Homes & Interiors Scotland

It's difficult to put an age on good design. We can take a stab at when something might have been made, but if it's good – and I mean really good – it should be timeless. And timeless design is worth investing in. Our Collector's Issue celebrates just that. The pieces that stay with you don't have to be the most expensive; rather, they're the ones that hold most meaning – the painting handed down through the generations, the house-warming gift from your first home that you can't bear to part with, the armchair you used to read in as a child that has found its way into your current living room. These are the things we gather over time, offering a sense of a curated home that speaks of…

From Where I Stand is a new exhibition of prints and multi-media artworks by seven contemporary artists from India and Scotland. Shown fi rst in Delhi this spring, then in Edinburgh in 2024, the exhibition is a mix of new commissions and existing works, including this arresting piece, Vital to Life. It's by Sonia Mehra Chawla, a visual artist, photographer and researcher, who combines art, science and technology as she investigates themes of sustainability and conservation. “The project explores the enigmatic life of plankton through an ecological, cultural, political and poetic, lens,” explains the artist, who has collaborated with farmers, ecologists, climate-change scientists and microbiologists. Her work lays bare the impact of technological obsolescence and the waste it creates, and focuses on larger global issues associated with our threatened eco-systems.…

When Fi Douglas was in primary three, she drew a picture of a donkey. It was an excellent donkey. So exemplary, in fact, that the teacher held it aloft so that her classmates could admire her efforts. “I remember very clearly that being a light-bulb moment for me,” she says. “I thought: ‘I can do this?’ And she did. Douglas, now 41, has become a household name in textile design with her much-loved interiors company Bluebellgray; a vocation she was destined for, judging by the creative thread that runs in her family “My aunt went to art school, my grandparents painted as a hobby and my greatuncle was a professional artist,” she says, sipping a cup of tea in the crafting nook of her Bearsden home, where she has spent…

CURVES TO DIE FOR Time to swap out the old wingback? Check out the wonderfully wibbly Etcetera easy chair from Tigmi. Designed in 1970 by Jan Ekselius, the iconic shape has made this a favourite in homes worldwide. As for which of the eight colours to pick… Chocolate-brown velour seems entirely fi tting for this retro seat. £3,749. tigmitrading.com SIGNATURE STYLE LET IT SHINE The Alma floor lamp is a collaboration between Swedish interior designer Beata Heuman and Original BTC. The bone china shades are hand-painted and 41 handmade holes allow light to filter through. Malleable stems make this an adaptable piece. £1,200. originalbtc.com £1,200. originalbtc.com LOVE ME OR WEAVE ME The Vintage Weaves collection by La Manufacture Cogolin is the brand's fi rst launch of 2023 and celebrates its Mediterranean…

DISCOVERY OFF THE BEATEN TRACK BACK IN 2020, WHILE MOST OF US were staying home, David and Roz Spencer were setting up shop. Edinburgh Mercantile, on North West Circus Place, joins a raft of similarly stylish shops in Stockbridge. “We'd always dreamt of having a little neighbourhood shop selling products we love from people we admire,” say the owners. “We're a small family business, so it felt important for our shop to be in the thriving community in which we live.” The shop might be small, but it's well laid out, with a clear focus on quality rather than quantity. “We put a heavy emphasis on the functional, practical use of everything we stock,” says David. “It is all chosen for its purpose and aesthetic. We trade in genuine, lovely…

Fabergé is perhaps the world's most iconic jewellery-maker, best known, of course, for its intricate, elaborate gilded eggs. With the rarest of these fabulous objects worth millions of pounds, the eggs have become symbolic of priceless treasures – one is the focus of a heist in Ocean's Twelve, and James Bond famously plants a recording device in a fake Fabergé egg in Octopussy. More recently, a Game of Thrones egg and high jewellery collection was created in collaboration with Warner Bros. So how and where did it all begin? The earliest roots of Faberge are in northern France, but religious persecution forced the family known as Favri (later Favry, Fabri, Fabrier, Faberge, and finally Fabergé) to flee in 1685, settling in what is now Estonia. Over a hundred years later,…