Tucked away in a corner of a Frome co-working space, is a unique Frome start-up which brings together style, sustainability and a remarkable relationship-led way of working.

In our latest UP CLOSE Nub News paid a visit to Pure - a collaboration which sees the best of designs, sold at a discount, and then what is left from that leftover stock, upcycled, and donated to local charities, schools and social enterprises.

It is a brilliant business plan which knits together the business brain and contacts, and interior expertise, of Lois Sheen and her business partner Robbi Desport, who drives the sustainability sales model. The team, currently working from a co- share and warehouse, is completed by Hollie Bishop, Dina Chehrazi and Jake Marshall, who were taken on under the Kick Start scheme.

So first of all what is Pure?

It is the answer to what they see as a scandalous waste in the interior design industry (particularly consumption habits, with demands from both commercial and retail clients) , where furniture and decor, of the most exclusive quality, runs the risk of being thrown away when tastes or pockets change, or if a company has over ordered, or just made a mistake with that order.

Where did the Pure idea originate?

Lois who has a background in design and has worked for several leading interior companies explained the light bulb moment:

"It happened by accident really. In my work as an interior designer, working with many large & small companies doing big fit outs for retail and commercial clients, there's a huge amount of buying and accumulation of stock, which is a problem for any business because that left over stock costs a lot of money to process and store.

"There is a real difficulty with what to do with this stock excess. The most cost effective thing is to simply get rid of it. In some cases goods can end up in landfill or even incinerated, and I have seen that happen. Perfectly good items"

As the recent Amazon dumping stock scandal showed, there is a huge problem across big interior designers and retailers, whereby goods that are not sent out, or are returned, are, in many shocking cases, simply pushed into landfill.

Robbi who was at the time selling fabrics and chairs heard about the waste and was shocked. He thought : " I could sell that. I know I could, what a terrible waste. "

So together they created a new market for quality furniture and homeware, sourced from top brands, sold at a big discount and saved from landfill or disposal.

Lois explained: " It upset me that all this lovely stuff was going to waste or not being distributed. They are beautiful things that I myself would have quite liked, because we had just moved into a new home ourselves, and so we didn't have money to burn. People like us, with three children, we like nice things, but we can't afford the really nice shops. So the business was born."

Robbi added: " We are talking about really quality items, so for instance two thousand pound beds. Which we sell at up to 75 per cent marked off. Some things take a while to sell, and it has been tricky with covid, but this business is really strong."

Buying stock and selling at a discount is not unique in the market, but two things set Pure apart. Firstly, thanks to the Lois network, the items for sale are designer and from high end boutiques or brands. Then critically, if they do not sell, after a set time, all the stock is donated to charity, so nothing is wasted.

Pure started off buying ten pallets of furniture, which sold really quickly, within a month and so they were sure that the business worked. But in buying 'blind' so several pallets at a time without a clear idea of what they might get, it is also an adventure.

Robbi told Nub News: " A lot of bigger companies simply don't have time to process what they have in stock, if we get a big haul in, its all hands on deck with our small team here and we all get involved."

That process is - buy the stock - sight unseen - take delivery (and perhaps deal with any surprises) - process each piece - check it - list it for sale - wait to see if it sells.

Most of the time it does and the result, some stunning pieces of interior design, way below market value and, crucially, pieces kept from being thrown away. They sell within a 20 mile radius to keep their carbon footprint low.

If things don't sell within three months, or 90 days, the company donates the stock on to whoever needs it, local charities, local schools.

Assistant Manger Hollie Bishop tells Nub News says that the best thing about working for Pure is the arrival of new stock : " I absolutely love it when palettes come in and opening them up. It is so exciting. like Christmas, and then I see all the lovely things and I want to buy everything myself, I want to buy all the beautiful lamps ! I had never heard of anything like it when I came here to work, but I honestly think it is a great idea. And you can never tell what will sell, some things I was doubtful of sold like wildfire."

Lois thinks about the core thinking behind Pure. She tells Nub News: " I asked myself when there is such a lot of waste and such a lot of over consumerism, why can't people who can't usual afford that stuff have it? Why does it have to go in a bin or a fire? I know we have heard a lot about Amazon in recent days but even a small business can have a garage full of stuff they can't sell. We solve that problem"

Lead Graphic Designer Jake Marshall said: " We have to focus on the love of the things we sell, but we can't assume that just because we love something, other people might not agree.

"We can also be surprised at the different tastes of people. But we do not want to be just a selling page, we want to be a business with a deeper meaning. So yes we are selling on affordable furniture, but also we have a strong ethical core. We don't want to focus only on people who can afford to buy these nice things."

The discount means that there really are some stunning bargains, but for the suppliers, Pure keeps a special promise.

Robbie explained: " This is where Lois' expertise and fifteen years in the interior world makes our business so unique. We are very lucky that she has these connections and relationships, so we sell luxury brands. But these companies won't want their beautiful things in a bargain basement sell off across all over social media. They worked hard to get these products made and to look this way ; so it is better for them to sell to us, because we offer them total discretion."

Lois added : " We are not storage hunters as such. We are fussy and we buy from people we know, or I know of them, so I know the quality. We don't sell that a brand of lamp under that brand, but we know it is quality. That means the brand is not compromised by any on- line sales.

Not revealing where our items originate from makes it more difficult for us, because if we could say this is a brand name lamp for less than half normal price. Then our sales would just fly, but we are discreet."

Pure has big ambitions, they can see a future of Pure Fashion or Pure Beauty line run on the same ethos, and even longer term, Pure Stays creating a holiday location using the products to create beautiful homes out of sustainable living items.

Hollie and Jake have the energy to project even bigger ambitions.

Jake said : " Because we are the only company doing this so we have huge potential. We are not just an interiors company, we have an ideology and that is sustainable across and into other areas, so things like Pure Talks podcasts."

But for now the Pure crew are keeping it closer to home and hoping that there might be a Frome retail shop which would like to partner up.

Lois said: " I would like to support other businesses, especially local.

I personally invested quite a lot in this company, but I am not doing that because I want to be a millionaire, I am doing it, because I wanted to create something together and I wanted a team because I enjoy working with people. It is not about making loads of money. It is about coming to work to achieve something."

Everything at Pure from the workspace to the web site chimes in on their love of good pared back design and has a minimalist high end look. So if you recognise the name Lindqvist, or the design of Vitra or what constitutes a tulip type chair, then you will be, excuse the pun, be right at home.

Robbi explained: " We want the people who supply to us to know that we will not just chuck stuff they send onto the Internet. We want our story to be about quality and to say that we care about them, about the environment, and other ethical businesses, and at the end of the day our suppliers can reast easy that they have done the right thing. "

For Lois it is about reassuring the companies who they buy from: "To me if I was a supplier, I would want to know that I am supplying to an ethical business. The sell-sell-sell mentality is just not us."

You can check out Pure. by clicking HERE : the company site