East Of India
East Of India
East of India was started by John Ayris and Anne Spratling in 1991. John had travelled extensively while Anne had studied fashion and textile design at Canterbury Art College.
The story so far
While travelling through Asia in the early nineties we met a talented man, who had a beautiful wooden pig for sale, handcarved from a tree he had grown himself. We bought the pig and several other pieces and took them home as gifts for friends and family. The gifts were so well received and demand for them so great, we decided to start our own business introducing these beautiful handmade goods to the UK, and East of India was born. A small range of products was developed and with some financial help from the Prince’s Trust, our first consignment was brought to the UK and distributed to local shops, some of whom are still our customers today.
Today all our products are designed with love and care at our studio in Folkestone and we still work closely with those original artisans. They now employ numerous other family members and friends to satisfy demand. With the support of our diverse customer base, which includes multiple retailers, mail order companies and small independent retailers, these artisans are still able to work together as family groups and earn a living using traditional skills passed down through the generations. Their skills give East of India products a distinctive, unique quality and we now have customers all over the UK, Europe and beyond.
The East of India team in Folkestone has also grown and evolved. Many of our staff have been with us since the early days and they respond with energy and enthusiasm to the ever changing requirements of a small business.
Products
All of East of India’s products are designed in house and from initial concept to final production we are passionate about every detail. We offer an extensive range of seasonally inspired collections including stationery, ceramics, textiles and handcarved wood sourced from natural materials.
Environment
East of India takes seriously its corporate responsibility on environmental issues. For a number of years we have been involved with a tree planting project in Indonesia. Wood used in today’s products was a seedling planted not more than 10 years ago. Each tree harvested is replaced with another, which in turn will be ready to use a further 10 years from now. The tree used is Albizia Falcata, grown in the foothills on dry land that cannot be used for rice fields.
East of India is also the owner and guardian of ‘Oak Wood’ in Kent, 22 acres designated as ancient woodland, in an area of outstanding natural beauty and site of special scientific interest.