Skipton’s Home Company Offers Guide To Christmas Trends

Nestled in Skipton’s ancient High Corn Mill building just off the High Street, the long-established Home Company offers a wide range of furniture, furnishings, bedding and accessory/gift ideas in its extensive 4,000 sq ft showrooms. With many peoples’ thoughts now firmly fixed on Christmas, here are some of the top trends marking out the 2023 festivities!

Natural, sustainable and local are the keys to Christmas 2022! And given the current concern with soaring fuel bills, keeping warm is likely to be another big consideration too.

According to the team at Skipton’s Home Company, sales of 100% natural wool throws, along with a colourful range of velvety soft ‘cosy throws’ are proving a huge hit among customers not only concerned with their own ‘winter welfare’ but that of family and friends too.

Said store manager Michelle Swinscoe: “Given the cost-of-living crisis and enormous rise in fuel bills, many people are realising that heating the person and not the room is going to be an effective way to keep warm this winter.

“Wrapping up in a cosy throw – particularly when people are sat in at night – is a really good way to stay warm. And treating a family member or friend to a new throw for Christmas is a really thoughtful and practical way to show you care.”

New in for Christmas at The Home Company – and ticking all the natural, sustainable and local boxes – are the 100% British wool throws from Bingley-based family business, The Wilde Sheep Company. Supporting British farmers with fair-pay and buying direct, the company has a combined 150 years’ experience of working in the British wool industry. Each large wool throw costs £69.

Also proving popular in the ‘throws’ section is a range of fleecy-lined cosy throws available in a choice of nine velveteen jewel colours and costing £39 each.

As sustainability increasingly takes priority in home buying decisions, the furnishings sector has risen to the challenge with a range of product innovations that offer a growing choice of environmentally friendly options.

Among them is the new Alston’s Oceana sofas, available from The Home Company, which feature fabrics containing yarns made from recycled plastic bottles and sustainably sourced timber frames and feet. The back cushions, scatter cushions and arm pillows are also filled with fibre made using 50% recycled plastic from Plastic Bank; and the springs are made from recyclable and reusable steel. Introduced in September to hit the Christmas market – and now available for New Year deliveries – the starting price for a two-seater Oceana sofa is around £1,135.

Said Michelle: “People are increasingly looking to invest in furniture which offers a level of environmental integrity – the days of ‘disposable high fashion furniture’ which would be updated every three to five years are fast coming to an end as people realise, we all have a part to play in protecting the planet with responsible consumerism.”

And whether its big-ticket items such as sofas – or smaller gift choices for Christmas, Yorkshire Ram pushes all three ‘natural, local and environmentally friendly’ buttons. Its range of candles are made with naturally sourced soy wax and self-trimming eco-cotton wicks. This combination helps to reduce carbon build up, soot and smoke while still delivering a full fragrance around the home. The candles are non-toxic, eco and animal/vegan friendly and come in plastic-free, reusable and recyclable packaging.

Staying local and often reflecting the area’s natural flora and fauna is the work of Embsay artist Victoria Alderson. Offering her own distinctive – and highly popular – style, Victoria enjoys mixing abstract with fine art, specialising in watercolours. Having painted all her life, Victoria’s work is known for its calming fluidity and tones that reflect current interior design trends. Signed prints cost from £59 – or £85 with a frame.

Very much a gift for ‘those who have everything’ a signed print by a local artist is a win-win choice that supports local creatives as well as offering a solution for the ‘difficult-to-buy-for’ on the gift list.

Also falling into the ‘solutions’ category is the unique spinning MOVA Globe. Combining power from ambient light and torque from the earth’s magnetic field, it gives the effect of a world gently floating on its stand – no cords or batteries needed. One of a range of different styles stocked by The Home Company, the level of map detail makes this a gift that’s as informative as it is attractive. The model shown costs £150.

Finally, as either a fun gift idea or last minute ‘Christmas décor’ touch, these special edition festive cushions are a Must Scatter! Starting from £21.95 these ‘seasonal softies’ are always a pleaser – as either a present or for putting the ‘jolly holly’ into any room!