Our Ethical Values: Handmade
Not only that, but you’re also supporting the people who make them, who are often artisans and small independent businesses. Locally produced items come with a unique charm and quality that you just can’t find in mass-produced items. When you buy something handmade, you know it’s been crafted with love and care.
Buying handmade has a number of benefits on the environment. For one, handmade products uses less energy and fewer resources than their factory-made counterparts. In addition, handmade products are often made from locally produced resources, with skill and attention to quality which can result in less waste and less pollution.
By supporting local artisans and traditional craft, the handmade industry can help preserve the unique cultural identity of a region, while also providing employment opportunities for local communities, both here in the UK and overseas.
What does Handmade mean?
"Handmade" is one of the most effective descriptors to help emphasise the quality and uniqueness of a product. Like any other word, though, it needs to be defined in order to have an understanding of what it actually means. At Green Tulip, we use the definition: Made by hand, and not mass produced by machine or other means.
For us, this collection includes hand sewn using a person operated sewing or weaving machine or hand made using other tools such as wood working, pottery or jewellery tools. It also includes hand mixed, baked or created recipes for food and drinks and toiletries, candles and scents.
Our handmade gifts and products are almost always unique, as they are made by real people, one at a time. Some of the handmade gifts are indeed sold as 'one of a kind' meaning they are individual gifts. These are often made with upcycled materials such as our felted scarves, make up bags and sari baskets.
Other handmade gifts have minor differences due to their handmade nature, Milagros glasses are skilfully handmade from recycled glass in Mexico, they are traditionally mouth blown and hand-shaped by eye so each piece is unique - minor imperfections are part of their enduring charm. If you buy more than one, we will do our best to choose the most similar sized glasses for your order! They are a truly beautiful example of a handmade gift.
Other gifts in our handmade collection are less varied. Due to the skill and precision of the artisans, they can make candles & toiletries or bags to a specific pattern or recipe, over and over again.
What are the benefits of buying handmade gifts?
Buying handmade gifts and products has many benefits over buying mass produced items. The main benefits are to:
- The Customer/ Recipient
Handmade gifts are unique and original, unlike anything you'll find in big stores. They are a thoughtful expression of love and care, and the receiver will appreciate the time and effort put into choosing something special. They are usually of high quality and will last a long time. They can be more expensive than mass produced items, but when you factor in environmental costs, cost of waste (there is very little waste produced making Handmade gifts) and the longevity of these well made items, we think the overall cost can be lower than mass produced. Our range reflects gifts for all budgets, have a look!
- The Environment
Buying handmade has a number of benefits on the environment. For one, handmade products use less energy and fewer resources than their factory-made counterparts. In addition, handmade products are often made from locally produced resources, with skill and attention to quality which can result in less waste and less pollution. Many of our Handmade items use upcycled and recycled materials, making them even more eco-friendly.
- The Local Economy and Community
Handmade gifts and products are made by small and independent businesses rather than large, multi national corporations. These offer local employment, and are a major source of job creation employing over 16.7 million people in the UK, which is 60% of all private-sector employment. When people spend money at local businesses, a large portion of it stays in the local community. For example, an estimated 68% of £100 spent at a local business stays local, compared to 48% at a large business. These small, creative businesses can give a community a unique charm and aesthetic, making it a destination for visitors. Whilst at the same time they support the community, often donating to charity, running local workshops, training and employment schemes. They are also incredibly innovative: Independent businesses produce 16 times more new patents per employee than large patenting firms.
Our Handmade collection.
We have a large collection of Handmade gifts, made both in the UK and overseas. We always check with the brands that they comply with fair and safe labour conditions, and many of our brands provide a source of income for people in areas of high poverty and deprivation. By making beautiful and unique handmade gifts, these artisan are able to practice local crafts and traditions alongside earning this income, and are often able to work flexibly to fit around family, education and other employment such as farming.
Check out our Handmade Collection here and below are a few of our favourite brands that demonstrate how committing to buying handmade handmade gifts and products can make big differences:
- Lua
One of our longest relationships (over 10 years!) is with Lua an accessory brand that produces gorgeous, high quality bags, gifts and accessories but is very far removed from 'Fast Fashion'!
All Lua pieces are handmade in Vietnam by women working in clean, safe workshops or at home so they can work according to their families’ needs. Poverty is widespread and working with Lua enables them to combine any farming obligations with a valuable additional source of income.
They choose timeless designs rather than 'this season's fashion', and as they are so well made, they make beautiful and lasting gifts.
- Milagros
As we mentioned earlier, Milagros' colourful range of chunky recycled tumblers and wine glasses are hand-blown at a family-run workshop in Oaxaca, South Mexico using Pepsi bottles and other discarded glass.
The bottles and shards are melted down and then mouth blown. Each piece is shaped by hand and eye using techniques that date back thousands of years - and the fact that every piece is a slightly different size and shape is part of its enduring charm! We love that the trace of the maker is captured as the glass solidifies – small ripples and optical distortions are an integral part of the glassware. Each piece is unique, but together they make a beautiful set and a truly charming handmade gift.
They promote the circular economy - did you know that It is a myth that recycling glass uses more energy than it saves. Recycling two glass bottles saves the equivalent energy of boiling 5 cups of water - which seems a small saving until you take into account that 2.4 tonnes of glass end up in landfill per year!
Just looking at the skill of the ladies hand knitting these gorgeous woolly hats, gloves and socks demonstrates why we love to stock them. They are made from super warm pure wool yarn and hand knitted by skilled artisans through a fair trade cooperative in Nepal.
Pachamama has been loyal to its original philosophy on fair trade and has been working with some of the same producers for over 20 years - ensuring continuous and solid economic and social growth for a large number of people.
It's lovely to see these women with incredibly skilled hands able to work close to their homes, keeping families together and preventing the need for economic relocation to the cities.
They also donate a 10% minimum of sales profits to Net4kids, an international charity working in Nepal, with a mission to give underprivileged children a better future through sustainable help. A truly special handmade favourite is the Christmas pudding hat!
- Just Trade
Featuring the most gorgeous handmade jewellery, Just Trade was founded in 2006 by jewellery designer Laura Cave. Just Trade is a collaborative, innovative brand built on the interests of the fair trade artisans around the world who make its products - combining traditional craft skills and materials with expert knowledge of contemporary jewellery and accessories.
Every year Laura visits her fair trade co-operatives in India and Peru, where she gets the chance to catch up with old friends over a nice cuppa! She also offers first hand extensive training in technique and design, which has given the artisans the confidence to design and make their own products.
Designed by a small team in a studio in the Bussey Buildings in Peckham, London, Just Trade is surrounded by artist studios and workshops. There Laura and her small team work tirelessly dealing with new designs, as well as providing the final finishing and packing of the jewellery.
In early 2024 the company was very proud to achieve recognition by the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) as a Guaranteed Fair Trade Enterprise - something Laura has aspired to since the very beginning in 2006. Just Trade are a perfect combination of skills and enterprise, their handmade jewellery is a perfect gift to make someone feel very special.
- The Botanical Candle Co
Founders Amalia & James started their home-grown business in 2014 making candles as a kitchen table side-line. Today The Botanical Candle Co has grown to an established business in the local community, employing a team of 12 wonderful crew. The Brand's carefully created essential oil and perfume oil blends of fresh, floral and woody botanical fragrances offer a distinct difference to your everyday scented candles. Each one is lovingly blended, poured and finished by hand at a small studio in Shaftesbury, Dorset.
The Botanical Candle Co have also opened a lovely gift shop at The Commons in Shaftesbury. It's laden with beautiful pottery and glass by artisan makers and offers a rare opportunity to get advice on the unique fragrances of the Brand's own products.
- Salt + Steam
With three different types of salt, some quality essential oils and botanicals, Lily set about hand blending her first totally natural products at her kitchen table, sourcing high quality ingredients from ethical businesses.
Lily launched a range of beautiful bath salts and facial steams that are free of parabens, SLS, palm oil, artificial fragrances and harsh chemicals - Salt + Steam was born!
Today, wonder woman Lily is still making all the products by hand and doing the photography in a rural North Yorkshire workshop.
- Pebble
Pebble crochet baby rattles are made by Hathay Bunano, a company started back in 2004 by Samantha Morshead MBE. On moving to Bangladesh, Samantha saw the incredible poverty so started teaching the women knitting and crocheting skills. Soon her vision of bringing sustainable and flexible employment to rural and disadvantaged women became real. Following WFTO accreditation, Pebble is currently the only guaranteed fair trade crochet toys in the world. It now employs over 5,000 women in 52 different regions of Bangladesh, and handmade products are still at the core of the business.
The employment is very much community based - the women are paid fairly and the work is flexible - they enjoy getting together to work, chat and share.
It's lovely to see these women with incredibly skilled hands able to work close to their homes, keeping families together and preventing the need for economic relocation to the cities.
These handmade gifts for babies are unique as they are sewn by hand, meaning no two will ever be the same. They really are little works of art and bring joy as well as sustainable and fair employment.
Conclusion
At Green Tulip we really value our suppliers, we value their skills, craftsmanship and dedication. Nowhere is this more obvious than in our Handmade Collection. We have had a relationship with many of these suppliers for 10 years or more. This consistency and commitment is possible because of they very high standards of their work, and also provides them with a regular source of employment and income.
If, like us you want to support small, independent and creative businesses and the communities they are based in, then we highly recommend shopping from our collection of handmade gifts and products. They are eco-friendly, unique and will last for years, as gifts, they will show just how much you care.
These keepsake gifts are far removed from mass produced, poorly made and environmentally damaging 'order today - delivered tomorrow' products that crowd the online marketplace today!
