June 2023.
Meet Blackthorn, a Scottish company making sea salt sustainably using nothing but sea water, the wind and a majestic tower of thorns. Sea water from the wild West Coast of Ayrshire is trickled from the top of the tower and travels down through every twig and thorn, exposed to the powerful and persistent coastal winds as it makes its way to the bottom. The resulting droplets are a concentrated elixir which is exposed to gentle heat and transforms into beautiful, delicious crystals.
This is an ancient process practiced on ancient lands, worked by hands that know a thing or two about salt; the area has a long history of salt-making and Gregorie, one of the co-founders, comes from a family who have been involved in salt for five generations. Their methods are also holistically sustainable; blackthorn is a local farming byproduct, has a 7 to 10 year lifespan in the tower, and is either mulched and returned to the earth as fertiliser at the end of its useful life, or used for salt smoking. There are no ingredients at all beyond sea water. No bleach, no baddies.
The salt is delicious. It has what they call the crucial crystal crunch factor. The super slow method imparts tannins and retains minerals which give Blackthorn salt its distinctive character. If you try it crumbled over tomatoes, mouthful for mouthful alongside another salt, you'll see what they mean.
And - good news - if you're a cousin or sibling in our Kindred Club, a box of salt is coming your way with your order if you checkout in June. Click below to find out more.
April & May 2023.
Meet Coco & Kinney, a tiny jewellery company doing big things. Their jewellery has been cleverly designed to work double-time; the majority of their collection is detachable, reversible or interchangeable. So you can wear a pair of earrings one way with a simple gold finish, or flip them round for some glitzy white topaz pizazz. Unhook a drop pendant from and earring and pop it onto your necklace. Mix up your earring pendants so you’re covered for different looks. It’s exactly what we need - great looking jewellery which covers all bases in one go.
Their collection is also full of beautiful every day pieces which you’ll never change and never take off: chunky bracelets, layering necklaces, simple but soulful rings.
If you don’t know them, head over to their website or instagram and breathe in their beautiful bounty.
And if you’re a Sibling or Cousin in our kindred club, be sure to checkout at Kalinko in April and we’ll send you a £20 Coco & Kinney voucher to get you on your way.
February & March 2023.
Let’s turn up the heat. Meet Two Hot Asians, a hot sauce brand created by Ana Da Costa and Emily Yeoh. Obviously, they are two hot asians, but they also make two hot asian sauces which will supercharge the spice levels in your bowl (and tummy). These sauces - Mama Da Costa’s XO Sauce and Papa Yeoh’s Sambal - are secret family recipes. Ana and Emily had these sauces coursing through their veins growing up, and thanks to their intrinsic cheffing skills and marketing pazazz, they’ve jarred them for us all to enjoy.
These guys are all about good food, good company and good energy. You’ll know what we mean as soon as you taste their sauce. Add it to noodles, soups, rice, stews, eggs, and you can even mix it with mayonnaise for a spicy dip.
Now the important bit - how to get your hands on some of this nectar? Easy. Just make sure you’re a Cousin of Sibling in our Kindred Club and checkout at Kalinko in February. We’ll pop a jar in with your order. And don’t forget to look them up, follow them on Instagram, and fill a coveted spot in their their next supper club. Click below to find out more.
January 2023.
This January, we’re sending our Kindred Club Members a little surprise! You might be able to drink it, eat it, use it or put it somewhere to delight you. A lucky dip of sorts!
Just checkout at Kalinko, and await your prize!
November & December 2022.
Our current Kindred Club partner is a brand new business which has arrived just in time for Christmas. Most of us will be buying something for a child to open on Christmas Day, be it a godchild, friend’s newborn, niece, nephew or our own. Baboushkini is here to make that super easy for you.
You know how impossibly chic European children are? Always immaculate, never covered in yoghurt, coordinated tights and cardie? Well there’s a reason: European children’s clothes are the very best. They’re also expensive to import thanks to Brexit. This is where Baboushkini comes in - Calypso, the effortlessly elegant mother behind the brand, has carefully curated a selection from the most adorable brands from France, Spain, Italy and Portugal, as well as East Coast America, imported them for you and is ready to wrap them for your darlings.
Baboushkini’s selection is timeless but relevant, classic but comfortable, adorable but never too nice to play in. Their brands all use small-batch sustainable manufacturing, local workshops and locally sourced fabrics where possible. They are all small businesses, built by women, which champion slow fashion and authentic craftsmanship.
Look them up, marvel at their beautiful range, and (if you’re anything like us) get lost in their impossibly sweet instagram feed. Then plan what you’re going to buy with the £30 gift voucher which is coming home with your next Kalinko order if you’re a Cousin or Sibling in our Kindred Club. Click below to find out more.
September & October 2022.
Welcome to your new favourite cupboard staple: Nonya Secrets. These are an award-winning range of Asian cooking sauces, sambal mixes, curry pastes, and oils inspired by the family recipes of Maureen Suan Neo, which have been passed down through the generations.
Now you’ve probably used ready-made curry sauces before. But believe me, they will not have been as good as Maureen’s. You know when you get a takeaway and it’s never quite as satisfying as you were hoping it would be? Nonya Secrets curry pastes are the answer. Almost as easy as ordering a takeaway, and 1000 times more delicious.
My mother gave my husband a set of 6 for Christmas last year, and we’ve been addicted ever since. We probably eat them once a week. You literally add your protein or veg of choice, a jar of coconut milk and cook up some rice, and BAM you’re in south-east Asian culinary heaven. It’s our dinner party staple, our lazy supper for two staple, our piggy supper for one staple.
And the best part? The story behind them. Maureen was born in Singapore, the daughter of the Nonyas and Babas of south-east Asia. She arrived in London in the early 70s aged 19, with just a suitcase, but a mind brimming with her rich Peranakan food heritage. She has since run some of London’s most popular restaurants, and now packs her extraordinary flavours into ten jars of taste-joy for everyone to enjoy at home. You can buy them online, or at most of the UK’s leading foodie and farm shops.
OR, if you're a Sibling or Cousin in our Kindred Club, we'll pop a jar of their Rendang Curry paste in with your order if you check out in September or October.
July & August 2022.
This month’s Kindred Club brand is a lovely family business which has been going for over 50 years. Clem and Alex from Compton Marbling make hand-marbled paper and products in their Wiltshire studio. Each sheet is made by hand, using traditional methods: have a look at this instagram video to watch them at work…totally mesmerising!
We adore this brand. They are true craftsmen, they make in small-batches using techniques which stand the test of time, and their products are extremely beautiful. You can buy their paper as it is, or made into sketch books, notebooks, photo albums, lampshades and all sorts of other things.
Look them up, marvel at their beautiful range, and (if you’re anything like us) go down an instagram warren watching their wonderful creations coming to life. And if you’re a Cousin or Sibling in our Kindred Club, we’ll pop a gorgeous marbled box of matches in with your next Kalinko order while stocks last. This is a brand new product…lucky us! And lucky you! Click below to find out more.
June 2022.
Wild is a natural deodorant brand. They're on a mission to remove single-use plastic and unnecessary chemicals from the bathroom.
They're replacing them with natural, refillable alternatives that never compromise on convenience or performance.
They're starting with deodorant.
But hang on a second... surely deodorant is something you have to get right? It really, really needs to do its job well. Is it possible for something made of natural materials to do that?
Yes! Wild have done it. It's totally natural, made from tapioca starch, coconut oil and cocoa seed butter and a bunch of fresh fragrances, and it really keeps you fresh as a daisy...or a cucumber, or freesia...take your pick from their nine choices.
And if you're a Sibling or Cousin in our Kindred Club, you can try it for yourself if you checkout at Kalinko in June. We'll pop a Wild starter kit, including refillable case and one Fresh Cotton & Sea Salt refill in with your order.
May 2022.
We’ve got a bit of a first for the Kindred Club this month.
See that chilli oil in the photo? That is Burmese chilli oil. The best in the world (according to us). It’s pictured here at the brilliant and adored Rangoon Tea House in Yangon. This one is made by May Shan, a Burmese brand only available in Yangon.
And the good news? We shipped a crate of it over in our last shipment! This, my friends, is something money really can’t buy. You can’t get your mitts on this, unless you can get through the red tape to enter Myanmar at the moment, which believe me is a dark art.
We’ve given away Burmese Chilli Oil in the past here at the Kindred Club, and it was so popular we had people begging for a second pot! It is spicy, rich, and totally different to any other you’ve ever tried.
Drizzle it on your eggs and avocado, add a dollop to your noodles, mix it into your fried rice, up the dial with it on your curry. And savour every mouthful, because you will struggle to get your hands on another jar of this!
Wondering how to bag yourself some of the batch? For the whole of May, if you’re a Cousin or Sibling in our Kindred Club, we’ll pop a jar in with your next Kalinko order while stocks last. We’ve only got 50 to give away, so don’t hang about! Click below to find out more.
April 2022.
Gabar is a fragrance brand from Burma. Phway and Susan, the co-founders, are Burmese but based on opposite sides of the world: Phway in London, Susan in Yangon. They bridge the two, just like us.
They have built a brand which aligns beautifully with Kalinko: they’re rooted in Burma and made for the world. Inspired by the country’s rich history, and passionate about telling its stories, both the beautiful and the complicated. Phway explains that “fragrance and scent felt like a natural fit: a way to package the sounds, sights and smells of a romantic, vibrant land as well as a medium through which you can emotionally connect with people.”
“Myanmar is a country of many faces,” she continues, “and despite what you might hear on the news, the everyday spirit and gentleness of the people is so profound. We want people to sense the warmth and tenderness of this country and also grow to respect the struggles it has gone through, and somehow take away from this story, a deep feeling of hope and inspiration.”
Gabar has three debut fragrances, and for the whole of April, if you’re a Cousin or Sibling in our Kindred Club, one of their Discovery Sets containing mini-vials of all three fragrances will come home with your Kalinko order.
We’re so excited for you to get to know this gorgeous brand, and at the very least to give you a few soothing seconds on their beautiful website.
March 2022.
We’ve got something a bit different for the Kindred Club this month.
Meet Katto. Primarily, they make knives. Really exquisite, handmade, beautiful knives. The kind of knives which will actually make you a better cook. The ones you’ll get out of the drawer to show people, even if there’s nothing that needs cutting. You’ll probably start sharpening your pencils with a knife, because that’s cool. You’ll probably start using a pencil again, so you can sharpen it with a knife. You know the kind of knife i’m talking about.
But beyond their knives, they’re a great company which we want you to get to know. They love making things. Knives, sure, but also delicious food: they send out great recipes (and funny emails). They recognise how important it is to make something with your hands. They’re preaching to the choir at Kalinko, but we’ll sing as loudly as possibly for them, because it is so important. As Josh from Katto says, it’s a “powerful antidote to the pace, noise and chaos of modern life”.
They also champion the individuality and strength of the handmade. The fact that each one will last forever. That each will be different to the next. Our kind of company.
Have a look at their website. We love everything they say in their FAQs - we agree with every word. And obviously, the knives are knock-out: hand-carved wooden handles, super sharp Japanese blades, perfection in form and function.
And for the whole of March, if you’re a Cousin or Sibling in our Kindred Club, they’re sending a suitably chic apron home with your next Kalinko order, to wear with the knife that you won’t be able to stop yourself from buying. Click below to find out more.
January & February 2022.
2022’s first free gift comes from Reia, a company on a mission to remove single use plastic from our bathrooms. They want to eliminate plastic waste, without compromising on quality. So they have created very high quality, luxurious, beautiful smelling hand and body wash which can be replenished sustainably and without plastic waste.
Reia’s products are delivered with a glass forever bottle, and a re-fill is delivered through your door as often as you choose (either every one, two or three months). Once you’ve emptied each top-up pouch, you just pop it straight in the postbox, where it will go to be broken down into its component parts and reused.
“Vegan and allergen free self care that’s kind to your skin and the waterways it ends up in.”
They only use ingredients which directly benefit your skin and are as kind as possible to the environment, and their bottles and packaging have been extremely carefully designed to remove excess at every stage.
And the really good news? The soap is amazing. It smells insane, it feels silky smooth, and the bottles are so good-looking, you’ll want them to last forever. Which they will.
This model is a no-brainer. It’s a totally hassle-free, closed loop way of washing without creating any plastic waste.
And the good news is, if you’re a Cousin or Sibling in our Kindred Club, a £25 voucher, which is enough to buy your first set of either hand or body wash, is coming home with your Kalinko order if you checkout in January or February. If after the first month you decide it’s not for you, that’s no problem - you can cancel your subscription at any time. But we reckon you’ll get hooked. Its a delicious self-care treat, and completely guilt free. Win win.
December 2021.
Portobello Road Gin is quite clearly the best looking gin on the market. But these guys are about so much more than looks. Their gin was very carefully created over 9 months back in 2011. Distilled here in England from English-grown wheat, it contains nine botanical ingredients which come from around the world; these include juniper berries and orris from Tuscany, Spanish lemon peels, bitter orange peels from Haiti or Morocco, nutmeg from Indonesia and, (the one we’re most interested in!) cassia bark from South East Asia.
Kalinko is particularly in need of their gin for our Christmas round of Pegu Club Cocktails, Burma's signature cocktail as explained in their blog post here.
But we're not the only ones: the UK is deep into a 3 year “ginaissance” which has seen gin soar to the top of the charts for drink of choice, and Portobello Road is at the front of the charge. They have actually built an entire Ginstitute around their gin. You can go to their home on Portobello Road, immerse yourself in all things Gin, and even make your own.
These guys really care about what they do. Total Gin-nuts. They have all sorts of gins, and some delicious non-alcoholic spirits too.
And this month, if you’re a Cousin or Sibling in our Kindred Club, they’re sending a little taster bottle of their signature gin home with your next Kalinko order. Click below to find out more.
November 2021.
This month’s free gift comes from Patch Plants. Patch helps you decide on the best plants for your space, delivers them to your door and then helps you look after them.
This last part is the best bit. Now i’m a very proficient plant murderer. One of the best. I literally can’t keep them alive. But Patch makes it really easy. They have a brilliant plant-parenting course, and you can call their plant doctors for a diagnosis if you have a problem. If you do what they say, you really can’t kill your plants.
Start with their quiz which will tell you which plant you should buy. It assesses where the plant is going, how good you are at looking after plants, and how much time and love you want to give them. It then spits out a range of well-priced options and sends them to you, with all the support you need to get going.
If you’re reading this thinking you don’t need any help thanks - you’re pretty green-fingered, well great news. You’ll know exactly what to choose from their brilliant menu. You can choose by height, type, and destination for your plant in your home.
And the good news is, if you’re a Cousin or Sibling in our Kindred Club, £10 to spend at Patch is coming home with your next Kalinko order.
October 2021.
SUITCASE is the magazine for globally minded travellers. Delivering escapism and inspiration to wherever you are in the world, they explore through a local lens – and shake up conventional travel en route.
Through a quarterly print magazine, daily updated website, podcast, Instagram and events, they encourage thoughtful exploration of the world through beautiful storytelling.
Whether you’re at home or away, SUITCASE helps you to immerse yourself in lesser-visited destinations and stories not often heard. You’ll go far and wide in your mind, and all for the price of a pizza.
Or for FREE, if you’re a Cousin or Sibling in our Kindred Club! The latest issue of their magazine, and a discount code towards your subscription, is coming home with your next Kalinko order. Click below to find out more.
September 2021.
This month’s free gift comes from By Ruby. They make completely delicious home-cooked food and deliver it to your door. And when I say delicious, I really mean it. These guys don't mess around. They use the freshest, local produce all from ethical suppliers, and make it all in their kitchen in small batches, exactly as you would at home.
Three years ago, my sister had a baby and I sent her their New Parent Bundle. This is what she said:
"Soph, By Ruby is blowing my mind. They are so delicious. Ready meals usually all taste the same. These are amazing."
This is freezer food like you've never known before. Think fish pie with the right amount of butter. Miso ramen which tastes like it came straight off a Japanese food stall. Delish fish with salsa verde, hearty shepherd's pie, and beef bourguignon which will warm all of your cockles. There's something for everyone, and you know that it has been made with sustainably sourced products.
And the good news? There's a £30 voucher to spend at By Ruby coming to any Kindred Club Cousins and Siblings who check out at Kalinko in September.
July & August 2021.
Motley is a disrupter jewellery brand which is setting new standards for design, fairness and sustainability in an industry as old as time.
Co-founders Cecily and Ilana met in a university lecture about witchcraft, and boy have they cooked up a spellbinding potion. Cecily came from the jewellery world, Ilana from management consultancy, and together they are set to transform and dominate the jewellery world.
The premise is simple: jewellery designed by the world’s best designers, sold at fair (and accessible) prices.
And the theory is brilliant: they give designers free rein over the design process and managing production and covering upfront costs in house, while paying them way above industry standards for royalties and design fees.
The interesting part is that they’re obsessive about fair pricing at both ends of the deal. Like us, they don’t sell through big retailers to avoid unnecessary markups for the customer, and they set their prices as a true reflection of the value of their jewellery, from the amount they pay their designers to the materials their craftsmen use. They also swallow the higher costs of production in order to guarantee high quality.
And most importantly, in an industry infamous for miserable ethical standards, theirs are sky high.
Beyond fairness, ethics and sustainability, their newsletters are always interesting, their brand voice inimitable and their marketing surprising and delightful.
Oh and the jewellery is wonderful. So happy days, because a little Motley gem is coming home with your next order if you’re a Cousin or Sibling (while stocks last!). Click below to find out more.
May & June 2021.
This month’s free gift comes all the way from the Shan Hills of Burma. If you’ve never tried Burmese Green Tea, it’s time. It’s totally unlike the green tea in your cupboard - it’s much more delicate, and as the Lost Tea Company say, it “lacks the astringent taste of mass produced green tea”.
The Lost Tea Company have made it their mission to bring the astonishing taste of the Burmese tea fields to British tea cups. Two nations who love a cuppa, united by the humble tea leaf. Like us and our makers, the Lost Tea Company work directly with smallholder farmers from Pindaya, cutting out government corporations and guaranteeing a fair price for their tea.
They’ve also taken things one step further, introducing the UK market to one of Burma’s most popular foods: tea leaf salad. The leaves are pickled until they’re tangy and sour, and have an amazing umami flavour. It’s a classic Burmese snack, usually served with crunchy peanuts, chilli flakes, roasted beans and tomato.
Head over to their website to learn more about the amazing things the Burmese do with tea, and if you're a Cousin or Sibling, we'll pop some tea in your next order. Click below to find out more.
April 2021.
Jolly Good Brownies are exactly what they say they are. Actually, they’re better than that - they’re Phenomenal Brownies. The Best Brownies. They’re chewy and chocolatey and fudgey, and you will never look back.
We’ve been sending them to people left, right and centre since we found them. To the parents of new babies, to our parents, thank yous for kind people, get well soons for poorly ones. Energy boosts for the warehouse team on unloading days. And sometimes just because they’re amazing, and everyone should know about them.
Wonderful Oli makes them in her own kitchen, and what was (literally) a kitchen table business, took off big-time during the first lockdown last year. Everyone started sending them to everyone, and she’s now having to move to a new house with a dedicated brownie-making kitchen, so that chocolate and flour and packaging doesn’t swamp her entire life, her husband and her three adorable children. She is the perfect example of somebody doing what they love, and what they’re good at, keeping it simple, and totally nailing it. We love her brownies, and we love her for agreeing to send them to our Kindred Club Siblings and Cousins with their orders this month. Click below to find out more.
March 2021.
This month, for all the reasons you’ll have seen in the news (or on our blog), we want to shout as loudly as possible about everything Burmese. So we’ve chosen to partner up with May this month. May is Burmese and from Burma, but has lived in Manchester for 9 years. Her beautiful brand, Rice Over Everything, is a small-batch chilli oil business which emerged out of lockdown. May spent much of lockdown making her delicious chilli oil and sending it to friends and family to cheer them up. It was was such a hit, she decided to sell it.
She launched her beautiful website in December and has been completely inundated with orders since. At the same time, like us, since the military coup on February 1st, her mind has been permanently in Burma where the situation is getting worse and worse every day, with her friends and family right in the thick of it. It’s so important to keep the world watching what is going on, particularly as it has fallen out of the news in the West. So we can’t wait for you to try her chilli, and hope that every time you use it you remember to check what’s going on in Myanmar, which you can always do either through our instagram here, or May’s here.
If you're a Cousin or Sibling, we'll pop a jar of chilli oil in your next order. Click below to find out more.
February 2021.
Cambridge Imprint are a patterned paper making business. They are Claerwen, Jane and Ali, three self-professed "paper evangelists", who print their beautiful patterns onto all sorts of things, from notebooks and scrap books to lampshades and box files. Their products are so good, they are even exported to Japan, the home of paper-making. Now that's really saying something.
But beyond their products, it's their approach that we love. Their branding and packaging are lovely, their emails are so brilliant, you wait for the next and read every word, and their very grounded tone underlies everything they do. They are also very kind, thoughtful people; they started selling stamps with their cards during lockdown so that people could send them without needing to go to a shop.
They cherish the small things. The slow over the fast. Analogue over digital. They're our kind of brand and our kind of people, and we want you to get to know them. And the good news? They’ve kindly gifted us some notebooks to get you started. Click below to find out more.
January 2021.
Pip & Nut are the clever nuts behind the fanciest peanut butter on the planet. Believe me, you have never slathered anything better on your sourdough. And they don't stop at peanut butter. We're talking maple peanut butter, gingerbread almond butter, chocolate nut butter cups...
Other reasons we love Pip & Nut: they only use totally natural ingredients and don't include anything unnecessary (see ya later palm oil); you can buy 1kg tubs of the stuff; they're obsessed with creating tasty treats and have loads of delish recipes on their website; you can add a foodbank jar to your basket, and they'll donate one from you and one from them to a foodbank. Oh and Pip who is behind the brand is one of those great gals that you'd really like to be friends with. Listen to her story here.
So happy days... if you're a Cousin or Sibling, we'll pop a treat from Pip & Nut in your next order. Click below to find out more.
December 2020.
This is Huw and Becky of Paynter. They make beautiful jackets, based on iconic styles, using the best materials they can get their mitts on. But the most important and interesting part is that they only make 4 small batches a year, using suppliers and factories that they really know. They are a truly sustainable brand. And they tell the story of each batch so well, that it’s hard not to get addicted. There’s no wonder the last batch of 750 sold out in 2 minutes.
Now the jackets are undoubtedly gorgeous, but the real attraction of Paynter is the obsessive levels of care taken by these two with their brand. It’s incredibly inspiring. Nothing falls through the cracks. Just look at the love they give their rolls of fabrics.
Given everything we’ve just explained, your December treat isn’t a jacket. But it’s something super unique, and very fun. Click below to find out more.
November 2020.
Anna Wright is an artist and illustrator from Dumfriesshire. She’s best known for her exquisite works in pen, ink and paint. And in our personal books, she’s best known for creating some of the most joyful creations on the planet which make you smile every time you see them.
There is an amazing freedom to the line she draws, and the textures she builds with fabric, feathers and gold paint. Every single piece feels special, a little bit magical, and full of soul.
She sells her incredible art as prints, and has translated them onto all sorts of things from fabrics to mugs, trays and cards. We have her calendar up in our office in Yangon and it makes us feel right at home.
And lucky YOU, because throughout November, she’s treating you to something special every time you check out. Click below to find out more.
October 2020.
This is Molly & Joel, special pals of ours, and the clever couple behind Desmond & Dempsey, a brand who care as much about spending time at home as we do. As they say, they are here for the pleasure of our leisure. Yes please.
Primarily, they make amazing pyjamas. But more than that, they make every day feel like Sunday.
And the good news? They’ve gifted us some amazing treats to send to our Kindred Club Cousins and Siblings with all October orders.
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