Some of the best stories begin when paths cross.
1871 was never intended to stay in one place.
SageBrush Crossing may be fictional, but the conversations, connections and ideas it inspires belong in the real world.
That might mean finding 1871 on the counter of an independent shop. Cards appearing on tables in a pub. A story-led experience created with a community. Working alongside a practitioner or organisation. Or collaborating with someone who sees a possibility for 1871 that we haven’t thought of yet.
Stock 1871
Bring the cards, journals and conversation from 1871 into your shop, café, venue or other space.
Bring 1871 into your place
From pubs and cafés to community spaces and organisations, we create ways for people to connect, talk, remember and make new stories together.
Create something together
We collaborate with people and organisations to create new cards, experiences and ideas that combine their world with ours.
If our paths could lead somewhere interesting, let’s talk.
Why partner with 1871?
At the heart of 1871 is a simple belief:
Everyone should have the opportunity to live life on their own terms.
Stories, conversations and human connection can help create the space for that to happen.
And that’s why we work with others to create stories and experiences that give people reasons to talk, remember, imagine, laugh, reflect and connect.
We’re not interested in partnerships simply for the sake of putting two logos next to each other.
The interesting question is:
What could we create together that neither of us would create alone?
Some of our recent collaborations
Every Chair Has a Story
A collaboration between Beauty with Paula and 1871: A Time Before.
Every Chair Has a Story grew from a simple idea: when your work brings you one-to-one with another person, the space you share can become about far more than the appointment.
Hairdressers, barbers, nail technicians, beauty therapists, tattoo artists, massage therapists and many other professionals spend their working lives alongside people. Conversations happen naturally. Sometimes they’re funny and everyday. Sometimes they matter far more than anyone expected.
Together, Beauty with Paula and 1871 have developed a five-chapter programme built to help professionals become more confident in creating space for good conversations while recognising the boundaries of their role.
Alongside the programme is a three-part card collection, each with a different purpose:
- Across the Chair brings people together through accessible conversation starters that everyone can join in with.
- Behind the Chair creates conversations between professionals, sharing experiences, perspectives and the realities of working with people.
- Beside the Chair is closer to a learning and development resource, using curiosity, questions and reflection to help professionals explore how they show up in the conversations they have.
Together, the programme and cards turn the everyday chair into an opportunity for better conversation, stronger connection and thoughtful professional practice.
It’s also an example of what can happen when 1871 meets somebody else’s world.
What could we create in yours?
What began as a collaboration is becoming something much bigger. Every Chair Has a Story is now evolving into a programme for anyone who wants to create better conversations, wherever those conversations happen.
Moments of Wellbeing
Created with Kelly Felton-Jones Fitness & Wellbeing, in partnership with 1871: A Time Before.
Kelly already creates opportunities for people to look after their physical wellbeing through her classes and community.
Together, we explored a different question:
What could Kelly give people that travelled home with them?
Moments of Wellbeing became a collection of gentle prompts, pauses and reflections designed to support people between classes and throughout everyday life.
Rather than creating one generic wellbeing deck, we developed different kinds of moments people could reach for depending on what they needed.
The result feels unmistakably like Kelly, while 1871 brings the questions, reflective thinking, structure and creative development that help turn her ideas into something people can hold and use.
And that’s really the point of the collaboration.
How could 1871 help your business?
Great food tastes better with good conversation.
A collaboration between The Travelling Tikki & 1871: A time Before
These cards were created especially for The Travelling Tikki’s pop-up supper clubs, where people come together around the table to enjoy authentic Indian food.
The prompts are designed to do something simple: get people talking; about food, family, memories, traditions, culture and the stories we carry with us.
Some are playful. Some invite memories. Others explore the way food connects people and generations.
Because a supper club can be more than somewhere to eat. It can be somewhere strangers become less strange, stories get shared and connections are made.
What could we create around your table?
Keeping Memories Alive & Making Memories
A collaboration between The Royal Oak, Biddulph and 1871: A Time Before.
Pubs have always been about more than what’s behind the bar. At their best, they’re places where people meet, talk, laugh, belong and become part of the story of where they live.
Working with The Royal Oak in Biddulph, we’re exploring how 1871 can help strengthen that role through two complementary card collections.
Keeping Memories Alive invites people to remember and share the stories that might otherwise disappear: people, places, traditions, everyday moments and memories worth passing from one generation to the next.
Making Memories looks the other way. It’s about right now: playful questions, ridiculous conversations, laughter and shared moments that might just become tomorrow’s stories.
Together they sit at the heart of a bigger idea: Pride of Place. Creating opportunities for generations to mix, stories to travel across the table and pubs to become places where the past is remembered while new memories are being made.
Because community isn’t only about where we live.
It’s the stories we share, the people we share them with, and what we choose to pass on.
How might 1871 help you to bring people together?
Have an idea?
If you’re interested in stocking 1871, bringing it into your venue or community, developing an experience, exploring a creative collaboration, or you’ve simply spotted an opportunity we should talk about, we’d love to hear from you.
You don’t need a proposal.
You don’t need to have worked everything out.
Just bring the idea and let’s see where our conversation takes us.