Puckator, Sea Gems and more head to Birmingham’s Autumn Fair

A candle made from an empty wine bottle. A silver pendant shaped like a Cornish clifftop. A nightdress cut the way it has been cut since 1962. None of it looks like the sort of thing that usually fills a hall the size of several football pitches in Birmingham, but from 6 to 9 September, that is exactly where it is all heading.

Almost 40 businesses from Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire are loading vans and taking their newest collections to Autumn Fair 2026, the UK’s biggest retail trade show. Seven of them are based in Cornwall itself, from a wholesale gift company that grew out of a small family business in South East Cornwall to a jewellery firm working out of Penzance, and they are heading east carrying decades of combined experience in the gift and home trade.

Sustainable design with a Cornish and South West story

Devon-based adhock is turning an everyday waste product into a retail proposition, hand-cutting empty wine bottles into candles filled with natural soy wax. Everything is handmade in Devon and plastic-free, with the range extending to refillable soy tealights, wax melts and reed diffusers, in earthy, fresh and comforting scents built around a minimalist design and an accessible price point.

Cornish company Puckator has a similarly strong story of growth from small beginnings. Founded in South East Cornwall in 1990 as a small family-run wholesale gift business, it has grown into one of Europe’s leading wholesale gift suppliers, now exporting to more than 30 countries. Its in-house design team develops hundreds of original products a year across giftware, home décor, stationery and accessories, alongside licensed collections featuring Minecraft, Peanuts, Paddington Bear, Moomins, Pusheen and Aardman. Buyers at Autumn Fair will be among the first to see its new collections and licensed launches, alongside the award-winning Relaxeazzz travel pillow range.

Family businesses with global reach

CGB Giftware, based in Bude in North Cornwall, has been serving the gift trade since 1967. The family-run company now offers more than 2,500 products across 60 collections, and its buying and design teams travel internationally to spot new trends and develop exclusive products for stockists. Alongside its own collections, CGB works with retailers around the world to build bespoke own-brand ranges, a business rooted in Cornwall that has quietly built an international customer base.

Powell Craft, another long-established family business, has been supplying clothing, nightwear, traditional toys, gifts and homewares since 1962. Its collections take in hand-finished cotton nightwear, floral pyjamas and dressing gowns, children’s and baby clothing, organic cotton products, raincoats, rag dolls and soft toys, plus decorative homewares and scented gifts. The company runs on renewable energy across its Cornwall and Brighton offices and Cornwall warehouse, and its relationships with two family firms in India go back more than 35 years.

Bringing the South West lifestyle to retail

The region’s fashion heritage is represented by Weird Fish, born in Cornwall in 1993 after a walk along the Cornish coast and now based in Gloucestershire. More than three decades on, the brand still builds its collections around well-made, distinctive clothing with a sense of fun and practicality, aimed at customers who enjoy an active outdoor life. Its clothes carry the same relaxed, feel-good spirit that runs through the South West, from walking the moors and beaches to everyday wear.

Based in Launceston, Nomads takes an ethical and environmentally conscious approach to fashion, built around slow fashion, natural fibres and GOTS-certified organic cotton. The brand uses Azo-free dyes and biodegradable, plastic-free packaging, and its designs combine bright colours, soft organics, twisted cottons and tactile woven fabrics.

Jewellery and colour on the counter

Cornish jewellery and gift company Sea Gems is marking more than 40 years of family-run design heritage with new silver jewellery, fine enamel and gift collections for Autumn 2026. Designed in Cornwall and inspired by the county’s landscape, wildlife and Celtic heritage, its collections include contemporary sterling silver, beachcomber shells, botanical and wildlife designs and the Celtic Lands collection. Its individually handcrafted, kiln-fired enamel jewellery brings vibrant colour to the range, and its gift products stretch to pens, bookmarks, compact mirrors and pillboxes.

West Dorset-based Reeves & Reeves will show jewellery and gifts inspired by the countryside around its home at a converted blacksmith’s forge at Forde Abbey. Husband-and-wife founders Heath and Caroline combine fashion backgrounds and a love of travel with an emphasis on quality, working in hallmarked silver, 18-carat gold vermeil, genuine precious stones and cultured pearls. The business has grown from its Dorset base to supply independent retailers from Cornwall to the Orkneys, alongside major corporate customers.

In Somerset, Blue Lily will show its collection of boxed .925 sterling silver jewellery, alongside a new silver-plated range built to give a luxury look at a more accessible price. The company is also highlighting a compact fashion jewellery collection designed for impulse purchases, aimed at retailers looking to make the most of counter space.

Home comforts and handmade gifts

Home and interiors gets a South West showing from Forever England, which has been creating bedspreads and homewares since 1997. The Somerset company will unveil new Soho, Waffle and Heritage Loom throws and cushions, alongside vintage table linens, collections built around a close read of what customers actually buy and sell through.

Somerset-based sustainable homeware specialist Jarapa is returning to Autumn Fair with recycled glassware, lighting and ceramics, plus new lampshade designs. For more than 20 years the family-run business has worked with artisans and family-owned factories in Spain and Morocco, while its recycled glass lamps are hand assembled in its Somerset workshop.

The region’s independent gifting community is represented by La De Da Living, a family-run business based in Cheltenham’s Cotswolds whose collections are handmade at its UK headquarters. Its bestselling Pebble Art range has grown into a key part of the business, with retailers also able to offer personalised products.

Jess & Lou, based in Royal Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire, brings a collection of accessories and jewellery, including bamboo and wool-blend socks, hats, gloves, scarves and slippers, alongside gold and silver-plated jewellery. Named after mother and daughter Jessie and Louise, the business has grown over the past decade while keeping its focus on personal service and commercially accessible luxury design.

Oak & Willow Designs in Swindon builds gift products around the emotion of giving, including pieces presented in glass containers with colourful wildflowers grown from seed paper. And in Trowbridge, Heaven Scent brings more than 30 years of experience in natural fragrance, having made its first natural plant-wax candle in 1993. Its products use 100% plant-based, renewable and biodegradable wax, vegan ingredients and cotton wicks, and the company also supports tree-planting charities and runs on renewable energy at its UK factory.

📷Credit: Jonny Donovan Photography

What’s drawing the buyers

Matthew Mein, Event Director of Autumn Fair, said the South West has a fantastic reputation for creativity, craftsmanship and independent businesses. He said the exhibitors show the breadth of the region’s retail community, from family businesses with decades of heritage to emerging brands built around sustainability, ethical production and contemporary design, and that buyers come to Autumn Fair every year looking for products with authenticity and strong stories behind them, which South West brands consistently deliver.

The timing lines up with a wider shift the show organisers have been tracking. The latest Voices of Retail report, produced by Spring & Autumn Fair with Faire, found that shoppers are increasingly choosing independent retailers for their personality, originality and unique product ranges, creating growing demand for brands with a strong identity of their own.

Exhibitors will meet buyers from department stores, independent retailers, garden centres, museum shops, online retailers and destination stores over the four days, many of them attending specifically to find brands they cannot get anywhere else. Alongside the established names, the show also gives newer businesses launching sustainable collections a platform, reinforcing the South West’s name as a hub for creative entrepreneurship.

Autumn Fair runs at the NEC Birmingham from 6 to 9 September 2026, bringing together more than 1,250 exhibitors, over 500,000 products and upwards of 20,000 buyers across the four days.

Cornwall’s line-up beyond the businesses above runs to Ancient Mariner in Truro, Inside Out in Bude and St Eval in Wadebridge, taking the county’s total presence at the show to seven exhibitors out of the South West’s near-40, a reasonably good showing for a county that has to drive further than most of them to get there.

📷Credit: Jonny Donovan Photography

📷Credit: Jonny Donovan Photography

📷Credit: Jonny Donovan Photography

📷Credit: Jonny Donovan Photography