Grainne Morton, the Edinburgh based Jerwood prize shortlisted jeweller, has produced a new range of jewellery which is available at Concrete Wardrobe. Her range includes delicate, light as a feather, perspex butterfly earrings and necklaces, and vintage cabuchon pieces.
Morton's vintage designs use found objects, from the obscure to the miniature, to create lively, colourful spontaneous stories. Her designs evoke a feeling of nostalgia, and her diverse range of materials creates attention, sparking memory and thought in the onlooker. Her pieces are beautifully balanced and perfectly executed. Butterfly studs start at £35.65.

At Concrete Wardrobe we love to support local designer makers and artists. Mark Kirkham, a.k.a. the Edinburgh Sketcher is our most recent addition to the fold. The Edinburgh Sketcher creates fabulous images of Edinburgh, filled with character and warmth. He posts a sketch a day on his blog which you can see here.
Concrete Wardrobe have his full range of Edinburgh Christmas cards, postcards and a couple of framed prints for sale. Prices start at £1 for a postcard.

The textile designs of former Edinburgh College of Art graduate Lana MacKinnon have recently been unearthed, and thanks to the hard work of her son, Nicholas Gilmour, they've been recreated for the 21st century.
MacKinnon graduated in 1945, her final degree show bought up by Cresta Silks. The following year her worked featured in the V&A's 'Britain Can Make It' exhibition, celebrating postwar design and pioneering the home of the future. A contemporary of Lucienne Day and Terence Conran, MacKinnon continued to design until her early death age 44. Although a definite name on the Scottish scene at the time, her designs had since been forgotten until now.

MacKinnon's designs have been sensitively reproduced onto thick cotton/linen-mix fabric using traditional methods, and made into generously sized cushion covers (50x50cm). Concrete Wardrobe are proud to be the exclusive Scottish retailer of these beautiful cushions. Testament to the adage that good design doesn't go out of style, they are in fact the perfect anti-recession pick me up. Her fresh and hopeful post war palette was as spot on then as it is now, and her quirky, informal designs do not fail to delight and inspire. It is very exciting and poignant to see these pieces of design history reproduced for our time. 
Cushion cover with duck feather pad £80 each.

There's lots of new stock arriving everyday here at Concrete Wardrobe, all in preparation for some fabulous gift giving this Christmas. In today is new work by Jayne Stephen. A graduate from the Glasgow School of Art, Jayne mainly uses recycled materials like felted wool and the softest leather to create original and very wearable accessories. Her range includes nature inspired leather necklaces, kilt pins, bracelets and woollen brooches. Lovely!
Prices start at £10 for a bracelet with hanging leather flowers.

For a fabulous and inexpensive Christmas gift, or for something to add colour and texture to your outfit, look no further than the felted jewellery and accessories by Fife based Syrah Jay. 
Syrah Jay makes hand felted floral brooches and hair slides, hat pins and one off beaded felt necklaces. Her colours are bold and interesting, with lots of decorative stitch and bead detailing. 
Prices start at £2.30 for an individual hair slide.

If, like me, you're loving the idea of a snowed in, rustic winter wonderland, Scandinavian log cabin look this Christmas, Hipster Spinster have also produced a range of Nordic antarsia Christmas cards, alongside the cushion covers. I think an attempt at some creative Christmas display could be in order in my house.

With a nod to this season's antarsia patterns, Hipster Spinster have introduced a range of said decorated cushion covers. Available at Concrete Wardrobe with or without a cushion pad. £28 with pad, £25 without. How seasonal could your sofa be?!

Fresh in this morning at Concrete Wardrobe are more beautiful ceramics by East Lothian based artist Susan Kemp. Kemp's pieces have all the necessary functionality you'd expect from modern tablewares, being both oven and dishwasher proof. But at the same time, they look so dainty, vintage and rustic you'll either want them pride of place on your dressing table cradling your precious jewels, or in the case of the tea set, reserved for careful handwashing after a mid morning pot of the finest orange pekoe. 
Prices start at £17 for the cutest jug known to womankind.

November has been a busy old month and it's fairly flying in as we approach the party season and to ease us into the bright lights of December we have the colourful work of Concrete Wardrobes co-owners James Donald and Fiona McIntosh with some new and innovative hand printed and hand woven work - all of which is exclusive to Concrete Wardrobe. 

Here at Concrete Wardrobe we are very pleased to tell you know about our latest textile based arrival from Aberdeen based designer Helen Ruth.

These hand drawn digitally printed pieces have a fantastic sense of fun and jollity about them with there vibrant and clashing colours!

These pieces will surely liven up any festive out fit that you have in mind as the party season approaches!

One more thing to add about Tessuti. She's also been featured on Rio Magazine's online site. You can read the article here. 
Rio magazine specialises in all things crafty and Scottish. And, if you become a RioPlus member, you get a 10% discount at Concrete Wardrobe. Double bonus!

November already! How did that happen I hear you say ... well if I knew I would bottle it and sell it in Concrete Wardrobe!

As well as the onset of a drop in temperture in November as we move through the year, we have also taken delivery of Fiona McIntosh's, who also happens to be one of the co-owners of Concrete Wardrobe, fantastic bright and colourful silk screen printed fabrics. Each piece  have been hand printed in her Edinburgh based studio, details enclosed and have been printed on various qualities of fabric including a warm to the touch soft knitted fabric.

These pieces will be available to purchase from us here at Concrerte Wardrobe through the month of November and beyond!

As well as these pieces Fiona has also produced a collection of limited edition ceramics pieces and a couple of one off pieces including an AMAZING trench coat all using Fiona's wonderful 50's inspired hand printed fabrics!

These pieces will be a very welcome colourful editions to wardrobes up and down the country!

 

Just as our November Makers of the Month get ready to bring their seasonal sparkle to Concrete Wardrobe's window, STV are featuring them on their website! You can read all about Tessuti, PickOne and Concrete Wardrobe here.

Click on the image on the left to be taken to our FB page where you will be given information on our next "Meeting and Greeting your Makers" event.

This November sees Concrete Wardrobe not having just the one maker but two ... and they also co-own Concrete Wardrobe.

We, Fiona and James look forward to wecoming you and your friends to one of Edinburgh's leading independent retail spaces supporting and promoting Scottish based and trained designer makers!

New in the shop this week is the detailed felt jewellery of Lynsey Walters. Fife born Lynsey gained an MA in Constructed Textiles at the Royal College of Art, and now works from her home studio in Edinburgh. 

Lynsey sells her work internationally, her stockists reading like a 'Top 20 coolest shops in the world' compilation. It was only a matter of time before Concrete Wardrobe became a part of that list too! 

Her nature inspired themes of leaves, birds and flowers are beautifully executed. Her medium of chunky felt, exposed stitching and cute buttons creates an initial charm of childlike simplicity, but to call her work childlike is to miss the detail and precision in each piece. The aesthetic balance achieved between detail and lightness of touch, makes each piece perfectly formed, highly desirable and effortless to wear.

Concrete Wardrobe's Fiona McIntosh of Tessuti Printed Textiles, has been very busy recently. She's just returned from a successful selling exhibition in Manchester (The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair), and is getting ready to be Maker of the Month alongside Pickone here at the shop this November.
Here's a sneak preview of what she will be exhibiting at Concrete Wardrobe come November 1st. Just copy and paste to your Christmas wish list!