Sustainability focus #1 – The Granby Workshop
A few weeks ago, I attended the bi-annual (?) exhibition Top Drawer, the UK's leading lifestyle trade show that showcases design-led brands across homeware, gifts, fashion, crafts, stationary and food (among other thing), from the UK and beyond, under one roof in London’s Kensington Olympia. I’ve been going to these exhibitions for almost 10 years now; what began as father-son bonding (since my father and I both love shopping and hate sports) later evolved into a family tradition.
Over the years, I’ve gone to these shows, saw beautiful things and often made extensive lists of the exhibitors and brands I liked, building up bookmark folders and eventually buying various products, either as gifts or for my own personal use. I’ve used this as a means to phase out the likes of Amazon and Wilko from my life and introducing more independent retailers. Coming from a long line of small business owners, it makes consumerism feel just a little more gratifying when you know you’re keeping someone’s dreams alive with your purchase.
At this edition of the show, however, there was a shift. This was not the shift I was expecting. I was expecting the same looming sense of doom and despair that I witnessed around 2010 in the depths of the recession, but this time in light of Br*xit. However, thankfully, there was a much different focus – sustainability. There seems to be a growing consensus among retailers that consumerism is changing and MUST change, because we simply cannot continue as we are. Of course, an obvious solution to the climate crisis would be an end of consumerist culture as we know it and a total cultural shift away from wants and onto needs alone (this is something I hope to break down in a later post).
In short, I was so inspired by the multitude of sustainable designs and brands at the exhibition that I’ve planned a series of blog posts to dissect and showcase these here.
The first brand that I’ve decided to feature wasn’t actually at Top Drawer this year, but was a couple of years back (2017, I think). Granby Workshop have been on my mind for a few years now, mostly for their ability to seamlessly bring together many of my interests, worlds I never saw coming together – design, housing, community and ceramics. Granby Workshop was created by Assemble as part of the efforts to regenerate a set of derelict Victorian terraced houses in the Granby area of Liverpool. These houses were brought into a CLT (Community Land Trust) project, with the workshop being established to create wares to furnish the houses using construction materials from the site (everything from fireplaces to tiles and light pulls). The success of this project has brought them widespread acclaim, including winning the prestigious Turner Prize in 2015.
Following their initial range, Granby Workshop announced their first Kickstarter campaign back in 2017 – Splatware. Their first venue into tableware, Splatware was a unique range of colourful tableware, produced by squashing different coloured clays together in a 60-ton hydraulic press. Pretty cool, huh? Unsurprisingly, they ended up smashing their target and scaling up their production ambitions. Despite not having a kitchen of my own, my 19-year-old-self did my part by buying one of their limited-edition plates, which currently proudly hangs on my bedroom wall.
Two years later, they’ve now launched their second Kickstarter – Granbyware. Their aim is more ambitious than their last; this time, they’re aiming to produce a range of tableware made of 100% waste materials. Despite the increase in consciousness around environmental sustainability, zero waste techniques are still in their infancy in the realms of food production, fashion and ceramics (to name a few). For this reason, this range is a game-changer. Naturally, the project has attracted attention from the likes of The New York Times, Inhabitat, The Evening Standardand Elle Decor. At the time of writing, the project is over 90% funded with 9 days to go. Having pledged enough for a 3-piece set myself, I’m looking forward to seeing these beautiful pieces in the flesh next year!
The way in which these guys have used an innovative housing model to launch a whole supply chain of high-quality goods and generate opportunities in their community has really resonated with me. It makes me ponder the ways in which my own CLT campaign can be expanded in its parameters, and how the development of a new model of affordable housing can have community-wide implications beyond the provision of homes for a select group of people.
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