The London shows never disappoint but this one seemed even more enticing than previous years. It was great to see so many UK designers producers. Solid wood furniture and accessories, our particular passion, were highly visible at 100% Design, the Tramshed and Tent London. Products made from natural materials were in abundance and I was heartened to see so many items made of sustainably sourced materials, especially recycled pieces. Here's a few favourites to start:

The Hidden Art space was filled with gorgeous things, check out Ralli Design's FIKA tea set.

We loved John Reeves' metamorphic side table cum chair so much that we'll be stocking them shortly. Brilliant shape, space saving stackability - every home needs one!

Check out these rubberised newspaper bundles - the rubber even forms a bond that acts like velcro when stacked. Versatile re-useability. Make side tables, stools or a chair as shown.

Our biggest ever ex-display clearance event gets under way on Saturday at 10am in all our stores (sorry all pieces sold as seen so they aren't available for sale on our website). We do this every Autumn but we've never had so many pieces at such reduced prices - it's a great opportunity to grab a bargain. We've got all ex display beds at £495, miscellaneous ex-display dining chairs for £50 each, ex-display sofabeds for £495, two of our fabulous ex-display Marais extending dining tables at 50% off  - seriously good deals. Everything is at least 50% off.  And most is ready to deliver immediately. What's not to like?

It's on for 16 days only. We've got new pieces coming in October and old display pieces in need of refreshing. There's over 250 pieces reduced at least 50%. Definitely the biggest clearance we've ever done. See you on Saturday?

Here's our Kingston team dealing with a mountain of ex-display pieces.

Yipee! We scooped the Guardian’s Sustainable Business Award last night. Beating fellow finalists and multi-nationals Unilever and Lend Lease for a shock victory in the supply chain category. With other category winners being Tesco, Levi, British Land and Marks & Spencer, it shows that you don’t need to be big to be innovative and make a difference.

Director Kim Corbett said “We are absolutely thrilled - all of us, the staff, our suppliers, even my hard to impress children who wanted to take the award to school with them this morning! This means so much to us and all our staff, and of course credit belongs to our loyal customers too. We have always concentrated on long lasting, well designed furniture from sustainable sources, but we never thought we could win an award in such salubrious company. We see this as simply another step in a long process of showing that businesses, large and small, can be run with a responsible attitude to the environment.”

Tonight we’re off to Kings Place - where they’ll announce the winners of the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards. We're shortlisted in the Supply Chain category along with Uniliver and Lendlease [LINK] . The competition is tough so we're keeping our fingers crossed. Jason Delf, a director at Chest of Drawers says, "The awards are great and we're pleased just to have made it to the final and to be in such salubrious company. The concept of sustainability is vast but the supply chain is a major part of it.  We began our environmental rating label project after we read a book by Felicity Lawrence about food labelling. We wanted to give customers information about our workshops' working practices and wood sourcing, as well as transportation issues summarised by ‘furniture miles’. It was our campaign to change the furniture industry one chest of drawers at a time! Information and education are all part of raising awareness of the issue. We still believe that transparency is the key to convince both consumers and manufacturers that there is a way forward that will benefit both. When we began our environmental label project there was a distinct lack of interest from everyone, or at best a mild bewilderment. Nowadays suppliers actively try to increase their ratings with us and our customers ask more and more about where the wood comes from etc. These are all important steps in the campaign to change consumer buying habits. Legislation may ultimately pave the way for a more sustainable industry but consumers can play a major part in making this happen. Changing buying patterns has an immediate effect because manufacturers ultimately provide what the market will pay for. Keep your fingers crossed for us please!"

Hooray! We've made it to the final of the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards for our work improving the environmental and ethical standards in our supply chain. Our environmental grading system is one of the many methods we have used to make our production more responsible and sustainable. Thanks for your support!  Guardian Sustainable Business awards

We were thrilled to be nominated and shortlisted again for the Environmental Awards in 2009 and we humbly accept our nomination to the Environmental Business of the Year (under 200 employee) category. To be nudged out of the first place is difficult but made more palatable because we lost out to the superbly fantastic Arcola Theatre.

We won! Our shop on Upper Street has just won Islington’s green business of the year award. The award recognised the efforts we have made to source sustainable furniture and to inform customers of the environmental and ethical “footprint” of the pieces we offer. It might not be the Oscars, but we’re very proud!