Sustainability

Bohemia Design is a UK based ethical homeware and accessories brand with headquarters in Edinburgh, Scotland. We're woman-owned and family-run.

For 25 years we have worked collaboratively with highly skilled artisans to design and produce contemporary handcrafted homeware and acccessories.

Our philosophy sees us dedicated to a belief in the beauty and integrity of goods made by hand using age-old traditional techniques and sustainable, locally sourced materials. The deep bond formed with our suppliers helps ensure a consistent quality of production and the ability to develop unique, ethically made goods.

The Bohemia team in Edinburgh handle each order personally and with care, serving our loyal customers and over 1,000 independent stockists worldwide.

Working collaboratively with artisans in Morocco, India, Turkey and Kenya, we celebrate the skills and generational knowledge of our partners. We aim to make goods which are not only beautiful but functional and timeless. Our role is to offer a connection between traditional crafting communities and those who appreciate authentic, responsibly produced goods.

We have worked with many of the same artisans for over 25 years, collaborating on pattern and form to create unique, slow crafted homewares and accessories. All our products are completely handmade in small batches using traditional craft processes. Jenny, our founder, visits our artisan partners in Morocco and India 4-5 times a year, developing new products and continually checking quality within production. 

Our products are designed with longevity in mind, ensuring they are meticulously handmade to be treasured for years, regardless of trends. Our core collections remain consistent, celebrating simple, honest, and traditional designs.

We are committed to developing new products that take into account sustainable practices and consider environmental impact at every stage in the process from the raw materials to final packaging.

We work with specialist craftspeople from around the world. Working with local materials and small scale manufacturers across Morocco, India, Turkey and Kenya.

As a company, our aim is to champion the status of artisanal craft and those who produce it. We believe in fair trade and our relationships are built on trust, respect, equality and friendship. In Marrakech we have established our own workshops to improve the living and working conditions of our artisan partners who make our babouche slippers and add final leather details to our baskets. 

Through establishing long lasting relationships and friendships with our suppliers, we can ensure our artisans are treated and paid fairly. We never negotiate discounts or price push when placing orders. Our long term partnerships help provide sustainable income that benefits traditional, often rural, crafting communities.

Due to the handmade nature of our goods, occasional irregularities may occur in each delivery, resulting in slight seconds products. Any discounts we offer do not affect the fees paid to our artisan partners; they are always fully compensated for their work.

We aim to use as little packaging as possible to reduce waste, whilst still ensuring your orders will reach you in perfect condition. All our orders are sent in recyclable packaging. We use a paper based bubble wrap and a kraft paper based tape to package all of our goods. We sometimes use recycled bubble wrap for fragile items, which is also recyclable.

Our stickers, postcards and tissue paper are printed using recycled, FSC certified paper. Stickers are made from 100% post consumer waste and the tissue paper uses sustainable soy-based inks making it compostable too.

Our slippers and hammam towels are sent in a protective branded cotton drawstring dust bag which can be reused time and again. Occasionally, our slippers arrive to us in a clear plastic bag for protection. We are working to find alternative solutions to this, however, we aim to recycle all plastic items that enter our warehouse. Our delicate jewellery is shipped in a protective recycled plastic zip lock bags.

In 2022, international shipping alone accounted for nearly 3% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. To minimise our carbon footprint, we prioritise shipping our goods from our artisan partners via road or sea freight and avoid air freight whenever possible. We always wait until enough stock has been produced to justify a delivery to our UK warehouse. This can occasionally result in longer waiting times for out-of-stock products to arrive.

Babouche Slippers
Made of the finest quality sheepskin, the leather is organically tanned using age old techniques and dyed by hand.

Baskets
Our Moroccan baskets are woven with care using locally sourced natural materials. We work with two different types of regionally grown plant fibres;  Palm Leaf for our shoppers and softer handle storage baskets, and Reed for our more structured baskets.

Jewellery
Our Bloom jewellery collection is handcrafted in a fair trade workshop in India with a team made up of 80 craftspeople. These intricate pieces of jewellery are crafted in 18ct gold plate on a recycled sterling silver base. Our delicate colourful bracelets are crafted in Istanbul using silk threads and 18ct gold plated charms.

Hammam Towels
Our hammam towels are woven from 100% Turkish Cotton and OEKO-TEX certified.

Block Print
All of our block printed washbags, zip purses and notebooks are produced in a small family run business in Jaipur that adheres to a zero-waste policy. Our zip purses are crafted out of 100% cotton and our washbags are cotton with a waterproof nylon lining. All cotton offcuts are then recycled to produce our 100% tree-free handmade paper notebooks.

Moroccan Pouffes
Our leather is traditionally cured in the ancient tanneries of the old city in Marrakech, cut and oiled before being stitched. Dyed by hand, the leather may have a natural residual scent which will fade once aired. 

Our pouffe filling is a combination of wool felt and coconut coir.