Here's tae us; wha's like us?

Andrea Peach, a lecturer and craft historian at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen, is writing an academic paper entitled "Contemporary Craft and the Commodification of National Identity in Scotland after 1970". Her research is mostly based on craft and craft policy in the 1970s, but she is trying to draw some contemporary parallels. Andrea was in the audience at my recent keynote at Craft Connected where there was a little burst of chatter in the audience about how creative Scots use their Scottish identity as part of thier brand. James Donald and I were eager to let the audience know that we are both very proud of our roots and see travelling away from home as a great excuse to show off our tartan. This snap ( although slightly resembling a girl band album cover - not intentional ;) below was taken by Adam Lawrence in Berlin and Snook are very proud of it!

"It was also interesting to note at a recent Craftscotland conference, titled Craft Connected that contemporary makers were not ashamed to rely on Scottish tropes to generate interest. James Donald, a weaver and one the makers who will be represented at the Craftscotland launch in America, said that he always wears his kilt when promoting his work abroad, and Lauren Currie, Director of the Scottish service design consultancy Snook , said that she is happy to wear her tartan tights when promoting Scottish design."

Andrea has asked to interview me about the relationship between my work and the notions of 'Scottishness' and frankly I can't wait!

Oh, and here is a translation of the title: "Here's tae us ; wha's like us? dam few - and they're a' deid! " = "Here's to us! Who is as good as us? Damn few and they are all dead"

What are the connections between your roots and your work? and thank you to the beautiful blog that is Scouts Honor for the photograph.