Privacy policy

Who we are

This website, emberandoakdesign.com, is run by Ember and Oak Web Design (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2025/166996/07, a company registered in South Africa ("Ember & Oak", "we", "us"), with its registered address at 9 Verbena villas, Jeffreys Bay, 6330. We are the responsible party (under South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act, POPIA) and the controller (under the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulations) for the personal information described here.

Our Information Officer is Jo Coetzer. You can reach us about anything in this policy at info@emberandoakdesign.com.

What we collect and why

The site has no account, no sign-up and no contact form. We only collect personal information in these ways:

When you email us

Links such as "Request a quote" open your own email app with a short template. When you send it, we receive whatever you choose to include: usually your name, email address, company, website and a description of your project. We use it to reply, prepare a quote and, if we work together, set up the project. Our basis is your request and the steps needed before a contract (and our legitimate interest in answering enquiries).

When you book a Fit Call

The booking calendar on our Book a Fit Call page is provided by Cal.com. When you book, Cal.com collects your name, email address, the time you choose, your time zone and any notes you add, and sends a calendar invite with a Google Meet link. We use this to hold the call and follow up on it. Our basis is your request to book.

When you visit the site

Like every website, our hosting provider (Cloudflare) receives technical information when your browser requests a page: your IP address, browser and device type, the page requested and the time. This is used to deliver the site and protect it from abuse, and is kept for a short time in server logs. Images in our case studies are served by Sanity’s image service, which receives the same kind of request information. Our basis is our legitimate interest in running a secure, working website.

Analytics (only with your consent)

To understand how the site is used and improve it, we use Google Analytics 4 and Microsoft Clarity, but only after you accept analytics cookies. Until you do, neither loads. With your consent they record:

• Google Analytics 4: pages visited, how you arrived (for example from LinkedIn or a search), approximate location (city or country, not your exact address), device and browser, and time on the page.
• Microsoft Clarity: how pages are used, including clicks, scrolling and mouse movement, shown to us as heatmaps and session replays. Clarity is set not to record what you type.

We don’t use this to identify you, and we don’t use either service for advertising. You can withdraw your consent at any time with Cookie settings at the bottom of every page; both then stop collecting and their cookies are removed.

What we don’t do: we don’t sell or rent personal information, we don’t buy contact lists, and we don’t add you to a mailing list. We only email you about the conversation you started.

Cookies and browser storage

The site itself sets no cookies. It saves one small preference in your browser’s local storage: the currency you choose for prices ($, £ or €), so prices stay in that currency as you move between pages. It never leaves your browser, and you can clear it in your browser settings.

If you accept analytics cookies, these are added:

The Cal.com booking calendar is loaded from Cal.com and may set its own cookies to make the calendar work. See Cal.com’s privacy policy.

Who we share it with

We only share personal information with the service providers we use to run the business, under their data protection terms, and only what they need:

• Google Workspace: email, calendar and Google Meet.
• Cal.com: Fit Call booking.
• Cloudflare: website hosting and security.
• Sanity: our content system and image delivery.
• Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity: analytics, only with your consent.

If you become a client, the specialists on your team see the details they need to do the work. We may also disclose information where the law requires it.

Where your data goes

We are based in South Africa, and some of our providers store data in other countries, including the United States and the European Union. When personal information leaves South Africa, the EU or the UK, we rely on providers that offer adequate protection under POPIA and use recognised safeguards such as the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses.

How long we keep it

• Enquiries and Fit Call bookings that don’t lead to work: up to 24 months after our last contact, then deleted.
• Client records: for the length of our work together, and afterwards as long as tax and company law require (in South Africa, generally five years).
• Analytics data: Google Analytics keeps it for 14 months; Clarity for up to 13 months.
• Server logs: a short time, for security only.

How we protect it

We use reputable providers with strong security, two-factor authentication on our accounts, and access limited to the people who need it. No system is perfectly secure, but if a breach ever puts your information at risk, we’ll tell you and the relevant regulator as the law requires.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you have the right to:

• ask what personal information we hold about you, and get a copy;
• have it corrected if it’s wrong, or deleted if we no longer need it;
• object to, or ask us to limit, how we use it;
• withdraw consent (for example to analytics) at any time;
• receive it in a portable format (EU and UK);
• complain to a data protection regulator.

Email info@emberandoakdesign.com and we’ll respond within 30 days. We may ask you to confirm who you are first. There’s no charge for a reasonable request.

Data in client projects

When we build or run a website, CRM or analytics for a client, we handle the personal information of that client’s customers on the client’s behalf (as an operator or processor). That work is covered by our agreement with the client, not by this policy. If you are a client’s customer, please contact the client first.

Children

This site is for businesses. It isn’t aimed at children, and we don’t knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we handle personal information, for example by adding a new service, we’ll update this page and the date at the top before the change takes effect.

Contact and complaints

Questions or requests: info@emberandoakdesign.com, for the attention of our Information Officer, Jo Coetzer.

If you’re not happy with our answer, you can complain to a regulator:

• South Africa: the Information Regulator, inforegulator.org.za
• United Kingdom: the Information Commissioner’s Office, ico.org.uk
• European Union: the data protection authority in your country.