Meet the makers

Eleanor Torbati is a potter who makes stoneware in her Norwich-based pottery studio. She designs, forms and fires her stoneware, and the work is inspired by the landscape of North Norfolk. Her approach is focused on functionality, minimalism and the process of slow living, so the pieces are made to be used every day.

Everything is hand thrown from stoneware and finished with a food-safe glaze. We stock her low wide mug, a milk jug, a butter dish, a speckled egg tray and a speckled coffee dripper for the kitchen, along with incense holders and ceramic stars. For flowers and plants she makes floral bowls and a jar holder, which are a lovely way to display foraged blooms, and a stoneware bulb and plant propagator.

Because each piece is thrown by hand, each is completely unique and slight variations in size and finish are part of the charm. As a guide, the low wide mug measures about 9.5cm across and 7.5cm high. Hand washing is advised, and microwaves and ovens are discouraged.

Edmund Davies is a potter who works on the wheel. Permanent Collection, who stock wheel-thrown stoneware candleholders by Edmund Davies, describe the potter as London-based, and the Checkerboard Mug we sell is hand-thrown in Norfolk.

Asked about inspiration, Edmund Davies has said it lies mainly in the making itself: trying to reach a state of flow at the wheel so that new forms can appear. Looking at historical pots and vessels in museums and galleries is another, and Romano-British glass is a recent obsession. The potter also describes being a chronic beachcomber, with a particular liking for stones with holes in them. A current project is a new body of work in part-reduction fired terracotta, aiming for the classic orange with flashes of almost singed metallic grey, inspired by the smoke-fired terracotta of Oaxaca and by salt glazed pots.

The Checkerboard Mug reflects the potter's interest in Modernist forms. It has a low handle and a checkerboard pattern made with a wax resist technique, under a glossy glaze. It is stoneware, about 8.5cm tall and wide, and is best washed by hand. Being handmade, each one varies naturally in shape and pattern.

Hannah Burgess Ceramics is the work of a Leeds-based ceramicist who creates wheel-thrown stoneware for everyday use. It is inspired by Japanese pottery and combines simple, timeless forms with tactile, earthy glazes and subtle surface detail. Each piece is made by hand with care and intention, and is designed to be used and enjoyed daily for years to come. The pottery is also stocked at The Hepworth Wakefield.

Fingerprints are often left at the base of a piece, from dipping it into the glaze, so that each one carries a mark of its making. We stock it in two glazes. Moss is a verdant green glaze with a soft satin to gloss finish where it is applied thinner, inspired by the dense moss found in shaded forest interiors and covering Yorkshire's dry stone walls. White speckle is a glossy white glaze enriched with subtle flecks of red iron oxide that emerge through the surface during firing.

Our pieces are the faceted mug, wheel-thrown in flecked stoneware (about 7.5cm high and 9.5cm across, holding 300ml), and the large faceted oil pourer. Everything is hand thrown and glazed with the potter's own glazes, so there may be slight differences in form and glazing between pieces. The pieces are dishwasher and microwave safe, though hand washing is always recommended for handmade pottery.

Vintage finds is where we gather vintage pieces. At the moment that means vintage breadboards, each individually numbered.

Soendergaard Design is the pottery of Lars P. Soendergaard Gregersen, who was born and trained in Denmark. He moved to England in 1993 and set up Soendergaard Design at Fressingfield in Suffolk.

He works in the Scandinavian tradition of design and function. All of his designs are hand thrown in porcelain and finished in glazes that use only natural pigments. He has also collaborated with David Mellor Design on a range of tableware in several colours, which can be bought singly or mixed and matched, including a matt glazed denim blue.

We stock his white large jug (70cl) and his sauce jug, simple, practical pieces for the table.

Archivist is a British brand best known for its extra-long luxury matches, sold in decorative boxes and glass bottles, alongside letterpress cards and prints. Its name refers to the Natural History Museum's archives, where the company says it first began, and it is a family business run by a husband and wife.

The designs on the boxes are printed in the UK, and the matches themselves are made from FSC-certified wood, with FSC-accredited packaging. They make decorative gifts, and are ideal for lighting candles, a wood burning stove or a fire pit.

Many designs come from collaborations and archives. We stock matches illustrated by Wanderlust Paper Co., a paper-lover and illustrator based in Hove, East Sussex, including the Blue Floral and Strawberry designs from the Flora range, litho printed with gold text. There are also boxes from the Natural History Museum's collections, such as John J. Audubon's Golden-eye Duck from The Birds of America and the museum's minerals, and designs inspired by Alexander Girard, as well as birds, flowers and Christmas boxes.

Norfolk Natural Living is a plant-based, non-toxic home care and wellbeing brand, started in 2018 by Bella Middleton, an aromatherapist fascinated by the benefits plants can have on our wellbeing. She has described the aim as bringing a little joy, even pleasure, to everyday rituals, from washing dishes to washing clothes, using ingredients that are kind to the environment and packaging that is as sustainable as it is beautiful. It describes itself as a slow-luxury home care brand.

Everything is mixed, bottled and labelled by hand in the brand's workshop in King's Lynn. Each oil is chosen and blended for each scent, then left to age, sometimes for months and up to a year, because the time of harvest and the weather in the season affect how an oil smells and blends. All of the products are biodegradable and non-toxic.

The first shop opened in Holt in 2019, and there are shops in Holt, Southwold and Woodbridge, and a perfumery on Columbia Road in London. We stock a botanical candle in Geranium and Tomato Leaf, indoor plant food, a deepest sleep bath soak, a loo parfum and a dog shampoo.

Pelegrims is a skincare brand from Kent, founded in 2021 by the natural formulator Alex Verier, previously a director at Haeckels, and Jérôme Moisan, a former tech executive who is sommelier trained. Gaelle Scoul, previously at Le Labo, supports the brand with marketing and communications.

The brand aims to make low-intervention, active skincare formulations that work in harmony with the skin, supporting it to heal and rejuvenate itself. Sustainability is central: the formulations use waste from the wine making process, with grape extracts from the by-products of wine making, such as skins, seeds and vines, sourced from Westwell Wines in Kent. Pinot Noir and Ortega grape extracts appear across the range.

We stock the Exfoliating Hand Cleanser, the Polyphenol Hand Pomade and the Bath Salts.

Verden is a natural fragrance brand for bath, body and home. The name means the world or the earth in Danish. It was founded by Charlotte Semler and Arabella Preston, who are also the team behind Votary skincare.

The founders believe natural fragrance rituals connect us to our breath and the earth, allowing us to feel elemental joy by uniting mind and body. They describe the beauty of fragrance as lying in the joy of the memories and emotions it evokes, and the brand aims to help people reconnect with happiness.

Sustainability is part of the approach. The plastic bottles are made from post consumer recycled PET, the boxes are made from recycled card, and the glass containers are fully recyclable, with detailed sustainability information on the label of every product. One percent of sales goes to environmental charities through 1% For The Planet.

We stock the D'orangerie hand and body wash and the Herbanum reed diffuser.

Foras is a fragrance and skincare brand from Folkestone in Kent. The fragrances are created by Alexander Verier, who has worked in the fragrance industry for nearly ten years, and Foras is his first range under his own name. It has a shop on Church Street in Folkestone, close to the church of St Mary and St Eanswythe.

The range includes eau de parfums, soaps and incense cones, and the brand says that everything in its shop is made locally. Our incense cones, in Juniper, Rosemary and Oud, are made locally in Kent, and a box holds 14 cones. The Oxidised Rose candle blends eight different rose extractions to try to represent the flower in a new way, with a powdery, slightly metallic rose scent balanced by an aquatic core that softens a woody base.

Norfolk Makrs is a small artisan workshop in North Norfolk offering a limited range of handmade products for the home and to wear. The pieces are designed and crafted for quality, utility, longevity and beauty, using textiles, leather and wood.

The workshop uses new components, and also joyfully re-purposes reclaimed and discarded materials. The Birdy Villas, for example, are made from recycled local timber and found metal roofing from Norfolk byways and bins, and some have a front bird porch made from local, eco-gathered branches. They are individually considered and unique, with a detachable base for a seasonal clean. The Japan-inspired aprons are handmade in North Norfolk, and each one is unique; the gardener's apron is made in vintage fabrics. We also stock dog leads made from horse saddles.