Greetings from Nest European Toys & Home!
We are one of the largest online shops in North America offering a wide selection of quality handmade natural toys and crafts, books, clothing for kids, and sustainable home goods. Some of our suppliers include Ostheimer, Drewart, Grimms, Norbert Veneuer, Fagus, Ruskovilla and Disana clothing, Walter Kraul, and many, many other lesser known but wonderful individual crafters and small companies with great ecological and social ethos. We have a growing and great selection of furniture and home accessories. Our focus is on sustainability and materials that biodegrade and that are sustainable in more than one sense. The questions of how to move from where we are now in terms of our shared carbon footprint, energy use, and social equity propel us to continue to shape our business and its greater impact.
You can find Nest on their Website, and on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
Since the last time you were featured on SouleMama, in what ways has your business grown or changed? Is there anything new you'd like to tell us about?
JP: Our store continues to grow, as wooden toys seem to be gaining fair popularity, but it's still mainly the two of us, Lisa and I, each day, with extra hands at Christmas. Our kids are turned 5 and 7 in the spring.
Lisa: We're managing our growth. Most of the advice one reads as a small business owner of our size these days points towards automation and drop-shipping, but I'm not comfortable with most of that, as I know how much we offer in customer service when we're hands-on, but as we're pushing the limits of what we can give with our time, the clear choice is for us to hire more employees and keep the personal touch here in-house. With my background in renewable energy, and John-Paul's and my thoughts often in ideas of ecological sustainability and ethical models of social redistribution of wealth, I feel that our business is sometimes lagging behind where my head is at.. The motivation I feel for the business is to present more options and information that makes true strides in sustainability accessible and attractive for people from wherever they are currently at in their journey.
We've picked up some new lines, Grapat wooden toys from Spain; Clef des Champs, an organic herb farm in Quebec, which are now our kid-approved go-to salves in the household, our favourite source for cinnamon, and my dream vacation would be to visit their herb farm, 2 hours from us (see picture); Dans le Sac, natural cotton kitchen reusables also from Quebec, who makes lovely cotton napkins for the family table that I'd been for years on the lookout for. Disana's now introduced its wool coats in smaller sizes, and the rose colour in the outdoor jacket, which we have limited number en route from Germany for August. We value garments from Disana and Ruskovilla, as both companies work very hard, with certification standards, ensuring sources with humane treatment of animals and organic standards, and the end result is also incredible in its softness and quality.
[Clef des Champs, Val-David, Quebec, Canada]
We also have a new category on the site for homeschooling. We've also introduced a new discount for homeschoolers of children from junior kindergarten and up. We have some of the very lowest everyday prices in North America already for Mercurius, Stockmar, Lyra, and other staples. Homeschoolers are invited to create an account on our site, and then contact us with request to be added to homeschool customer group. Please include homeschooling syllabus you are using, or brief few words towards summarizing your method/philosophy of homeschooling. The discounts vary depending on the item, but are generally 5-15%.
[photo credit: Monica Storey photography]
This weekend, Nest European Toys & Home is generously offering the following gift to THREE lucky SouleMama readers:
$50 gift certificate with Nest.ca
In addition, we are well stocked in some very lovely quality woollies for babies, children, and adults. Organic merino wool, silkwool blend, pure silk knit, and organic cotton for babies, children, and adults. Save 10% off Disana and Ruskovilla through to end of July. Use Promo Code: WOOLYNEST for 10% off our already normally low prices for Disana and Ruskovilla.
To enter today's giveaway, leave a comment below (one entry per person, please). Comments will close by 9 am EST on Monday. Winners will be chosen by Random Number Generator and announced in this post shortly after. Comments closed. The winners are...
Looking forward to picking out some gifts for the new babies in my life.
Posted by: Robin Thaler
What wonderful and fun things they offer! Wishing...
Posted by: kristi marraffino
thanks for the chance
Posted by: sophie
