Ethically sourced?

Dear C.Spruce

Firstly I have to say what a great question. Would you believe that we've never been asked that before?

We take the ethics of what we do extremely seriously. Not for any political reasons but because we are a family business and because of that our values, personally and professionally, are all geared towards the family ethos.

So how do we assess and safeguard our standards? Well we have an exclusive, full time agent actually resident in Brazil and he spot checks all of our suppliers.

Furthermore he visually inspects shipments to assess quality and standards. Add to this random spot checks from myself. I will travel to Portugal and Brazil around twice yearly where we insist on viewing standards manuals, logistical problems, staffing issues and the working environment meaning we are always completely up to date with conditions both of the product and the environment in which they are produced.

We have also given consideration to the effects of shipping our products almost 6000 miles but when you draw a comparison to the industrial effects of producing porcelain or ceramic tiles we realise that our carbon footprint is significantly lower in spite of the long shipping distances.

In summary we can deliver a beautiful, natural product safe in the knowledge that it satisfies our own strict ethical standards. We believe totally in the products we sell and this is why we have never ventured into other areas such as ceramics and porcelain equivalents because we would lose the level of control that we insist upon.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding this. I have genuinely enjoyed compiling this response because it matters so much to us as a family.

Yours sincerely

Libby Lloyd-Jones