The inn that prints where the money goes
Fogo Island Inn tells you exactly where the money from your stay goes. Almost nobody does that, and once you have seen it you start asking the same of everything you buy.
Fogo Island sits off the coast of Newfoundland, and after the cod fishery collapsed it was slowly losing its people. Zita Cobb grew up there, in a house without electricity, and left like most of her generation did. She came back years later with a question hotels do not usually ask: what would it take for this place to keep its people.
The inn is her answer. Twenty-nine rooms on stilts above the North Atlantic, furniture from the island's workshops, quilts sewn in island kitchens, fish landed a few miles from the table. It belongs to a charity, so what it earns above its costs goes back into the island.
Then the part I love. The inn publishes where the money from a night's stay actually goes: so much to the carpenters who built the furniture, so much to the woman who sewed the quilt, so much to wages, so much back into the island. They call it economic nutrition. Nobody makes them do it, and no hotel I know of has copied them.
I read about it and then looked at my own kitchen table, which I had chosen carefully and could tell you nothing about. Not who built it, not what the top is really made of. That is where these three questions came from. I ask them now before anything comes into the house.
The three questions
- Who made it, and where? Good workshops usually say. You want a town, sometimes a name, not just a brand and "made in Europe". If the page will not tell you, send an email and ask.
- What is it made of, all of it? Oak, wool, brass, linen. Words like engineered, composite or performance mean something has been mixed in, and you cannot look up a mixture.
- What happens when a part breaks? If they will sell you the part, they meant the thing to last.
If a shop answers all three plainly, that is usually a good sign. If it answers none of them, all you have to go on is the price.
If they will sell you the spare part, they meant it to last.
You do not have to do this for the whole house. Start with the bed, the bedding, the chair you sit in every evening and the pans you cook in. Those are the things you touch most. The Hearth directory and the clothing one are built on these same three questions, so the makers are named and the materials spelled out.
| Who made it | Good workshops usually name themselves and their town. If the page only gives you a brand, email and ask. Whether they answer tells you plenty. |
|---|---|
| What it is made of | Every material named: oak, wool, brass, linen. The list should add up to the whole thing. |
| Words to notice | Engineered, composite, technical, performance, blend. Each one means something has been mixed in. |
| Can it be mended | Ask what happens when a part breaks. If they sell you the part, it was built to last. |
| Is a high price a good sign | Not on its own. A price can come from the advertising as easily as from the workshop. |
| Where to start | The bed, the bedding, the chair you sit in, the pans you cook in. |
| What Fogo does | Publishes where the money from a night's stay goes, and calls it economic nutrition. |
The short answers
The same thing again, in the order people ask it.
How do you find out who made something?
Look on the product page for the workshop and the town. Makers who are proud of where a thing is made usually say so. If all you get is a brand name, email and ask them directly. If nobody answers, that tells you something too.
What does a good materials list look like?
Every material named, and the list adds up to the whole thing. Oak, wool, brass, linen. Engineered, composite and performance all mean something has been mixed in, and you cannot look up a mixture.
Why does it matter what a thing is made of?
Because you live with it. A material you can name is one you can read about, so you can find out how it is made and how it ages. Plain materials also mend well and stay with you longer. The same thinking runs through the piece on cutting boards.
Is expensive the same as well made?
No. A high price can come from the brand and the advertising just as easily as from the workshop. Who made it, what it is made of and whether it can be mended tell you much more.
What is the quickest test before buying?
Ask what happens when a part breaks. If they sell you the part, it was built to last. If they offer you a whole new one, it was built to be replaced.
What does Fogo Island Inn publish about its price?
Where the money from a night's stay goes, line by line: the wages, the island workshops, the food. They call it economic nutrition. The inn is owned by a charity, so what it earns above its costs goes back into the island.
Does buying locally made things really matter?
Your money stays somewhere you can see it, and the journey from the material to your house is shorter. On Fogo the furniture and the quilts are made on the island, so the wages stay where the guests are.
Where do you start in a whole house?
With what you touch most: the bed, the bedding, the chair you sit in and the pans you cook in. The rest can wait until it needs replacing.
The property. Fogo Island Inn, Joe Batt's Arm, Newfoundland. The twenty-nine rooms, the island workshops and the quilts are on fogoislandinn.ca. The charity ownership, the surpluses returning to the island and the economic nutrition label are published by shorefast.org. Zita Cobb's history, the cod moratorium and the stilted architecture by Todd Saunders are documented on Wikipedia and saunders.no.
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