Shropshire Company have Huge Success!
May 9, 2010
Wilstone House and Gardens, who are based near Church Stretton have been exhibiting their wares this weekend at the Malvern Spring Gardening Show and have had huge success!
Wilstone’s stand featured their eclectic mix of reclaimed, antique and new pieces – including the exceedingly popular Kadai Fire Bowls.
Once used for cooking at festivals across India, Wilstone import original examples of the Kadai Fire Bowl and exact copies made from recycled iron with heavily riveted plates and drop handles.
Co-owner of Wilstone, Christo McKinnon said “we are the sole UK importer of the Kadai Fire Bowl, and we can honestly say that these really are the ‘next big thing’, as we have sold hundreds!” Christo continued “we have currently got an order book with over 200 customers waiting for their kadai fire bowls.”
The Wilstone stands also featured creative seasonal planting by Kate McKinnon, co-owner and wife of Christo.
Wilstone, who employ a handful of staff also have a retail outlet located on the A49 near Leebotwood.
Christo said “each show that we do is a mammoth task, which takes a lot of planning – not only for the actual stand but also the logistics of getting all the stock to the show and back again”.
“Sales at the Malvern Spring Gardening Show have been fantastic”, Christo said.
The show season isn’t over for Wilstone yet, as they will be unpacking from Malvern and then heading off to set up their stand for the prestigious Royal Horticultural Societies (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show which runs from May 25th – 29th. Wilstone will also be exhibiting at RHS Hampton Court Flower Show in July.
Wilstone House and Gardens
October 2, 2008
The Fairtrade ethos is now making more of an impact on the nation, with most customers being aware that purchasing items under the Fairtrade banner means that the workers have been paid a fair rate. Scan along any supermarket shelves and you are bound to see chocolates, coffee, tea, and dried fruit – but an eccentric husband and wife team based in Shropshire has taken Fairtrade to an entirely different level.
Christo McKinnon’s roots lay firmly in the antique business, until he and his milliner wife Kate decided to buy a rambling Georgian house with dilapidated barns amid the glorious Shropshire Hills. The McKinnon’s had previously spent many months travelling Asia and found a myriad of interesting and unusual items that they felt would enhance homes and gardens within England.
Christo researches traditional and functional designs in iron and stone, and commissions the highly skilled and fairly paid masons and ironworkers in India to re-create his designs. Christo also visits the production sites and talks to the workers ensuring that they are getting a decent wage with good working conditions.
With the house bought, many months of ‘Fairtrade’ research and the business plan in place, Wilstone House and Gardens was formed.
Christo and Kate travel to India and source items of interest that are then shipped back to England in huge crates. Each crate represents a possible logistical nightmare, with many suppliers having to coordinate production and packing for the shipping date. But, once the container arrives, having been precariously driven around the tight lanes inhabited by the fearless chickens of Wilstone, it is like Christmas.
Hundreds of boxes and crates, miles and miles of brightly coloured shredded paper wrapping Cobalt blue ceramics, hand crafted stone troughs, jali panels in all shapes and sizes, fountains made of shiny white sparkly marble, old market cart wheels, symbolic shrines and temples that would have been disregarded on the streets of India, delicately hand carved wooden panels of all shapes and sizes depicting Peacocks, traditional floral designs, horses, Indian Gods and Deities and many carvings stemming from the period of the Raj. Victorian Tiles, taken from their original setting and turned into Coat Hooks. Iron Gazebos shrouded in bubble wrap, a pair of stately looking hand carved Lions, Stone benches shining a pale golden yellow in the afternoon sunlight.
In a small hamlet, amid the hills of Shropshire, there are busy people organising and planning for their next trip abroad, to bring back many, many more fascinating and unusual things to delight and enhance the homes and gardens of England.
