Why choose British made Crafts: The difference you can see and feel

With millions of mass produced, often low quality items available at the touch of a screen these days, it's worth remembering why you pay a little bit more for British made crafts, and why it's important to support British craft and manufacturing businesses as we head into the Autumn.

You know where your money is going. When you buy from a British craft business like Black Fox Metalcraft, your money goes straight back into the local economy, not to a tech billionaire. Your purchase with a business like Black Fox Metalcraft indirectly helps to fund our local leisure centres, and keeps people employed in high street shops and cafes.

You can speak to a human. In the unlikely event of a problem, you have a point of contact. A genuine craft business cares about their products before, during and after they have been sold. Black Fox Metalcraft's customers are confident they can call or email us at any stage of the process to ask how we’re getting on, and ask any questions about the making process. And if there is a problem such as needing to swap fixings, they know we will sort it out because we want every one of our customers to love what we have made. A faceless company online just wants quick sales.

Meaningful Purchases. When you know who has made your product, how and where they have made your product, plus the story behind the business, the purchase will feel more meaningful than if it’s been mass produced on the other side of the world in a factory whose working conditions are questionable. You can tell from reading Black Fox Metalcraft's blogs that we are a family run business that loves what we do; we’re not doing this to make money. We set up the business as a young couple because we enjoy metalwork and producing beautiful things and want to use our skills to earn an honest living.

Made with Care. It’s in our interests to make our work as high quality as it can be. We’re not hiding behind a website, our address, phone number and email is available for all to see. We stopped for a drink at a pub in North Devon while on holiday last summer and were delighted to find our Orca weathervane taking pride of place on an outbuilding in the beer garden. We love nothing more spotting one of our weathervanes or signs when we’re out on a family adventure – I’d honestly be embarrassed if I saw something of ours not in top condition several years on.

Environmentally. If your purchase is locally made, it does not have the carbon footprint of something that has been flown across the world – that’s something we all have a responsibility to take seriously.