We are coming up to our annual shut-down time and are taking orders now for the last of what can be delivered before we close. We always do our best to fit everyone in but in the end it can come down to logistical things like running low on a particular size of filling. As such there is no cut off date, it may just come down to exactly what you want to order. Orders coming in too late for completion before we close will start to be scheduled for when we get back so it’s still worth letting us know in advance as we get pretty booked up with making stuff in our first few weeks back. Or if you don’t speak to us before we close then you can email orders through to us and we’ll contact you when we re-open.

We are off camping in Portugal and while we are closed the answer phone won’t be checked but we will try to pick up and answer emails sporadically!

Oh yes, those dates are - our last day open will be Saturday 25th April and first day back will be 29th May. If this is coming as a bit of a surprise there’s a section under ‘Contact’ where we post up and coming closures well in advance which is always worth checking if you are thinking of making an order for a certain date in the future.

Aikido classes will continue at the Dojo as usual, taught by senior black belts.

Talking about getting away from it all, we just delivered 15 futons to The Yurt Farm in Wales - what an amazing place, lovingly and beautifully created by Thea and Laurie, family and friends. Check them out at www.theyurtfarm.co.uk.

And good time for change at Dojo EcoShop!

For those of you that want to call in to see us (and this doesn’t seem to have anything to do with how far away you are - we’ve been amazed at the distances people travel to try out our mattresses! Good thing the coffee machine’s always on...) please note the change in our shop opening times. We have become so busy making futons and mattresses in our tiny workshop that our shop is now open on Fridays and Saturdays 10 - 5pm only. We are in ‘next door’ (it’s all one space really) making stuff so we can still open up by appointment. If you ring up and get the answerphone it’s highly likely we are in the middle of filling a mattress, or something equally un-put-downable, but if you leave your number we will call you back as soon as we get the message. We do tend to be closed altogether on a Sunday and a Monday. Of course there will always be someone answering the phone on a shop day. You can always email us at mail@dojoeco.co.uk.

We will be introducing shopping online in the near future which will mean less telephoning!

The smell of mince pies warming on the woodburner can only mean that we are getting close to closing up for Christmas. There’s plenty to squeeze in before we sew up the last mattress, stuff the last pillow and wrap the last parcel, but one way or another we’ll be shutting shop on 5pm Saturday 20th December and won’t be making or sending goods again until Thursday 8th January. In between those times we will be checking our email, but that’s the only way to (intermittently) contact us.
As always we’d like to wish everyone peace and light at this darkest time of the year and all the best for 2009 and we look forward to a new year of making stuff for bedrooms, spare rooms, living rooms, retreats, sheds, yurts, shepherds huts, boats, camper vans, caravans, tree houses - yes, 2008 has been as entertaining and interesting as ever!

We’re shutting up shop for two days and all heading to the hills for a weekend of camping and Aikido-ing, so the Manchester shop will be closed on Friday and Saturday 29th and 30th August. Even the nice person who answers the phone out under the stars instead, so the answer phone will be on over that time. Dojo EcoShop, committed to the live - work balance! Just so you know, we always put any planned closures well in advance under our regular opening hours on the 'Contact' page.

At Dojo we are hands-on sort of people. Much of what we do is done with scissors and saws. But we love our computer, and what it has enabled us to do, like reaching so many people right here that may never get a chance to call into our place in Manchester. We love our computer, until it goes wrong... and ours just went wrong in a big way. So after an emergency operation yesterday, also using hands-on stuff like a screwdriver (thank you Philip!), we seem to have extracted most of the important bits. However we may be missing some emails from the last couple of months, so if you haven’t heard from us and you think you should have then please get in touch again!

Here at Dojo EcoShop we’re back from our annual break, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after a few weeks camping with no telephone, television or internet, just lots of sunshine and stars. Reminding ourselves what it’s like to be a human-being rather than a human-doing! Just as well we’re feeling lively as things are pretty busy here. The phone is hot, the filling store is filling up with big,fat rolls of organic wool and the orders are stacking up by the back door, ready to be on their way to new homes. Exciting new things are arriving - organic vegan organic mattresses, fully organic shiatsu mats and brilliantly coloured wool blankets will be making their way onto the web site and are available for order right now.

Being a bit old fashioned here at Dojo Ecoshop we have a proper shut-down holiday every year, so the shop and workshop will be closed from Sunday 27th April until Thursday 29th May. During this time no messages will be taken as we won't have any 'technology access' - we’re off camping! Look out for new products when we return, exploring new places is often a great way of meeting up with fresh ideas and finding goods we haven't come across before.
Aikido classes will be continuing as usual, ably taught by senior black belt students.

We love wool. We use a lot of it. We stuff it into our mattresses, wrap it round our futons and use it to fill our pillows, cushions, bolsters and big wool bags. We’ve felted it into thick rugs and slippers and used it for hanging basket liners. We’ve got fleecy blankets, naturally coloured Welsh throws, British bedsocks and knitting yarn for doing your own thing. It’s keeping us toasty - it’s what we’ve got insulating our roof and what we’re wearing under all our layers of clothes at this time of year. It’s good to work with - when you’ve been on filling duty your hands feel all soft and lovely from the lanolin. It squashes up small and then expands to fill anywhere you put it. That’s what makes our mattresses so springy and cosy. When we brought our first ‘bale’ home to our workshop it was all tied up into a dense block and when Jon cut the strapping it exploded out of the van and trapped him against the wall. Wool is a seasonal product, a lot of people don’t think about that. We tend to buy for the year and try to make some good guesses about what we’re going to need. Storing a year’s worth of wool takes quite a space. This year’s wool is from Herefordshire, it’s certified organic which is important to us. Organic wool is produced under strict guidelines covering environmental concerns, animal welfare and the use of harmful chemicals. Our wool is washed by a certified organic process too - no acids, bleaches or finishes. Wool is naturally flame retardant so our mattresses are safe to sleep on for all sorts of reasons. Especially since it means we don’t use any added chemical fire retardants in our products. We used to be biochemists and we don’t like what we’ve come across in the furniture industry when it comes to that sort of stuff. What we do like is that we can make so much use of such a wonderfully versatile and traditional product that is produced so close to home.

Brrrrr, hope this cold bright weather lasts over Christmas because it’s going be great for some hill walking to stretch ourselves back into shape at this darkest time of the year. There have been a lot of late nights and early mornings in the Dojo workshop these past few months and we’re ready for a break. The wood burner has been blazing and Jon’s been out the back chopping so much wood he hasn’t needed to stand by it to get warm. There always seem to be mince pies warming on the top at the moment, we made a bit of a mistake in our ordering and ended up with rather more than we expected, but they’ve turned out to be just the thing to sustain whilst making all those Christmas deadlines. Our order book is closed for this year now, and already filling up for the beginning of the next...

We are closing at 5.00 on Saturday 22nd December and don't reopen the shop until 10.00 Thursday 10th January (although we are actually back in the workshop at the beginning of that week) We've found that very few people want to buy big things like beds and mattresses over that time so we’re taking advantage of the quiet time to take a bit of break!

It’s been a fantastic year at Dojo - even though we’ve been around for 17 years now each year brings so many new experiences and challenges. Thanks to everyone who has supported us in so many ways.

So here’s wishing everyone a time of rest, reflection and merriment in whichever order you choose!

We are often asked why we started our business - how did we jump from biochemical research to making futons and mattresses? Sometimes we can’t remember all the reasons why we changed direction 17 years ago. Some answers stand strong and rooted as they ever were, some we just laugh about (what was that about taking more time off...) It wasn’t a calculated decision, we didn’t have a business plan - which is probably a good thing because there were never going to be any numbers that added up anyway. We just knew we wanted to do something that involved proper hands-on making stuff, so we could make things we thought were great and couldn’t find anywhere else. Something special that could be made from straightforward, natural materials like wood and cotton, and wasn’t an occasional extravagance but something that would be used all the time as an essential everyday item. Something that, if it was good, could make you feel good too. We couldn’t think of anything much more important than a sound night’s sleep, so that’s how it started. And although we now stock all sorts of lovely eco goods, our hardworking mattresses and futons still sit right at the heart of what we do.

E-mails like this remind us why we took the long way round...

hi there,
just wanted to say thanks for the mattress. it is wonderful and i have
been sleeping so much better. i even wake up feeling less pain than i felt the night before; that is a first for me!
thanks again.

...and why we are still enjoying the view!