Gift Focus - Nov/Dec 2018 (Issue 110)

giftfocus 37 We’re celebrating local skills with this look at handmade gift ideas lovingly crafted Best Kept Secrets’ soaps and candles are all carefully handmade in Northumberland. The candles are made with high-quality wax, sophisticated fragrances and colouring dyes and all are mixed by hand. From the cores and wicks’ insertions into the tins to the wraparound labels on the finished product, everything is done by hand by a member of the team. The company’s natural soaps are made using the traditional cold-pour method, which involves the careful blending of natural ingredients. Even the nettles in the Nettle and Mint soap are hand- picked. The soap is then cured for 30 days prior to being hand-sliced and packaged. This time-served method ensures an excellent soap with great cleaning properties and a fantastic fragrance. T: +44 (0)1670 512 222 W: bestkeptsecrets.co.uk This set of three fretted heart boxes from JJ Vaillant is intricately handmade from sustainable solid mango wood. The timber is dried in the sun, selected by the craftsman and hand-fretted and then assembled, sanded and polished. Even the bases are solid wood. The largest box measures 11x28x18cm, priced from £13.48 for a set of three boxes. Fairly traded and beautifully finished, the company prides itself on stocking the largest range and best-quality of hand-carved mango wood boxes in the UK. T: +44 (0)1216 673 629 W: jjvaillant.com Floralsilk is renowned for its high-quality gifts and attention to detail. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that many of its beautiful floral arrangements are designed and hand-crafted in- house at its Lincolnshire base, with great care and creativity being applied over the process, from design through to production. Once the flower stems, foliage and vase have been selected, Floralsilk designers ensure that the arrangement is beautifully balanced. All the stems are hand-cut and individually placed, and a recipe card for how to create the design is produced. It is from this recipe card that staff are trained to replicate the design, and every product is checked on completion to make sure that it meets Floralsilk’s high standards. Floralsilk has an extensive range of incredibly lifelike arrangements, from small “freshly picked” bunches in glass milk bottles to large, bold and eye-catching statement pieces that create an exquisite focal point in any room. T: +44 (0)1778 425 205 W: floralsilk.co.uk Walking stick specialist Classic Canes offers a wide range of unusual sticks, which are made in its Somerset workshop. This flamboyant cock pheasant stick is hand- painted and then mounted on a natural hazel shaft, grown at the family business’ own woodland. The hazel wood is dried for at least a year after cutting and then steamed and straightened by hand before being varnished and fitted with its handle. Always eye-catching in a window display, this original stick makes an excellent present. T: +44 (0)1460 75686 W: classiccanes.co.uk handmade gifts