How It All Began...

Siesta began almost by accident in the early 1980s. I qualified as a teacher in 1981 – but at that time there was high unemployment and teaching jobs were scarce. Out of desperation to escape returning to my home town of Grimsby I got a job teaching in an English school in Mexico City, where I met another recently arrived teacher at the school who was from Canterbury. She (Chris) and I (Les) got together and we are still together – now married for over 35 years!

We were paid in Mexican pesos and had a great time there and not only fell in love with each other but also with Mexico and Central America. However, the Mexican economy was precarious and during our two-year stay there the currency devalued twice (or maybe three times) which meant that at the end of our two-year contract the money we were being paid was worthless outside of Mexico.

To convert these worthless pesos into something possibly tangible outside of the country, we bought local Central American handicrafts and shipped them to the UK when we returned in 1983. A friend who was staying in Mexico offered to get more goods for us if we sold out and needed more.

Back to the UK

At the same time, we both returned to teaching, originally as supply teachers, and later I got a part-time post at Christchurch college in Canterbury, but the selling of our handicrafts slowly became our main driving force – but not the main source of income! 

Our First Shop

By 1985 we were lucky enough to find a very small and, importantly, very cheap shop in the unfashionable Northgate area which we shared with others. Then in 1987, we made the momentous decision to abandon teaching and go into the business full time by renting our own shop nearer to the centre of town but still in Northgate (despite the bank refusing to lend us money as the manager felt our business had "no long term potential".)

Sales at our shop were good and over the following nine years we expanded into the shops next door and expanded our range of goods to include handicrafts and clothing from other parts of the world. This was partly helped by someone who wandered into our shop saying that they lived in Nepal and would we like to buy anything from there. We took the gamble and said yes and Nepal became one of our main supplier countries (and still is).

Wholesale Beginnings

Stumbling into buying from Nepal caused us to accidentally expand the business as we found ourselves doing more wholesale, chiefly because at that time there were very few people selling both Central American and Nepalese clothing and handicrafts. We slowly built up the number of shops we supplied –several of whom we still supply. (To those customers – a big thank you – you all know who you are!)

As we were selling goods made by small family businesses and in many cases individuals whom we knew personally, we joined the then small British Association for Fair Trade Shops and gradually became more active in the fledgling Fair Trade movement. We visited Nepal to source new products and see for ourselves the production conditions of our new suppliers. We travelled with our very young children and they were a big hit with suppliers!

Festival Life

At some stage during the 1980's it was suggested to us that we try selling some of our things at festivals, which sounded like a good idea. Despite not realising the hard work that this entailed we have had stalls at many festivals for many, many years, most memorably every Glastonbury since 1985, countless Womad festivals and numerous folk festivals.

The small young children mentioned above spent every summer of their childhood (and beyond) at some stage at festivals! Nowadays, we do fewer festivals – but when we do, it is they who run the stall – so they must have learnt something – if only how to do it better than their parents!

Moving On Up!

By 1996 we had outgrown our Northgate retail premises and took another big gamble in deciding to move to larger and more central (and a lot more expensive) premises at 1 Palace Street. It is a beautiful old building that suits our products and we have been there ever since – over 25 years now! 

Similarly, in 2000 we moved into a "proper" warehouse enabling us to receive shipments and despatch orders to our wholesale customers with something vaguely resembling professionalism.

Broadening Our Horizons

As we grew during the '90s and early noughties we increased the number of countries we dealt with – adding Indonesia, Thailand, India, Peru, and Ghana to the list of countries with whom we trade. Always we try and conduct our business using Fair Trade principles and most of our suppliers from then are still our suppliers now (or their children are!)

We still import from Mexico and Guatemala and some of the original products sell as well, if not better now than they did when we started in 1983 - for example hand-knotted friendship bracelets made by indigenous Mayan women in the highlands of Guatemala. We used to buy these in hundreds – now we buy them in thousands.

Our Nepalese Family

Our Nepalese connection continues and today it is stronger than ever. Soon after the devastating earthquake of 2015, we discovered that our main supplier, his wife and eldest son were killed leaving the youngest son, Ananta, to not only cope with the grief but also to take over the business and keep the staff in employment. 

We did what we could to help and placed orders when he requested so as to provide work for the staff. We donated the wholesale sales of Nepalese prayer flags to the earthquake fund  – and to this day the sight of prayer flags (a common sight in Nepal) often brings a tear to my eye because it reminds me of the bravery and stoicism of Ananta in the face of such hardship.

At the time of the earthquake, he was in his twenties and coincidentally so were our children – who are now both very involved in Siesta.  A deep friendship has grown between our children and Ananta and for me, it is heartwarming to see something positive come out of such a horrific event.

Ananta is now an important supplier for us and an important member of Fair Trade Nepal. It is so nice to see that both of our businesses continue to work together based on friendship and trust rather than the traditional capitalist motives of greed and mistrust.

And Here We Are Today

If anyone doesn't know our shop – or our wholesale business then I would urge them to come and have a look either at the shop or online. Fair Trade does not mean that prices are high – as we are the importers there are no extra middlemen. In fact, we are often told that our prices are excellent. All we ask is that you leave your prejudices behind – the world is full of amazing people from many cultures who are capable of making beautiful things. We try to bring some of these things to you!