Biscuiteers

  Biscuiteers are a fantastically popular independent mail-order bakery creating beautiful hand-iced biscuits. Perfect for practically any occasion, Biscuiteers are attempting to create the idea of biscuits as a touching and personal gift, indeed, “why send flowers when you can send biscuits?”

Set up by husband and wife team Steve Congdon and Harriet Hastings in 2007, Biscuiteers was practically an overnight success. The company went from setting up their first bakery in September 2007 to stocking Selfridges by January 2008, and they are now also stocked by Fortnum and Mason, Harrods and Liberty. They have even created bespoke biscuits for the likes of Mulberry and Charlotte Olympia.

Just one glimpse at the Biscuiteers range explains their unquenchable popularity, however. These artisan icers use old-fashioned techniques to great effect, and the detail in each biscuit is exquisite. The sheer range of biscuits readily available to buy is also staggering. Pre-made tins are themed around new babies, thank yous, good luck and get well soon wishes, and of course wedding gifts. There are also clever and quirky themed tins, focusing on subjects such as tools, London, cupcakes, best in show, lingerie and creepie crawlies, along with short run seasonal themes, (most recently focusing on David Bowie and Easter respectively). Each collection comes in a gorgeous themed tin of either nine or 16 biscuits, and smaller biscuit selections are offered in dainty illustrated cardboard boxes.

Recently, the company opened their first boutique and icing café, based on Kensington Park Road in Notting Hill. Here, you can drop in a pick up a biscuit or ten, or you can even decorate your own biscuit card to take home with you. The café also hosts icing parties, which are ideal for a hen weekend or birthday celebration. They even do children’s icing sessions at half-term, where the kids get an icing lesson, an apron, a certificate, and a selection of biscuits to take home.

 The Biscuiteers’ boutique is open seven days a week, or you can order their whole range online for next day delivery. As well as biscuits, you can also pick up hand made chocolates and hand iced cakes, and they even do a special decorated cupcake for one, which comes in the post in its own illustrated box. They also sell a variety of tools for budding bakers, and you can buy their very own book, Biscuiteers Book of Iced Biscuits, which is full of inspirational ideas for your own icing experiments. And for any four-legged fanciers out there, they even make hand-iced dog biscuits.

http://www.biscuiteers.com/

Present and Correct

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Founded in 2008, Present and Correct are purveyors of classic, practical and utterly stylish stationary. The company started off life as an online enterprise, but they now have a marvellous little shop in Clerkenwell offering considered “office sundries for the modern workplace”.

Swoon-worthy for anyone who uses a pen on a regular basis, this store is sheer love at first sight for stationary addicts. Present and Correct have quickly developed a strong reputation as a one-stop-shop for functional yet beautifully designed stationary and desk work accessories, which are sourced from around the world, and include every type of stationary item imaginable. Mundane products such as desk calendars, jotters, stamp sets, desk tidies, post pack and parcel labels are represented in the collection, but there are also more crafty items such as ribbon, coloured tape, chalks and pencils, alongside curios such as antique type writers, soviet crayon sets and brass scissors.

Complete aesthetes curate the store’s collection, as there store’s Pinterest and Facebook accounts make quite clear. Inspired by innovative ideas and clever artists, the Present and Correct stock embraces simple, clean designs with traditional materials and splashes of vivid colour. Items are influenced by geometric shapes, classic typography and vintage logos and illustrations, fusing marvellously the visual taste of distant memories with the clean brightness of the here and now.

Present and Correct is ideal for anyone who creates, and allows you to look at the mundane and the practical in a deliciously innovative yet familiar new light. Visit the shop if you can, especially if you are a vintage stationary nut, or are searching for stationary items that cannot be found elsewhere. Otherwise you could check out their online store.

http://www.presentandcorrect.com/