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p10
 How do you get from Singapore to
Stoke Newington? The bus connections are tricky for a start, even with the 73, but in the
case of Gina Moore, the route a fairly long and winding one took in a spell at
school in England, a brief dalliance with London University, work as an assistant
administrator at the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, a productive detour via
Westminster College in South London studying fashion, a long-established career as an
interior designer, a successful side-line as an author and keep up, now! an
altogether new role, most recently, as the proprietor (with partner Jeff Gilbert) of
texture, a cherishable new addition to Church Street's growing roster of
retailers-with-a-difference, and the first shop in London to specialise in a range of
organic and eco-friendly soft-furnishing fabrics.
The shop which opened in October 1999 offers a range of organic cotton, hemp, jute
and recyled fabrics by the metre, a curtain and blind-making service, organic cotton
bedding, cushions, table-cloths, shower curtains and throws, a selection of organic
paints, sisal, coconut and coir carpeting and rugs, stress-busting buckwheat and herbal
pillows, and a selection of organic cotton underwear, baby clothes, socks and other
garments some sourced from the delightfully named Australian outfitters, Maud and Lil
(M & L), one of the many certifiably-organic producers tracked down by Gina on the
web.
A born proselytiser, with a long-time commitment to matters green, Gina first stumbled
across the possibilities of organic materials when researching for a book she was writing
on so-called 'natural' fabrics only to discover, to her horror, that the methods used
to manufacture common-or-garden cotton, usually a by-word for purity, consumed more than
25 per cent of the world's total pesticide output. Fancy snuggling down for a good night's
sleep in a chemical factory? If the answer is 'probably not', especially as the chemicals
concerned are acutely toxic nerve poisons, then you're in agreement with Gina and a host
of others in the developed and developing worlds who are becoming increasingly concerned
at the devastating economic and environmental consequences of the 'pesticides treadmill'.
And if you're outraged at the advent of GM crops, you might like to know that genetically
modified cotton is yet another Monsanto 'product innovation', which has been aggressively
marketed for more than three years. Mad Cotton Disease, anyone?
From that eye-opener, and the painstakingly researched discovery that there were
affordable and eco-friendly alternatives, it was a short(ish) step to opening texture
the vacant shop itself spotted on one of Gina's frequent forays down Church Street from
her home on the Stoke Newington borders and to the bold move of combining her existing
interior design business with a shop-front retail outlet which could fuse her creative
expertise with an interest in matters organic and eco. And it ain't just a feel-good
factor: 10 per cent of the shop's profits are going to support the work of the Presticides
Trust, a charity whose aim is to encourage and develop a sustainable approach to
agriculture worldwide.
Even if the last thing you want in your bedroom is a full set of
politically correct bed linen, check out the shop and its web site. You'll be surprised
at how very easy it could be to combine conscience with comfort in fabrics that are a
world away from the lentils and brown rice of yesterday's eco-activism and you could
learn quite a bit in the process.
texture, 84 Stoke Newington Church Street, N16 0AP, is open from 10.00 to 5.30,
Tuesdays-Saturdays. For information on custom-made soft furnishings and blinds, stock and
pricing, or to request fabric swatches, contact the shop by phone, fax or email: tel 0207
241 0990; fax 0207 241 1991; email jag@textilesfromnature.com
. The website address is: www.textilesfromnature.com .
For more information on the work of the Pesticides Trust, phone 020 7274 5895, or email
pesttrust@gn.apc.org. The trust's website is at www.gn.apc/org/pesticidestrust.
What's Wrong with the Library?
In the last issue of N16 magazine we carried some detailed
criticisms of the appearance and operations of Stoke Newington Library. Adrian Whittle,
head of Hackney Library Services, replies...
Stoke Newington Library came in for criticism from both Diane Abbott MP and Ollie Wilson
in the January issue of N16. Much of this criticism is fair. Ms Abbott was critical about
the poor state of repair of the building, and it is true that the exterior is extremely
unattractive and requires attention.
I am not sure if Mr Wilson's complaint about stock relates to the lack of new material, or
unhappiness with what is being purchased, but again I accept that much of the stock is
outdated and that the readers of Stoke Newington (and all our other libraries) would like
a great deal more material than they currently get access to. Mr Wilson may be aware of
the Council's current financial position which resulted in 20 per cent (£100,000) of this
year's stock being frozen.
We work with finite resources and many issues need to be addressed before Stoke Newington
Library can respond fully to the needs and requirements of local people. However, I
thought that readers would be interested to know that some improvements are planned.
The window frames facing onto Church Street will be restored and the door of the library
at the side of the Town Hall will be repainted, improving the external appearance of the
building. A new video service is being launched, bringing Stoke Newington library into
line with other Hackney libraries. We also plan to set up a readers group for adults to
share and discuss books in the near future.
These are small but significant improvements that build on the services already offered at
the library. These include a Homework Help Club every Friday from 4 6 pm, story time
for under-fives every Saturday from 11 am 12 noon and a programme of class visits from
local schools, nurseries and playgroups. Local people can also hire computers at the
library, to get access to the Internet and to use word processing packages.
I hope this gives a clearer picture of the service offered at Stoke Newington Library, and
I am always interested to hear ideas from local people about how other improvements could
be made and about what they want from their library.
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