THETRAY.SHOP - In the beginning

What’s in a tray? Many things, actually. Our materials can include timber, fabric, varnish  – not to mention style, nostalgia and much more.

In the big wide world of trays, there’s almost an infinite variety out there. I know. I’m constantly exploring to see what’s around.

Co-founding THETRAY.SHOP with mum a few years ago, you could say that since then, I've gone a little bit trayzee.

We’ve discovered so many beautifully-produced trays, bespoke tray makers and designers in our 2D and 3D travels.

It made me think it’s time to start a blog dedicated to traymaking, and not just the trays we make and sell. This may even lead to the start of a small community of tray lovers? Who knows?

For those who don’t enjoy scrolling back through blog posts, here’s a brief history in time about THETRAY.SHOP.

Living in Australia for more than 15 years now, I regularly FaceTime with my mother (mor in Swedish) who lives in Sweden. Yes, that’s her in the photo.

During one call, mor suggested we could make trays together. The rest, as they say, is history – albeit very recent history. I should add that my parents ran a home decorating shop in Sweden, which they sold about 10 years ago, so the whole tray idea wasn’t totally left of field.

It’s safe to say I pretty much grew up in that shop, in fact, people used to ask if we lived upstairs because we were always there.

One thing you’ll notice about our trays is the bespoke designs. The Blombär, Lyckans Blad and Kvitter designs all use fabric. Finding new textiles, while working with global designers, is one of the many sweet spots of my job.

Meeting people inspired to create objects of beauty with a functional purpose is another. We also work also with Sweden's Jamida and Berså brands, who create printed, rather than fabric designs.

Our mission here at THETRAY.SHOP continues: To source the best trays from around the globe. In Australia, I represent and import products by both Jamida of Sweden and Berså Trays.

In our new 2018 blog series we’ll share what we’ve found, including interviews with our designers, trends in homewares, home-making, hosting and more.

Thanks for reading! We’d love you to share photos of your trays with us to feature on our Instagram account @thetrayshop. You can email them to hello@thetray.shop

See you next time, when we explore some Scandinavian trends, look more closely at design and Swedish trays in particular.

Also in THETRAY.BLOG