Many ancient towns – not to mention whole regions – used to base their prosperity and influence on salt. The oldest method of salt-making was by evaporation of sea-water in flat basins that produced salt-crystals. ‘Fleur de Sel’, scooped up in wafer-thin layers by wooden hand shovels, is the highest quality of salt still made in this way. Later, salt came to be mined underground, and produced in saltworks after a lengthy purification process. The salt comes from the southern coastal region of Majorca, already popular with the Romans and Phoenicians. The ‘salt flowers’, taken in traditional fashion from the surface of the water, have a particularly high magnesium and potassium content with a characteristic, mild, sweet aroma. » shop now...

Sheepskin jackets became popular in the early days of ‘motoring’ – a period when the car was more like an open coach, and when the first aeroplane pilots flew in open cockpits. One needed protective clothing against the elements, and this was the way sheepskin jackets found their way behind steering-wheel or joystick. Sheepskin, with its soft curly fleece and a hair length of a remarkable 15 mm, keeps you really warm in sub-zero temperatures and icy winds. The tough outside skin defies rain, snow and hail, and makes light of thorn scratches or cross-country winter walks – needless to say, without any dubious ‘aid’ from synthetic reinforcements. » shop now...

Pforzheim is a watch-making centre in southern Germany, and Stowa is one of the big names there. Jörg Schauer took the firm over in 1996 and has revived the old tradition of quality with the aid of an experienced team of watch-makers. The classic watch we offer here has an hour, minute- and second-hand with particularly finely divided (‘partitioned’) calibrations that give the watch its name: Partitio. The original Partitio was a Unitas clockwork model: today the makers use the ETA 2824-2 automatic movement. Hour- and minute-hands have a Superluminova coating that in theory should enable you to read the watch in the dark for an unlimited number of years! » shop now...

Sistrah lights were designed by C.F. Otto Müller in collaboration with Karlsruhe Technical College in 1932, combining craftsmanship with innovative lighting techniques. Designed for homes and business premises, the lamps are bright, but distribute light evenly and without glare. A two-tier clear glass bell with two Triplex opal glass rings and a glass hood guarantee a balance of direct and indirect light, which can be adjusted from within the lamp.

All the glass parts are mouth-blown. Some of the lamp components in our range are still made with original tools. » shop now...

One of the best known pens of the 20th century - the Fisher Bullet pen. In 1948 Paul Fisher started producing the first pocket ball-point. The solid chrom-plated barrel body has a timeless design and is only 9.5 cm long when capped, but is nevertheless easy to use. From 1968 onwards, Fisher developed, especially for NASA space missions, a hermetically sealed, pressured cartridge which prevented the ink from drying up (with the slogan ‘still writes after 100 years'). These pens are used by astronauts. The patented cartridge writes in space, under water, upside down, on greasy surfaces and in temperatures ranging from -34°C to +143°C. The pens are still tested by hand. » shop now...

The heavy cast-iron shape crushes pepper and other herbs and spices simply by rotating the top and bottom sections. You yourself determine the degree of fineness, by exerting more or less pressure when turning.

The top section also offers space for storing herbs and spices: a cork lid seals the storage compartment. Three parts. From Skeppshult in Sweden. » shop now...

Oak tanned black leather from a South American tannery is the very special material we use for this vanity bag. The inside lining is of cotton with a synthetic surface for easy washing, and the zips and fittings are of polished aluminium.

The hardened and precision-sharpened scissors, also the nail-cleaners and nail-files, are made in Solingen.

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The Swiss army is probably better known for the unerring pursuit of quality on the part of its quartermasters and associated institutions than for its fighting qualities. If something is good enough for the Swiss army, it’s good enough for civilian use. This goes for the Swiss Army blanket too, produced for over 100 years now by the Swiss blanket and cloth makers Pfungen. It is tough yet soft, and can be used as an ordinary blanket, in place of a duvet, or for a picnic. It’s produced for us by the original makers following the traditional pattern with selvedge and coloured stripe with the famous Swiss Cross. » shop now...

These biscuit shape cutters are made by a well-known tin-plate firm in Wels, Austria. They are welded by hand in such a way that the welding contact points are completely concealed – which in turn means that your biscuits have beautifully smooth edges. Also there’s no risk of your cutting yourself! If you look after them they’ll give you good service at Christmas and other festive occasions for many a year. Ten different motifs: Father Christmas, moon, heart, rocking horse, angel, shooting star, star (small and large) and Christmas tree (small and large).

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The ‘candle arch’, as it is called, has been part of the Christmas ‘Festival of Light’ in the mountainous ore mining region of south-east Germany for more than 250 years – a miners’ smithy is said to have made the first lamps of this kind in 1726, to be precise. The first part of the German name ‘Schwibbogen’ is derived from the word ’swing’ or float’ – in full, something like ‘floating arch’! This is how the tradition came about: during the last work shift before Christmas the miners would hang their glowing lamps in a semi-circle on the wall to look like the pit entrance. And now the second ‘act’ of the story: a certain Edmund Oswald Müller founded a small firm in Seiffen, exactly 111 years ago, to make fine decorative wood products. » shop now...

The plaiting of gold and silver jewellery was well-known to the ancient Etruscans. The ‘milanese’ technique, as it is called, was originally used for making chain-mail in the Middle Ages, and produces a kind of flat, flexible ‘carpet’. In our necklaces and bracelets this flat ‘chain-mail’ is rolled up to form a round tubular shape. Pforzheim, in south-west Germany, has always been the leader in the art of machine-made decorative chains like bracelets and necklaces – considered in the trade to be the ‘highest art’ of jewellery production due to the complicated techniques needed for fitting together the tiny components of the chain. » shop now...

The lining of this sturdy working waistcoat is of pure new wool, guaranteed to keep you warm outside in the garden however inclement the weather! Made slightly longer for lower back protection, with two big front pockets, an inside pocket and zip-up front. All edges neatly finished.

Made by » FHB, well-known in Germany for quality outdoor working clothes.


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