Whatcha Doin' Wooden Tree?

One of my favourite Made In The Shade tasks is to scout for new and exciting makers and designers. Online handmade marketplace, Etsy, is a sprawling haven of fresh talent, and there's no lovelier way to wile away an afternoon than by clicking through pages and pages of quirky crafty collections over a box of violet creams. I love to contact standout makers directly to tell them that I think they're fabulous!

During the course of one such browse, I happened upon the work of Edinburgh based maker and all round good egg Kirsty Anderson. Kirsty took part in her first Made In The Shade shopping event last month and, unsurprisingly, her work, under the guise of Wooden Tree, was met with smiley faces and a chorus of 'oooohhs' and 'aaaaaahs'. This fortnight's blog takes a sneaky peek at Kirsty's venture into craft and design as we ask, “Whatcha doin' Wooden Tree?”

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Tell us a little bit about yourself, Kirsty.
I grew up in a little seaside town in Fife, and for most of my life I have lived about 500 metres away from the water - it's lovely. I then ventured into Aberdeen to study Textiles and Surface Decoration and I've been involved in making and showing art and textiles ever since.

I was an exhibition curator for a while, working with venues in Aberdeen including Estaminet and Kilau. There's a really great art scene in Aberdeen, and a lot of scope for people to present a diverse range of art and crafts.

 

Embroidered lavender bag

We mentioned Wooden Tree in our last blog post. Tell us more please!
The name Wooden Tree was inspired by an Ivor Cutler song. It goes, "Hey look down in the park - a wooden tree! Isn't it a pretty one?". I adore Ivor's art, poems and music. I thought Wooden Tree would make a perfect name for my venture.

I opened my first Wooden Tree market stall when I lived in London. I initially moved there to work on placement with designer Jessica Ogden. However, I enjoyed my time in London so much that I remained for a while after my work experience stint was over. I adored the market culture in London - there are so many to explore. I love the way they're such a massive part of everyday life. When I moved to Greenwich I decided to get a stall in the indoor market. I created a little world of handmade work and called it 'Hardly Ever on the Ground'. I sold my own creations, but I also stocked other artist makers such as Susie Maroon, Showpony and Fever Zine.

The great thing about having your own wee space is that you can do whatever you want - I find that freedom incredibly inspiring. I had a platform to share everything I had made with a wide audience, and I'd display the work with love and care and visitors would decide whether or not they wanted to own a piece of art. It's a lovely process. My work has a feel of happiness, warmth, humour and history. I love it when people engage with that.

 

Is Wooden Tree your full time job? Are you involved in any other projects?

Wooden Tree tea-towel

I wish Wooden Tree was my full time job! I feel that she is still in the early stages of development though - she's a sapling with lots of knowledge to gain and share. When I'm not working on my own collections, I hold various creative workshops with adults and children, and I'm currently helping run workshops at an Edinburgh school. I also hold craft sessions in The Bowery. The lovely Ruth (the lady who manages The Bowery) lets me show people how to make kitchen pinnies and teacosies. I feel I'm helping the kitchens of Edinburgh to become more stylish!

 

Tell us about your work, Kirsty. Do you have favourite tools and materials? What inspires you?
My work takes inspiration from the past and from eclectic items which hold some history. I like to take objects apart – objects that I find randomly. I then make them into something completely different while retaining some sense of their previous function. I use a lot of linen in my pieces – the kind of stuff your granny would keep in her cupboard. Tablecloths, napkins and pillowcases feature highly. I utilise a lot of embroidery and applique in my work as well and the forest, the sky and nature's friends are great sources of inspiration.

I also love digging around in Edinburgh's amazing range of charity shops and tatty markets give me lots of ideas too. The window of the antiques shop in St. Stephen Street is fantastic and I'm intrigued by old buildings and pubs that have taxidermy exhibits, such as the Drovers Inn near Loch Lomond. Old books are great to flick through for ideas too. I have a load of great bird books and one called 'The Countryside Companion' which has the most amazing screenprint on the cover. It's a print of a landscape, printed in a fantastic green colour.

 

Wooden Tree anchor

Do you bounce ideas around with friends and like-minds?
Susie Maroon and Rachel Henderson inspire and help me. These lovely ladies are amazingly talented. I feel very lucky that all of my friends have a creative side. Most are either artistic or musical.

 

Do you have any stories to share with us? Something exciting? Something showbiz?
I designed the costumes for The Needles' 'Summer Girls' music video. I made a range of animal heads out of old flowery fabric. It was great to be involved in the video and to be there, camping in the forest, watching the live version of the video unfold.

 

What are your hopes, dreams and aspirations for Wooden Tree? What next?
I'd love to continue to take part in more craft fairs. I might even try to organise one at some point. I'm working to get my work stocked in more stores and I'll keep holding crafty workshops. I have always thought it would be amazing to exhibit my work in an old abandoned shop! I'll keep thinking about that. Really, I'd just love to be able to make Wooden Tree a full-time enterprise in the future.

To find out more about Wooden Tree, make friends on Myspace or shop with Kirsty Anderson on Etsy.

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In other Made In The Shade news: Carrie & Clare met rock'n'roll legend Wanda Jackson in Glasgow. Ms. Jackson patted Carrie on the hand. Carrie hasn't washed it since. Carrie & Clare have been hobnobbing with White Denim in Edinburgh. Clare is visiting the ranch. Suzanne and her hubby are looking forward to hearing the pitter patter of tiny feet (hoorah!) and Carrie thinks she might have the swine flu. Oink oink.