Retail Commissions

Following the success of the Refresh Now Retail open call and commissions in 2021, we have since run two further retail commission projects, inviting local artists and makers to apply for funding to support the creation of new products to be exclusively sold in our retail spaces.

Each successful applicant received £500 of funding to develop a design that Shetland Arts then commissioned for a production run.

The funding was intended to allow artists and makers the time and additional resources to try new methods or new production processes.

Each artist is based in Shetland, or has a strong connection to our islands.

You can find out more about the artist and their products below.

Commissions

Retail Commissions 2022

Helen Robertson – ‘Peerie Pictirs’ Enamel Brooches

Helen creates memorable jewellery, textiles and artworks inspired by Shetland’s textile heritage and natural environment. Her highly original work includes elegant, contemporary silver jewellery and fine works of applied art that both celebrate and commemorate Shetland’s history and heritage. Each beautiful piece is handmade in her workshop at home in the north of Shetland. She also designs knitted textiles and runs online knitting classes in specialist techniques.

Links

Website: https://www.helenrobertson.com/
Facebook: Helen Robertson Jewellery & Textile Design
Instagram: @knitshetland

Print Clubb – ‘Shoal Junction’ Apron and Cards

Allie Clubb is a local Shetland printmaker with a love for finding pattern in the world around her. All of her designs are created using hand carved lino blocks and aim to celebrate the small, often unnoticed corners of the world, where we tend to miss out on beautiful things. Her fascination with intricate design stems from time spent watching her dad poring over complex and highly detailed projects during his work as a stone-carver – it was here that her love of carving and cutting was born.

Links

Instagram: @print.clubb

Jocelyn Naquin – Shetland Wildflower Tea Towels

Jocelyn is a surface designer and maker. Since moving to Shetland in recent years, she has been endlessly inspired by the flora and fauna that inhabit the beautiful islands. She originally started her business 13 years ago by sewing and designing custom items for babies and children. During that time, she fell in love with surface pattern design and now she loves to create artwork for products that are both functional and bring people joy.

Links

Website: https://thenestingspot.com/
Facebook: The Nesting Spot
Instagram: @thenestingspot

Variorum – Shetland Folk Music Gift Wrap and Tags

Helen is a designer and artist who created her brand, Variorum, in 2020. She was born and grew up in Lerwick until she moved to the mainland to advance her studies – she studied in Aberdeen for two years before studying her full degree in Design for Textiles at Heriot Watt University. 2020 was not a great year for her graduation, especially when it came to starting her career, so she started Variorum as a way to continue being creative, inspired and to show how amazing our country is.

Links

Website: https://www.variorum.co.uk/
Facebook: Variorum
Instagram: @variorum_official

Aimee Labourne – Shetland Landscapes Postcards

Since moving to Shetland in 2016, Aimee has been hugely influenced by the islands’ unique landscape. Her art practice focuses on drawing, but photography has always formed a large part of how she collects visual material and develops ideas. She enjoys capturing forms, patterns, and ephemeral moments – in Shetland’s often quickly changing weather, there are interesting qualities of light and colour, and subtle but magical changes from season to season. She has interest in themes of nature and space in her artwork – arrangement of space and perspective in an image can highlight natural processes, evoke a sense of passing time, and also reflect understandings of our changing relationship to nature.

Links

Website: https://www.aimeelabourne.co.uk/
Instagram: @a.labourne

Tenneka Designs – Shetland Wildlife Woodblock Prints

Tenneka’s art is quite varied in many ways – her earlier work was more realistic, but her style is ever changing. She is currently experimenting with her art, which is something she believes everyone should try. For now, she is going to keep creating, as she has an ever growing list of ideas to try and work her way through, and she will wait and see where her art takes her!

Links

Facebook: Tenneka Designs
Instagram: @tenneka_designs

Retail Commissions 2023

Jo Chapman – Da Lightsome Buoy Print

Jo is an established site-specific artist working in the public realm on large scale commissions for a variety of sites. She has undertaken projects in the UK, France, India and Ireland. In 2015, she was commissioned by the Pelagic Sculpture Partnership in association with Shetland Arts to make a sculpture to celebrate Shetland’s long association with the pelagic fishing industry, which now sits on the harbour front in Lerwick.