At No Two Things, there’s more than meets the eye. Owners Di and Beth enlighten us on how they remain eco-friendly in their business practice.
From ‘Trash to Treasure’
A crafty emporium in the heart of Didcot, South Oxfordshire, this special little shop has a lot to offer.
You can expect a medley of treasures; from hand crafted and sewn goods, to turned wooden items and delicious-scented bath bombs and hand creams.
Run by mother and daughter team, Di Chesterman and Beth Revell, No Two Things began as a means of giving unique gifts at Christmas.
“A long time ago my whole family decided that we weren’t going to spend any money on Christmas; we were just going to make things and find things and [give] that as a present”, says Beth.
“From that, me and my mum made a little business called Trash to Treasure, where we’d recycle things and sell [them] at craft fairs.”
Di [left] and Beth [right] are equal directors for No Two Things
Beth and Di dreamed of having a permanent space to sell their handmade goods, and in October 2011 they opened the doors to No Two Things; a ground-floor shop offering unique artisan goods.
But this small, family run business isn’t just a crafty gift shop.
Since moving into a two-storey building last September, No Two Things has blossomed into Didcot’s very own craft hub, providing arts and crafts workshops for people of all shapes and sizes.
“We’ve got [a] dedicated sewing room where we do all the sewing workshops, a mini art studio and a messy craft room. We used to have to hire outside venues to fit everyone in sometimes, but now we can do it all in-house which is nice.”
(You can watch more on their big move in the video below)
Youngsters can enjoy pottery painting and deco-patching in their school holiday workshops, while older children can try their hand at sewing the likes of bags, broaches or even pin cushions.
“We try and keep all our workshops as affordable as possible and we run about two different workshops everyday in the holidays”, says Beth.
No Two Things also runs workshops for adults with learning disabilities and mental health conditions.
“[These sessions] tend to be slightly different because they come as part of a group”, says Beth, “….it’s less about the craft and more about distraction”.
“The charity, Mind, brings adults with mental health conditions and their sessions last for about two hours, so we tend to do something that can be finished within the two hour sessions that caters to both men and women and [different] abilities as well”, she continues.
Eco-friendly
Beth and Di are very environmentally oriented and try to follow that through in their business practice.
“Mainly we order [Carrier Bag Shop‘s] recycled paper carrier bags because the whole reason the business started was from an ethical ‘green’ stance with the recycling”, says Beth.
No Two Things have solely used Carrier Bag Shop for their bags and tissue paper since they first opened shop, after a recommendation from a friend.
“You deliver really quickly and usually everything that we want [is in] stock, so there’s no reason to go anywhere else”, says Beth.
They have even stayed ‘green’ while accommodating typical British weather, by using our biodegradable plastic carrier bags; “because sometimes it does rain”, Beth laughs.
Where would we be without Facebook?
No Two Things uses Facebook to promote a lot of their business, and believes that it’s very important to be active on social media.
Being a customer-facing business without a web-shop, it allows customers to view their stock and keep up with upcoming events.
“We can take pictures of a new display we’ve done and people will look at that picture on Facebook and message [us] saying ‘Ooh I love that tea-light holder, can you save me one? I’ll be in this afternoon'”, says Beth.
“We [also] put pictures up of workshops that we’ve done, so people get featured on our Facebook page and they can be proud of that.”
“When Facebook dies out I don’t know what’s going to happen”, she laughs.
Community Oriented
When it comes to community, No Two Things goes the extra mile by donating bags to a local group which holds sales for baby items.
“We get the small recycled carrier bags and staple something on [them] with an offer to encourage people that get the goodie bags to come into the shop”, says Beth.
So they’re environmentally-friendly, they run craft workshops for their local community and they donate locally.
Like we said, at No Two Things, there’s more than meets the eye.
We’re so pleased that No Two Things have chosen Carrier Bag Shop for their packaging, and we love that we are able to do our part for a business that does so much for others.
You can visit the No Two Things website to find our more about who they are and what they do, or follow them on Facebook and Twitter!