| Underneath the Mango Tree: www.underneaththemangotree.com |
Underneath the Mango Tree (UTMT from hereon!) is a furniture store with a difference. Bespoke furniture is nearly a thing of the past, Ikea deals with the mass-market and bespoke cabinet-making is a pricey business. But UTMT have negotiated an agreement with some Indonesian craftsmen in Sumatra to provide bespoke, handmade furniture. Not only is the furniture beautiful, but it is made of sustainable mango wood and the craftsman are paid on a fairtrade basis. There is a slight catch in that you have to wait for the furniture to be produced and shipped, but that means that there is no shipping of unnecessary goods and no waste. |
| Tomjet www.tomjet.com |
Tomjet is the brainchild of Tom K-P, who thought it would be nice to have his own private airline to take him on surfing and snowboarding holidays. He's yet to buy his first Learjet G5, but in the meantime this site does a price comparison for flights in Europe (although I've found cheap flights to Bermuda on it). It also has a clever gadget which shows you nearby airports if you can't find a flight at the right time / price. Check it out. |
| Tonic www.tonicuk.com |
Tonic is a great little menswear shop on the Portobello Road - I have to say that because my girlfriend owns it. But seriously, its got some great gear for those of us who want to look nice and realise a manky hoody and and some shit jeans from Hennes just don't cut it. Remember - 'Clothes maketh the man.' (FYI. I've just looked that up and its a line from Hamlet) |
| Jason's www.jasons.co.uk |
This is my hilarious summer job. We've got a couple of boats that bob along the Regent's Canal during the summer months. Jason is a 101-year-old traditional narrowboat which runs a scheduled service between Little Venice and Camden. Dusk 'til Dawn is a modern widebeam boat with a bar and flashing lights and a soundsystem that people like to hire to get drunk aboard. |
| Tactical Moves www.tacticalmoves.co.uk |
If you've got a problem, no one else can help and if Damo picks up his phone, maybe you can hire... Tactical Moves. London's premier removalist service run with exacting precision by Mr Damian Lees (popular quotes: 'assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups', 'underpromise, overdeliver'). Basically this lot will help you move house, if you've been kicked out by your girlfriend, or you've just bought a huge mansion in Surrey - Tactical Moves has the solution. |
| The Word Service: www.thewordservice.net |
This is another preoccupation / passtime / job of mine. Having spent a few years studying publishing at Uni I promptly went a got a series of jobs managing bars and nightclubs, however I have always kept my hand in the publishing game and I set up The Word Service to cover my publishing activities (which are manifold). Services offered include: content provision (I spent a year writing movie reviews for the now-defunct Silverscreen chain of shops), website creation (None of your flash bells and whistles here, just good simple HTML which gets you a web presence for a bargain price - see racalia.com), a total recall service for backing up and organising your files, as well as scanning in your old photos, and last, but most importantly a DTP design service, specialising in working closely with authors on parallel text manuscripts. |
| Baby Ceylon: www.babyceylon.com |
My friend Richelle made this site happen, its a beautiful-looking thing, and the model is pretty hot too. However, it was interesting seeing the blood, sweat and, above all, money that was poured into the site to make it work. Nice clothes too, designed by Carole. Apparently Ghost have tried to stop her manufacturing in this fabric, but she has been doing it just as long as them and at half the price. |
Kinesis Studios: |
Ahh! Melissa's torture chamber! No, seriously, this place is where you need you go to get that tired old body back in shape. An exercise studio that offers pilates, gyro-kinesis and a whole lot of back up from osteopaths and such like - just off Ladbroke Grove. |