About Understory

It started with

a beach and a bin bag.

In 2019 we picked four hundred bottles off one beach in one morning. Seven years on, we make everyday things that come back to us, get fixed, and become the next batch.

Cupped hands holding a young maple sapling in a clump of soil

Every loop we close plants one native tree.

One native tree per loop we close.

One stubborn idea: nothing we make should ever be the end of the line.

2019

Founded.

The year a beach clean-up turned into a company.

People.

Across two solar-powered workshops.

212,000

Loops closed.

Products returned, repaired or remade so far.

40,000

Native saplings.

Planted on land we restore.

How we got here.

Seven years, one product at a time. Each step had to work before we took the next.

2019

Four hundred bottles.

One morning on a beach clean-up, every bottle designed to be thrown away. We kept a bin bag of them as a reminder.

2019

Four hundred bottles.

One morning on a beach clean-up, every bottle designed to be thrown away. We kept a bin bag of them as a reminder.

2020

The first Bottle.

Fifty prototypes from recovered aluminium, sold to friends with a promise to take them back. Forty-one came home.

2020

The first Bottle.

Fifty prototypes from recovered aluminium, sold to friends with a promise to take them back. Forty-one came home.

2021

The loop closes.

A prepaid return label in every order, and the first returned bottle melted down and remade into a new one.

2021

The loop closes.

A prepaid return label in every order, and the first returned bottle melted down and remade into a new one.

2022

A workshop on the sun.

We moved under a solar roof and opened a repair bench. Ten years of free parts became the default.

2022

A workshop on the sun.

We moved under a solar roof and opened a repair bench. Ten years of free parts became the default.

2023

Climate positive.

The first audited year we removed more carbon than our whole supply chain emitted, mostly through native forest.

2023

Climate positive.

The first audited year we removed more carbon than our whole supply chain emitted, mostly through native forest.

2025

The open ledger.

Every figure we publish now links to the meter reading, audit or invoice behind it, the bad years included.

2025

The open ledger.

Every figure we publish now links to the meter reading, audit or invoice behind it, the bad years included.

2026

Now

Forty thousand trees.

Our restoration plots pass forty thousand native saplings, one for every loop we close.

2026

Now

Forty thousand trees.

Our restoration plots pass forty thousand native saplings, one for every loop we close.

What we won’t compromise on.

Three rules every product, supplier and decision has to pass. They’ve cost us launches, and we’d make the same call again.

Plan the comeback first.

Design for the return.

Before we sketch how something looks, we decide how it comes apart, who fixes it, and what it becomes next.

Leave it wilder.

More living ground.

Every site we run has to leave more living ground behind it each year than the year before.

Instruments over adjectives.

Measure everything.

If we can’t meter it, we don’t claim it. Words like “green” don’t make it into our copy without a number.

Plan the comeback first.

Design for the return.

Before we sketch how something looks, we decide how it comes apart, who fixes it, and what it becomes next.

Leave it wilder.

More living ground.

Every site we run has to leave more living ground behind it each year than the year before.

Instruments over adjectives.

Measure everything.

If we can’t meter it, we don’t claim it. Words like “green” don’t make it into our copy without a number.

The people in the loop.

Thirty-eight of us, from metalworkers to auditors. A few of the faces behind the workshop door.

Mara Ellison.

Founder and head of materials

Theo Okafor.

Runs the repair bench

Priya Nandakumar.

Supply chain and the ledger

Jonas Lind.

Product design

Mara Ellison.

Founder and head of materials

Theo Okafor.

Runs the repair bench

Priya Nandakumar.

Supply chain and the ledger

Jonas Lind.

Product design

We’re hiring. Repair technicians and a materials scientist, both in Bristol.

Get in touch

Come see the workshop.

Open every Saturday for refills, repairs and a look at the line.

Plan a visit

Shop the collection

Come see the workshop.

Open every Saturday for refills, repairs and a look at the line.

Plan a visit

Shop the collection