Scottish Ceramics and the Festival

So far this festival, I haven't been able to soak up much in the way of festivities. One year, I promise I'm gonna post some great tips and must-sees but so far this year, I've done some wondering, seen one incredible play and taken my aunt to see this pottery. Hopefully we'll be able to get some comedy in by the end of the month...
From my limited festivities, my recommendation is the tiny studio and gallery in my part of Edinburgh, Adam Pottery. Its a must for any ceramic lover all year round with traditional and contemporary Scottish ceramicists, working on their collections in the studios on site. This festival, the space is an official Edinburgh Fringe venue showing and selling some beautiful pieces. My absolute favourite work there is by Lara Scobie. The colours, textures and shapes got me a little excited and let's just say; that amazing tall stripy jug; it's no longer available...if you know what I mean...

images are from Lara's facebook page 

Sparrow & Co.

Being from Glasgow, I jump at the chance to showcase home-grown talent so, say hello to Sparrow & Co. who opened their online doors to the public yesterday.
With just one visit you'll be ready for winter; mustards and greys, textures, patterns and scents. Done.
It's just the beginning so bookmark it and keep popping back to see new arrivals...I will be...

Sparrow & Co. via @IgorJosif

Francis Cadell

Edinburgh artist Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell was quite a character. He had a great sense of humour, was confident, flamboyant and charming, and had a great many friends who adored him. He was homosexual, at a time when it was illegal, and lived life to the full, spending outwith his means and socialising with high society. When times were tough his paintings paid for a roof over his head.
He painted landscapes (most famously of Iona, where he spent a lot of time), portraits, still lifes and my favourites of his works, grand interior spaces. I find it hard to believe that his paintings of the interior rooms in his George Street studio (my favourite; below) and Edinburgh Newtown townhouses were painted in the early 1920s. Some of the interiors look contemporary even by today's standards. He was fascinated with reflective surfaces, carefully placed objects, and liked the composition of a room beyond a room through open doorways.

 Last Thursday my parents were invited to a private viewing of the exhibition at The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, with Alice Strang, the author of F.C.B. Cadell; an emalgamation of all the research undertaken for the exhibition. Sebastian and I tagged along. It was fascinating.
The exhibition is Cadell's first solo show since his death in 1937. I recommend you go along and have a look. It's on till March 18th 2012.
image via here

Me and Mrs Jones

Another gem I came across at the Homes & Interiors Scotland Exhibition last Friday was Glasgow based, Niki Jones. These kantha quilts are made from the most beautiful vintage saris. These photographs don't even do them justice...in the flesh the colours are vibrant and the cotton super soft and lightweight yet snug. The only reason I don't own one yet is because I'd have to decide which to go for and my Libra brain can't take the pressure...

 

...the cushions and rugs are pretty special too.

see the Autumn/Winter 2011 catalogue here

West End Wonder

Check out this hallway. It's the grand entrance to a flat in Kelvingrove in the West End of Glasgow.
I came across the designers on Friday when Sebastian and I took a mooch around the Homes & Interiors Scotland exhibition in the SECC. Rehab's two interior showcases were among some little nuggets of tremendousnes at the exhibition. This hallway doesn't even represent their true style (new and retro furniture restyled & upholstered in awesome colours and fabrics), I just love the architrave detail.

Don't you think that when a space is dressed with a pair of matching table lamps it immediately looks 'grown up'...?
the pics are from here

DollyLeo

The beginning of this year saw the end of an awesome shop on my little high street. I have posted about DollyLeo before. It was opened by Sadie Jean Sloss, a very talented make up artist, who, after a busy and succesful few years, building the brand and online shop, has taken a massive leap and upped sticks to New York City.  As the online shop was so successful, Sadie made the difficult decision to continue with that but cut some ties and, sadly, close the shop in Stockbridge, Edinburgh.
The interior was was an ecclectic mix of upcycled furniture, funky lights, dark grey walls, a purple painted floor and some bold wallpaper. It all came together to create a great little space which was unlike any other in the area and perhaps, Edinburgh. The products she sourced were mostly exclusive to DollyLeo and included, the all organic Dr. Alkaitis skincare and the amazing Ellis Faas make up range, among many others.

DollyLeo Apothecary and Sadie are missed around these parts, but at least you can still get all the goodies here.

Aikwood Tower

Whilst I was off growing a baby, I was also working on a very exciting refurb project in the Scottish Borders. Aikwood is a 16th century tower about 40 miles south of Edinburgh, deep in the beautiful Ettrick Valley. With many an outdoor pursuit on its doorstep, my client felt the 5 bedroom tower was in the perfect location to be transformed into an luxurious exclusive-use holiday let and wedding venue. His parents had lovingly restored the tower from a ruin into their home in the late 80's and were now ready to to pass it on to the next generation.
We had three months to turn it around so it was intense and stressful but pretty exciting and everyone was more than happy with the result. I'm pretty proud of it, even if I do say so myself...

We sourced local tweed from Andrew Elliot and Hinnigan (who also made the gorgeous cushions and throws) and scoured antique markets from London to Glasgow, and everywhere in between, to source key feature pieces, furniture and lamps that sit comfortably next to the brand new bespoke items. After many doubts, lots of persiverence, a little convincing, plenty of elbow grease, not to mention the searching, sourcing and shopping, it all came together in the end. What do you think?
P.S. It looks even better in the flesh...so go ahead and book a long weekend of luxury...
Photography by Douglas Robertson

Holly Fulton

I've been getting requests for some sort of gift guide...whilst contemplating whether to do one post with a montage of glorious goodies or spoon feed you with dribs and drabs of festive findings, I keep finding objects that are just too special to stuff in a stocking.
Namely, these beautiful notebooks and diaries by Scottish designer, Holly Fulton for Smythson. You may have noticed that I have a thing for stationery items especially of the notebook variety but these are yellow and blue goatskin, die-stamped, deco-inspired, illustrated, pieces of art! Not only that but Holly Fulton was born and bred in Edinburgh.

Holly studied at Edinburgh College of Art before heading south to The Royal to do an MA. She graduated in 2007 and since then her collections have gone from strength to strengh. Her Art Deco and Bauhaus inspied work is incredible.

Holly Fulton Spring/Summer 2010 London Fashion week

Yay, for home grown uber-talent!

Images from Smythson and LondonFashionWeek.co.uk

365 days ago today...

...the sun stayed out from behind the clouds just long enough for me to walk arm in arm with my dad, through 98 of our most treasured family and friends, who had travelled from near and VERY far, to marry the man I love.
Then it rained.
Then the sun reappeared and we all drank champagne and daiquiris, laughed at the speeches, ate halibut & cheesecake, danced the longest and most awesome Strip the Willow and almost set fire to a small village on the outskirts of Edinburgh with thai lanterns.
I'd do it all over again in a heart beat...including the last 7 years with my now-husband...
Photography by Paul of Raeburn & Hamilton
For more on our wedding have a look here and here

To Dry For

Dry dishes or frame it and put it on your wall?? There are some very cool printed tea towels out there and todryfor.com is where you can get them. This 'storm in a tea cup' print is my favourite...

but I 'm loving these retro scottish illustrations by Gillian Kyle...'Glasgow Breakfast', 'Tunnock's' and 'Spam'

availiable from todryfor.com

Edinburgh Fringe Festival Programme

Back in March of this year, the smart people* behind the Fringe Festival asked Scottish illustrator, Johanna Basford to sit in a room for 12 hrs (twice) and draw. They then asked the tweeting public what quirky sites they'd like to see at this year's Edinburgh Festival.

They set up a camera and a live internet link and Johanna picked out the most random suggestions as they piled in through the live feed. She drew 176 suggestions out of 1675; these make up the shape of the recognisable Fringe font.

If you are a fan of the festival or live in Edinburgh you'll realise the enormity of having your work on the cover of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival programme. Even though this particular festival only lasts for the month of August; every coffee table, hotel reception, shop counter, bar, restaurant, café, festival venue, and poster in the city will feature the artwork from now until the last firework pops in the late summer sky just over the barracks of Edinburgh Castle...

Personally, I'm a massive fan of this type of illustration. Every time you look at it you see something new. I wish I could doodle so well. You can see more of Johanna's work here including the graphics for independent Scottish brewers BrewDog.

Clever marketing huh? Commission local talent. Check. Interact with the public. Check. Use a very current media communication system. Check. Stream it live on the internet. check. Originally, Johanna had completed a couple of what she calls TwitterPictures as previous personal projects but kudos to the Fringe team for jumping on the bandwagon and spreading the word to the masses.

By the way, my suggestion was a bramble berry shaking a cocktail and can be seen in the top left hand corner of the 'g'...I was going for subliminal advertising for my husband's cocktail bar, Bramble...wonder if it'll work...

In the end they went for three different covers (below) with a stream of illustrations rather than the font but i'm hoping to see the illustrated type on other graphic bits and pieces around town (especially the g)...

They've also made a nice little video explaining how it was all done.

* turns out those smart people were whitespace!

all images from JohannaBasford.com

book your tickets at www.edfringe.com

The Jura Lodge

I've done a little travelling...more than some...not as much as others, but in my opinion the west coast of Scotland is one of my top 5 most breathtakingly, beautiful places in the world (if the sun shines).
Granted, I may be biased being from Glasgow (hardly the beautiful west coast...but the west none-the-less) but if you ever find yourself on an island off the west coast of Scotland, you will witness turquoise water the Maldives would be jealous of. If you're lucky enough to have your naked feet in the whitest sand, a whisky in one hand and an oyster, fresh out the sea, in the other...well, you might as well call it heaven. As the sun goes down and the breeze picks up, you might need a fireplace, a hot bath and a bed...
The Jura Lodge, the old head distiller’s house next to the Jura whisky distillery has been transformed by Paris-based American designer Bambi Sloan. It's situated on (you guessed it) the Isle of Jura, and is notoriously difficult to get to (as are many others) but I would definitely battle through the nausea-inducing, Scottish B roads and vomit-activating, ferry journeys for a long weekend in heaven...

The Lodge has been open since late 2006 and we still haven't made it over for a visit. What a fantastic interior...it reflects the beauty of it's situation; incorporating the island's history and scenery.

I enquired in 2007 about having our wedding there, but with only 5 rooms and it being a bit of a treck (especially for the Australians) it just wasn't ideal, not to mention the cost. To hire exclusively you'll need £2500 per night for a minimum of 3 nights. Our piggy bank just fainted....

photos from IsleofJura.com and thecoolhunter.net

Sainted

So...the reason for my absence from the blogosphere and all things interweb, of late, is that, as some of you may know, since becoming a victim of the 'crisis that is credit', I have been helping out at one of my husband's ventures, The Saint (website coming soon) ...not to mention a long weekend in London...
A couple of weekends ago we were reviewed in a very well thought of paper by a very well thought of food journalist. The excellent review has, pretty much, put us on the map in Edinburgh and we have been crazy busy ever since it was published.
I don't think we could have written better ourselves, and we LOVE the place!!
You may think that it's not that big a deal, but in this hoity toity pocket of the world, 'word of mouth' is more than gospel and a bad review can kill a person's livliehood.
A big thank you to Richard Bath at The Scotland on Sunday...

Read the review HERE

The Glasgow Boys

'The Glasgow Boys' were a group of young painters who rebelled against impressionism in the late 19th century. James Guthrie, E A Hornel, George Henry, Joseph Crawhall, John Lavery and Arthur Melville all had studios in Glasgow and were great friends. Their work was rejected by London and Edinburgh art circles, as they painted real people in rural scenes, and experimented with symbolic art (before Klimt etc), although the Glasgow Art markets loved it.
The exhibiton is at The Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow and shows some never-before-seen paintings from private collections.
This sort of work may not be what you'd expect to see on my blog but 'The Glasgow Boys' were revolutionary in their time, and I'm a patriotic Glasgow girl so I plan on going along next week. My parents have already been and thoroughly enjoyed it! Who's keen?

Hard at It (1883) by Sir James Guthrie

The Druids – Bring in the Mistletoe (1890) by George Henry and EA Hornel

From April 2010 till September 2010.
Click here for ticket information, and go to The List for more on The Glasgow Boys.
Images from TheGuardian.co.uk

Wedding Inspiration

I feel the time has come that I can confess that I made a wedding inspration board. Don't judge me. In my defence, being an interior designer I have to create these for all the projects I work on and they are always invaluable, not only to the client but to me too. It helped to get everything out of my head/magazines/hard drive and give the venue dressers a clearer idea of what I was blabbering on about. Also, in my defence, it worked and everything was exactly as we wanted...one day I might post some of the official photos.
Here it is...a Scottish summer wedding...

I tried so hard not to be a bridezilla but my family, now husband and especially bridesmaids may tell you I 'left the building' for a couple of months before the big day. I'm back now though and am forever indebted to those who stood by me through my emotional blackout x