Light Merino Lambskin.
Following preparations and tanning, the fleece is cut to a length of 12 millimetres and ironed a number of times in order to enhance its smooth, dense, warm structure. You’ll like the generously cut, high collar: it looks great, and will keep your shoulders, neck and throat warm in the coldest weather.

Superlative Merino wool, with light brown outer leather. Pocket linings napped cotton. Real horn buttons, mother-of-pearl inside buttons. » see product details...

The Claus Porto story goes back to the year 1887, when two German partners, Ferdinand Claus and Georges Ph. Schweder, started the production of fine soaps for gentlemen. (Up to then soap had had to be imported in Portugal!). When they left in 1918, their Portuguese partner Archilles de Brito took over. His first step was to start his own company, but shortly afterwards he also took over the name of ‘Claus Porto’ together with the production workshops.
Under the trade name of Musgo Real – other soaps and shaving creams that, like the original soaps, are genuinely ‘natural’, containing no synthetic aromas, perfumes or conservation agents. » more...

Padded jackets and coats are on sale everywhere: nearly all of them made of cheap materials with dubious synthetic fillings - not to mention what they do to your personal appearance (the Michelin Man comes to mind!).

We believe we can do better. Outside we've put a layer of Swiss EtaProof® cotton material, wind-proof and rain-resistant, manufactured by a special process that preserves the natural breathability of the cotton; inside, yes: a filling! But of Class 1 goose down, unbelievably light and warm, of a quality one normally associates with luxury eiderdowns. » see product details...

The Bonnat firm was founded in 1884. Today it still maintains personal contact to the cocoa farmers that supply the beans and imports them directly, avoiding middlemen. No outsourcers either: the whole production is in-house under one roof. Bonnat don't mix cocoa beans from different regions, preferring to preserve the typical character and flavour of each type of bean. Only the best ingredients are used – cocoa that's been slowly and carefully 'conched', cocoa butter and sugar, with light-coloured Indonesian beans for milk chocolate and with additional powdered milk for full milk chocolate. All chocolates are free of additives and contain no soya lecithin. Also try our deliciuos hand-made Torrone from Sardinia or the tasty Nougat from Montélimar. » more...

Our ‚Flora’ tea and coffee service is a French classic – it’s been used for over 70 years in cafés, bistros and restaurants all over France.
Many of you will recognize the beautiful lines and characteristic colouring: dark green with a gold band. Our suppliers, Deshoulières, based near Limoges, have been manufacturing porcelain and china crockery for everyday use since 1826 and have a reputation second to none – indeed, this part of central France has been famous for its china throughout Europe for many centuries. » more...

The best way to sharpen lead or coloured pencils is to use a scalpel or a small, sharp knife; this way one side of the lead can be shaped for wide lines, the other for extremely fine lines.

A real connoisseur would also have a small piece of sandpaper to hand, to rub the tip of the lead from time to time: the pencils remain sharp without having to be constantly shortened. However, if you prefer to use a small pencil sharpener, you should make sure that the blade is always sharp. » see product details...

Superfine lambswool from the first shearing. Both combed yarn (for stability) and carded yarn (for softness) are used and then triple-twisted, producing a six-ply knit. 100% superfine 19.5 micron lambswool, fineness Nm 30/2 x 3. Gauge 5 knit. The colours of the pattern are repeated in the block stripes of the ribbed section.

Knitted woollen cap, without turn-up. Border in Fair Isle patterning stockinette stitching. Band in 2/2 ribbing. One size fits all.
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Your favourite Christmas biscuits will stay fresh in these tins all through the festive season. A northern Italian firm has made them for us from sturdy, thick anodized aluminium. Anodized aluminium is more resistant to scratches and is unaffected by acid, hence ideal for storing food. Available in four sizes.

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It’s quite common nowadays to find jewellery made of unusual materials like synthetics, steel or paper – but they often take some getting used to. Not in this case! Parchment used in this way looks marvellous at first glance. Hilde Janich, a goldsmith and jewellery designer based in Essen, Western Germany, has been working with parchment for 17 years, and has hand-crafted these necklaces specially for us out of a material that was prized for writing purposes above all others in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, yet today has been largely forgotten.
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The Caban is an old Breton garment used by the local fishermen there for centuries as a work jacket. It was originally white ('kap gwenn' means in Breton 'white cloth'), but changed over to blue in the early 19th century.

In this colour it was adopted by the fleets and merchant ships of various European countries, and came to be the 'ultimate' piece of sailors' clothing. Our Caban is made in Quimper by Armor Lux: in both material and finish, it's the genuine article! » see product details...

These melamine kitchen aids survive even the hottest pans without damage; they are safe and colour-fast. Developed in 1935 and related to Bakelite, melamine was much used for kitchen equipment because of its great strength, high resistance to heat and food safety factors.
Materials generally known as duroplastics (these include Bakelite and melamine) always seem to look good, in contrast to their thermoplastic successors. Some say that this is due to the «density« of the material which can only be mould cast and has therefore not been subjected to designer extravagance or cheap processing. » see product details...

These brass lights from Berlin have often been copied but seldom equalled. All over the world ardent admirers of this unique style feel the need to urge cheap and overly decorated imitations onto the customer. The Berlin workshops had their heyday at the beginning of the 20th century, and therefore it is no surprise that they were considerably influenced by Art Nouveau.
The quality of these lights becomes apparent as soon as they are mounted on the wall or the ceiling. The metal parts are made of solid brass, or in the case of the long tubes, of brass-coated steel. The shades are made of glass, which is hand-blown using wooden moulds. » see product details...

This was first produced by chance when a cook in Napoleon's army, distracted by a battle, let the day's ration of sweetened milk boil for too long. The result was a delicate, very tasty milk spread with a lovely caramel taste. It is rich in calcium and low in fat, can be used as a spread, on waffles or crêpes and is also delicious with fruit, yoghurt or warm on vanilla ice cream.


Fresh full-fat milk, sugar, skimmed milk. » see product details...

Carla and Carlo Latini, wheat-growers and pasta-makers, produce their pasta by hand and monitor it from field to plate. They not only process nothing but durum wheat from their own harvest but have, during the past 10 years, planted small test fields with a large number of old, almost forgotten types of durum wheat in order to assess their suitability for pasta production - not to boost the yield, but to restore consistency, flavour and freshness. They pay special attention to the protein content of the different types of wheat, as a high gluten content is important for the binding strength of the ground grain and thus for the excellent quality of the pasta. » see product details...