Do images of tartan and tam-o-shanters come to mind when you think of Scottish craft? A writer and curator, Macdonald was on the mastheads at Wallpaper and Monocle before serving as brand director for Studioilse; he grew up on the Isle of Skye and notes that the Macdonalds are Scotland’s oldest clan.
Photography by Edvinas Bruzas, unless noted, all courtesy of Bard.
Photography by Edvinas Bruzas, unless noted, all courtesy of Bard.
The driving idea behind Bard, Macdonald says, is to “honor Scottishness with all its natural glamour and rough edges.” Come see.
The shop is located in the 1811 Customs Houses overlooking the Water of Leith in Edinburgh’s historic port, where it’s part of a creative community of studios, galleries, and event spaces.
The shop is located in the 1811 Customs Houses overlooking the Water of Leith in Edinburgh’s historic port, where it’s part of a creative community of studios, galleries, and event spaces.
The Shop
The Shop
James Stevens, L, and Hugo Macdonald, R, previously lived in London and Hastings; relocating to Scotland was a long-term plan that got jumpstarted by the unexpected availability of their quarters.
Photograph by Norman Wilcox-Geissen.
Once the space was secured, Stevens and Macdonald spent two months overhauling it.
“Approaching the spaces with a domestic mindset was a handy way of establishing the feeling we wished to achieve, neither shop, nor gallery, a familiar, comfortable, intriguing environment within which to spend time engaging with craft on a human level,” says Macdonald.
The previously painted wooden floor was sanded and the walls and ceilings plastered using natural earth pigments—”they quite literally have a crafted finish.” Shown here: Sastrugi hanging sculptures by Naomi Mcintosh and a Fan Back Orkney Rocker by Kevin Gauld, The Orkney Furniture Maker.
The stairwell is decorated with a hanging by Orkney artist Mark Cook, who applies traditional knotting techniques to discarded and donated fishing rope.
Burnt sienna-tinted plaster walls in the dining room echo Scottish baronial dark wood paneling.
Macdonald and Stevens write Our mission at Bard is to demystify craftsmanship so people can understand its value beyond the polarization it tends to receive either as nostalgic souvenir or untouchable art Showcasing...
...craft in a domestic context allows people to imagine living with and using craft in daily life which is where it adds value to the individual simultaneously elevating and grounding small daily moments
The Maker’s Work
The Maker’s Work
Burnt Umber, £2,300, a linen piece by textile artist Hayley McCrirrick hangs over Sheahan Made’s Vernacular chair and Alistair Byars’s Totem candlestick, £1,200.
Lindean Mill Glass Gem Carafes, £165, and a Gem Tumbler, £70.
A trio of Lambswool Bed Blankets, £150, by Drove Weavers of Langholm “in the textile heartland of the Scottish Borders.”
The McRostie Leather workshop has been around for more than a century.
The McRostie Leather workshop has been around for more than a century.
Photograph by Hal Haines.
The employee-owned Shetland Woollen Company of Hoswick, a village in Shetland’s South Mainland, makes classic crew necks of Shetland wood, including this Fair Isle Pullover in “iron rust,” £140. Go to the Remodelista archive to explore more standout Scottish design, including.
