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For me the best part of living in London is discovering the small businesses that really bring magic and originality. I live in East London and as a small creative designer myself, I feel really privileged to live and work around so many talented creatives and champions. I still remember the excitement of first seeing these quirky shops and touching their beautifully curated and made designs of the artists they stock.
Some shops are filled with artist from all over the country like Urban Makers UK (including myself!) and some are artists and makers themselves like Prick London.. I mean… cute cactus, GENIUS!
Or what about the original personalised baby clothes by Josiah Amari in Camden? This didn’t exist before then, I mean the choice of wonderfully curated little shops that can fill your shopping bag with joy!
These small shops are full of delight and huge dreams! Kindly support and visit them when you are around this side of the town. Their creativity will hold you captive, I promise...
Let's make this our summer of small business love!
90% of UK adults say that they care about the future of small, independent businesses so we’ve created another moment in the year for us all to come together and make some noise.
Josiah Amari - Camden
Prick London - Mile End
Glow London - Walthamstow
Revere the Residence - Stoke Newington
WORD London - Walthamstow Village
Loop London - Islington
Know and Love - Stoke Newington
Source Lifestyle - South Woodford
Urban Makers UK - Roman Road
Josiah Amari - Camden
JA is the brainchild of designer, tailor, and creative visionary Maria Castillo. What originally began as a way to simply spend more time with her son, Maria quickly realised there was an empty gap in the market.
Inspired by the sleek cuts and clean lines of Korean and Nordic designs, Maria wanted to create simple and effortless fashion that was previously only accessible to those with a high income. By making everything affordable, other mothers like her, could dress their children in pieces as individual as they were. As her son; Josiah, the brands names sake, continues to grow, so does the products. Creating a constantly maturing, constantly evolving clothing line.
From her sitting room, to a stall in Bricklane; Josiah Amari can now be found in Camden Lock, where our flagship store is located. It has become a creative space for mumpreneurs; stocking other great products for creative kids including shoes and bags. We hope to continue to grow and offer only the best in uniquely designed fashion, accessories & soon homeware.
Handmade by Tinni is stocked here from the start and we are so proud to be part of Maria's journey.
Prick London - Mile End
LONDON’S FIRST CACTUS SHOP
Prick is London's first boutique dedicated to cacti and other succulents. Based in Dalston, East London, it offers a selection of the most unusual and exotic plants sourced from across the UK and Europe.
Prick sees cacti and succulents as living sculptures that take years to fully develop. Store Founder Gynelle Leon explains, ''They are a beautiful and sustainable way to transform any interior. Due to their low maintenance and hardy nature, they're well suited to modern city living''.
Glow London - Walthamstow
From their early days as a pop-up to our current retail space in Hoe Street, Walthamstow, East London, Glow London is more than a shop. The store is an inspiration for the design-minded and lovers of individual style.
Glow London launched in the Autumn of 2016. Glow London is proud to champion independent and emerging designers, giving them an opportunity to showcase their artistry. We love nurturing and supporting designers who are full of energy and experimental. Our appetite for newness sets us apart from the competition.
Glow is all about balancing creativity with wearability.
This store in East London has a carefully curated edit of fashion, jewellery, art and lifestyle pieces from over 20 designers, makers and creatives based in London.
They have a deep respect for lasting quality and have built our business working with like minded creatives, designers and artisans who bring a personal touch and are the foundation to what they do.
And soon Handmade by Tinni will be stocked here too.
Revere the Residence - Stoke Newington
An inspiring story -
Kate Revere, Founder, created Revere the Residence, inspired by her teenage daughter Piper. Piper is autistic, profoundly deaf and blessed with a creative ability to be truly jealous of. They both have a passion for interiors, styling, art and finding unusual finds from new independent creators (although Piper's passion tends more to the smaller 'vintage dolls house interiors' scale and her own art about love and heartbreaks).
Kate, like many other parents of disabled children, has always worried about what will Piper do once she leaves education, especially as she can't read or write. With many other talents, where will she find somewhere that inspires her, values her, and most of all, makes her feel safe? The opportunities are pretty limited.
Only 5% of people with a learning disability are in employment in the UK.
Combining all these skills, as well as meeting Piper's needs, whilst responding to the ethics at the heart of the community they live in: Kate came up with the idea for a social enterprise. A homeware and lifestyle shop where people can spend their money wisely, on unique products, and support their community. The Revere the Residence social enterprise was born. Knowing that many of Pipers peers needed this opportunity too in Hackney, Kate made this her founding principle: that everyone employed or gaining work experience through Revere the Residence would be either a young adult with a disability or a parent of a disabled child. This is not for pity or praise, it’s about levelling the field. Revere the Residence works with Mencap, colleges, community groups and local authorities to establish strong links to help give opportunities to as many people with disabilities as possible.
WORD STORE - Walthamstow village, East London
A family lifestyle destination in the heart Walthamstow village, East London.
At it's heart a community family store.. a one stop shop owned and operated by women. Full of sustainable, considered, cool brands that create unique products.
Somewhere you can pop in for a chat, a browse, join one of our yoga classes and discover brands you need to know about for your your little ones as well as little treats for yourself and your friends.
Loop London - Islington
A dreamy yarn shop!
Loop was opened in the Summer of 2005 by Susan Cropper, a New Yorker living in London. She wanted it to be like the best yarn fair you can imagine in a warm and inspiring space along with incredible staff who are expert knitters and friendly and talented people.
Most of our yarns are natural fibres and a lot are hand-dyed yarns from the likes of La Bien Aimee, Madelinetosh, Spincycle, Qing, The Uncommon Thread, Eden Cottage Yarns, Lichen + Lace, and many small independent dyers from the UK and around the world. Loop is also the UK Flagship shop for Brooklyn Tweed, and Woolfolk.
Loop also stocks a huge range of haberdashery which is useful and beautiful as well as a great selection of vintage haberdashery which includes buttons, ribbons, and an incredible selection of embroidery and mending threads.
With a passion for print, we also have a wonderful collection of publications – books and magazines from all over the world as well as a huge collection of printed patterns. We have the joy of collaborating with some incredible designers who create patterns for us using Loop yarns including Fiona Alice, Norah Gaughan, Juju Vail, Paulina Popiolek, Melanie Berg, Kathryn Merrick, Rachel Coopey, Yoko Hatta, Justyna Lorkowska, and Florence Spurling. We have published four books which include Pretty Knits, Vintage Crochet, Juju’s Loops and Loop’s 10 which include designs from Stephen West, Pam Allen, Tif Fussel, Kirsten Kapur and many others.
Know and Love – Stoke Newington
A practical, stylish interior destination shop!
Owner Karen Sims is an interiors stylist and location manager based in London. As part of her creative portfolio she has been working in the home interiors area for over a decade and her work has been featured in magazines and advertising for international clients. Karen's enthusiasm for colours and textures began at St Martins School of Art and developed in New York, Toronto and Stoke Newington, where as a multidisciplinary designer she is working across interiors and graphics, as a stylist, producer, designer and maker.
Along the way she has forged links and made friends with many talented designers and makers. It was during a conversation with partner Tim Leahy that Karen came up with the idea of curating their creative outputs and showcasing their work. Know & Love is all about personal connection and community. For every product there is a heartfelt story of friendship, family, memory or local connection.
The products are practical, stylish and mainly hand crafted homewares with an emphasis on simplicity, authenticity and natural materials.
Source Lifestyle – South Woodford
Source Lifestyle, explorers of the eclectic
A unique London gifts boutique For more than 18 years Source Lifestyle London gift boutique has been carefully selecting original Homeware, Clothing and Fashion Accessories, Jewellery and Gifts for our customers and their loved ones. We have learnt that there are gifts for the body and gifts for the soul. We’ve discovered that gifts from yourself are just as special as gifts from someone else. We have been delivering the combination of all of the above – ever since! Source Lifestyle the London gift boutique shop is full of quirky little somethings, once you’re in – be careful not to lose track of time and dive into the world of fun, unusual and unique gifts for every occasion.
Urban Makers Shop – Roman Road
The Marketplace for Designer Makers!
The shop location is at 347 Roman Road and is located in the heart of the East End, right by Mile End Park and Victoria Park. Mile End and Bethnal Green station are nearby.
They have over 25 designers in the shop selling everything from jewellery, art and prints, kids clothing and toys, home-ware, candles, plants and more.
Author's note:
If you enjoyed this Blog, please feel free to share among your social media. We need to support and lift small independent shops and your support is most valuable to us.
About the Author -
Paulomi Debnath, Founder & Artist at Handmade by Tinni
Paulomi launched the brand in 2020 as a sustainable modern textile design brand that creates unique wearable art. She chose organic cotton as her leading material for her designs as it is biodegradable and extremely flexible to let the designs flow freely.
Specializing in the art of traditional rope knotting crafts and processes like macramé, Paulomi creates colourful and bold designs that make you feel unique.
