Products made with love, for less
We exist to bring beautiful, sustainable goods within reach for more people.
Most shopping experiences today offer endless choice at really low prices... but at what cost?
It's so easy to fall into the trap of filling our homes with mountains of machine-made 'stuff', draining the Earth's limited resources while surrounding ourselves with objects that hold no meaning.
Luckily, there are so many incredible makers out there offering us an alternative: artists and artisans keeping old crafts alive, putting love and care into each unique, small batch and making goods to be cherished through time.
We know that these goods aren't always accessible - finding artisans that you love and trust, who are worth stretching your purse strings for, can be a challenge. That's where we step in: making it easier and more affordable to shop from independent, small-batch producers who put love and care into their craft.
It all began with a Whatsapp group and some fancy beans.
My flatmate (Rosie) and I (Amy) had been obsessing over some super fancy beans that we saw in a deli around the corner (niche, I know). They were made in small batches, using sustainable farming methods, and everyone had been raving about how delicious they were.
The thing is, they cost over £4 a jar, and we couldn't really find a way to justify spending that much on beans.
But, as the saying goes: where there's a will, there's a way, and for some odd reason, beans are what got me thinking about the idea for a buying club.
I set up a Whatsapp group with a bunch of friends, picked a few other products from indie producers I loved, and pitched the idea. "I'm in", said Rosie. And so did a load of other people.
As the number of people who wanted to join the buying club grew, the Whatsapp group turned into a newsletter, which turned into a magazine with a proper website and a lot more on offer than beans...
... and now we're here, with a small army of wonderful contributors, volunteers and friends, giving this little idea a go!
Amy, The Drop founder
Our people
The drop has been built in collaboration with:
-
Sophie Rawe, UX/UI
Sophie leads on UX/UI design, helping us roll out some the more innovative parts of our buying club. Sophie is always focused on ensuring the customer experience is at the center of everything that we do, so that discovering and shopping from our makers is always an enjoyable, easy experience for our lovely customers.
-
Jia-Yi Liu, brand lead
Jia-yi is a freelance illustrator that loves bringing concepts to life through heartfelt visual storytelling, and has worked with the likes of Soho House, John Lewis and the BBC. Jia-yi helped us build The Drop's brand identity and logo, perfectly capturing what we stand for. You can find her portfolio or reach out for enquiries via her site.
-
Verity Crane, recipe writer
Verity is a journalist-turned-chef-turned software developer, who first honed her knife skills by chopping up big bags of carrots at home before joining a professional kitchen. Verity writes the inventive, seasonal and often foraged recipes featured in our zines, bringing creativity to
-
Josh Jacob, writer and photographer
Josh is a film-maker, photographer and writer, bringing poetic reflections and photo series to bring our zine edits to life. You can find his latest writing on his blog, Blue in the Face.
-
Justine Williams, writer
Justine is a published journalist and software developer working at the Financial Times. She's the brilliant writer behind some of the features and opinion pieces in our zine!