Ganesha is a fair trade partnership formed by Jo Lawbuary and Purnendu Roy who started in the markets of London in the early 1990s. The first shop opened in Gabriel’s Wharf on the South bank in 1995, which expanded into a second unit in 2004. The pair’s next move was opening a new shop in Covent Garden in 2008.

Ganesha’s aim is to add as much value to handmade products through quality in design, making it possible to maximise the earning potential of the (often rural) producers at source, allowing local community investment. The couple buy mainly from World Fair Trade Organisation members in India and Bangladesh.

Ganesha produces a whole range of products from soaps, accessories, home furnishings and even some funky Bollywood cd’s to help you into the groove.

With brightly coloured designs, these interior products bring summer vibes into your home. When the sun does return to our shores, there is a beautiful vintage silk bunting for your garden made from vintage silk sarees from people at the Calcutta Rescue.

Ganesha has a passion for products made from vintage, reused and recycled materials. We love the disposable plates created using sal and siali leaves from the forests of Orissa, east India. These are used for curries at weddings and festivals across India but are the perfect green addition to any party here in the UK.

The Bollywood look is epitomised with Ganesha’s mats made from swampy rush and ornately decorated tiger rugs, plastic accessories and collages of Bollywood stars from magazines.

Ganesha

Home style store EcoCentric is one of these. The online boutique has collected together a truly desirable range of design-led eco pieces, including the stunning Grand Curly Shade pictured here.

The emphasis at EcoCentric is very much on style. So carefully are items chosen that the shop feels curated, rather than merely stocked, if you get our drift. And no, they haven’t paid us to say that. Elle Deco and Grand Designs agree too.

Categories include living and sleeping, interior decorating, outdoors, kids, eating and drinking and organic cosmetics, amongst others.

You’ll find work from a number of established and respected designers, including Tord Boontje, Emma Wooffenden and interior designer Oliver Heath.

The Grand Curly Shade here is designed by Charlie Whinney, formerly of award winning design collective Sixixis. It’s made from steam-bent Ash locally sourced from sustainable forests, and very low energy production techniques. It’s one of a limited run of 50, and costs £500.

If this is a little too pricey, there are plenty of similarly desirable lower priced items. Our picks are:

Tord Boontje Glass Candle Holders, £29

Organic Alpaca Cushion, £89

Knit Your Own Monkey, £14.99

EcoCentric