My quest to send joy

In my first blog, I thought I would tell you a bit about what prompted me to start the Little Cashmere Company.

(I've also made a little video with the short version)

So, you know that thing you go through when you want to send a gift to someone? Someone you really care about? Your first thought might be flowers, but, hhhmm, you’re sure you’ve got more imagination than that. You want something really lovely and special and personal, maybe a few thoughtful little things that you’ve selected to go together – things that they wouldn’t buy for themselves, but that they would really appreciate?

And you want to gift-wrap it beautifully too? You know, like that picture you saw on Pinterest the other week?

But it all takes time – time to trawl around finding just the right combination of things, time to find a box to put it all in, time to find some lovely tissue and ribbon, maybe some rose petals for the perfect sensory experience,  and finally, time to put it all together, organise a courier, or, true horror, queue up at the post office only to find out that it’s going to cost £47 to send, and that one of items in the box is a restricted item so you have to take it out, and mess up your beautiful packaging and start all over again?

You know that situation? Yeah? And so you do that once or twice and then you think, right, this time I’m just going to order something online and get it sent straight to them? And it’s so ridiculously easy and you feel a huge sense of relief – and you vow to always do it this way from now on. But a little bit of the joy has gone, and it doesn’t seem very personal or special and you’re not quite sure whether it’s going to just be flung through their letterbox in a joyless polythene bag, with the invoice attached?

Well, that’s exactly what I was feeling. I kept thinking: Isn’t there a website with a little collection of carefully curated gift boxes that are full of thoughtful, tasteful, good quality loveliness? And where the boxes are gift-wrapped, and you can see the gift-wrapping before you buy, so you can be confident that when your loved one opens it up that they’re going to feel cherished and special and happy all day long?

Well I couldn’t quite find what I was looking for. And that’s how The Little Cashmere Company was born.

I’ve always loved cashmere. It’s the kind of little luxury that people wouldn’t always buy for themselves, but is lovely to receive as a gift, so I wanted to put cashmere at the heart of the gifts.

I spent time designing and curating lovely little gift boxes all with ethically sourced, pure cashmere at the heart of them, that I hope will bring a bit of love and joy -  to the giver as well as the receiver.

And I love gorgeous gift wrapping but it was important that the packaging was eco-friendly– so we use only recycled cardboard and there is no plastic or ribbon in sight.

We also include a personalised note in handwriting font printed on parchment paper. This is the tricky bit, and it’s why so few companies offer it, but I really feel strongly that it makes a difference to people, when they see a lovely message presented beautifully.

At the moment we have a small selection of gifts, but I’m constantly experimenting with new products and new combinations of items that I think will work well together.

We’ve had some amazing feedback from people who have received the gifts, and I do a little jump of joy every time, because that’s what I’ve been trying to do – just make someone’s day nicer!

In the next blog I’ll tell you more about the cashmere…