Let’s call it Human Monday.
We all love shopping online. It’s easy and convenient but I always think that Cyber Monday is missing a trick. I think we should rename it Human Monday.
We should support real humans who make a difference to their neighbourhood and their community. Real humans that deserve our support.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure that the big corporations and their shareholders welcome all the money that they get on Black Friday but come on – let’s go and support some of these humans that make a difference. They’re the ones that have the ideas. They’re the ones whose stores make us go ‘that’s cool – that’s the perfect gift’. So let’s put the human back into this Monday.
I want to introduce you to 3 businesses that I love and have had the joy of working with.
Meet Miss Gingers
The first is Miss Gingers – It’s a haberdashery store and Miss Ginger’s actual name is Verity. I met her during the pandemic and worked with her. She’s slightly obsessed with The Sewing Bee.
She’s really quirky with good taste and it shows. She gets the best fabrics, the best ideas and does all these amazing displays for her store. Her social media is really funny.
The store is in Folkestone so anyone in Kent make your way down there. She also has an online store.She puts the fun into her store – it’s yellow and really vibrant. This is the kind of store that deserves your custom. She works so hard to make her high street a little bit better, her products interesting and her store exciting. So please support Verity. You can visit her store, shop online, follow her on social media or just tell your friends about her rather fabulous store.
Introducing Kate Modern
Next, I’d like to introduce you to Kate Modern. It’s an eclectic art store that I worked in Malvern this year. Kate has a website. She also a fantastic store where she creates her own artwork which is full of colour, vibrancy and life. She also has the most fun range of gifts. There are all kinds of things from the rudest-looking soap you’ve ever seen to Christmas decorations, art supplies and the funniest cards. It’s a space full of life and vibrancy and that kind of wonderful independence that you only find in a shop like Kate Modern.
She’s the kind of business we should be celebrating on Human Monday. She has real talent in her buying skills as well as creating her wonderful artwork. How can you support Kate? Very easy – go into the store in Malvern and buy her wonderful gifts and artwork, go onto her website or follow her on social media. She’s the kind of human that we need on the high street because they bring vibrancy, life and colour to it.
Presenting Farah Qureshi
The final human that we should be supporting (for this list anyway) is Farah Qureshi. She’s a jewellery designer from South West London. I met her a few years ago when I was mentoring her. She just has a talent – a talent for design. I got one of my wedding bands remade by her and she created a unique piece for me. It’s a beautiful platinum ring with a hint to my past, my present and my future. So much jewellery can look the same but hers has got a bit of style to it. She doesn’t only do rings. She does all kinds of different things. And she creates and makes everything herself. She’s really cool.
She’s got her own unique way of creating pieces. They’ve been stocked in Harvey Nicks and a few other places as well as selling through her website. If you’re buying jewellery this Christmas go on and visit Farah’s website. There are some great videos about how she makes things. Also, she talks about simple, elegant and inspired. There’s something rather wonderful about that. Go and support Farah. She is the kind of human who really deserves your support this Cyber Monday.