Best of Britannia 2012 5–7 October, at The Farmiloe Building, Clerkenwell.
Thursday 25th October
In October we were extremely proud to be part of the first Best of Britannia show at the beautiful Farmiloe Building near Smithfield Market, Clerkenwell, London.
Best of Britannia is a carefully curated exhibition of British brands showing products designed and made exclusively in the UK, and that suited us down to the ground.
From top to bottom the exhibitor list read as a tightly curated and wide ranging who’s who and what’s what of current and classic British brands. From the well-established right through to brand-new independent designers and makers – BOB is geared to celebrating the quality and diversity of UK design and manufacture across all sectors.
If you ever doubted that UK design and manufacture is of world class standard, BOB is here to show you just how wrong you are.
There is a distinct shift in Britain away from the wonkily made, the shabbily designed and the poorly conceived. British manufacturing has a history of craftsmanship and care, of quality materials and beautiful, functional design and this is again on the up. Of course there have been exceptions – I am just young enough to remember British Leyland churning out such monstrous disasters as the Austin Allegro and the inexplicably popular Morris Marina – but these dark days are well behind us. The customers won’t have it. Britain and its people are changing. We’re more design conscious and more likely than ever before to spend our money on things that last, things we genuinely like, things we can be proud to own and businesses we want to support. These are the days of quality, of considered approach and careful attention to detail in design, manufacture and ownership. BOB recognises this and underlines it in red pen.
The show had a real community feel to it. The shared ethic of ‘Britishness’ seemed to instill a special kind of camaraderie among the exhibitors, generating a real sense of being part of something good.
The beauty of an item is built of the things that go into making it – innovation, design, material and skill. Everyone showing at BOB understood this and so we say, “More power to your elbow” to them all.
We’d like to thank the organisers of BOB (Cheers to Anthony, Joe, Terry and Esme) for having the vision to put on an event like this and we’re really looking forward to being part of next year’s event.
Our show highlights include G-Plan Vintage, Satchelle, Fox Brothers and The Merchant Fox, Cherchbi, Pashley, Ginetta, Alder Tree Ice Cream, Huit Denim, Velobici, Tusting, Rockman & Rockman, Make It British, Tregothnan Tea and MYDeco.com.
All brilliant, all British.
