We had a great evening at Kew Bridge Steam Museum in London for the Free From Food Awards ceremony, where Pure Mesquite pod flour was shortlisted for an award in the Ingredients category.

The Awards are organised by Michelle and Cressida from Foods Matter, which is a great online resource for people with food allergies providing an exceptional service and advice on all allergy related matters.

The evening was well attended by representatives from the free from food industry and members of the press who enjoyed delicious canapes and freely flowing prosecco and excellent gluten free beer. The event was set amongst the dramatic surroundings of the Steam Museum with gigantic engines hissing and turning throughout as the awards were presented by celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson.

Special mentions must go to the winners of this year’s awards, including Go Free Cakes, Pour Toi chocolatiers, The Black Farmer, Hale & Hearty, and the highly deserving overall winners Dove’s Farm. 

It was great for us at The Mesquite Company to meet do many wonderful dedicated people who really care about what they do. Thanks to Ruth Holroyd from What Allergy? for including us on her highly regarded blog!

We are very much looking foward to next year’s entry where we hope to bring home a win!

The Mesquite Company is always looking to offer the best possible service and craftsmanship for our customers so that the charm and beauty of their exclusive mesquite hardwood floor is exceeded only by the fulfilment of their expectations of quality on every level.

We are extremely pleased to be able to offer our customers the highly acclaimed professional fitting services of David Gunton Hardwood Floors. David Gunton and his dedicated team are amongst the most sought after flooring craftsmen in this country and indeed the World. They are renowned for their skill and attention to every detail, specialising in bespoke flooring, parquet and marquetry.

They have fitted bespoke floors in some of the most exclusive addresses in the World, and have worked on some truly prestigious projects, including the restoration of the exquisite marquet flooring in Windsor Castle after the great fire in 1992 for which David was awarded The Worshipful Company of Carpenters Special Award in Recognition of Outstanding Achievement in the Restoration, Re-Creation, New Design and Quality of Craftsmanship at Windsor Castle.

If you would like your floor to be something amazing, and would like to enquire about David Gunton’s services for your mesquite flooring installation please contact us to discuss the details of your project.

For more information on David Gunton’s previous projects visit www.wideboards.com and for his description of mesquite follow this link.

                                  

                        

Fantastic News! Our awesome Organic Mesquite Bean Flour has been shortlisted in this year’s Free From Food Awards in the Free From Ingredients category!

This is not only great for us at The Mesquite Company, it’s great news for the 600,000 gluten intolerant people in this country, as well as millions more people who have yet to discover the joys of using mesquite flour in their daily lives.

Our aim is to bring the wonderful taste and aroma of mesquite flour to gluten free cooking and food connoisseurs across the country and beyond! Our involvement in the Awards will help us bring the South American Soul Food revolution to a pantry near you!

Mesquite flour livens up bland gluten-free flours and baking or pancake mixes, works fantastically well in cakes, puddings and treats of all kinds, and can be used to bring a sweet smoky flavour to meat dishes and savoury meals. The unique but somehow familiar taste and aroma of chocolate, cinnamon, mocha and coconut, along with excellent nutritional qualities and fruit sugars make mesquite flour a real contender for the superfood of the 21st century. For the purists out there, just do as I love to do and mix in a tablespoon of mesquite flour into a glass of milk for a real treat! Just like chocolate milk but without any of the bad stuff!

It is a real honour to be short-listed in such a prestigious competition, and we would like to thank Cressida, Michelle, and the team at FoodsMatter.com and freefromfoodawards.co.uk for their help and support, not to mention the judges for selecting our product as one of the potential winners!

We will be attending the Free From Food Awards ceremony and invitation only dinner at Kew Bridge Stream Museum on April 6th. The awards are sponsored by Juvela and will be presented by top celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson.

It will be a great opportunity to introduce our product to a host of industry professionals and hopefully potential customers!

Watch this space for updates and pictures of the event!

Well, we did it! 

Thanks to a combined effort on both sides of the Atlantic - (along with lots of frantic voting by Friends of TMC in the UK and USA, the Texas Hill Country Facebook Group, and all the other friends, followers and admirers of Lou’s work)  - Lou Quallenberg Studios became a British Airways Face of Opportunity Winner. The prize was an invitation to attend exclusive New York and London networking conferences alongside some of the biggest names in business, as well as flights to meet with The Mesquite Company owners Joe and Amie Prest, all organised and hosted by British Airways as part of their Face of Opportunity Contest 2010!

Major congratulations!

Lou Quallenberg Studios was represented on this occasion by the lovely and indomitable Cheryl Quallenberg, who faced a snowstorm that blanketed most of the Central and Eastern United States (at exactly the wrong moment), along with massive delays caused by the snow at Dallas Fort Worth. Thanks to her perseverance and the good folks at British Airways she managed to make it to London to link up with the rest of the contest winners at the Heathrow Sofitel Hotel where she was able to make the most of networking opportunities with other winners and the array of business and British Government dignitaries associated with, and speaking at the event.

Then it was off to meet with us in the City!

It was a real pleasure to host Cheryl in our beautiful capital city of London, which for once managed to be warmer than her home state of Texas (in February?!) by an amazing quirk of meteorological benevolence.

We enjoyed a day of gallery tours viewing potential placement opportunities and what seemed to be a great deal of walking, alongside discussing the very exciting future prospects of Lou Quallenberg’s furniture art in the UK and Europe.

As great days often do, it ended with a welcome sit down and a plate of fish and chips at Porter’s English Restaurant in Covent Garden.

Well done Lou Quallenberg Studios!

We are proud to be featuring Lou’s work and are supremely confident of his success in the international market!

Vote for The Mesquite Company and Lou Quallenberg Studios in the British Airways Face Of Opportunity Awards

The Mesquite Company partner Lou Quallenberg Studios has entered the British Airways “Face of Opportunity” Contest 2010. The contest is run by British Airways to promote and facilitate international opportunities for small businesses with big dreams of operating worldwide. The Mesquite Company will be debuting Lou’s artwork in the UK and it is Lou’s dream to fly to London to be present as his pieces reach their first European audience.

Please take the time to read Lou’s pitch by following the link below.
Remember, its votes that count and you can vote for Lou and TMC once a day, so be sure to check it out and keep on voting! The competition ends on the 19th of November.

To vote for Lou Quallenberg to win flights to London

Click Here!

Thanks for your support!!

Here at The Mesquite Company we are always on the lookout for high quality craftsmanship and furniture makers with a keen eye for detail and dedication to excellence.

Master craftsman Craig Lagerstrom of the Texas Mesquite Company embodies that spirit and imbues each piece of furniture with the skill and great passion he has for his work.

Craig’s pieces are different from most work styled from the sublime mesquite in that they follow the time honoured and traditional construction techniques that have brought beautiful objects of furniture into distinguished homes for hundreds of years.

This gives his work more of a traditional ‘Old World’ style and feel enhanced by a hint of the Southwest and traditional Texas design. 

Furniture by Craig Lagerstrom is exclusively available in the UK and Europe through The Mesquite Company. 

We are currently featuring a beautiful double-sided mesquite desk especially created for The Mesquite Company and available in the UK now. This is the perfect accompaniment to any distinguished office space or for the CEO looking for something stunning, unique and exclusive.

Please contact us for details and for any bespoke furniture requirements, we can cater to any needs.

We are always happy to work with our customers to deliver the most beautiful furniture available. As with all bespoke furniture patience is required while a piece is hand carved and built, but as we were all told a long time ago, the best things come to those who wait!

Shangrila Woodworks Now Available at The Mesquite Company

TMC is happy to announce that we will be working with fine furniture and bespoke mesquite gurus Shangrila Woodworks of New Mexico!  Producing some of the finest works of mesquite furniture and contemporary art, they have proven themselves to be amongst the top tier of mesquite artists worldwide.

We are very excited to be able to bring to you the Shangrila Rocker, an ergonomic masterpiece of organic design and supreme craftsmanship.

Truly an heirloom quality piece, strictly limited in quantity and made from the finest mesquite wood available, this uniquely designed and crafted rocking chair is designed to last more than just one lifetime! We are proud to offer this beautiful example of mesquite art that will grace the finest home for generations to come.

Be sure to check back for our Shangrila Woodworks feature and additional products, available in the UK exclusively through The Mesquite Company

Multi Award Winning Artist Lou Quallenberg Now Available at The Mesquite Company

The Mesquite company is proud to announce the formation of a partnership between ourselves and Lou Quallenberg Studios of Llano, Texas.

Multi-award winning and already 
nationally recognised in the United States, mesquite artist Lou Quallenberg creates beautiful works that transcend the boundaries between traditional fine furniture and contemporary statement art. His unique flowing style and signature curves compliment and accentuate the natural form and beauty of mesquite.

We are excited to be the first to feature and exhibit two of Lou’s pieces here in the UK beginning Spring 2011 - the stunning Jackson and Sister tables. It is a great honour to be involved as Lou Quallenberg’s work goes international.

TMC would like to thank both Lou and Cheryl Quallenberg for their great generosity in allowing us to take these stunning works of art on their first European tour. Be sure to check back for more information on where to find these and other pieces of fine mesquite furniture.

Texas Mesquite Association Art Festival

The Mesquite Company team were pleased to attend the 2010 Texas Mesquite Association arts festival in Fredericksburg, Tx. on October 8th and 9th.  We met with many of the highly skilled craftsmen and women who specialise in working with mesquite to produce some beautiful products. Exhibits ranged from the highest quality fine furniture and art pieces, to architectural pieces and crafts of all kinds.

It was great to see the huge array of items on show, and meet with people from all over the US and indeed the world who were there to showcase their work. All were dedicated and passionate about using mesquite as a medium for their creations.

We made some great connections with companies and people who have been dealing in mesquite for over three decades in some cases, and we hope to be able to make their work available to discerning customers in the UK soon.

We are now able to offer custom service to create bespoke products for individual customers, and are also excited about the commercial potential for some of our latest ventures.

Many thanks to all those who have kindly invited us to their ranches, workshops and places of business to discuss partnerships and the future of mesquite products in the UK and Europe.  We very much appreciate your time and enthusiasm for our venture. We look forward to a long and productive future, and would like to think we had made a few new friends along the way.

Mesquite pod flour.

South american staple.

Naturally sweet.

High in fiber.

Gluten free.