Mission: To inspire unique and meaningful spaces in which to live and work. We offer a new generation of stylish, sustainable homewares; design-led, affordable pieces of excellent quality, made to last with sustainable materials, each with a story to tell.
ABOUT
Founded in 2020, Iris Lifestyle is a homewares and lifestyle company dedicated to the preservation of artisan manufacturing, thoughtful living, and purposeful design. From earth-loving linens to one-of-a-kind homewares, you can feel good about the provenance of the pieces you buy.
INSPIRATION
We love finding a connection with objects, this mostly happens when they have a history and so we believe that it’s story is worth preserving. At Iris, we believe in the power and soul of craft, it has a rich heritage and we stand against mass production where the point gets lost and the beauty diminishes.
We curate our beautiful design-led range responsibly from thoughtful brands. We only choose goods made from ecological materials, certified fabrics, and natural fibres. We always protect the welfare of our makers and nourish their craftsmanship too. We are transparent about provenance + production methods.
By choosing products from within responsible design, we can do our part in protecting the planet whilst improving people’s lives on an individual level – whether it’s our customers, our team, or the artisans we work with.
How do you choose your range?
We choose the brands we work with carefully, looking for people who excel in what they do, ensuring fair pay and good working conditions, taking care of the environment, and offering something unique most often made by hand.
Where are products made?
We work directly with artisans both locally and further afield, we have artisans making both here near our store in Cambridge, UK and as far away as Africa and Nepal.
All our artisans receive a fair wage, good working conditions and support. As small makers producing at a distance bring transport issues and therefore raised carbon footprint, we are mindful of this and look at how goods are transported, preferring passenger ships to air-miles... but we also understand the value of providing income to people in very rural places and look to empowering communities through the outlet of traditional crafts so some artisnal items are not made in the UK.
Do the artisans receive a fair wage?
Yes, they do, all our producers operate independent businesses and set their own prices and wages but always above fairpay guidelines in the country in question. We rigorously vet any suppliers very carefully to ensure good welfare, fair pay and environmentally friendly practices are used. We want to make a positive impact in the world and need to ensure that their business is ethical. We also work with both producers + suppliers to design and help develop products.
Design is so important but so too is striving to do our part to ensure that crafts, the makers and their history, language, techniques, and culture that surrounds them, endure in the face of mass production.
We know you’ll find something you love, when you shop with us you can genuinely feel good about what you buy.
SUSTAINABILITY
I'm Nikki Wilkinson, Founder of Iris Lifestyle, Thanks for visiting! Xx
