What a wonderful week! Recounted by Jane. Monday 10th Dec. Team Blue Patch; the irrepressible Preeti, Natalia and Lee, plus Britney, Cameron and Holly worked alongside Blue Patch members, assembling flatpack furniture, excavating products from a sea of cardboard boxes and ‘merchandising’ like it was going out of fashion. Out of fashion? It’s the swansong […]
The Power of Positive Shopping campaign (POPS) is all set to do some radical matchmaking! The UK is a global leader in the creative industries, generating £87.4 billion a year for the UK economy. Despite this local manufacturers, designers and artisans struggle to survive. Change is happening at an alarming rate in the economy, artisan […]
As part of the Fashion Revolution week, Blue Patch wrote a guest post for the City Girl at Heart blog, featuring some of our wonderful makers. Read more here.
Community entrepreneurs share know-how for running low-carbon businesses On a blustery February evening Preeti and I headed to the Museum of Cinema History for a gathering of 90+ people convinced that low-carbon, local business is the future. The day was hosted by REconomy LIFT, a new initiative from Transition London & South East, an inspiring group […]
Summer 2009 set in motion a research project to develop a new, ethical business model, one that would help both people and planet. The result is Blue Patch (launched in 2014), a directory full of exceptionally fine and sustainable businesses from top to toe of the British Isles. Blue Patch is all about making it easy […]
Have you ever wondered why Jane Langley began Bluepatch.org? Jane Langley is an artist, environmentalist and founder of the social enterprise Blue Patch, Britain’s sustainable marketplace, brimming with beautiful things made by people who share a vision for a brighter world. Jane attended Camberwell, Royal College of Art, and taught at City and Guilds […]
Dulwich Festival Artists’ Open House We of course, have a soft spot for Dulwich. We strongly believe that we have the best bread in England at Christopher’s Bakery, the most gorgeous parks to picnic in, and the most wonderful community of independent businesses to buy from. It’s our oasis in the desert. We love to […]
The wheels of the Transition Network Conference 2015 were set in motion when my niece lent me her ‘rave tent’, Boomtown engrained in every seam: chewing gum, mud and an old sock. But hey, it was too late to book a room and I wanted to stay on the conference site – knowing that good […]
June 2nd saw the doors of Brixton East open to welcome all to the first LambethLEF (Lambeth Local Entrepreneurs Forum) a think tank for a community-supported local economy – the REconomy. The REconomy project is part of the Transition Network, a global grassroots movement of communities seeking to strengthen their resilience to problems including climate change, […]
The historic Carnegie Library in Lambeth hosts Pleasure & Beauty an exhibition by six contemporary artists opening on May 6th 2015. The exhibition runs until the 31st of May and is curated by Blue Patch. Coinciding with the Dulwich Festival means we’ve an excuse for a party on the 15th of May 6:30 – 9pm […]
We want to send out a HUGE thank you to everyone who joined us in the Blue Patch tent last Saturday! Our marquee at the Herne Hill Christmas Fair was home to some of the best ethical, handmade products in the British Isles and we were proud to host such amazing talents. The London cycling […]
September 28th was a day of celebrations at the Herne Hill Market. Our video gives a flavour of the energy and excitement of the event. Local Italian cook Giuseppina Calcara and Toto from Home Cooking SE24 got us off to a delicious start with their cookery workshop ‘Gnocchi your socks off’ entertaining and educating mini cooks, complete with […]
We would love to see you at the Blue Patch launch at Herne Hill Market, Sunday 28th September for a day of fun, activities and competitions, plus our Wonderful World of Blue Patch show on the Stage at 2:30. Time 10am – 4pm, Railton Road, Herne Hill London SE24 0JW. Transport: bus (or 10 […]
William Morris – master of interlacing tendrils and blooms – is my dream date. This visionary man’s ectoplasm is currently swirling about our ankles in the Blue Patch office, driving our team onwards – his values a near perfect match to our own. With William cheering us on from the floor boards, we decided it was high […]
The Lambeth Country Show was massive! At a conservative guess 200,000 people swarmed across the green and pleasant lands of Brockwell Park, south London and partied like crazy for two days. The sun shone, the sweat rolled, music blasted and finally at 5pm on Sunday the rain fell and fell like an entire reservoir was tipped […]
We had celebrations at Blue Patch this week! Alberto our Business and Marketing graduate from Madrid, has been awarded the highly sought after EU Leonardo Da Vinci fund to work with Blue Patch. Chantelle Senior is no longer working at Blue Patch, however she’s very much a part of the family (we all miss […]
Come and explore Blue Patch our ethical directory for UK hand made products and services at the Lambeth Country Show this weekend, Brockwell Park, south London. Head for the back of tent P4 (near the picnic area) where Blue Patch teamsters, Emma, Rachael, Julia, Sujesh, Alberto and Jane will be giving you a taste of […]
Cockpit Arts 18 – 22 Creekside, Deptford, south London, has to be the place to go for collectors, fans and connoisseurs of contemporary crafts. A couple of times a year they throw open the studio doors and invite the public in to relish a treasure trove of high quality and beautiful things. We spent 5 hours there one […]
On a glorious sunny morning Emma, Rachael, Julia and I headed over to Brick Lane in east London to Meet the Manufacturer, a trade fair bringing together the UK’s ‘hard to pin down’ manufacturers. Focusing on textiles, the fair mounted by Kate Hills of Make it British, was in the perfect area, from the Huguenot […]
On a rain sodden morning in Euston, I washed up at the Future Foundation’s 2014 marketing conference ‘Not Here To Come Second’. Eloquent and ahead of the game, Futurites pulled me through a whirlpool of Big Data and got me thinking about hashtags – a lot. I filled my tatty exercise book (@IKeepItReal – #SmartPhoneImean). […]
Thursday 29th of May and ‘The Wise Creative’ landed. Everyone climbed aboard starship ethical and off we went for an evening of glorious indulgence, accompanied by fantastic UK designed, cut, stitched, hemmed, rolled and fizzed up brands. The Wise Creative are briefly gathered under one collaborative roof at no 10A Blandford Street, London W1, a […]
The Guardian Sustainable Business Awards 2014 with Fair Quinoa Vodka ‘expresso’ cocktails flowing, was the perfect opportunity to meet and share stories with ‘the eco-converted’. Bruce from Abundance Generation won the Net Positive Innovation Award – Go Bruce! I also had a chat with Katie from the Fairtrade Foundation about how they work with very […]
The Dulwich Festival’s Artist’s Open House 2014 offers a fantastic opportunity to enter the discreet world of south east London’s creative community. Open over two weekends, you can check out what you fancy via their online catalogue, or you can pick up an illustrated catalogues from local cafes, libraries, bookshops and – well almost everywhere, […]
My day out at Natural & Organic Products, held at Olympia (it’s moving to Excel for 2015) begun with a stirring talk by the charismatic and environmentally minded business man Craig Sams, covering the state of the world, the economics of sustainability and how things are changing for the better – and by making the effort to be informed consumers […]
Back to top
