The wait is over! The Barn and FOLD are pleased to announce the recipients of our 2026 Hamewares: Rooted in Craft open call.
Following our open call, we received a large number of high quality applications from makers and designers from across Scotland. Each of these submissions were so beautifully considered and creative, it made the selection panel’s decision quite challenging! Having the expertise of designer-makers and creative gardeners on the panel was an invaluable help in providing first-hand experience in working the garden and how some of the designs would translate into a real-world context. We'd like to extend our thanks to our panel for their assistance with the selection process.
The panel’s decision reflected the competitive nature of the submissions and the need to balance a wide range of criteria, including alignment with the Walled Garden vision, functionality of the pieces, sustainability, and how the products would be received in FOLD.
With all of this considered, we are delighted to introduce you to our recipients of our 2026 Hamewares Commission...
Simon Cooper – The Bumbling Basketeer
Simon is Perthshire-based maker working with wood and natural fibres, specialising in oak swill basketry, hazel basketry and hand-bound brushes. His bespoke Oak Swill Baskets will offer a meaningful way to deepen this relationship to the earth whilst highlighting a critically endangered craft. Traditionally, swill baskets were used throughout rural Britain as practical working containers for farming, gathering and domestic use. The techniques used to make them are highly specialised and now practiced by only a small number of makers.
https://scottishbasketmakersci...
Anna Mitchell & Cameron Ross – Frost Pocket Press
Artists and printmakers Cameron Ross and Anna Mitchell are committed to sustaining this red-listed heritage craft of letterpress both as an artistic practice and from a cultural perspective. The panel was taken by their quality submission highlighting local seasonal considerations, their creative approach to letterpress and Scottish perspective. Their proposal is to create a set of 4 letterpress prints, one for each season inspired by an 1853 Almanac for the North East of Scotland, with use of Scots language terms. The posters will serve as an aide memoire to the monthly tasks, and seasonal fluctuations, which have not changed in the intervening 173 years.
https://frostpocketpress.wordp...
We are very much looking forward to working with our makers to support the development of this new body of work strengthening Scotland’s contemporary craft landscape whilst safeguarding heritage crafts.
