ABOUT US
Cotswold locals Clement and Beatrice founded Vigour and Skills to showcase the work of their neighbouring creative communities, celebrating craftsmanship and sharing the stories of makers with customers across the country. Now a nationwide operation, Vigour and Skills has built a community of expert makers whose wares are stocked on the site, ranging from hand-thrown ceramics to travel accessories and fine jewellery. Most importantly, customers have access to behind-the-scenes interviews with makers, directed by Clement, which offer intimate stories about how each item featured on the website has come to life.
Storytelling, traceability, and transparency are at the core of the Vigour and Skills experience. By empowering customers to make informed choices about their purchases, Clement, Beatrice, and the Vigour and Skills team are helping to re-shape the way people shop.
Based in their studio in the heart of Burford, the Vigour and Skills team hosts workshops, collaborates with makers, and creates behind-the-scenes content that brings customers closer to the craftsmanship they celebrate. The studio is a hub where many of these stories come to life, whether through interviews, workshops, or their ongoing efforts to connect customers with the artisans behind each product.
OUR MISSION
“To re-shape how we shop, with a focus on sustainability, storytelling, and craftsmanship.”
V+S is a community of makers with shared values of sustainability, longevity and enduring quality.
Designed to last a lifetime: Vigour and Skills is proud to stock meticulously crafted items made from sustainably-sourced materials.
Creativity with a conscience: We hold ourselves to account by partnering with makers who work to the highest environmental standards.
Determined to make a difference: By choosing Vigour and Skills, you’re helping to re-shape the way we shop as a society, and celebrating process over mass production.
Proudly sharing every stage of our makers’ creative process with our customers.
Get to know our makers: Detailed bios and behind-the-scenes videos open the door to our world of creatives and their crafts.
Transparent and traceable: By documenting our makers’ slow production process from beginning to end, our customers can see exactly how their items have come to life.
A highly personalised shopping experience: We connect you with our makers so you’re consulted in every step of the creative process.
Championing local business: Each of our artisans have their own network of suppliers that you’re helping them to support.
Filling lives and homes with objects of singular beauty.
Exceptional, one-off pieces: Every piece we stock has been thrown, painted, woven, spun, whittled, blown or dyed in its own unique way.
Bespoke creations according to your specifications: Many of our items are made-to-order by our makers, guaranteeing a truly individual version for you to love.
A world where every item has a story to tell story to tell: Everything you buy from Vigour and Skills is sure to spark a conversation – and every conversation helps to preserve our makers’ crafts.
OUR RESPONSIBILITY
We will never stop connecting conscious consumers with Britain’s best independent makers. Choosing to learn and understand how each purchase comes about with a goal to re shape how we shop and the supply chain labyrinth that we are all working to better understand how to navigate in the most sustainable way.
One of the projects and new relationships we are most excited about growing and supporting at V+S is joining forces with the incredible team at The Amber Foundation.
The Amber Foundation is a charity that works tirelessly to help homeless, unemployed young people from the ages of 17-30 who are in need to move on to a positive independent future.
Family break down, drug abuse, mental health, bad decisions are only some of the reasons that can redirect a young person’s life in to an abyss of difficulties that can be hard to move on from.
The Amber foundation has created a number of centres across the UK that can support, train in areas and encourage young people to find strength and inspiration to move on and up with their lives to secure work, housing and a bright future. We currently donate proceeds from every sale at V+S to the AMBER Foundation but this June we will be starting to work on a series of tailor-made workshops with some of our makers, who hope to inspire and support the young lives. Makers from V+S will be visiting the Amber locations across the country to tell their story, how they inspired and supported themselves and teach their crafts. Working with your hands and understanding the beautiful crafts at V+S has many creative and therapeutic elements that we are exceed to share with the Amber Foundation.
From these workshops we will be developing a page for the collections created from member of the Amber program where you will be able to purchase their products and know that all proceeds go directly to The Amber Foundation.
