Journal

If you ever find yourself heading towards the Russian border in the south-eastern corner of Finland, I encourage you to take a detour off the main road to this incredible (and I mean incredible) place called Pulsa. It was recommended to me by Elina earlier in the week (Elina and Petra, the owner of Pulsa are both textile designers and friends) and I had a last minute change of plan so thought I'd give them a call and I'm so glad I did.

Today involved more travelling and learning...this time to a small village north-east of Jyväskylä called Hankasalmi. A chance introduction with a lovely textile designer called Anna-Kaisa whilst doing some solo exploring in Finland last summer led me to this exciting part of my trip. I'd been trying to find someone who still weaves täkänä through the other contacts I have but it was proving difficult. Täkänä is no longer a popular form of weaving in Finland and has disappeared significantly off the weaving landscape in the past thirty years.

Today was a day on the move…leaving Helsinki for Tampere but first a Finnish friend of mine had put me in touch with a Helsinki based designer called Elina Helenius. Elina seemed really interested in my project in her emails and had suggested we meet at a café in the centre of Helsinki called Cafe Aschen Jugend. Sadly this was shut (Elina wanted me to see the architecture) so we went to the nearby Kappeli – a beautiful building on the Esplanade that first opened it’s doors as a café in 1867. Elina was an inspiration to meet. Her career spans several decades and has also crossed over from print to weave. She’s worked with many companies I admire and has a warmth and openness that was wonderful to be around.

So I am just back (well it's been a week now) from an incredible trip to Finland supported by a Creative Scotland Open Project Funding Grant to research and learn about the Finnish form of weaving known as Täkänä to inspire some new work and new thinking. The trip was an intense ten days of reading, talking, learning, travelling, listening and absorbing information and experiences to develop new things.

I was totally delighted and grateful to hear last week that Creative Scotland have chosen to fund this exciting new project I have proposed in their latest round of Open Project Funding. This will involve me travelling back to Finland very soon to research, develop and produce a series of rugs, prints and wall hangings inspired by the Finnish form of weaving called Täkänä.

t was a incredibly flattering to be selected as one of '2017's biggest new design talents' by The Guardian a couple of weeks ago. Our shared love of colour has drawn the four of us together for this piece and it is an honour to be selected next to Yinka Ilori, Bethan Laura Wood and Raw Edges.

The Just a Card campaign aims to encourage people to buy from Designer/Makers and Independent Galleries and Shops by reinforcing the message that all purchases, however small, even 'just a card' are so vital to the prosperity and survival of small businesses.

We're delighted to be hosting a Christmas Sale once more at our studio! Join us on Friday 9th December between 4pm and 8pm to shop, socialise and share in the festive fun with your friends! We have some of Scotland's finest designers, makers and bakers joining us...

Our Friendly prints project was born out of an invitation from artists Laura Aldridge and Anna Mayer to create an offering for their Openaries project during Glasgow International 2014. Together they built a portable ceramics kiln and invited local artists and practitioners to make ceramic offerings for one of their three firings.

We hate to bring it up.... but Christmas is fast approaching! So, to make things a little easier for you, here's our last order dates to guarantee delivery in time for Christmas.

We're delighted to be back at the annual Scotland Re:Designed Showcase. This year, interiors and fashion are celebrating together in a joint showcase at Glasgow's St.Enoch Centre in the city centre. For five days, there will be a host of talks and events with the opportunity for you to shop from all the designers taking part on Saturday and Sunday in the pop-up shop!

Mölkky is a Finnish skittle game that I discovered during my residency at Arteles last summer when another artist on the residency returned from a shopping trip with a set of wooden skittles in their basket. It became a kind of after dinner ritual – where we would all put our work to one side and spend an hour or so just playing.