Josephs, Ryan and Rowers

YES!     YES!        YES!

….no, not a Meg Ryan moment, this was of far, far more import than…………that!

Let me tell you a very short story.

About this time last year, I bought myself a rowing machine, which I installed in our spare bedroom, at the top of the top of the house. I tried it for a few weeks, but all I could manage was about 5 minutes a day, until extreme boredom set in and eventually, I gave up. Difficult thing coping with boredom.

But, on paying a visit to my doctor in March this year, she told me I really needed to do more exercise, particularly important, she said, when you get to your age(!), when muscles start to waste away. You need good core strength, she continued. Suitably chastened I needed no more encouragement, and I went back to my boring rower.

But this time armed with a set of headphones, my phone, and a good Podcast.

Over a couple of weeks, I built up to fifteen minutes per session (even Steven Bartlett has his limits) and at this point I could just manage 2000 metres in that time. Gradually, since then, I’ve edged my way up, and then seemed to get stuck around 2800 metres for months on end. Eventually I nudged 2900 and on Monday this week I hit 3000 metres, which I honestly thought I’d never get to ….very satisfactory, and so is my new found energy, going up stairs for instance, it’s such a breeze….! 

Right, that’s it, story time’s over and now to the serious business of flogging pots and pans.

To Product

The Joseph brothers have been hard at work again, or rather their designers have, and with one exception, have come up with some innovative new variations on everyday products that are typical of their unusual approach.

The first product is nothing to do with cooking at all. It’s cleaning. No…. don’t switch off, just indulge me for a moment.

Joseph Joseph Clean Store Wall-Mounted Broom

Joseph Joseph have just done a typical JJ job on the humble broom….it’s exciting stuff.

And true to character they have added some features that you didn’t know you needed until you were enlightened, which, you are about to be. 

So, if I tell you that the Josephs broom has an extending handle, from quite short (takes up less vertical space when hung) and goes to extra long (useful for getting cobwebs off the high spots around the house) wouldn’t you think oooohh! It has an easy to use (pull out and put away) holder for storage, that you can screw to the wall, which in turn unclips easily for cleaning.  And lastly, a comb that allows you to get the bits of dog hair, cat hair, human hair etc. etc. out of the bristles, and that it (the comb) stores, easily, in the wall holder, aren’t you highly impressed?

Now all this excitement is shown in the video below, and I defy you to not be as enthused as me.

Unless of course your name is Andi. Because Andi (Website Development Manager) was completely unmoved yesterday when I was enthusing about it to him. A little crest fallen, I said, “Andi, I thought you told me that you did all the cleaning at home” I continued, hoping to appeal to his ego, “surely this is right up your street?” Yup, he said, if I didn’t do it the place would be knee deep in cat hair.

But no, he remained unmoved and wasn’t having it (he probably uses a hoover). 

So, is my enthusiasm is misplaced? I don’t know I’ll leave you to be the judge…have a quick gander at this video. There is a dustpan and brush to follow, but probably not until January.

The broom’s RRP is £25. 

Black Friday Offer - 20% Off when you spend £80 - 30% Off when you spend £100

Joseph Joseph Elevate S/Steel knives and Bamboo Block

Another new line is their Bamboo Knife Block, this time with Stainless Steel handled knives, as opposed to the previous incarnation, which has plastic handles. It is part of their Elevate Range (business end doesn’t dirty the worktop when you put it down), how much use this is in the case of a knife I’m not sure. But it has a sensible choice of knives, including,

1.      Paring knife 9cm (just under 4”)

2.      Serrated Knife 11cm (just over 4”)

3.      Santoku 14cm (just over 5”) veg chopper.

4.      Cooks knife 20cm (8”)

5.      Bread Knife 20cm (8”)

The knives can be pulled forward, rather than up and out, so you can put this block under a cupboard and still easily get to them. This appears to me to be a copy of the Robert Welch Knife block brought out some years ago, which is a bit of a surprise as the Josephs don’t usually plagiarise, they innovate. Be that as it may, it’s a nice block, stocked with cheapish but ok knives, and a great compliment to the original RW design, (which is frankly a stunning block, but two and half times the price, at £325, and contains, of course, absolutely top quality knives).

A good £140 pounds worth.

Black Friday Offer - 20% Off when you spend £80 - 30% Off when you spend £100

Joseph Joseph Folio Steel/Bamboo 3 Pc Board Set

And lastly, we have this variation on the theme of their Folio range of three chopping boards in a holder.

In this guise it has three double sided Bamboo Chopping Boards 28cm x 38cm (approx. 15” x 11”) that have rubber stops on all four corners and on both sides. These stop the board from slipping, whichever side you use. They are housed in a smart stainless steel case that really does look the part…it almost took my breath away, no exaggeration, or very little …. Oh, and the boards are thinnish and therefore light, and therefore right up my street.

Were it not for the Epicurean boards (also very thin and light) that populate our chopping board drawer at home, I’d go for these like a shot. Slightly hair raising price of £95.00.

The Offer

The Black Friday offer is:

Spend £80 on Joseph Joseph products and get 20% off.

Spend £100 on Joseph Joseph products and get 30% off.

 

Shop Black Friday Offers

Well, that’s it for this week. Given a bit more time I’d have liked to have told you about an interview I saw with Tali Sharot, a neuroscientist who has some interesting evidence on how social media affects us, but I’ll have to leave that to another time.

So may I wish you a pleasant and peaceful weekend.

Kind regards

Andrew

Andrew Bluett-Duncan

Director