About
Four makers, four objects, short runs
Hovel Goods is not a manufacturer. It is a list, kept by two people, of things four makers already make, with the prices agreed in advance and the postage done from one room.
Why there is no basket
A basket implies stock, and stock implies a number that is right. Ours never would be. Four people make these things between other work, in runs of twenty-five or forty or sixty, and a run ends on an afternoon when nobody is at a screen. A shop that promised a live count would be lying about half the time. So the catalogue tells you what exists, the entry tells you the price, and the link hands you to a payment page that does nothing else. If we are wrong and a run has just ended, you are refunded the same day and told why, which is slower than a red Out of stock label and considerably more honest.
Hovel Goods
The makers
Who makes what
We name them because you are buying their work, not ours. Each of them sets the price and we do not discount it.
Ines Kovar
Brooms
Makes the yard broom in runs of forty, two or three times a year, in a shed that smells of wire and dust. She has changed the head once since we started listing it.
Tomas Drenth
Stools
Turns and wedges the low stool in runs of twenty-five. He will not make a fourth leg or a taller one, and he is right about both.
Marit Sande
Bowls
Turns sixty bowls at a time from elm that was standing nearby. Every one is a slightly different colour and none of them is a mistake.
Ola Brenner
Blankets
Weaves one run a year, in winter, on a loom that fixes the width. This is why the blanket is sold out for most of the year.
How a run works
Made, listed, gone
The run is made first
Nothing is made to order. A maker finishes a run, it comes to us, and only then does it appear here with a price.
It is listed until it is gone
No pre-orders, no back-orders, no deposits. When the last one leaves the entry changes to Sold out and stays on the page.
The next run is when it is
Between two months and a year, depending on the maker and the weather. We will tell you once when a run returns if you ask.
Postage and returns
How is it sent?
Wrapped in paper and card, by post, within a week of the payment. The broom goes in its own long box and costs more to send than the others.
Where do you send to?
Anywhere the post goes. Outside our own country the postage is worked out on the payment page and is sometimes an unpleasant surprise; we would rather you saw it before paying than after.
Can I send it back?
Within thirty days, unused, for the price back but not the postage. Write first so we know it is coming. Seconds are not returnable, which is why they are cheap.
What if it arrives broken?
Send a photograph and we replace it from the same run, or refund you if the run has ended. You do not need to send the broken one back.
Do you have a shop I can visit?
No. There is a room with shelves in it, and it is not a place anybody should be invited to.
Do you keep my details?
Your address, on the order, until the parcel has arrived and the return window has closed. No account, no card details, no list to unsubscribe from.
Anything not answered here
Write to us. A person reads it, usually the same day.