FROM drawing to distilling, ceramics to crochet, talented women the length and breadth of Scotland are making gorgeous, delicious and inspiring products.
Edinburgh-based illustrator Sarah Kwan combines influences from East and West for her playful products, including a vinyl sticker portraying a Chinese dragon tied into a Celtic knot, a greetings card transplanting Nessie into some Chinese New Year celebrations and a print fusing two very different delicacies – the teacake and dim sum.
Isle of Cumbrae Distillers are an all-female team based in Millport who produce three award-winning craft gins – Nostalgin, Croc Rock Gin and Restoration Gin – that come in beautiful bottles designed by the renowned painter Hope Blamire.
Isle of Cumbrae Distillers Ltd Waverley gin 70cl, £42, www.isleofcumbrae-distillers.com
Elsewhere in the islands, Alison Moore makes exquisite jewellery from her home in Orkney, including pieces created using casts of shells she finds on the shore; Fiona Meiklejohn runs Isle of Skye Soap Company, offering hand-crafted aromatherapy soap that is made without colouring and using only the purest essential oils; and Jacqui Murphy sells beautiful hand-painted silk scarves under her Silky Stuff Mull label.
Among other artists taking inspiration from Scotland’s coasts are Fintry-based landscape painter Miriam Emerton, whose products include cards capturing the dazzling colours of Arran; Jo Mathewson,who makes candles and diffusers in her Fife studio for her brand Jo Jo Co; and Edinburgh-based Eilidh Strang, whose hand-enamelled jewellery includes statement earrings inspired by seascapes.
Arran sunset card, £3.25, Miriam Emerton
In Inverness, ceramicist Julia Smith makes lovely illustrated ceramics that are intended to be used and enjoyed every day and feature birds, animals and even little humans exploring the landscape. In Glasgow, Cherryloco jewellery sells quirky acrylic jewellery including a dazzling thistle that can be made as a brooch, pendant or earrings.
Chloe Oswald created her brand Chocolatia after building an impressive career that included building chocolate sculptures for major events. Her chocolates are, she says, “designed to be absolutely devoured”, although it would be wrong not to admire how beautiful they look first. Eleanor Thomas makes Tiny Crocheted Things alongside her studies, including some absolutely adorable tiny frogs.
Last but not least, women-run independence publisher Scotland Street Press champions women’s voices, such as that of author Leslie Hills, whose book 10 Scotland Street – the story of an Edinburgh home over two centuries – has been hailed by the author Sara Sheridan as “a triumph”.
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