Willsow made the world's first plantable children's book, a story you read and then plant to grow the main character. Every Willsow book is made in Leicester from post-consumer recycled paper embedded with real, non-GMO seeds, stitched by hand with cotton and printed in biodegradable ink. As seen on BBC Dragons' Den, where the brand secured investment from Sara Davies MBE, Willsow has since been introduced to King Charles III at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and won Gift of the Year. We stock their books, greetings cards and RHS plantable calendars at Norman & Vera because they are genuinely unlike anything else in the gift world.
The children's books each tell the story of a vegetable or herb: carrots, lettuce, dill, parsley, basil. The pages are embedded with the seeds of that plant. Once the book is read, you cut out a page, push it into soil and grow the main character. There are roughly 500 seeds per book, so there are plenty of chances to get something to sprout. The books are stitched with natural cotton rather than glued, making them fully biodegradable. Aardman's Shaun the Sheep also features in the range. That collaboration came with wildflower seeds, making it the first licensed plantable title of its kind.
The greetings cards are made from the same seed paper, wildflower varieties, so the recipient can plant the card after use and grow something from it. They make the kind of gift that takes about thirty seconds to explain and then generates genuine interest.
For gardeners specifically, the RHS desk calendars are one of the most practical Willsow products. Produced in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society, they come in a flower edition and a herbs and veg edition, with a different seed paper insert for each month. The insert for January is sown in January; the one for May in May. It is an unusually well-thought-through calendar for anyone who actually uses their garden.
All of this is made at Alfred Willday and Sons in Leicester, a printing family business that has been running for four generations. The recycled paper is sourced from schools and businesses, the energy is renewable and the whole production process is UK-based. That is increasingly rare and worth knowing.
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