Earlier this year Edinburgh based gallery Fruitmarket became the inaugural recipient of Cultural Enterprises’ new Seeds of Change £10,000 prize fund supporting sustainable initiatives within the cultural sector. Fruitmarket was awarded the prize for its innovative Future Makers mentoring programme, supporting local makers to create bespoke products that are ethically and sustainably produced.
The aim of the Future Makers programme is to support makers in their retail journey and create a model for galleries and museums across the UK to work with makers. It also aims to boost sustainable practices in retail and showcase the potential of retail to create meaningful stories.
Fruitmarket’s Buying and Retail Manager Allison Everett explains, “Future Makers hopes to demonstrate how you can support and grow a network of makers to help them thrive while running a profitable retail operation. If this model is adopted throughout the UK, we could potentially see more successful regional makers and designers.”
The makers have all now been chosen and will be supported over the next 12 months to create bespoke designs that respond to Fruitmarket’s exhibitions and events programme with products that are sustainably produced.
Meet the Future Makers
Ames Truscott is a glass and sculpture artist whose work focuses on the interactive nature of art pieces as physical objects, but also on the fluidity of materials and on the transformative role of light. As a queer and disabled artist, they are passionate about keeping art accessible for all and creating a space in which art can be enjoyed and experienced at any level whilst acknowledging the intersectional parts of their identity and their privilege. Their work exists in the intersectionality of their identities, within the vast spectrum of queerness and neurodivergence, and they aim to create not only for their community but for anyone who wants to enjoy and explore art.
Deluxe Miscellanea is an art-workshop selling hand-made multiples, prints, gifts and bits and bobs to live by. Based in the Highlands, Emma Gibson is an artist and maker of the multiple objects that hold our adventures and define our lives. Her projects and the products that grow from them each have their own story that is lent to their new owner to make their own. As well as running Deluxe Miscellanea, Emma has exhibited sculpture and installations at ShowStudio, Art Block and Turner Contemporary, and has works held in the Scarborough Geology museum collection.
The Unraveling offers a curated selection of mindfully designed crochet homeware and accessories. Every piece is designed and handmade, in Edinburgh, using natural fibres. The Unraveling’s aesthetic is natural and understated, advocating quality and sustainability.
Eva Snedden is a Scottish illustrator crafting a range of charming folk-inspired designs that reflect a love for nature, storytelling and pattern from her sunny Edinburgh tenement.
Nine Inch Nailsss is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Glasgow, passionate about creating accessible, wearable art and making press-on nails which are tiny, portable paintings—art that is literally at your fingertips.
Nmarra Designs specialises in bold graphically led jewellery pieces and lifestyle accessories, utilising small-batch production processes available in Scotland. Brass products range from statement earrings, necklaces, hair pins and brooches to bookmarks and tenement door numbers. Fashion forward pieces are developed to reflect a strong design aesthetic and create rhythm, structure and visual balance that resonate meaningfully with the viewer.
MULGREW is an artist based in Glasgow making ceramics, jewellery, environments and performance. She is interested in trying to make home made, lively, responsive work, using materials and process as a starting point for investigation.
Rachel Ashcroft makes unique wooden furniture and objects from the naturally abundant resource that shapes her local landscape in rural Dumfries and Galloway. Her work is designed around the grain and patterns inherent in the timber, which shine through the shapes and forms she creates. All the timber she works with is sourced directly from the region she lives in and is mostly storm blown or diseased, naturally air-dried hardwood. She feels proud to hold that connection to the land and a real sense of sustainability in the material she uses.
Rosa Park is an artist, illustrator, and ceramicist based in Glasgow whose ceramic pieces draw inspiration from her own drawings and writings. Her work often explores themes of nature and the relationships she forms with animals and loved ones in her everyday life. Rosa’s creations, which blend a cheeky and kitschy aesthetic, aim to bring comfort and a smile to those who encounter them, reflecting the healing effect that art has on her as an artist.
Second Cashmere are Lotti Blades-Barrett and Emily Smit-Dicks. Lotti is a circular fashion business owner with over a decade’s experience working in marketing and the digital arena. In 2019, she completed her MSc from Heriot-Watt University, specialising in sustainability in the cashmere industry and has since gone on to found Second Cashmere, an award-winning sustainable cashmere brand. Emily is an artist, maker, and educator based in Glasgow. Originally from Toronto, she spent 14 years there as a costume maker in film and television. She completed her MFA from the Glasgow School of Art in 2019. She co-runs Second Cashmere.
Xinyi Yang is an emerging designer and artist based in Edinburgh. Passionate about sustainable design and cultural fusion, Xinyi creates eco-friendly products blending Edinburgh’s rich heritage with traditional Chinese arts. Xinyi’s work is inspired by the coastal landscapes of Scotland, and using sustainable materials like seaweed she aims to transform this often overlooked resource into unique, environmentally friendly designs.
Melankólia is Zsófia Jak’s ceramics venture that focuses on functional ceramicware like cups, mugs, and vases, as well as hand poured candles with custom scents. She’s hoping to capture the calm, tender moments when we stop in our running life to appreciate the small things; a handcrafted cup to drink from, a scent that conjures a memory, a flicker of light on a winter evening.
Fruitmarket is a free, public space for culture in the heart of Edinburgh, providing inspiration and opportunity for artists and audiences. Find out more about Future Makers and Fruitmarket.
Applications for the 2025 Seeds of Change prize fund will open in November 2024. Find out more.
