Pondering Vivienne Westwood's "Buy Less, Choose Well" Slogan

While browsing Pinterest's countless pages of innocuous motivational quotes, it was hard to miss the often repeated image above. Such a bold statement (and from one of the fashion world's most powerful forces) is hard to ignore, so we did a bit of reading and found Dame Vivienne Westwood is using her voice in an interesting way. As her awe-inspiring career has revolved around the making and selling of clothes, one might expect her to encourage the contrary but Westwood is also in a unique, bird's eye-view position to regard the world of fashion and its throw-away frivolities. Although her campaign is directly addressing humanity's impact on climate change, her statement also calls out our modern society's materialistic obsessions and her advice is to get more deeply involved in our own culture.

“I just think people should invest in the world,” she says. "Don’t invest in fashion, but invest in the world. The first thing [people] can do, if they live in a town, is they can go to art galleries. Start building different values, where you engage with the past, with the human race.” *

We couldn't agree more. Working with over a hundred different designers, each chosen for their unique vision and ethics, we are constantly surprised and inspired by what these artists give to the world. With the plethora of mass-manufactured products out there today, its refreshing to work directly with creators who value the process as much as the final product - it's also this personal history that draws people to their work because their pieces develop a story of their own. A simple piece of jewellery, for example, can be about more than the silver from which it's made, as its design has roots in a culture which has become a part of the very land of our country.

Jan van Hunks Story Pendant by Inge Marais which she created upon her return from London to South Africa and which is a material result of her creative effort to reconnect with her own history and culture

"Buy Less, Choose Well" for us is about each of the products themselves - every item is an investment of creative energy, time and effort, and this is clearly seen in the quality of the work we stock. We hope each gift that is bought, is treasured by the receiver and not for a month or a year - but for the duration of its lovely life as a favourite necklace, indispensable journal or beloved ceramic. 

Practically, we are stores and we love celebrating a month of great sales together, but we hope that what we offer goes beyond the material in connecting local artists to a public which is each year growing more conscious of the importance of where something comes from and why it was made.

*source : The Daily Mail