Traditional Home + Scottish Textiles

Last June Scottish Development International and Scottish Enterprise, along with Traditional Home, hosted Tobi Fairley, Anne Maxwell Foster, Philip Gorrivan, Patrick Lönn and Gideon Mendelson in my adopted country of Scotland. The goal of the trip was to increase awareness of Scottish textiles for interiors use. The fashion industry knows well the exceptional quality of Harris Tweeds, Scottish cashmere, wool, lace, and tartans fabrics. In fact, some of the best fashion houses in the world work with Scottish mills (The Hermès Group, Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren to name a few). Now it’s time for interiors.

Our incredible itinerary took our group from Glasgow to Elgin to Edinburgh to Perth and back again to Glasgow (all in a four day period). A few highlights along the way were: Morton Young and Borland, Begg Scotland, Macnaughtons, Johnstons of Elgin, Benromach Whisky tour, lunch at 21212, Dovecot Studios, Champagne at Hamilton and Inches, meeting with Malcolm Campbell of Harris Tweed Textiles, Holland & Sherry, and Timorous Beasties. Our day trips were rivaled only by overnight stays at Cameron House (Loch Lomond), The Boath House (Nairn), Prestonfield Hotel (Edinburgh) and Blythswood Hotel (Glasgow). The Boath House, set on 20 acres, was particularly fun; the hosts provide guests with wellies, hats and walking sticks

I shared my thoughts and impressions of the fantastic trip in a special section of the October issue of Traditional Home, while the designers translated the country’s iconic textiles into a stylish statement chair using Edward Ferrell + Lewis Mittman furniture designs (photo above).

Last month at the D&D Building in New York all of the designers joined Beth Brenner, publisher of Traditional Home, and myself for a panel discussion about Scottish textiles. Not only was it fun to reunite, it was wonderful to see such a great turnout from the design community. We were also joined to by Fiona Topping of Scottish Development International and photographer  Gerardo Jaconelli (both from Scotland). Likewise, a huge thank you to Jill Esterman, Amy Soule and Maureen Gillespie of Traditional Home – the day and event would not have been possible without all of you.

Maureen Footer

Philip Gorrivan

Anne Maxwell Foster

Beth BrennerSuysel DePedro Cunningham

Beverly Wells (aka Tobi’s mom)

Philip Gorrivan, Gideon Mendelson and Anne Maxwell Foster

Florence de Dampierre, Sandy Gilbert (my editor), Tobi Fairley, Ronda Carman (me)

Nicole Gibbons

Ronda Carman (me) and Patrik Lönn

Images – Copyright Gerardo Jaconelli

These images may not be reproduced, copied or manipulated without the written permission.