by Andrew Williams |
February 04, 2013
|
Valentine's Day - an opportunity to show the one you love how much you care, or just another "Hallmark Holiday" designed to keep the tills ringing after Christmas? It's easy to be cynical. After all, many of us will be opening some unwelcome credit card bills at the moment and the thought of splashing out on more gifts may harden the softest of hearts.
If you live in
Hay on Wye there are a number of options open to you to show the one you love you care without breaking the bank. Of course Hay is famous for books and our shop is opposite one of the amazing "honesty bookshops" around town. For anyone who hasn't seen these, they are covered shelving displays which are open to the public and unstaffed. If you see a book you like you simply pop the amount to pay in an honesty box on the wall. At 50p for paperbacks and £1 for hardbacks it's a real bargain.
As you'd imagine there is a lot of chaff to wade through to get to the literary wheat, but if you have half an hour to spare you can find some incredible titles. A beautiful book of poetry published in 1871 for example - the idea of who might have owned this book, read it, perhaps given it as a gift themselves, is romantic enough. At a quid I think it would make a thoughtful and thought provoking gift for any young lovebirds.
Here are a few lines to give you a flavour (I've put it back now so if you're quick you may be able to snap it up).
Of course if your budget stretches a little further we have some lovely gift ideas here at Eighteen Rabbit, from our incredible
Cambodian jewellery to cool
tee shirts to handmade scented
candles. You don't have to spend a lot to show you care, and when you buy items which have been fairly traded you're ensuring that the love spreads beyond the gift you give to the people and families you are supporting.
Tagged:
books,
cambodia,
fair trade,
hay castle,
hay on wye,
jewellery,
valentine
by Andrew Williams |
January 13, 2013
|
It's a bit chilly at the moment up at Hay Castle, so don't forget we currently have up to a third off all our knitwear. There may be snow on the way so stay warm out there! We're taking the opportunity during the quieter weeks at the start of the year to look for loads more interesting and unusual items to stock in time for Spring. We've already got some really beautiful new mango wood pieces which we'll have up on the website soon. Also on the way we have...
...more incredible jewellery from Cambodia, as well as more of our ever popular Elephant Cement accessories;
...more stock from our friends in Mexico - rugs, mirrors, and our spooky yet stylish black clay skulls!
...more clothes including a range of womenswear which will be perfect for the summer;
...Nepalese arts and crafts including some incredible copper pieces;
...some kids toys and playthings to keep our younger ethical superheroes contented.
We hope to add all of these items online as soon as we get them. And we'll have more offers and discounts for customers, so if you haven't signed up to our mailing list yet, why not join us? Or if you're more socially minded you can like us on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/18RabbitShop.
Tagged:
2013,
apparel,
cambodia,
copper,
fair trade,
hay castle,
hay on wye,
jewellery,
kids,
knitwear,
mexico,
nepal,
spring,
toys
by Andrew Williams |
December 24, 2012
|
Well, here we are at Christmas Eve. We have had a fantastic few weeks getting the shop up and running in Hay on Wye and of course on our website. We want to thank everyone who has taken the time to pop in and say hello, look us up online, follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook. The support we've had has been truly encouraging and even though it is still very early days we are looking forward to 2013 with excitement. We have now confirmed with the great people at Hay Castle that we'll be here for the next few months. We hope to have lots more stock, different ranges and suppliers, and more stories to tell you about the people behind our products.
In the meantime we wish you all a peaceful Christmas and a relaxing New Year. Our shop is closed from the 25th - 28th December and during January and February we'll only be open Wednesday - Sunday. However we are here every day online!
Thank you all. xx
Tagged:
2013,
Christmas,
hay castle,
hay on wye,
pop up shop,
website
by Louise Davies |
November 21, 2012
|
We're now <----this----> close to being open online - and while we're making the final few adjustments you may notice some weird comings and goings. Please bear with us while we finish polishing the bells and whistles to our virtual shopfront!
Tagged:
fair trade,
hay castle,
hay on wye,
pop up shop
by Louise Davies |
November 13, 2012
|
It has been such a whirlwind since we got back from Mexico that my plan to update the blog with details of all of our travels has become slightly waylaid. Now that I have five minutes I thought I should let you know about some of the places we visited and where we found the stock we're selling in our new pop up shop in Hay on Wye.
We started off in Xalapa, about four hours east of Mexico City. This was the home for the Hay Festival for a few days, which featured an incredible line up of literary talent, including Jeanette Winterson, Ed Vulliamy and Wole Soyinka. An incredible dry clean for our brains, and a beautiful city which we'd never visited before.
From Xalapa we headed south to Oaxaca. When we had visited previously in 2005 we'd been disappointed - the central square was being renovated, there seemed to be loud tourists everywhere and the whole city had the air of somewhere slightly down at heel. This visit was very different. The air was clear, the people were welcoming, the food was incredible, and crucially we made two very significant contacts. One, a government run co-operative, helped groups of artisans in the surrounding towns to pool their labour and ensured they were paid a fair wage. The second was run more commercially, though still along fairly traded principles, which meant they could help with larger quantities and a clear route to get more stock when we need it. This felt like a great leap forward.
After a quick pit stop in Mexico City we headed south again to Cuernavaca. Having lived here in the past we had a fair idea of where to go and again we managed to make contact with two or three really interesting suppliers.
All in all it was a hugely important trip for us, and one which has allowed us to open our pop up shop with some really enticing products and a truly hand-picked range. Come and see us in Hay on Wye, or sign up to our mailing list to find out when our online store opens.
Tagged:
cuernavaca,
fair trade,
hay castle,
hay on wye,
mexico,
oaxaca,
pop up shop,
xalapa
