About Us

Our key values:

• Create special products which people will cherish
• Make Fair Trade a way of life
• Minimise our environmental footprint
• Be honest and open in all our communications

We have deliberately called our company ‘The Fair Trade Furniture Co Ltd’ because Fair Trade is fundamental to our beliefs and values. But we are also committed to minimising our environmental footprint.

How do we prove this?

FAIR TRADE PRINCIPLES

There is no mark or label yet developed for furniture products, (although we are discussing this possibility with the Fair Trade Foundation). Until that becomes a possibility, we are using the criteria set out by the International Federation for Alternative Trade (IFAT) in their Code of Practice, as our guiding principles. We are an associate member of IFAT, and will become full members when we have completed sufficient trading to meet their full membership criteria.

IFAT’s principles on Fair Trade are summarised as:

• To trade with concern for the social, economic and environmental well-being of marginalized producers in developing countries. This means equitable commercial terms, fair wages and fair prices.
• Unfair trade structures, mechanisms, practices and attitudes will be identified and avoided.
• To co-operate and not compete.
• To promote fair trade and social justice in the interest of the producer, and not to maximise profit at the producer’s expense.

Specifically what this means in PRACTICE for our producers is:

• Payment of 60% in advance, allowing materials to be purchased, and wages to be paid from the start of production
• Payment of remainder when goods arrive safely in the UK (mainstream buyers wait 60-90 days before they pay for the goods received!)
• A fair price for the goods, the price being suggested by the producers, not by us as buyers
• Investment in social programmes (health and education) for the producers and their families
• Support for improvements to working conditions and facilities (e.g. sponsorship of new computer equipment to facilitate communications with the UK)

Team credentials

Founders: Hugh and Rachel Ross

Hugh was a non-executive director for Traidcraft Plc for 6 years in the 1990’s. He has also provided consultancy services to Traidcraft Exchange and Fair Trade Assistance Holland for over 15 years. He is now enjoying the opportunity to extend his experience of Fair Trade into this new area of furniture.

Hugh and Rachel Ross opened The Green House shop and café in Harrogate in 1990, based on a personal commitment to fair trade and environmental principles. This shop (which was sold to the wonderful Bob Fisher in 1994) became a central part of the green and ethical scene of North Yorkshire until it sadly closed in 2008.

Indonesian partners: Mokko and Inori

Tommy Fredriksson founded the Fair Trade organisation Arum Dalu in Bali, which is still an active player in the Fair Trade market, supplying Traidcraft among others. He has since moved to Java, and set up Mokko, which exports a range of furniture and handicraft items.

The founders of Inori, Retno Winahyu and Deddy Heriyanto are both ex-Oxfam Indonesia; they are steeped in the reality of development work at the sharp end, and passionately committed to Fair Trade like the rest of us.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Our business model requires us to import products from Indonesia – the skills and raw materials required do not exist in Europe. So our job is to minimise our environmental impact within the constraints of this model. Here are some of the areas that we are scrutinising closely:

Weaving materials

The seagrass grows locally in lakes and streams (and not in the ocean as its English name implies); it is harvested by local people for use in craft and furniture products.

Rattan is a type of vine which grows abundantly on the trees of the Indonesian tropical rainforests. Indonesia is in fact the main country in the world where rattan is grown and harvested.

The banana fibre comes from the stems or leaves which surround the trunk of the banana tree; these are peeled off the tree and plaited into a fibre which is both strong and beautiful. In its natural form, the fibre ranges in colour from yellow through green to brown. They are also bleached to create the attractive pale colour you see in our Kartosuro range. This material is widely available, and is a by-product of banana growing.

Wood

Tommy’s partner (Tri) who owns and runs the wood factory producing most of our wood-based items is amongst the first people in Indonesia to have received Government training and accreditation in wood sourcing and certification.

We have chosen Mindi as our main wood type, for its attractive colour and grain. It is a fast growing native tree from Java Indonesia. It is not yet available as an eco-labelled product because (unlike teak and mahogany) it has never been the object of deforestation. However we are looking into the possibility of getting an eco-label or FSC certification for this raw material.

For the table tops of the Jogya and Kartosuro ranges we are using another locally-sourced wood called ‘pule’, which is a pale softwood like pine, relatively fast-growing.

Textiles

The Indonesian fabrics are all 100% handwoven cotton. We are investigating the potential for using organic/fair trade certified cotton as the basic raw material for these fabrics. As soon as we have overcome some of the logistical challenges which sourcing certified cotton from India presents, we will be switching our supply.

Transport

We avoid air freight on all shipments except urgent samples or prototypes. We are investigating the possibility of offsetting our sea-freight carbon footprint.

All air travel by our team members is carbon-offset, and we are trying to organise our visits to Indonesia so that they are as time and fuel-efficient as possible.

UK suppliers

We have switched our electricity supply to Ecotricity, and are exploring the most energy efficient ways to heat and light our showroom premises in Salisbury.