The French work jacket or ‘Bleu De Travail’ has been a favourite item of clothing at LABOUR AND WAIT since we opened in 2000. Its utilitarian origins make it the most practical of jackets. Today this type of jacket is worn and loved by people of all ages.

After many years of selling vintage jackets, we have used our knowledge and experience in collaboration with venerable brand ‘Le Mont St. Michel’ to create the ultimate work jacket.

Since 1913 Le Mont St Michel have produced practical, hardwearing clothing for workers; from farmers to craftsmen. They are widely regarded as one of the top workwear brands of the 20th century.

The work jacket incorporates our favourite details from the hundreds of vintage examples which have passed through our hands. These features include: three patch pockets with chevron facings and one inside pocket, a 5 button placket with coroso buttons, shirt-style collar and cuffs; and of course it is made from the traditional, iconic blue cotton twill fabric.

Our work jacket launches online and in our Shoreditch shop on 16th September. To celebrate we will be serving Breton cider from 6pm on Wednesday 20th September, to which all are welcome.

For London Design Festival 2023, LABOUR AND WAIT have invited the inimitable sporting and fishing bag company Brady to ‘pop-up’ in our Marylebone shop.

Brady brothers John and Albert started their company in Birmingham in 1887 making leather gun cases. Over the years their range expanded to include fishing and game bags and Brady became world renowned as makers of the finest quality sporting leather goods.

Brady have maintained their traditions, values and standards established more than a century ago and continue to make all their bags, by hand, in Walsall, Birmingham.

Brady only use the best quality canvas, brass components and English bridle leather. Many styles first introduced in the 1930s and 40s are still made to original patterns and remain some of the most popular Brady styles.

For this event we have commissioned a series of their classic bags in materials of our choice.

The pop-up shop will run from Saturday 16th to Sunday 24th September, 2023.

We will also be serving a local Bimingham beer and nibbles to celebrate from 6pm on Thursday 21st September, to which all are welcome.

We look forward to seeing you!

This September, British Standard by Plain English will bring its timeless wooden cupboards to our Shoreditch and Marylebone shops. We are both rooted in our commitment to quality and craftsmanship, which is perfectly expressed through British Standard's kitchens alongside our selection of products. Through this partnership, visitors will have the chance to view British Standard’s off-the-peg wooden cupboards in a brand new configuration and setting for the duration of London Design Festival.

Since July, British Standard's Roving Showroom has put rubber to tarmac, travelling around to showcase what a British Standard kitchen can be. Taking inspiration from smaller, modern kitchens like those found in Barbican flats, the Roving Showroom fulfils all the requisites of a contemporary kitchen. The Roving Showroom will be parked outside our Marylebone shop on Dorset Street on Tuesday 20th and Thursday 22nd between 11am and 3pm, fully equipped with familiar Labour and Wait products!

British Standard have created a bespoke, mobile kitchen unit to take centre stage in our Shoreditch shop on Redchurch St. Taking colour inspiration from our enamel products, this piece reflects the adaptability of British Standard kitchens, which, like the product selection at Labour and Wait, is able to comfortably straddle the traditional as well as contemporary.

London Design Festival runs from Saturday 17th to Sunday 25th September, 2022.

For this year's London Design Festival we have collaborated with author Corinne Mynatt on a launch and related exhibition to mark the publication of her new book Tools for Food: The stories behind objects that influence how and what we eat.

Running from 18 – 26 September 2021, the launch will be accompanied by a display in both our Shoreditch and Marylebone shops, incorporating objects featured in the book and exhibited alongside our own kitchen tool icons. The display will be a nod to Julia Child’s kitchen, utilising the pegboard system to hang kitchen objects and tools. The book is the début publication for the Nashville-born, East London based writer, curator and creative producer.

The book’s content ranges from a 4th century Korean fermenting crock to a hyper-stylised, 21st century Italian lemon juicer, showing how each and every tool for food that has been made in part contributes to the way we eat, cook and live today. Organised by function – such as Prep & Wash, Weigh & Measure, Cut & Chop – the book features 250 of the best loved, most intriguing and indisputably iconic kitchen utensils, exploring everything from their historical relevance as a design object to their place in our homes today. Filled with little-known facts and fascinating photographs and illustrations of objects throughout, Tools for Food examines the relationship between cooking and culture in the most expansive of ways. 

Tools for Food will be exclusively available during London Design Festival before it publishes on 23rd September in the UK, USA and Australia. Corinne will be present for book signing at our Shoreditch shop during the Shoreditch Design Triangle’s late night event on Tuesday 21st September. Drinks will be provided by the East London Liquor Company.

In the Tour de France of the 1940s and 1950s, competitors wouldn't be seen without a metal 'bidon', the container that riders used to carry water.

The most recognisable bidon was Coloral, a fluted alloy bottle with a cork stopper and tooled cap signed off with a scripted logo. Riders didn’t just reserve them for bottling water, but also to preserve a simple blend of milk and sugar that kept energy levels high during competitions, and even wine when celebrating victories.

An original Coloral bottle

Despite its cult status, Coloral’s production dwindled and ceased completely in the mid-1950s due to manufacturing pressures.

For London Design Festival 2019 we are celebrating the reintroduction of this handsome, timeless icon. The reengineered Coloral bottle is upgraded using brushed, food-grade stainless steel. Its robust design is lightweight and compact, and its dimensions slightly tweaked to fit modern bottle cages.

It's a perfectly satisfying vessel for those not on two wheels, too- it has been vacuum insulated to keep cold drinks cool and your hot drinks piping hot, and there’s no plastic used in the flask or its packaging.

To celebrate this classic reborn, we have worked with Coloral to produce a limited edition of 100 bottles with a red seal, and will provide a free musette style bag with every bottle purchase. These will be available for the duration of London Design Festival, alongside a small exhibition of Coloral collateral in our Redchurch Street shop. 

Saturday 14th - Sunday 22nd September

Cauldon Ceramics of Staffordshire maintain the tradition of red ware manufacturing and are the oldest remaining maker of the Brown Betty teapot. Together with designer Ian McIntyre they present this re-engineered edition. It includes the reintroduction of innovative precedents in the history of the pot: Alcock, Lindley and Bloore's 1920's patented 'locking lid' and 'non-drip spout' have been applied. A subtle tweak to the foot and neck of the pot now allows the lid to be inverted into the body, enabling it to be stored efficiently in the factory and stacked in cafes and restaurants. The new addition of a loose-leaf tea basket has also been added.Great care has been taken to respect the traditions of the Brown Betty, whilst implementing new production processes and design details. To re-style the pot, the designer felt, would have been a disservice to the years of refinement that have gone before. This latest edition is intended to promote the legacy and value of this everyday object that has transcended fashions and trends to become a reliable and dependable tool for millions around the world.The Re-Engineered Brown Betty Teapot is available to purchase on Saturday 15th September from our Redchurch Street shop and online later this Autumn.

The combination of the Rockingham glaze and the red clay was and still is fundamental to the success of the Brown Betty, prolonging the life of the object for its owner and, subsequently, through history.The Staffordshire clay used to make a Brown Betty was first refined in 1693 by Dutch brothers John Philip Elers and David Elers. The brothers emulated the fashionable and expensive Yixing teapots which had originally been imported from China by the Dutch East India Company. The refinement of the local red clay gave rise to a new era of technological experiment in Staffordshire, becoming a catalyst for the industrialisation of the six towns that now make up Stoke-on-Trent.

The process of design of the Brown Betty spans centuries. There is no single identifiable author and no single definitive version of the pot: it is an anonymous and evolved object. Over the years, Brown Betty has been through the hands of numerous makers, each producing their own interpretation, subtly refining and amalgamating new and original design details. The resulting teapot is a rational object stripped of anything superfluous to its function or production.

Although there is no definitive version, the manufacturers Alcock, Lindley and Bloore were responsible for cementing the archetypal features of the pot as we know them today. Some of the most recognisable features of the Brown Betty were combined during their production: the globe shape of their pot that is so efficient at infusing loose leaf tea, the roughly cut spout that breaks the flow of water, preventing tea from dribbling back down the outside of the pot, and the Rockingham glaze that concealed any dribbles that did, despite efforts, escape.

Brown Betty describes a type of teapot with common characteristics of red Etruria Marl clay, a transparent or dark brown Rockingham glaze and a familiar portly body. The ritual of tea drinking has remained largely unchanged for centuries. All over the world people choose a teapot as their preferred apparatus and the humble Brown Betty is often heralded as the archetypal example.

The popularity of the pot is proven in the quantity in which it has been made. By 1926 the Staffordshire pottery industry was making approximately half a million Brown Betty teapots a week. Despite this, surprisingly little is known about the object itself or its early history and design development. This affordable, utilitarian and unpretentious object has largely gone unnoticed, disappearing into the fabric of everyday life.

For London Design Festival 2018, Labour and Wait is excited to present the Re-engineered Brown Betty Teapot. The new teapot is the result of a three year research and development project by ceramic designer Ian McIntyre.

Ian has worked closely with Cauldon Ceramics of Staffordshire, the oldest remaining maker of the traditional Brown Betty teapot, to bring his vision to life. New production processes have been implemented and past innovations such as the ‘locking lid’, and ‘non-drip spout’ have been reintroduced.

The teapot incorporates a removable metal strainer for loose-leaf tea, whilst subtle adjustments to the foot and neck, enable the teapots to be stacked efficiently in the factory and subsequently in cafes and restaurants.

This re-engineered teapot retains the best features from the classic Brown Betty, and by virtue of its refinements, brings this everyday archetype up to a new standard of discreet functionalism.

The new teapot will be available for purchase in the shop from Saturday 15th September, and online later this Autumn.

London Design Festival runs from Saturday the 15th, until Sunday the 23rd of September. Ian will be on hand throughout Thursday 20th September, should you wish to meet the maker and discuss his creation.

Teapot image by Milo Reid

Our London Design Festival exhibition is up and our Heritage ‘Ball’ Jars are now available to buy!

Visit our Redchurch Street store to take a look or if you can’t make it down the Jars are now available to buy online.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first true ‘Perfect Mason’ jar, Ball have issued a limited edition Pint jar in the iconic aqua blue glass. 

These Jars will be available in store and on our website from Design Week onwards.

For more information -

Icon Design Trail
Shoreditch Design Triangle