Followers of my Instagram might know that I fell in love with these lovely porcelain espresso cups from alissa + nienke (two designers who joined forces after having met at Design Academy Eindhoven) during my last trip to Amsterdam. They’re almost too good to use everyday. So, I was delighted when I learnt that British homeware shop Shedquarters was selling them in the UK, partly just in case I wanted to add to my collection!
Shedquarters is an online shop selling contemporary homeware and accessories that feature bold patterns, colours and textures. It was started by Hayley Pryke and Ross Frame last year from a shed. Here, they answer some of my burning questions…
How did you start Shedquarters and where did the name come from?
We set up the online shop last year after deciding it was the right time to leave London and start our own business. It’s something we had always talked about and had the dream to work for ourselves. We moved to Cambridge and spent some time converting a shed into a studio, which is where the name Shedquarters comes from.
We initially designed and made a collection of our own products but always knew we wanted Shedquarters to be a curated collection of design-led items by both emerging designers and selected design brands. In early 2014 we sourced our first products through Etsy from designers Fun Makes Good, Jonna Saarinen and Food Guide UK and the shop has just grown from there. We love searching and finding new products and the shop enables us to share those finds with people.
What would you say is the aesthetic behind your shop, you mentioned colour, but are there any other themes you look out for when sourcing products?
It’s also important to us that each item is functional whether it’s for the home or for personal use, and always has a design-led quality to it. When sourcing products we like to be aware of the availability of the product elsewhere, we look out for emerging designers and less widely available brands so that our customers can discover something new or a new designer when browsing the shop.
One of our most recent additions are the fantastic Espresso Cups by Alissa + Nienke, the craftsmanship behind them is incredible and the process of how they’re made is really interesting. They are mostly stocked in the Netherlands where the duo are from, so it was really exciting for us to be able to make them more available to people in the UK.
What’s your favourite item from the shop at the moment?
Mine has to be the Muhkura Wool Blanket from Kauniste, I love the colour and it’s so soft. Ross’ is the Bloc orange A4 notepad, he has a bit of a weakness for stationery!
Thanks guys! Scroll down for some of my favourites and a special discount code…
MY TOP PICKS:
From left to right, top to bottom: 1: Metsa cushion: £25.00, 2: Waves door stop: £25.00, 3: Sokeri cushion, £25.00, 4: Swans Wool blanket: £95.00, 5: Alissa + Nienke porcelain espresso cup: £15.00, 6: Screen-printed Forest Bag tote, £12.00
Readers of catesthill.com can get a 15% discount off anything in the shop by using code ‘cate15’ (for a limited time of one week). Shop here.
All images: courtesy Shedquarters
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