5 Favourite Small Makers to Gift This Year
at Sandwick Bay Living
Shop your highstreet this Christmas and support a range of wonderful small makers.
Beginning your Christmas shopping soon and looking for ideas? We spoke to 5 of our favourite small makers that we stock in Sandwick Bay Living to tell us why they love what they do as well as sharing their favourite products to give you some gifting inspiration.
Joy Nevada
Joy Nevada Card, £3
Joy Nevada is a Scottish illustrator inspired by nature and the people around her. Whilst studying Design, she found her passion lay in drawing and since then has launched an extensive range of greetings cards and products in her studio featuring her distinct illustration style.
“I have always loved drawing and over the years have found that people connect on an emotional level with my artwork. I have created a greeting card range that I now sell wholesale and I’m gradually adding in new products. I also make ceramics that I sell at markets.
I love creating products that people can connect with. It’s amazing how you can simply send a card to someone and the love and care that represents will so easily brighten someone’s day.
Joy Nevada Card, £3
Joy Nevada has a range of cards to suit all occasions, and we love that her illustrations extend to the back of each card for that extra special touch.
“I’ve also found that I really love working with so many brilliant small businesses. There’s such a great community of makers and stockists. Meeting them and being a part of what they do has brought me a lot of joy!
My favourite item at the moment might be my Wee Haggis enamel pin. The haggis has been around for a while as a drawing, so it’s been fun to see him take on a physical form. I find it so funny!”
Haggis Enamel Pin, £7.95
Cheryl Jones
Magnets, £4.95
Cheryl Jones designs Scottish inspired products such as chocolate bars, scented candles, calendars, tea towels, cards, wrapping paper (to name but a few!) with the sole purpose to bring joy and colour into her customer’s world.
Her Scottish-themed products – first launched at a handful of small local independent shops & cafes, are now sold across the country all from her spare room in Aberlady, East Lothian. We are lucky to have met Cheryl from Scotland’s Trade Fair in 2019 and loved collaborating on gorgeous fun scented Scottish candles inspired by iconic products such as Buckfast, Creamola Foam and The Mighty Bru!
The mum-of one, who made the decision to leave her job in a printing firm to pursue her dream of becoming an artist, has never looked back and feels incredibly grateful to do what she loves for a living …which is drawing!
Small Tin Candles, £9.95
Cheryl left her job in a printing firm to pursue her dream of becoming an artist, has never looked back and feels incredibly grateful to do what she loves for a living …which is drawing!
“Although there is an awful lot of hard graft involved, I feel incredibly lucky that my little business has grown quite quickly in a short space if time. I always try to find the fun, quirky and bizarre in life and my main aim with my drawings is to turn them into fun vibrant product/gifts that ultimately gives the receiver a bit of a giggle.”
“Growing up, I holidayed twice yearly with my Granny and Grandad in Edinburgh and I thought of Scotland as the most beautiful and most exotic of places. I was fascinated by the things we couldn’t get in Wales like Tunnocks Teacakes, Mother’s Pride bread, Barrs’ Ginger bottles (that you took back to the shop to get the 5p deposit) and Granny always used to have at least two tubs of Creamola foam in her kitchen cupboard, which I thought it was just magical.”
Tea Towel, £12.95
“I am like a lot of artists in that I love what I do but I have never been particularly business minded and, as a sole trader, you’re responsible for everything from marketing, book-keeping, designing to developing new business.
The thing I enjoy most is the drawing and designing and I don’t ever want to lose that. I feel that maybe it’s that sense of enthusiasm and fun that people see in my work that inspires them to buy it? …but who knows ! I always feel I have met my brief when I pass someone at say my card stand having a giggle at one of my designs. It’s that feeling that makes what I do so very worth it.”
Ascent Bath and Beauty
Ascent Bath and Body makes luxurious and creative range of bath and body products, and their bath balls have been a firm favourite for adding to hampers or as a stand-alone self-care treat for years in SBC since meeting Michelle through Theo Paphitis’ Small Business Sunday.
Ascent’s bath balls are all handmade in small batches using only the finest possible ingredients and carefully hand finished in dazzling colours and fragrances.
“I create escapism through scent by creating products that tell their own story. All products are handmade, cruelty-free and vegan friendly. I also create bespoke fragrance blends to match the stories that the products tell.
I’m not a naturally creative person, I can’t draw or paint or knit but with my business I have found a creative outlet. I’m also a bit of a nerd, I love books, history etc so being able to create products around those things is amazing.
‘Persian Skies’ was the first fragrance blend I created when I started making cosmetics. The blend is just so opulent and luxurious and fits the journey it describes perfectly.”
Marc Peters Glass
Glass Rudolph Ornament, £15.
We met Marc Peters Glass at Scotland’s Trade Fair alongside his mum Vhairi. His small business creating handcrafted fused glass decorations, greetings cards, homeware and gifts has grown from strength to strength.
Glass Santa Ornament, £14.
“I’m a glass artist based in Glasgow, Scotland. I’ve always been artistic and loved making for creating. After studying glass at college I managed to get myself an apprenticeship working with a stained glass company in Glasgow. I gained so much experience working on small stained and fused projects for homes and individuals to full church restorations and even creating the stained glass for all the sets on the TV program Outlander. Whilst working full time I created my own work on the side and managed to get myself a small kiln and built a shed in my mums garden that became my wee studio.”
Glass Robin Ornament, £12.
“4 years ago I took the plunge and went full-time self employed. I now have my own studio with 5 kilns and a small team including my wee mum who now works with me full-time. I absolutely love Christmas and so creating my Christmas range of products it’s always good fun! I’m hugely proud of oor wee robin decoration as it’s our all-time best seller. Each 1 is individually handcrafted and they are pretty well travelled and we’ve sent them to every corner of the globe. Other favourites in our Christmas range are Santa and his sidekick Rudolf. Santa has a wee jingle bell and Rudolf has golden antlers.”
Ejay Design
Harris Gin Print, £25.
Behind the scenes of EJayDesign is Eilidh Jamieson, a local artist from the Isle of Lewis. Eilidh’s illustrations celebrate the beauty of the Western Isles featuring bold colour and even gold foiling techniques. She now has a range of prints, coasters and magnets available in the shop for the perfect souvenir of the Hebrides.
“My desire to travel and live abroad quickly taught me how lucky I was to have spent my childhood in such a unique corner of the world. With this inspiration, I began creating art which could remind an islander of their home, wherever they were.
With each print, you may set your most cherished locations in glistening hand-painted gold, against a unique watercolour map, paired with personal titles, for a truly bespoke piece of art. This makes for a very unique addition to the home or highly personal gift.”
“The best part about my job is creating art that moves people as everything is so personal. Customers have used the gold to highlight their DNA results, the villages in which their ancestors came from, where they got engaged or a once in a life time road trip. When people send me photos of the loved ones reactions opening their gift, there’s no feeling like it!”
Isles Magnetic Frame, £9.95
Isles Coaster, £5 each.
“My favourite product right now has to be my Entire Hebrides watercolour map, with all the beaches foiled in gold. It gives an intense shine at certain angles, even long after the sun has gone. I’ve started to include a gold heart sticker on the packaging, so it’s owner can peel it off and place over their favourite place.”
Outer Hebrides Print, £42.
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Alongside the coffee, one of the best things of running our independent business is supporting and celebrating other small businesses. We love showcasing up-and-coming makers to our customers in Stornoway, highlighting unique personalities and products that will delight you and your loved ones this gifting season.
Remember to keep up to date with all the last new arrivals at Sandwick Bay Living.
If you would like an item from this blog that is available on the website and are unable to get to our shop, please get in touch and we can organise shipping for you.
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