From linen to wooden, from maple to bamboo, there are so many different options for the amazing book lights we have from our good friends at Gingko.
The SmartBook Lights by Gingko is a great addition to any room in the house. When shut, the Book Light masquerades as a stylish, leather bound book, but when opened, it transforms into a sculptural lamp that emits a warm, ambient light through its durable, water-resistant Tyvek “pages”.
The beautiful, atmospheric design opens to a full 360 degrees, with magnets cleverly concealed in its cover to hold it together. The soft touch papers are tear-proof and water-resistant, lit up by long-lasting soft white LEDs.
The dynamic, multi functional light can be opened to form a circular lamp and comes with a micro-USB charger. It is assembled by hand and has a rechargeable battery life of up to eight hours once charged.
Perfect as a Father’s Day or birthday gift, these stylishly unique lamps will look brilliant on a bedside table to use for reading before bed, or on a side table in the living room to offer a soft glowing light in the evenings. Wherever you place it, your Booklight will add a touch of character to any room.
Browse the rest of our Gingko range here, or if you’re looking for a gift, look for inspiration here!
The Octagon One desk lamp is the ‘Gift of the Year 2018’ Award Winner in the UK from the Contemporary Gift category. It also won the Judge’s Choice Award Winner (the only winner) from the whole home and gift categories. The Gift of the Year Award is the most highly respected award in the UK for home and gift products.
The Octagon One Rechargeable Desk Light combines the best of simple and natural wood-effect finish to achieve its modern industrial aesthetic.
The focal point of the design is a beautifully shaped octagon shaped wood finish base, with a touch control button and an inbuilt rechargeable battery which makes it a totally wireless desk lamp. It also allows it to be positioned at three different angles. Mounted in the base is a milled aluminum casing covered in the wood finish which contains 36 high quality LED light bead, with light a diffusing cover
Christmas is without a dount simultanious the best and worst time of year. The stress is somethimes outweighed by the joy of all of the festivities, but it doesn’t mean it’s not still stressfull.
But don’t fear, Design Essentials is here. We’ve taken the stress away from you this year with our Christmas gifts blogs, and this one is about all of the lovely little bits and bobs to buy for your friends and family this year.
The Nkuku jewelry box is the perfect gift for any relative this Christmas. With a small square frame in the top of the Nalou Jewellery Box is perfect for keeping a small photo to remember a happy time with friends or family. It also keeps all your jewellery and keepsake safe with a simple latch mechanism. So worry about your special memories not more with the Nalou Jewellery Box!
This Nkuku glass frame portrait is perfect for displaying photos and mementos, so a great Christmas present this year.
Create a truly personalized gift with one of these stylish glass photo frames. The glass front and back make them not only great for photographs but also a fantastic way to display other precious keepsakes, like postcards, concert tickets, and drawings. They look great grouped together in an assortment of sizes and orientations. Each photo frame is strung with a recycled sari tie.
This pebble print has been available in our shop for a little while now but is new to our website! We know you’ll love them as Christmas presents.
With beautiful and meaningful quotes that resonate with us. This pebble print is particularly heartwarming and the perfect present. They say I know and love you in a way that nothing else can!
The prints can even be personalized for just £10 to add that extra special touch to any Christmas, birthday, anniversary present (the list goes on and on…)
Naturally handcrafted and beautifully designed with great performance, the brand new Gingko MI Square Pocket Speaker makes your travel music experience seriously matter.
Boomboxes have had their day and, as cool as they were, they weren’t very practical to cart about… These new and improved pocket speakers are perfect for presents this Christmas.
The Gingko Mi Square Pocket Bluetooth Speaker takes all the volume of and depth of a traditional music speaker and reformulates it for the modern, travel conscious, party planner.
The new MI SQUARE Pocket speaker is made with solid, sustainable wood and powered by a long-lasting integrated rechargeable battery. New from Gingko, the nifty Bluetooth speaker is a very handy object to travel with, no matter where you go and what you do. It delivers you seriously great sound from a small and neat cherry, walnut or bamboo wood square. Plus, the strong fibre leather strap makes it fully portable. You can put it on your backpack, hang on your bike or even put it on your wrist if you wish.
Jut connect up your Bluetooth phone or tablet and let the tunes flow!
Dead Posh is brand-new to Design Essentials in Saffron Walden, offering a variety of fun, personalised accessories for you and your home including bags, coasters, and pillows. The bespoke items are perfect for gifts or as a little treat to yourself to make the shopping a bit more fun. The modern, chic brand will be sure to turn heads, as you flaunt your one of a kind accessories in the home or out and about. Whether you’re from Essex, Saffron Walden, Great Chesterford, or Linton, we’ve got a range of luxury items, personalised with your home location to add that little extra spark from your coasters to your handbag. We absolutely love these Dead Posh accessories as Christmas presents, and we hope you do too.
We hope to see you in the shop getting your Christmas shopping done early, with the help of our Christmas gifts blogs. Check out our tech blog We wish you a techy Christmas, No more plastic rubbish! our blog for kids presents this year and all of our other blogs for more Christmassy ideas.
We love to hear from you as well, so…
To have a look in person at these great gifts available at Design Essentials, be sure to pop into the shop to have a chat with us in Saffron Walden, Essex.
For any enquires, please feel free to contact us, we love to hear from you.
Don’t wait too late to get your kids Christmas gifts this year!
The advent calendars are out, nativity rehearsals have begun and recorder practice is constant for the school concert, it’s definitely that time of year again. The countdown to Christmas has officially begun and I’m sure you’re kids have reminded you of that more than once, the advent calendars don’t exactly take their minds off it. Whoever thought chocolate was a good idea for kids in the morning anyway!
Anyway, although christmas may be a little different this year, it doesn’t mean your kids can’t still have fun!
So to help you out with the festivities, we’ve put together a short list of our favourite quality christmas presents for kids that they won’t get boared of in five minuites. No more plastic rubbish!
We absolutley love the Tonie boxes, and we’re so pleased to have them at the top of our gift list this year.
Everybody is concerned about kid’s screen time and especially with lockdown, their Ipads are probably being used more than ever. You don’t need to worry about screen time with the Tonie boxes though, they let your children’s imagination run free with no bright screens and endless listening without complicated controls.
Perfectly accompanying the Tonie Boxes, are the Tonie characters!
They tell absolutley beutiful stories, from dinosaurs to snowmen, footballers to the lion king, theres something for any child. The stories grow with your child as well, with more simplistic shorter stories ideal for younger children up to inquisitive tweens who want to learn about dinosaurs and astronauts.
There’s also creative Tonies! The creative Tonies allow you to record yourself telling the story for the child. Gret for long distance grandparents or family members as a source of comfort when you can’t be with them. They are a truly heartwarming gift this christmas.
These emoji lamps are ideal for the coolest of kids, making them a perfect gift that matches your friend’s and family’s moods for this Christmas! With this lamp, your children, friends, or family can be super cool. Be happy, be cool, be Smiley! The kids just love these and being battery operated, you can pop them anywhere!
Cool Smiley Lamps are a great gift or accessory for any kid’s room which also looks great too. If the shade look is the emoji you are after, choose from some of our other smiley lamps – from love heart eyes, winking, and cheeky smiles – perfect for all emoji lovers of all ages!
There’s nothing better than a collectable character for kid this christmas, and we might have just hit the nail on the head with these folky dolls.
They are a range of funny and decorative lamps in the shape of characters such as Fashion Girl, Brittany, and Pirate Boy. They even have lights to suit their own individual stories and style. The truly perfect accessory for any room and easily collectible with 4 designs.
We hope to see you in the shop getting your Christmas shopping done early, with the help of our Christmas gifts blogs. Check out our tech blog We wish you a techy Christmas, Beautiful Bits and Bobs… and all of our other blogs for more Christmassy ideas.
We love to hear from you as well, so…
To have a look in person at these great gifts available at Design Essentials, be sure to pop into the shop to have a chat with us in Saffron Walden, Essex.
For any enquires, please feel free to contact us, we love to hear from you.
Christmas is coming up and although it’s going to be a bit different this year, we have your back with the best gift ideas for all your family and friends!
Screen time, that dreaded little notification that pops up at the end of every week and makes you realise how much time you’ve really spent on your phone. Often greeted with the horrified shrill of “how much” when you realise that you have spent over 3 hours watching Netflix rather than doing the washing up or zooming the relatives or all of the other million things you need to do.
But there’s no need to feel bad though we get it you love your tech and we love ours! Not all tech was created equal. Some are way better than others. By that, we mean actually good tech! YES, it does exist, our best tech gifts this Christmas will actually make your friends and families live way better!
These are just five of our favourite tech gifts for all the family this year…
Number 1 would have been the brilliant Arc light, but its sold out and avialble only available to pre-order fr the beggining of January…
We love the Koble Arc Light because it’s a light that can actually make your life better! I know I didn’t think such a thing existed either it’s just a light after all, but no the Arc is far more than “just a light!”
We all love to sleep right! But since lockdown, a lot of people have been struggling to get back into a normal and healthy sleeping pattern after either very early starts from toddlers who seem to think 5 AM is morning or from too many lie-ins. The Arc can help you get back to normal, overexposure to white light before bed can dramatically affect your sleep pattern, but with the night function, you can switch to a warmer light temperature at the click of a button.
The Arc is also compatible with any smartphone with built-in charging capability or phones with wireless charging cases meaning no more messy cables getting all tangled up by the side of the bed and a fully charged phone each morning.
What’s not to love about the Koble Arc Light! Be sure to pre-order for January!
A great alternative to the Arc Light is the Pixi light, which is our number 2 gift this year…
Don’t worry about crazy electricity bills with the Pixi Wireless Charging Lamps super-efficient LED technology and touch-sensitive on and off button.
With its super-fast wireless charging technology, you can declutter your house of all those tangled wires. Your phone will even stay charging whilst the light is off! The base of the Pixi Wireless Charging lamp can wireless charge your phone with no requirement for any cables, simply drop on and charge.
The Saturn Wireless charging plate is a relatively new product for us at Design Essentials, but we already love it, because it’s the perfect gift for teenagers!
Having a fully charged phone is the most important things to teens, no access to Tik Tok, Instagram or Snapchat makes the house decend into WWIII. Chargers are fought over, plug sockets closely guarded and the survival mentality kicks in.
Nobody wants this…
With the Saturn wirelesscharging place from Design Essentials, you can prevent war within your home, as it gives your teen unlimited acces to wireless charging. So you don’t have to keep on buying all of those new charges when they get broken or lost which costs a small fortune.
It’s the perfect goft for any teenager and doesn’t break the bank!
Is it art, is it a light, is it a book… OR IS IT ALL OF THEM!
The fourth on our list of great tech gifts this christmas is the fantastic range of smart book lights we have at Design Essentials!
The booklights and accordion lights are the perfect gift for those friends and family members who just really appreciate nice things. The beautiful, sculptural design cleverly conceals the inner workings of the lights. The soft-touch papers are tear-proof and water-resistant, lit up by long-lasting soft white LED lights.
There are very few pieces of tech that create the lovely soft aesthetic that we know so many of you love quite like the smartbook and accordion lights from Gingko. They truly are the perfect Christmas gift!
We are so excited to put the Octagon One Desk Light on our christma gifts list this year. Winner of the ‘Gift of the Year 2018’ Award in the UK from the Contemporary Gift category, the Octagon one desk light is a must buy present for any friend or family. It also won the Judge’s Choice Award Winner (the only winner) from the whole home and gift categories.
You can’t diss the award either, as the Gift of the Year Award is the most highly respected award in the UK for home and gift products.
Can’t get a much better present than that now can you, it won a award for gifts!!!
We hope to see you in the shop getting your Christmas shopping done early, with the help of our Christmas gifts blogs. Check out our blogs, Beautiful Bits, and Bobs,No more plastic rubbish! our blog for kids presents this year and all of our other blogs for more Christmassy ideas.
We love to hear from you as well, so…
To have a look in person at these great gifts available at Design Essentials, be sure to pop into the shop to have a chat with us in Saffron Walden, Essex.
For any enquires, please feel free to contact us, we love to hear from you.
This week of lockdown we are hosting and trialing a Facebook Live on Wednesday at 1pm to show you our wonderful selection of Hides and Sheepskin rugs.
We are really trying to use social media to show you our products and make it easier for you to shop local. If you have been interested in investing in a hide or sheepskin to cosy up your home, this is your chance to purchase any of our individual designs.
Please join us on Wednesday 11th November to have a look at our selections and support us locally. We appreciate any reactions, comments or feedback from this live event.
And while you are at it, why not take a look at our Sheepskin and Hide section of the website.
Hi there, This is such an awful time for so many people at the moment with another lockdown. What with everything else you have to consider shopping local may be well down on your priority list. The Bid has done an amazing job trying to support local shopping in Saffron Walden. I feel as our customers you have always supported this and thank you so much. I have seen a new wave of support and goodwill for local business lately and I am extremely grateful for this. As a shop owner, we are going to try and make it as easy as we can for you to shop with us via social media etc and with deliveries and click and collect.
Our click and collect days will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 12-4pm. All products are on our website and we will also be hosting live videos and virtual events to showcase what else we have on offer. Thank you for your support and for continuing to support local. Thanks in advance and stay safe. Wendy xx
Working from home during lockdown has meant our customers have seen the benefits of our smart tech quicker than we anticipated. With the whole family around all the time, we know that now more than ever you need to have a super comfortable workspace, whether that be standing up, sitting down, or anywhere in between. You need the Apollo Desk, comfortable, stylish, touch-sensitive, great for your back, and posture. The Apollo Height Adjustable Smart Desk will change the way you work for the better.
We all know that keeping hydrated is super important but, liquid and phone cables are not exactly a match made in heaven. But what has that got to do with the Apollo smart desk? Well, the wireless phone charging feature of the Apollo will save you crying over spilled milk, tea, or coffee. Because not only are your coworkers about six but with no school to tier them out, their curious minds and sticky fingers are running rampant. This is why the rise and fall feature of the Apollo is so great, it means that no important paper work ends up with Nutella smudged all over it.
Perfect for the home:
Where the Lana was designed with the office more in mind, it’s little brother The Apollo smart desk is perfect for both the home and the office. The Lana smart desk was so popular, its now sold out. We will be getting more, but there’s no confirmed date yet, and October is the earliest we can expect them. Se all of the brilliant features of the Apollo in this video.
There’s no need to worry about space either:
With its compact and lightweight design, the Apollo will fit in even the smallest spaces. The best bit is you don’t even need a chair when standing so that’s, even more, space saved!
Dimensions (cm) :
Height adjustable between 75 – 121
Length 120
Width 60
Get in touch:
Check the Apollo Smart Desk out on our website here.
We are really proud as a small independent business to be working with Koble. If you have any questions about the Koble range at Design Essentials don’t hesitate to get in touch. Contact us here.
We launched our new collection last week at a Private event here at the shop.
It’s never easy being a small business owner I am no exception to the hard work required, however once again it’s the people who surround me that I am grateful to. I have to say a huge thanks to the team for all the help that they gave me . This team include friends and business owners in the town who helped with either a lot of coffee, ear bending, cooking me dinner, alongside putting a light or two up.!!
If you had passed by the shop and asked if there was something you could do then my answer was always yes. I even roped Paxtons in when I spotted Andy helping his sister Julie who owns Beauty Box. Mistakenly thinking he was wielding a drill outside the shop I asked nicely if he could help out with a few jobs requiring said tool. Turns out it was an angle grinder but he promptly got a drill and helped out anyway much to his sisters amusement.
Thank you Erika Daw owner of Skylar and Willow who helped every step of the way from the many Trade shows we visited to the final layout, hours put in, colour scheme and window display which will take us through Autumn Winter. Inspiration for this theme also came from the Saffron Walden Intiative . This is the 2nd year they have held a competition for best window display on the theme ‘ Light It Up ‘
‘We were quite sad to say goodbye to our Botanical themed window, however we still have the range instore. In its place however we have a lovely window to entice customers to come and shop ; be inspired with us over the seasonal period , with an exciting array of gifts and gadgets, there’s something for everyone this Christmas .
We have a wide choice of innovative and inspiring brands such as Ebb and Flow, Nkuku, Culinary Concepts and brands and products rarely seen outside London. The latest in wireless technology Koble Designs have a great range of speakers, lanterns USB ports and smart technology furniture and desks that we now have displays of instore. Gingko design have widened their range at the shop and the must have children’s Audio Box Tonie are also in store amongst our well established brands Gpo Retro, Extreme lounging Bean bags, vintage cutlery , bulbs and shades to name just a few.
Thus far we have been delighted with the feedback on the window and store from the evening and since.
With many thanks to Saffron Fish company and Mini Miss bread teaming together to produce the exceptional canapés to be washed down with a glass of something lovely from Adnams.
Our latest collaboration is with the talented hair queens of Saffron Walden….Penney’s! They tame my mane every week, and now they’re offering you a CUT & BLOW DRY for just £15! (worth £35).
“What’s the catch?”
No catch! All we ask is that come and say “hi” to us at the shop, and check in to Design Essentials on Facebook. What’s even better, is tag 2 friends and they will be in with a chance to win s FREE Blow Dry worth £20! The draw will take place every Friday and is valid until the end of August.
With many thanks to 
