We’ve joined forces with the talented folks at Bill Baber Knitwear to highlight even more businesses who are designing and creating in Scotland, just like us! This is part of our Meet the Maker blog series. This month’s spotlight is on Whisky Frames, a small business based in Rosewell Midlothian, just outside Edinburgh, that makes beautiful up-cycled whisky barrel photo frames. Kristen the founder of Whisky Frames chatted with India from J Boult Designs about her inspiration, making Whisky Frames and what running a small business is like with her family.
- How did your business get started?
I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur and have my own business. We had the idea for Whisky Frames in 2016 when I was looking for a personalised frame when our dog Tess sadly passed away. We had an ah-ha moment when we saw a gap in the market for both personalised frames and genuine Scottish gifts. We attended our first Christmas market in 2016 and sold out of frames before the end of the day. We knew that we had a product that people loved at this moment. When I was due to go on maternity leave the following August, we decided to use the time I was on leave to really try to build the brand.
Over the past year, we have diversified with the opening of Barrel Smiths which adds to our range with additional personalisable whisky barrel gifts and more!
- What's your inspiration?
We get our inspiration from Scotland and its industrious past. Scotland has such a fantastic history of makers and we love reusing a by-product of the whisky industry creating beautiful gifts for people to treasure. It is great to get a message from a customer about a special moment we framed for them. It's amazing to be a part of their experience and story.
- How do you make the products?
We make all the frames in our workshop just outside of Edinburgh. We start with kiln drying all our wood in our biomass wood dryer ( We use our wood offcuts to feed the biomass). Following this each frame moved through sanding, doweling, gluing, planing, spraying, metalwork, and finishing.
- What's your favourite product that you make?
I always look forward to the Christmas season when we make whisky barrel hoop wreaths. This really reminds me of my childhood. My father owned a flower shop and I would help him there when I was young. Wreath-making really gets me excited for Christmas. Although now the wreaths are year-round and we are looking forward to more designs and wreath-making kits to get people involved in the process.
- What part of Scotland are you based in? And what do you love about your local area?
Whisky Frames and newly formed Barrel Smiths are located in Rosewell Midlothian. Midlothian is great. We really enjoy exploring all it has to offer with our two children. At weekends we love to go on bike rides exploring Roslin Glen, brunching at the Sun Inn, and further afield. Rosewell has easy access to the reservoirs where we enjoy paddle boarding and wild swimming sessions. Over the past year with not being able to travel we have been so lucky to have the Pentland hills and more on our doorstep.
Check out Whisky Frames website here to see their beautiful handmade products and story.
