As lovers of all things good and local, we think Rebecca Gaunt's wonderful website This is Your Kingdom (TiYK) is a real find. An insider's guide to lovely local things to see and do in the UK, TiYK encourages us all to live and love local by celebrating and raising awareness of local people, places and produce.

Laura wrote a guest blog for them last month all about her love of West Wittering beach in West Sussex. In return, we thought you might like to hear from Rebecca (below) about her insightful thoughts following a recent Red magazine networking event for women in business:

‘A couple of weeks ago my TiYK partner, Hannah, attended Red Magazine’s first networking event which bought together an impressive gathering of business women including Jo Malone, Sarah Curren of mywardrobe.com and Joanne Matthews of Ten Pilates. It was a lovely informal evening, with plenty of advice, inspiration and enthusiasm shared among a room full of women who have either taken the plunge or are planning to set up on their own.

'Part of the discussion that evening focused on the importance of developing a strong USP for your business, which got us thinking about what we look for when trying to distinguish one business from the next. The thing we kept coming back to in our ponderings was the importance of the story behind the business – the ‘about us’ page we always turn to first when scouring the web for lovely discoveries.

'It’s so true! When thinking about all of the brilliant, small independent businesses we have featured on TiYK since we launched – it is, without doubt, the people and the provenance that make these businesses unique and special.

'From small cafes selling talk-of-the-town homemade cakes to independents stocking locally hand-crafted pieces – what sets these enterprises apart is the fact that each and every one has been created with love and care by someone whose values and personality are clear to see and resonate throughout their business.

'And at risk of sounding somewhat cheesy now, sharing is exactly what TiYK is all about – the sharing of values, of knowledge, of locality and community. Whether it’s on behalf of independent businesses showcasing homegrown talents or local consumers passionate about provenance, we simply play a lovely part in encouraging and facilitating it.'

We couldn't agree more! At lasso the moon we know very well just how inspiring and exciting it is to come across fantastic individual designer/makers who are putting their heart and soul into what they do... and then be able to help that person's business grow.

We'd love to hear what you think about this so get in touch!

If you would like to share your favourite local thing with TiYK, and be in with a chance of winning a weekend in a fabulous eco dome in Wales, why not enter their writing competition? They would love to hear from you about your favourite local places to eat, drink, walk, think, potter, ponder…

exciting new graduate designer

It's wet and drizzly outside but when the latest batch of finished images came through from Donna, our photographer, it felt as though the sun had come out. These very special lighting pieces are made by one of our new graduate finds, Holly Ross, and her collection will be online soon. It's so exciting to find such raw and immense new talent and then be able to showcase that talent using top quality product photography.

How gorgeous is this little bird cage with its dangly jewels?