Maison Loulou chocolates at LoveLocal
Love-Local, a website dedicated to showcasing the best artisan designers and producers in the West Country, feels like a good idea that was waiting to happen.
It’s the brainchild of entrepreneurs Allison Herbert and Liz Oram who wanted to create a one-stop shop of hard to source products, a little like notonthehighstreet.com but with the feel-good factor of promoting local.
As a concept it’s bang on the zeitgeist and Love-local has gone from strength to strength in just 6 months since launch, with designers and producers queuing up to showcase their wares.
At Love-local you can source pretty much everything from the seriously quirky to the classic – there are bowls from Dartington Crystal, tiny hand built chests of drawers for jewellery, handmade organic chocolates, essential oil soaps, cute wash bags, scarves, cotton bunting and at the other end of the scale you can even buy a state of the art outdoor room from E-den for £10,000.
There are lots of good original ideas here – for £100 you can adopt a wildflower meadow, one of the fastest disappearing habitats, from the Somerset Wildlife Trust or you can beat the English weather with a designer windbreak made out of recycled sailcloth (£130).
The website began by focusing on Somerset and Devon (where Allison and Liz are from) but already Wiltshire and Dorset have come online and Cornwall, with its plethora of artists, will surely soon follow.
The concept works so well because it helps under-the-radar artisans to promote their wares – Allison and Liz have a knack for PR – and it provides consumers with an ethical and easy shopping option, a whole range of presents under one roof. Stay posted, we predict this one’s going to grow and grow.