Pulse 2012

I was at Pulse this week. The show is a platform for new products and ideas from established and up and coming designers who want to sell their wares to the world.

This time the mood was very much Made in Britain and I was struck by how many of the items - whether it be wooden postcards, knitted tea cosies, mugs with bums - are being designed and produced in the UK. They may only be operating on the scale of a cottage industry, from home or part time, but the internet makes small entirely possible. And if it brings work to British printers, knitters and ceramicists then it can only be a Good Thing.

Eye-catching illustration by Mengsel: screen-printed and sewn in the UK
English bone china mugs from We Love Kaoru: printed and hand painted in Stoke on Trent

Vintage Glasses from the Pop Out Card Company: designed and manufactured in the UK

Quite literally sticking it to...The Man by London-based independent printmaker James Brown