Drawing by ANNABEL WRIGHT.
CONTEMPORARY quality Scottish crafts at a realistic price is often a
contradiction. At least it certainly is in the cities.
But if you are prepared to travel a little distance to the Aldessan
Gallery set in the delightful Clachan of Campsie you will find excellent
work by young Scots designers at affordable prices.
I liked, in particular, the work of Maralyn Reed-Wood of Shards, from
Bridge of Weir. A graduate of Glasgow School of Art, her work has
already been selected for sale at Scotland's Museum of Modern Art in
Edinburgh and her new winter collection of golden lace earrings (#18),
brooches (#16), and necklaces (#33) make covetable collectors' items.
For fun jewellery take a look at the work of Silvana McLean from
Moniaive, Dumfriesshire, who makes brightly painted wooden children's
brooches. But they are also delightful gifts for women of all ages who
want to introduce some humour into their dressing. Price #3.50 each.
Tasteful stocking-fillers are almost impossible to find. Usually they
are cheap and nasty. But you'll find an attractive range in the Aldessan
Gallery from wooden thistle top wine cork men at #1.45 to ceramic
trinket holders at #2 and scented candles in attractive tins at #1.75.
And popular with the very young are the wooden rattles at #4.40.
An old favourite but worth mentioning again are the silver and black
Celtic design coasters by Rollo of Stirling. The latest range is based
on the design on the stone of St Madoes at Glencarse in Perthshire. #10
for six coasters or #24 for table mats.
Elizabeth Miller from Paisley lived in Hong Kong for several years
before returning to Scotland and the Oriental influence is clearly seen
in her delicate and intricate evening handbags at #20.
One of the latest finds by the gallery is the work of Andrew Norman
from Hawick who makes individual hand-made ceramic Scottish landscape
brooches, each one a small work of art. Price #10 each.
Salt lovers will appreciate the terracotta hand thrown salt pot
complete with special ladle for #4.50.
Ceramic wall pockets by Marjorie Hall offer an unusual method of
displaying dried flowers. Price #9.50.
Buying presents for men poses the biggest problem of all at Christmas.
If you want to avoid the obligatory shirt, tie, hankies, sweaters,
aftershave or bottle of port/whisky syndrome then consider a small
sculpture in his favourite sport, anything from golf to skiing or
cycling.
Alternatively, if he is a doctor, dentist or psychiatrist then pick
one of the sculptures depicting his profession. Prices from #5 to #15.
* The Aldessan Gallery is open every day except Thursday from 11am-5pm
(including Sunday). How to get there: after Torrance take the A891 low
road to Lennoxtown and Strathblane. Clachan of Campsie is on the right.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article