26/12/2012

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.






19/12/2012

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.



12/12/2012

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.




05/12/2012

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.





04/12/2012

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.