and how products are made. Biome Lifestyle is constantly increasing our range of Fairly traded products, working with a growing number of suppliers abroad who adhere to the fair trade principles of fair wages and a good working environment.

During the current economic downturn there also appears to be a definite trend towards consumers looking for less ‘mass produced’ and disposable products and turning to more unique and good quality items, which will last years to come instead.

I am a firm believer that quality should override quantity; that classic LBD or handmade piece of furniture is sure to last longer in terms of style, quality and durability.

Disposable fashion can be fun and we can all be tempted at times! However, it’s always important to consider where the item was made, who by and how… So next time you are about to buy this weeks ‘must have’ fad, think about how long you really intend to use it or keep it for, then perhaps save your pennies for something you know will be an investment piece and not next weeks rubbish!

Green & Gorgeous wallpaper

Biome Lifestyle launched six beautiful eco-friendly wallpaper designs this week.
The wallpaper is printed on paper made from 100% FSC timber sources using purely water based inks for printing, with no harmful VOC's or solvents. Each design is available in various colours so you are sure to find one you adore.

Green and gorgeous, what could be better!