Celebrating 1 year of Gladstone / Hellen.
Tomorrow Gladstone / Hellen is 1 year old. It’s been a wonderful first year and we are profoundly grateful to you for your kindness and support.
Our daughter Xanthe made us a cake, and we burned a single sparkler candle; it lasted for about 2 seconds, but it’s the thought that counts.
By happy coincidence, our first anniversary pretty much coincides with what would have been my Dad’s 100th birthday (he didn’t quite make it that far). So, then we added another three sparklers, lit them and all scoffed the cake together.
Today we have a handful of new products to show you.
In our own Clothing Range.
First up, we’re delighted to show you our newest Hunting Jacket, this time in brown cotton. I’ve been wearing mine a lot recently. You know that thing when copywriters say things like ‘it will work well in the city and the country’. Well, it actually does, because I wore mine in London last week, to the National Theatre to see the exceptional The Land of The Living with Juliet Stevenson, and then back in Wales for a blustery weekend outside. View Hunting Jacket here.
In our Books and Records Shop.
Perhaps most relevantly in our slowly expanding book shop is James Fox’s masterful Craftland. This is remarkably on-brand for us. It’s a luminous, tender and elegant eulogy to some of Britain’s dying crafts, from dry stone wallers to chair makers, tanners to cutlers. Fox is nostalgic and sad, but this clarion call will, I hope, do a great deal to reinvigorate interest in some of these crafts, and as he chronicles decline, he also writes of green shoots. Please buy this and consider a change in your buying habits.
We have other new books and records, too here.
Talking of craft and tradition….
In our Other Goods Shop.
Joining us today are the iconic Guernsey jumpers of Le Tricoteur, which are the only jumpers of their kind to be hand-finished on the island of Guernsey, making them the most iconic of iconic.
These are part of our range of Other Goods, which is a collection of good British things that are made by other people and can’t be bettered.
We added these largely because Caroline still wears hers and she had that before we even met, so that makes it about 40 years old. And it still looks great. Unchanged, unbeatable, unbreakable. Perfect.
If you think of truly legendary, renowned British clothing, the Guernsey is up there.
Savile Row suits.
Arran jumpers.
Tweed jackets.
Barbours (sadly often made abroad now, but still…).
Fairisle knits.
Kilts.
Duffel coats.
Dr Martens.
Harringtons.
& Guernseys.
You may know something of the history of this storied sweater. It has remained pretty much unchanged since the 1500s, when English wool was used to make guernseys for fishermen and was mainly exported to Spain and northern France. It’s said that they were used in The Battle of Trafalgar, and they have long been a part of the Royal Navy’s uniform.
Interestingly, a Guernsey was included in the brilliant BBC project A History of the World in 100 Objects, which kind of says all you need to know.
Beautiful, fit for purpose, very long-lasting indeed.
Best
Charlie
