THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Looking for products for our shop is a fascinating job – the important questions are:
What is it made of?
Where has it come from?
How long will it last?
We don’t ask about cost or who is going to buy it – tastes change, so if you believe a product or producer is suitable – why not support them loudly? The world turns and the greatest and most useful products find their places…
When we first saw the Nordeck chair we were stunned – several different lengths of wood, three bits of rope – and that is it. Everything you need for a comfy chair.
Classed as a deckchair, it has a contemporary feel (who wants a deckchair with fabric? Not us, not anymore…) and looks equally at home on your patio in summer, in your conservatory in the winter, or at the end of your garden when friends come over for a glass of wine.
Sitting on a Nordeck chair by the sea is just a wonderful bonus…
It wasn’t just the look we loved though – the wood comes from managed woodland in Finland. This is an important point – in Finland, you can stop illegal logging, while in the rainforests of the world you can’t.
By buying a Nordeck chair you are supporting the use of European wood – birch, pine, oak, alder, larch – and helping to stop the promotion and transportation of exotic woods from the Southern Hemisphere. We have wonderful woods that we can use in our products in Europe, that last a long time with just the minimum care (a little bit of oil from time to time is all the treatment they need.)
It was this that thrilled us and made the offering of Nordeck chairs a must-have on the Modern Mint shop.
We have been at a number of markets this year with the Nordeck chair, and had lots of feedback.
One lady in Cambridge, a yoga teacher for 35 years, tried out the chair and told us it was the perfect position for your body – it sits you straight, the core of the body in line, which in turn helps ease pressure on your back (compare this to the way you twist and turn your spine when sat in the car…)
Another lady told us how easy it was to put together. Of course! It is simple design, for maximum effect!
At Modern Mint we have fallen in love with this chair – it has become our ‘go to’ present for friends as a wedding gift, for birthdays, for ‘moving in to first homes with a garden’ – and we have seen nothing else on the garden furniture market that looks this cool and is such great value.
Allay all of this positivity and class to the fact the Nordeck Chair supports the use of European wood, that it supports a woodland that is growing (they have the space to plant in Finland!) and it makes the Nordeck chair the perfect partner for Modern Mint.
Take a closer look at the Nordeck chair here.
(If you have a product you think would suit Modern Mint, we would love to hear from you. Contact us with details here.)
10 Years Of Modern Mint
On Valentine’s day this year (2024) Modern Mint, the company I started when I moved to Essex to explore a fresh, contemporary approach to gardening, will be 10 years old. The cliche is time flies… but it does! So much has happened in a decade, from studying topiary with Charlotte Molesworth, to clipping all over the UK (and eventually in the USA and Sweden) to selling shears and secateurs at garden shows and hiding away my reticence to give talks about gardening and topiary to Horticultural Societies across the UK. Ten years feels a good time to mark a new …
Garden Masterclass Trailer – The Modern Topiarist
In 2022 I did a free video for Garden Masterclass, the Annie Guilfoyle and Noel Kingsley run website that is a treasure trove of the great and good of the horticultural world – well worth looking through all the wonderful talks they have available, like meadow-maker James Hitchmough or nurserywoman Rosy Hardy. They are certainly inspirational! Perfect for watching and dreaming up new ideas during the winter months… As a follow-up to my Topiary Provocations video (which you can see on Youtube for free) I was asked to do a video for their Masterclass series on how to make topiary. …
Charlotte Molesworth’s Garden In The FT
The lovely garden of my mentor Charlotte Molesworth is featured here in the Financial Times in the last week or so… She has been interviewed lots of times but I thought this was a particularly great piece, with some photos done at unusual angles and different parts… so well worth a read. For more on topiary by Charlotte Molesworth…