we found the pencils

The other day we were sad. Kat was crying. We'd just found out that Karisma colouring pencils are no more. They've been discontinued.

But not to fear, because we found some. On eBay, obviously. They arrived in some cryptic wrapping:

We soon tore off the pie crust to reveal a gleaming box of shrink wrapped Karismas. Kat whooped with joy. Sort of.

it's simple, stupid

The secret of success?

"It sounds unremarkable and even naïve, but it's our obsession with making really great products. It's at the heart of everything we do. I don't understand how you can exist as a company and not have it."

Not us speaking, but we echo the sentiment entirely. The quote was uttered by Jonathan Ive, Apple's senior vice president of industrial design. More in an article here.

the world changing book

The World Changing book has arrived. It's a modern day Whole Earth Catalog, and has sprung from the fine blog/site of the same name. The book looks great, and it somehow feels like it's of the earth - lots of recycled textures, unfussy design and plain speaking. Pretty refreshing.

It'll make a good Christmas present for the practical world-changing person in your life.

a film about our apples

We went up to Suffolk to see Henry recently and made a film about the apples that we get from him. Watch it below, or click here to watch a slightly bigger version:

We should probably point out that Henry isn't our sole supplier of apples. We get them from a few different people. But Henry's mum does the best shepherd's pie, hence the fact that we chose his apples to film.

going east

A nice woman called Sharon Fong dropped by Fruit Towers today, on behalf of our friends at Camp 5 in Kuala Lumpur. She's flying back to Malaysia today, laden with our kids smoothies.

Camp 5 is Asia's largest indoor climbing centre, and the people there like our drinks. So whenever they're over here, they pop in and get some to take back to the east with them. Serene, who runs Camp 5, has promised to send us "...some pix of 'innocent' faces in Camp 5, including hopefully one of a monk having an innocent as well. No promises but we will try."

Looking forward to it.

knickers knickers everywhere

Lots of knickers at Fruit Towers today. Can't say why. It's a secret.

most influential company 2006

We were voted Most Influential Company in the Best Of 2006 lists on the howies website. We're flattered. We're not the best company in the world but it's nice that people are interested in what we're doing. And howies, you ain't too bad yourselves.

new cardboard chairs

Some more fancy new chairs made out of recycled cardboard arrived today. Don't know who made them but will let you know if I find out.

PS I think we've used similar pictures before, but we always get excited when new cardboard chairs arrive. We're sure you can understand why.

and the winner is...

Ceri, the inventor of the innocent hoodie, clutches the prize

We had a lot of entries for the hoodie competition. In the end we liked four of them a lot, so we've dug out three more hoodies so that they all get one. The winning entries:

Dan says "I'm a stock controller. I forced my boss to let my store sell all the types of 250ml. I hug the  bottles as I put them on the shelf, and make sure they're feeling OK and sing them little songs about the caterpillar who wore a top hat." 

Rich needs one bad. "I need this top to blend in. Last Friday, while making my merry way home, content in the knowledge of two blissful days ahead without work, 3 kids 'apprehended' me, attempting to push me to the ground and steal my bag. Thankfully, close to home, I managed to get round the corner into the light. Needless to say, they were wearing hoodies. An innocent hoodie would help me look less conspicuous, and then there's the added benefit of 'innocent' on the front, which ought to confuse them. Please help. Scared, R."

Tamara claims "I need this hoodie so I can be the envy of all my friends (and family) when I wear it to college on monday. And everyone will say "oh there's that cool kid who won an innocent hoodie" and I shall smile."

And a person known as Irregular Shed had us all in tears. "My car (an eco-friendlyish, 60mpg Fiat - thanks very much for asking) broke down a fortnight ago and has just cost me £661.06 to fix. My partner's just gone back to work after her maternity leave finished and hasn't been paid yet. My young son is confused about why mummy keeps leaving him. I live in what is currently a very dreary part of Wales. You know the rain at the beginning of Se7en? That's every day for me. My gutters leak at the best of times, but right now it's like walking through a waterfall. I suffer from depression, which given everything that has happened, is unsurprisingly exacerbated. Oh, and it's a month from Christmas.

In short, I'm cold, wet, skint and utterly utterly miserable. A nice hoodie from lovely people would at least give me a reason to smile for a few minutes, and keep the cold away whilst selling my body or whatever else it takes to pay for the car. And the case of drinks will mean we WILL have something to drink on the feast of Stephen."

Mr Shed, your hoodie will be with you very soon. And the other three too.

win something innocent

Here's something good for a Friday - we have this smart innocent hoodie for you to win. It's brand new, navy blue and a men's size L.

The person who posts the best reason for them winning it can have it, and a case of drinks as well.

Post your entry as a comment. Away you go...