Journal

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:

Last week we were lucky enough to be selected as one of thirty British companies to travel to Tokyo to take part in the UKTI Fashion & Lifestyle Mission held at the British Embassy. Having never been to Tokyo before, or Japan even, this was an opportunity that we couldn't quite believe was happening.

Earlier in the year we were asked to create some merchandise for the Glasgow based band Belle & Sebastian (you can read more about this exciting commission here) and one of the products we developed was a rucksack. Initially myself and Fi (their lovely merch manager) chatted about doing a special duffel as we're both big duffel bag fans, but I'd been thinking about creating a rucksack for a while and thought this was maybe a fun way to develop the product...

We're delighted to be taking part in the Scotland Re:Designed Interiors Showcase this week alongside many other great scottish companies such as Fun Makes Good, Dana Finnigan and Morag Macpherson.

Tampere is the nearest large town to Arteles and also home to Muumilaakso - Moomin Valley, a museum dedicated to the works of Tove Jansson. Although small in size, it didn't disappoint as her drawings are incredible and my personal highlight of the exhibition. No photos are allowed in the museum, so there was only opportunity to snap my souvenirs and happy face outside the entrance...



Week three of my Finnish adventure actually began in the beautiful capital of Estonia, Tallinn. It seemed like too good an opportunity to miss as it's so near to Helsinki by boat, so I took the short ferry ride over and wasn't disappointed. I have never seen so many incredible doors...

Although technically part of my month at Arteles, I thought my visit to Marimekko's factory and headquarters in Helsinki deserved it's very own blog post as it was such an inspiring trip.

As a lover of collecting things for inspiration, I decided to take time out the studio this week and take in the local delights of Hämeenkyrö, the nearest town to Arteles with a selection of secondhand shops and flea markets. I wasn't disappointed and managed to find a selection of blue objects (I'm aways drawn to blues) that included these amazing patterned Arabia cups...

I'm really lucky to be spending August here at the Arteles Centre (pictured above) in rural Finland on a residency alongside seven other artists from all over the world. The last few months have been particularly hectic, so I feel very privileged to be able to take time out from my regular studio activity and think about new work and process recent things.

It's been quite a while in the making but we're finally nearly ready to launch our exciting new interiors line! Last year we were very lucky to be awarded a Creative Scotland Artist's Bursary which allowed us to take time to do some important research and development about an idea that had been rumbling away in the background for a while...

We're excited to be hosting another summer sale at our studio this the Friday 17th July from 5pm - 9pm! We've invited an amazing selection of designers and makers to join us who will all be selling their wares and offering some great deals to customers for one-night only!



This exciting project began at the end of last year when Craft Scotland put a call out for any makers on their directory to come forward who were interested in creating a collection for the National Trust for Scotland. This sounded like an interesting proposal and a great way to start 2015, so I attended their first briefing day at the National Trust's headquarters in Edinburgh in January this year.