We interview Ginger & Tweed, a local small business creating handcrafted homewares. Their products are awesome and they have some great pieces that are really useful for helping out with your Apple devices.
Ginger & Tweed
We wanted to give a flavour of something different here on the Airiam blog, and so we are starting with taking a look at local small business Ginger & Tweed. They have been friends for many years and this felt like a perfect opportunity to highlight the awesome products they create and find out how they use Apple products in support of their business. We hope you enjoy, and look forward to bringing more interesting content in a similar vein in the future . . . watch this space.
Who are you and what do you do?
We are Ginger and Tweed, aka Jo and Rob. By combining our ideas and skills, paired with our passion for designing and making, we create bespoke handcrafted homewares from our Wiltshire cottage. I work from home full time, and Rob, my partner, spends his evenings and weekends working with me on G&T products. It’s definitely a team effort. Ginger & Tweed began after years of creating items for our own home and as gifts for friends and family. We decided to have a go at selling at a local craft fair and now here we are.
I’ve been working full time from home since 2017 when I decided to leave my job of almost 14 years at a restaurant in Bath. I’d worked there since leaving uni in 2003, where I studied Fine Art, and have always been split between designing and making, my photography jobs, and the long, hard shift pattern of the catering industry.
I left the management team in 2015 to work part time as a waitress, but just didn’t feel I ever had enough time to put into my creativity, which was essentially what I wanted to be doing. With the amazing support of Rob and the investment into our little shed (which Tweed uses as a workshop), I took the leap and moved full time to Ginger and Tweed.
When we trade at markets, we get to chat about our products and what we do with lots of lovely people and it is so rewarding, making all the hard work worthwhile. The artisan community is a fantastic one to be a part of with so much support from fellow traders. We have made some wonderful friends. We have certainly missed this recently as many markets have been taken online with virtual events and look forward to returning to real life trading in the near future.
What are your most popular products?
Our most popular product is our handcrafted ottoman, we create them from both reclaimed and hand built boxes topped with an upholstered lid in a choice of fabrics. These are great for storage and putting your feet up. Other extremely popular products are our oak doorstops and door wedges. They work really well as gifts and each one has its own unique character.
How do you use Apple products in your business?
We are Apple users and tend to work mainly on our iPhones. I'm constantly photographing products and contacting customers, all from my phone, it’s great, and means I can work on the go. It’s also really important to post daily on Instagram and that’s all well supported on the iPhone. We develop and maintain our own website and that’s all done by Tweed on his MacBook.
Do you have any products that would be of use to Apple users?
In terms of useful products for Apple users, we make oak phone and Tablet stands. They’re simple and functional, great for a desk, bedside table or for recipes in the kitchen. We also have just created a new product which is a bath tray with an iPad slot for those relaxing soaks in the tub. Our product development and the inspiration behind our business is that we love to make things that people need and want, so we are open to ideas and requests, For example, we recently made some oak laptop/monitor stands for a local office.
The oak iPhone stand (first) and Bath Tray (second).
Do you take commissions?
We are happy to take commissions, and many of our products are designed to be adapted to people’s taste, colour choices, and interior decor. We have a product on our website called ‘Customise your own Ottoman’ and this allows you to order something bespoke, made to order for you.
Do you sell direct from your website?
We do sell direct from our website, many items are made to order and a few of our products are limited edition so we encourage people to contact us directly if there is anything they’d like that they may have seen on our Instagram feed that is not yet available online.
What do you do in your spare time?
We don’t have a huge amount of spare time, running a business like ours involves a lot of processes and often we find ourselves working late into the evening and at weekends but we love what we do and the fact we can work together is something that makes us feel very fortunate.
I think when you’re running your own business, especially when you love what you do so much, you never really switch off. The best part is that when you do need a break or want to grab a coffee, you can. I also love being able to have lots of cuddles with the littlest ginger- Georgie the cat, who is great company!
During lockdown we’ve enjoyed walks in the village we live in, we’ve stayed very close to home recently, but when we can, we enjoy days out visiting new places and not surprisingly, we enjoy trips to craft, antique and vintage fairs to get interior design inspiration and do a little shopping - I’m obsessed with furniture! Not that we have any more room left!
Thanks to Ginger & Tweed for taking the time out of their busy schedules to chat to us. We love the quality and finish of your work, and it's always a joy to stop by your stall when passing through Queen's Square on market days. You can check out more of Ginger & Tweed's awesome products and catch up with what they are doing by visiting www.gingerandtweed.com. You can also follow them on Instagram or Facebook (@gingerandtweed). They can be contacted directly through those services or at info@gingerandtweed.com.