Why the 'Green Man'?

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The Green Man is a character of many different mythologies, but best known to us as 'the watcher in the woods' or Jack in the Green'. He is that presence that might make you feel like you are not alone when you are walking through the trees or perhaps you might imagine you have seen his face growing out of a tree trunk? He is the spirit of nature that symbolises decline and re-growth and the perpetuity of life. More recently, his character has come to represent a growing focus on ecology and how we are finally waking up to the fact that our planet can't be plundered for ever, without terrible consequences for us all. Most of us have changed our behaviour in some ways, through reducing our consumption of things, or re-using or recycling them.

That sums up what we try to do in our own small way. We buy most of our stock from auctions, much of it being found in boxes of old junk that somebody no longer needs, or perhaps the sadness of a house clearance. We love the finding, the sorting and the research and are constantly amazed by what treasures we may come across as we try to imagine who might have previously owned and used them. It might be a lovely or rare collectable item, it might be something that is broken or 'tired' and needs bringing back to life. Or it might be beyond use, but could be re-purposed into something else that is useful or provide materials that we can re-use for new projects.We are only half joking when we say that we buy old junk but sell lovely things!

And then, when we have sold our items, we try to keep the ethos right to the end, by using recycled packaging as far as possible. We like to think that the Green Man would approve!