Local Heroes: Craft Scotland Summer Show 2019

With 18 new designers exhibiting for the first time at the Craft Scotland Summer Show, this annual selling event will be a hub for craft lovers in Edinburgh this August. In total, 41 designers and makers make this Craft Scotland’s biggest showcase yet and plays host to hands-on crafting workshops such as Hand Weaving with Le Petit Moose, Willow Weaving with Anna Liebmann and Paper Folding with Kate Colin. Beginning on Friday 2 August and open daily until Sunday 25 August, the airy second floor of White Stuff at 89 George Street is the venue. We’ve selected six pieces that would help to create a dream bedroom and conveniently doubles as a wish list you can cut out and keep for people who remark that you’re ‘hard to buy for’.

Starting from the ground up is a handwoven flatwoven wool rug by Ailidh Lennon. The designer-maker describes herself simply as a ‘Rugwitch’, which we firmly approve of, and uses traditional tapestry and resist dyeing techniques to interpret the abstract shapes and shifting shades from the landscape of Iona into her sustainable textiles. Lennon uses single-origin yarn from local sheep working with the natural fleece colour and then hand-dyeing with plants and lichen gathered on the island. The colours of the fleece and dyes depend on the changing environmental factors of the season, allowing natural elements to influence the design process. IG: @_ailidh; photo by Anna Mockford

A perfectly formed and practical piece of furniture comes from Glasgow designers and makers HAME. Founded by Lewis Macleod, HAME’s design process is led by curiosity and experimentation. Their Lambda stool-cum-side-table-cum-step is part of a zero-waste range in which every object is cut from a single standard-size sheet of Baltic birch ply before being assembled and finished by hand. Their work aims to combine traditional hand skills with modern manufacturing technologies in new, interesting ways to produce high-quality, beautiful and useful objects that have, they say, 'a quiet and honest character, celebrating the nature of their base materials.' IG: @madebyhame; photo by Matthew Beech

A pastel coloured cushion looks fresh and modern when it’s designed by Emma Boyd-Madsen. Born in Copenhagen, she takes inspiration from Scandinavian design to reinterpret traditional Scottish textiles, applying the principles of simplicity, high-quality craftsmanship and a focus on materials. After graduating from Glasgow School of Art in 2017 and working for well-established textile companies Eribé in Melrose and Stine Goya studio in Copenhagen, she founded her eponymous textile brand. Boyd-Madsen uses knotting techniques with 3D knitted fabrics to create highly distinctive and tactile knitted soft furnishings in Edinburgh. IG: @emmaboydmadsen_textiles

Place a simple stem of craspedia into one of Viv Lee’s sculptural vessels and you have single handedly made any room approximately twice as nice. Lee’s work is underpinned by an interest in exploring the mind-body connection, with the vessel as metaphor for the body. Drawing inspiration from Zen Buddhism, she says the process of making “often takes place intuitively without a fixed idea of the outcome thereby allowing the material and the moment to dictate the form that emerges.” Working primarily with stoneware, Lee hand builds functional ceramics with a focus on sculptural vessels either burnished and unglazed or in a palette of neutral tones. IG: @_viv_lee; photo by Gabriela Silveira

Any dressing table would be complemented by glassware from Vicky Higginson whose work combines hot glass and cold-working. Forms are handblown and worked into using cutting, carving and engraving techniques to create striking objects. Taking inspiration from Japanese and Scandinavian design, she creates elegant shapes accentuated with unusual and innovative surfaces. She explores the relationships between form, pattern and colour. Her Mix & Match range features colourful bowls with carved feet that would be the perfect receptacle for a pair of minimalist earrings. IG: @VickyHigginson

Symmetry, geometry and linear pattern is the signature style for Kinnaird Jewellery, seen here in these hand-carved gold statement studs. Numerous research trips, including visits to Peru and Morocco inform her practice, providing a fresh appreciation for the global story of makers, traditional craftsmanship and pattern making. The Edinburgh jeweller will also be participating in an exhibition titled Adfectus, opening during the Fringe Festival at Bloc Gallery (40 Ferry Road). IG: @kinnairdjewellery, photo by Stacey Bentley

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Craft Scotland Summer Show, White Stuff, 89 George St, 2-25 Aug, free. Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm (Thu til 7pm), Sun 11am-5pm
Book tickets for workshops at craftscotland.org