IN Good Company
These are the people we know and love. We have worked with them, we trust them, we recommend them.
Global Bisque
Global Bisque produce bisqueware for the pottery industry and wholesale using sustainable materials and traditional techniques.
Based in Stoke-on-Trent, Global Bisque produce bisqueware for the pottery industry and wholesale.
Global Bisque is a family run business owned by Mark Garwood. Based in an 18th century building in Stoke-on-Trent, they use ancient, heavy cast iron equipment and traditional techniques to produce high quality ceramics. Their bisqueware can be produced into low-fire earthenware, high-fire earthenware, stoneware, porcelain and fine bone china.
Mark Garwood of Global Bisuqe is the craftsman behind our good mugs.
Some other good businesses.
Callie Jones
Illustrator, printmaker, artist, digital artist.
Illustrator, printmaker, artist, digital artist.
Callie Jones is a Cornish illustrator, printmaker, artist, digital artist, who lives in North Wales.
Callie enjoys planning and developing innovative ideas and designs for all sorts of publications and projects, and she’s able to provide camera ready artwork in a variety of formats.
Callie also sells a range of prints and greetings cards.
Our sister businesses have worked with Callie on many amazing projects. We love her style and highly recommend her for commissions.
Some other good businesses.
The Enlightened Hound
Original prints, cards and gifts for dog lovers by illustrator and printmaker Debbie Kendall.
Original prints, cards and gifts for dog lovers by illustrator and printmaker Debbie Kendall.
From her attic studio, with her Portuguese Water dog, Figo by her side, Debbie Kendall creates original, heart-warming and humorous art inspired by peoples unique connections to dogs.
Debbie uses a variety of medias; pen, ink, watercolours, collage, paint and various printmaking techniques.
Images: The Enlightened HoundMore good people.
Stamford Notebooks
Expert bookbinders using traditional techniques and sustainable materials.
Expert bookbinders using traditional techniques and sustainable materials.
Established in the 1950s by Peter Spiegl; Spiegl Press began as a commercial printing and book binding establishment. In 2010, Peter Spiegl’s son Hugo evolved the company into Stamford Notebooks; producing artisanal notebooks and journals crafted by hand, using centuries old techniques.
The company’s aims have always been to bind the best notebooks and journals, using the best handwriting paper, leathers and bookbinding cloths available, using British made, sustainable materials.
These are the makers of our Good Notebook.
Images: Stamford nOTEBOOKS
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The Good Wash Company
A luxury Welsh skincare and washing brand with a humble social conscience.
Luxury Welsh skincare products with a humble social conscience.
Good Wash wanted to create a product that would look good in the finest of washrooms, feel good on the most sensitive of skin and fur whilst doing good by addressing some of the social issues within local communities.
Good Wash work with locally sourced organic essential oils on the kitchen table in Barri, developing natural products based on age old remedies.
Our sister business The Good Life Experience has worked with Good Wash, and we love their products. So do our dogs!
Images: The Good Wash CompanyMore good people.
Tristan Gooley
Author and expert natural navigator.
Author and expert natural navigator.
Tristan set up his natural navigation school in 2008 and is the author of award-winning and internationally bestselling books, including The Natural Navigator, The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs, How to Read Water and Wild Signs and Star Paths, some of the world’s only books covering natural navigation.
After decades spent hunting for clues and signs in nature, he regularly gets called the “Sherlock Holmes of nature”. He has written for the Sunday Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC and many magazines.
Tristan has led expeditions in five continents, climbed mountains in Europe, Africa and Asia, sailed small boats across oceans and piloted small aircraft to Africa and the Arctic. He is the only living person to have both flown solo and sailed singlehanded across the Atlantic and is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and the Royal Geographical Society. In 2020 he was awarded the Harold Spencer-Jones Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of Navigation. It is the Institute’s highest award, given in recognition of an outstanding contribution to navigation.
Tristan is, to say the least, an expert.
We are lucky enough to know Tristan and to have worked with him. He has worked with two of our sister businesses The Good Life Experience and Camp Glen Dye.
Read more about the outdoors.
India Price
Freelance editor, writer and editorial strategist.
Freelance editor, writer and editorial strategist.
India Price is an editor who freelances for us here at Some Good Ideas. She has a column with us and has written some features for us, too.
India is a freelance editor, writer and editorial strategist specialising in fashion and lifestyle. She believes in thinking differently with a digital-first mindset, and she never underestimates the power of properly crafted copy. We know all about that here at Some Good Ideas.
India is also Associate Lecturer at London College of Fashion, tutoring 2nd and 3rd year students across various units in BA (hons) Fashion Journalism.
If you want help with your brand’s tone of voice, you need some copy or help writing anything - India is what you need.
More good small businesses.
Rhys Jones
Graphic design and creative ideas.
Graphic design and creative ideas.
We met Rhys a few years ago when he came to work for ours sister business The Good Life Experience. Since then, Rhys has created amazing designs and installations for us at the festival and throughout our businesses at Hawarden.
Rhys injects fun and colour into all of his work, and he’s seriously good at what he does. He works on: Identity & brand development, logos & word marks, illustration, creative direction, digital & web design, social marketing, print & editorial, event design & build. He covers it all!
We are so lucky to have Rhys as part of our amazing community. If you want an installation, a shop design, a window display, some signage or anything to be designed - Rhys is your man.
More good design businesses.
Doug Kerr
Graphic design and art direction for brands, books and theatre.
Graphic design and art direction for brands, books and theatre.
Doug has been a friend of ours for nearly a decade, in that time he’s worked on a number of our sister businesses including: Pedlars, Hawarden Estate Farm Shop, The Glynne Arms, Hawarden Castle Pavilion and The Good Life Experience.
We’ve worked with Doug to produce catalogues, programmes, newspapers, products and our very own book, The Family Guide to The Great Outdoors.
Doug gets the job done exceptionally well. Every time. And all with humour and warmth and true expertise.
Looking for a good designer? You should work with this man.
More good design businesses.
Fill Refill
Refillable eco laundry and household cleaning products that look great, work really well and reduce waste.
Refillable eco laundry and household cleaning products that look cool, work really well and reduce waste.
Fill Refill is range of refillable eco laundry and household cleaning products that look cool, work really well and reduce waste. The Fill range comes in glass bottles which can be re-used again and again, and look great on your shelves.
Fill Refill make everything themselves, at their own family-run factory in Northamptonshire. They use real chemists, who combine biodegradable ingredients to create simple, modern and effective eco cleaning and laundry products.
Fill is for everyone who is interested in a better way to clean.
We stock the Fill Refill range in our sister business Hawarden Estate Farm Shop and can confirm that they are great products.
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Monty & Co.
Timeless, unisex, childrenswear. Made in Britain.
Timeless, unisex, children’s wear.
Made In Britain.
Monty & Co. was born from a desire to find simple and stylish clothes for the co-founders’, Leigh and Emmerson Montague, children.
A combination of a concern for the relentless cycle of consumption in the fashion industry coupled with a lack of transparency, and a passion to solve the problems, Monty & Co was born.
Leigh and Emmerson want these clothes to allow children be free to: Play, Work, Create and Discover.
Monty & Co have been part of the Market Place at our sister Business The Good Life Experience for several years. Their clothing is fantastic in quality and design and we can’t recommend them enough.
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Steve Chapman
Artist, writer and speaker interested in creativity and the human condition.
Artist, writer and speaker interested in creativity and the human condition. Steve is also the anti-critic at Some Good Ideas.
Steve is an artist, writer and speaker interested in creativity and the human condition. He has sold work across four continents and exhibited alongside the likes of Pablo Picasso and David Shrigley. He has spoken around the world on creativity and is the host of Sound of Silence – the world’s first silent podcast, featuring special guests. He is at his best when he is right on the edge of not quite knowing what he is doing.
Steve is also Some Good Ideas anti-critic, where he highlights the work artist typically underrepresented in the art world. Self-named the anti-critic due to his proclaimed lack of "formal" training and for the reason Steve is simply discussing the work of artists that he likes.
Steve is also the Artist In Residence at The Good Life Experience in 2021. The Good Life Experience is our sister business.
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Penny Lee
Penny works in brand direction and design, helping companies and businesses to find their niche and put it out there.
Penny works in brand direction and design, helping companies and businesses to find their niche and put it out there.
Penny works with women-led businesses to create brand strategy and design that truly represents their vision. Finding their niche. Getting their brand story straight. Upping their game. Penny does this work under the business name The Brand Directoress.
Penny is also the founder of Walking Whisky Wellness, which is a business conference like no other. Penny is currently focusing on The Brand Directoress.
We have known Penny for years, and last year she spoke at our sister business festival The Good Life Experience.
Image: Jim MarsdenMore good businesses.
Alfie’s Studio
The impeccable design studio with a collection of stationery and prints.
The impeccable design studio with a collection of stationery and prints.
Alfie’s Studio work with individuals and small businesses to create unique designs that represent them. Nicole helps people bring their visions to life with authentically simple words and imagery. We’ve worked with Alfie’s Studio on many occasions, Nicole designed the fluorescent back print on our Yarmouth Oilskin workwear jackets which have become an infamous staple to The Good Life Experience uniform.
Image: Department TwoMore good businesses.
Sightseers
The creative adventures of Hollie Harmsworth and Jon Hayward. They work with brands to create images and craft stories, naturally.
The creative adventures of Hollie Harmsworth and Jon Hayward. They work with brands to create images and craft stories, naturally.
Based in North Wales, you will often find this pair roaming around the mountains and forests of Snowdonia, shooting landscape, adventure, and lifestyle photography.
We have worked with Hollie and John on a number of projects in Hawarden, including The Good Life Experience and Estate Open Days, and they’re two of our favourites.
A few more good people from the world of design…
Jim Marsden
Lancashire-based photographer with an enviable client list.
Lancashire-based photographer with an enviable client list.
Jim is one of the best photographers around.
His work includes commissions from Finisterre, Millican, Sawdays, Huit Denim, Bulb Energy, Paynter Jacket Co and The Good Life Experience.
Jim is inspired by other photographers but he likes to take inspiration from books, films, music and art. This clearly helps him think outside the box.
A few more good people from the world of design…
Standard Practice
Standard Practice is a dynamic team of designers and makers who take a DIY approach to the built environment.
Based in Manchester, Standard Practice are a dynamic team of designers and makers who take a DIY approach to the built environment.
Founders, Ben Young, Joe Hartley and Jess Higham seek to actively involve the public as both participant and collaborator in the realisation of their work.
Major projects have included the creation of The Pilcrow, a pub within the NOMA development in Manchester that was built from scratch in partnership with the local community; and Plant, a workshop, gallery and ‘village hall’ space, open for use by the public in the centre of Manchester. Friends of The Good Life Experience, Standard Practice run workshops such as the 'Elevate Yourself’ yourself series, where guests made unique camping stools.
Some more good people.
Samantha Wilkinson
A designer working with both clients and collaborators, she creates idea based designs, specialising in branding and digital projects.
A designer working with both clients and collaborators, she creates idea based designs, specialising in branding and digital projects.
We first worked with Sam in the early days of Some Good Ideas, before going on to commission a handful of digital and printed pieces for The Good Life Society’s pro-mask campaign.
As well as being a first-rate designer, Sam is also a wonderful photographer.
A few more good people from the world of design…
Crispin Finn
Crispin Finn specialise in practical paper based goods and special editions.
Crispin Finn specialise in practical paper based goods and special editions.
Crispin Finn evolved from a need to make a practical year planner. Many years on, the brand has slowly opened its range to include other practical paper based goods and unique limited edition items.
With a love of visual simplicity and economy of colour Anna and Roger pride themselves on their production methods whether screen printed in house, or when working with local ethically responsible manufacturing processes.
We’ve long been fans of Anna and Roger’s iconic designs, so we look for excuses to work with them whenever we can.
A few more good people from the world of design…
James Brown
An illustrator and designer working commercially and producing screen prints and linocuts from his London studio.
An illustrator and designer working commercially and producing screen prints and linocuts from his London studio.
James is a longstanding friend of ours, and we’ve worked with him down the years as a client (James has produced mask posters and festival posters for us) as well as a kind of art dealer (James was a very popular addition to our marketplace on Pedlars).
James’ other clients include Clients include The Poetry Society, The Guardian, Bloomsbury and AMVBBDO. James has also designed and produced bespoke prints for The Postal Museum, V&A Enterprises, The Barbican and The Royal Opera House.
His bestselling book ‘A World of Information’ was published by Walker Studio in 2016 and was followed by ‘A World of Cities’, ‘A World of Discovery’ and ‘A World of Plants’ in 2019.
James is co-founder of Pressed and Folded.
A few more good people from the world of design…