Our latest collaboration…. Courtney and Co.

We are seriously excited to have received our first batch of Courtney and Co buttons recently, after a long hunt for a new style. Don’t get us wrong, we adore horn buttons, but they seem to be getting heavier set recently, and we want something that feels a bit more like the older, more delicate buttons you find on vintage pieces.

So, that’s where David comes in. He (like us) loves all things hand crafted, and in his words: ‘when the opportunity presented itself to ‘rescue’ the manufacturing of natural buttons in the UK we jumped at the chance. Enthused and guided by a romantic and nostalgic desire to save and restore what was once a great industry in the UK, we have invested in machines and engaged experienced button-makers who could be persuaded to pass on their skills’.

Button blanks - jute bags containing Corozo (and horn in the background) at the start of the process -the raw material, so to speak.

Polishing barrels showing finished buttons in the foreground. They use traditional techniques to polish buttons and use such things as pumice stone and wooden/ceramic pegs. The buttons are introduced to the barrels and are turned for days, depending on the finish required. A top quality horn button can be polished this way for up to two weeks!

And these aren’t just any old buttons: they are made from so called ‘vegetable Ivory’, Corozo. Fundamentally, it is a nut but is every bit as hard as a regular horn button. And to top it off is fully ecologically sustainable. Grown on a Tagua Palm in Central America, the plant requires no human harvesting, as the nuts naturally fall to the ground when ripe. With each tree producing around 1800 nuts a year and living for around a century, we are lucky to have such a bountiful supply at our fingertips!
With their head office in Gloucestershire, Courtney and Co are bringing button making out of the shadows, with a horn button line in the pipeline.

Below: A double breasted blazer with our new buttons, and a close-up detail of a cuff.

A double breasted blazer with our new buttons,

and a close up detail of a cuff

We are over the moon to be working with them, and cannot wait to see where they go! 

Visit www.courtneyandco.uk for more info.