Postcard from North Street - January 2026

January took us by surprise in a few different ways. My last email talked about January 'offering the chance to catch our breath', Ha!

Reality saw us hitting the ground running as our website was way busier than anticipated at this time of year - we are definitely not complaining - but the need to switch up a gear so close after Christmas took us all by surprise. Thank you to everyone who has ordered and discovered us recently - a heap of the orders were from new customers which is lovely.

January also brought trade shows in London and Paris. They are inspiring and exhausting in equal measure - I have such respect to the business who show at these events....the work, cost and energy involved is huge and it is always so nice to see the products in the flesh and catch up properly with the people behind some of the brilliant businesses we work with. It's also an amazing chance to find new products....some of which have landed this past week. 

January also brought another not so pleasant surprise. For those of you who follow us on instagram you may have seen us share a photo from our CCTV. The photo showed a customer we wanted to get in touch with to chat about their visit as we had suspicions they had left without paying for everything they should have. It's always with a heavy heart that we do these things.

My expectation was that we were unlikely to track the person down, so we were taken aback when we had a call from someone saying they were the person in the photo. They admitted our suspicions were right, and were full of remorse - times had been challenging and the actions were driven not so much by their financial as much as their emotional situation. The caller then made us a payment for the amount owing, plus £50 in way of an apology, which we gave to My Sister's House charity.

As frustrating as these situations are, this whole episode restored my faith a little. The customer didn't have to make the call - it took a lot of courage to do so - and they seemed determined to put right the wrongs and admitted it was a wake up call they needed to seek help which they are now doing. It was a really positive outcome from a pretty crappy scenario and a little reminder that it's never to late to do the right thing.

Finally we are delighted to have welcomed Freya to the team. Another creative, having recently completed her illustration MA, Freya has settled in really well already. 

The first glimpses of February sees us dodging puddles on our way to the studio, unpacking numerous deliveries and looking forward to those first signs of Spring.