Over the past two weeks we have seen a growing buzz around our woodworkshop, and over the weekend we have been featured on BBC Radio Scotland, in the ‘Style Bible’ section of Scotland on Sunday, and in the Edinburgh Evening News. We will also be featured Tonight at 6.30 on BBC1’s Reporting Scotland. Have a read of the press release below:
Design Collaboration to Reinvent Scotland’s Pews
A student from Edinburgh College of Art has joined forces with a city community project to help develop a range of handcrafted design classics made from recycled Scottish church pews.Mark Kobine, who is studying Product Design at the College, is working with GROW – Greyfriars Recycling of Wood – a social enterprise initiative, developed by Rev Richard Fraser of the historic Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket, providing training and support to the city’s homeless and those dealing with addictions and mental health issues.
Where previously the pews were stripped down to produce a range of small items such as clocks, mirrors and candleholders, the collaboration between designer and community group is developing concepts for larger products and furniture designs which retain the original features of the pews, some of them over 100 years old and sourced from all over Scotland.
The first product in the new design range is a sturdy three-shelf bookcase, an assuredly innovative and functional customisation of a truncated pew. Made from rich Douglas Fir wood, varnished to restore its deep brown colour but with the bumps and marks of age left to signify its history, the design of the bookcase and the preservation of its source material chime with a contemporary taste for American Shaker chic and British rural country styles.
The Shakers, a religious group founded in England in the 1700s who believed in simplicity and functionality, were known for saying that ‘beauty rests on utility’ and that ‘whatever is fashioned should be plain and simple and for the good’.
On the first of the designs from the collaboration that aims to produce functional design classics steeped in Scottish history, designer Mark Kobine says ‘It’s really about story-telling. The wood grew for decades before being cut down for pews used in small parish churches. After years of bearing the lives of the church parishioners, I liked the idea of the church pews being used to bear the weight of stories in a different way. The undisguised dents in each unique bookcase record the presence of those church parishioners, their hopes and dreams.’
The collaboration – the first in an ongoing relationship between Product Design at ECA and GROW – is also about the stories of the people who will build the bookcases and future designs in the project. Tommy Steel, Enterprise Manager of the Greyfriars Community Project comments: ‘Having the opportunity of working with Edinburgh College of Art and bringing Mark’s skills and ideas into the workshop has been really inspiring for our regular volunteers. This allows the participants to develop new skills, be involved in varied and creative work and gain an immense sense of satisfaction with the final product. The quality of goods we are now able to produce and how it demonstrates the ability of people who are generally devalued should be a message to the wider community.’
The bookcase designed by Mark Kobine will go into production next week at the GROW workshop. It will go on sale at £400 and purchasers will be advised where the church pews used in its construction were sourced from. All profits from GROW sales are invested back into funding the initiative.
For more information about GROW, to place an order for a restored church pew (available in a variety of sizes) or a bespoke design piece including the new bookcase, contact Tommy Steel at: grow@greyfriarskirk.com or call on 07889 169 155.
his past Sunday was the last for three GrassMarkets we participated in. Sadly they are over for the rest of the year. But as you can see from the photograph we had much of the work produced in GRoW (our wood workshop) and a bit from the Herb Garden up for sale. It was a great opportunity to get out in the community and make links with local traders, residents and tourists, and to our surprise many people came up having heard about us already (even the project not on display) and the buzz we have been trying to produce seems to have been working. Thanks to everyone who turned out to support us.
Our new textiles group has had a somewhat slow uptake but over the past month our Victorian loom has been being mended and warped as to give us a fresh launch over the next week or two. We have predominantly been teaching clothing mending and knitting for the first two months but this next week will see us slightly separating the group giving a new Wednesday lunch time opening focusing on knitting and sewing and introducing people to textiles and Mondays will take a special focus on weaving. We have also began to open the group up to the local community to come and take part. If anyone is interested give Josiah the Field Worker a ring on 0131 225 3626 or an email josiah (at) grassmarketmission (dot) org
Our Friday art group has recently won grant funding to develop it further over the next two years. This will allow us to offer more workshops, bring in more artists to share their skills and better give us the space to develop those things the service users want in our centre. We welcome any ideas or contributions.
As most of you are well aware individuals with housing problems are some of the most disenfranchised people when it comes to political activity. Despite this many of the service users here at the Greyfriars Community Project are very well read on the news and regularly discuss political concerns their only problem is having the space to voice these concerns to the decision makers themselves. In an effort to right this wrong we have invited Scotland’s MEPs to come down and give our service users the opportunity to ask their questions and re-gain their political voice. MEPs are currently relevant with the European Elections coming up on 4 June and with many decisions on workers rights, immigration and public spending being voted on in the European Parliament. Last week we had our first visit by an MEP, Alyn Smith SNP came to one of our drop in sessions to field questions and find out more about the work we do. Though he had many questions thrown at him on a wide variety of topics he handled it well and wanted to encourage our ‘collective elbow.’ At the end of the month we are being visited by the Conservative candidate Belinda Don who will provide a different perspective on issues than did Alyn. The hope is that our service users will be able to re-gain their political voice and actively engage with local, national and international politics as a group.
We recently launched the first leg of our gardening project where both members of the local community and individuals who are regulars at our drop in cafe come together to tend a collection of beds in Greyfriars Graveyard. Here is a short article about the Garden: