Latest Posts from The Blue Patch Blog

I’ve been away in sunny India for about 6 months (yes, a bit longer than expected), and I completely missed the British summer. Traded it in for the original Indian summer followed by monsoon which made for hot hot hot weather with torrential rain. The weather here is conflicted. Some days it’s autumn with those longer sleeves, […]

 Bringing a buzz to the high street with sustainable shopping!   Come to our free, week-long pop-up with beautiful ethical products, workshops, pamper nights, bubbly drinks, delicious cakes and late night shopping till 9pm – the Original Sustainable Department Store is a new social shopping experience just in time for Christmas.   11th  – 16th December Free […]

The first house we visited was a beautiful 1916 4-bedroom Edwardian terrace house overlooking Ruskin Park in South London. We wanted to discover how architect Natalie Black had retrofitted the property…let’s take a look inside. Natalie and Ben, who own the house, are retrofitting to improve comfort and energy efficiency, with a focus on using […]

Here they are! The wonderful winners and finalists for 2018…. Our judges were so impressed by the applications, including many wonderful brands that missed the shortlist by a whisker, it was tough competition. The winners for all categories, with the exception of The People’s Prize, were announced at our stand at London Design Fair  on September 20th. The […]

Grain, Colour + Form, Copper Dust, Full Grown and Laura’s Loom at the London Design Fair 2018. Colour + Form create an explosion of vibrant colour with their designs specialising in colourful and painterly graphic patterns. ‘Our patterns are crafted by digitally layering, mixing and merging colours sampled from a variety of inspirations, including nature, art and […]

Something old, something new. Something borrowed, something blue. We’re in wedding mode today. Not because it’s wedding season or anything, but just because. Rings and bells, dresses and flowers. There’s so much more to planning a  wedding than what meets the eye. Put a ring on it. Rings are the traditional item exchanged between a […]

What is retrofitting? Who better to ask than Marion Baeli and Robert Prewett, architects who have spent the last 2 years retrofitting their 1960s family home in Sydenham, South London. Blue Patch’s Youth Blogger Phoebe is on the case… “It’s all about comfort” says Robert, welcoming me in ‘Improvements in energy efficiency, through steps such […]

On a glorious July weekend, Emma and Sunita (both sit on Blue Patch’s Executive Board) joined me (Jane from Blue Patch team) to discover what was blooming at the RHS’s annual Hampton Court Flower Show. First stop: iced Pimms beneath a tree, retreating from the midday sun. Marginally cooler by 2pm, we visited The Family […]

Many of you have probably heard the news that Ecover and Method have had their Naturewatch Foundation’s cruelty-free endorsement revoked as a result of being acquired by SC Johnson who test on animals while developing  their products. While there are tons of alternatives out there to banish the dust and grease from everyday items, here […]

Circular Economy Week, London 18th – 22nd June 2018 A week of events, activities and workshops to celebrate circularity in the capital We’re celebrating Circular Economy Week, London, an initiative by our friends at LWARB and Advance London with a lightening tour of Blue Patch members who lead the way in circular thinking by tackling ‘the demon plastic’! If you’re feeling […]