Our Story

Our Origin

We are a family business creating & curating

UNUSUAL GIFTS & HOMEWARE
since 1999.

Our origin story is a bit of a love story!
My dad was an antique & repro dealer from London who travelled to Indonesia looking for new products. My mum was working in the office of a repro wooden furniture factory in Central Java ,and that’s where they met.

Eventually, they took a risk, left what they knew and built something of their own. In 1999, my mum opened our woodworking workshop, starting out with reproduction furniture. She ran the numbers and logistics, while my dad handled sales, creative direction and even more antiques!

In the 2010s, they pivoted to smaller homeware bits and wooden boxes inspired by the ones my dad remembered from Billingsgate Market in Lower Thames Street, which eventually grew into the wider range of homeware we make and curate today.

In 2024 my dad passed. I had made a promise to him I would continue to build upon what he started. The business they built never had a brand, website or any kind of online presence, so I created the green man emporium as a way to honour my dad.

The name "Green Man" felt right from the beginning. He worked with wood, lived close to nature and believed in craftsmanship that would outlast us!

Our Workshop

Based in Central Java, our family-run woodworking workshop has been going strong for over 25 years - and many of the wonderful people in this photo have been with us since the very beginning!

These are the hands that make our pine wooden homeware what it is. From boxes and trays to signs and boards, every piece is made from scratch in our workshop — hand-cut, hand-sanded, and hand-finished. No conveyor belts, just people with a lot of patience, skill, and care.

This snapshot was taken during our most recent team trip to Prambanan, a 9th-century Hindu temple in Indonesia (I'm in the big hat on the top far left).

Second Generation

I'm Elle — the only child and daughter of those two nutters I mentioned above. I was born and raised in Central Java, and a big part of my childhood was spent helping out in the family business:

on the production line in my mum’s workshop
designing new pieces with my dad
sourcing antiques & new products between the UK & Indonesia
spending summers buying/selling at antique & collectors fairs with him
and helping out with shipments and deliveries up and down the country

I met Michael, Green Man's co-founder (and now my fiancé), in London during my final year of uni. I was looking for a flatmate, and this very dapper Scottish man was interested. Before we met in person, we had a conversation where he asked what I’d been up to that day. I told him I’d just bought some old books, a crow’s foot and a few odd antiques to decorate the flat..my way of vetting him out.

Turns out, he was a massive history geek! With his background in sustainability and big brains he has been crucial to the creation and running of our emporium.

Starting Out in Scotland

Green Man Emporium began its first chapter in Scotland by joining local farmers markets during the summer of 2024. We quickly learned that our handmade pieces don’t mix well with relentless Scottish rain, so peak summertime was our sweet spot...and we realised we wanted something more permanent...