Bringing the outside in...

Perhaps this doesn't sound too inviting on these cold wintry days, but it's exactly what we helped our friend Wallace Shaw (above) from Wallace's Arthouse Scotland to do in one of his reception rooms.

Wallace had a hankering to bring his room to life by creating a feature wall across his bank of four huge storage cupboards...  Originally toying with projection or sketching directly onto the surface, we suggested a custom vinyl wallpaper, designed to his specification to display a high-contrast forest glade.

Finding the right picture, we set to work measuring the panels, scaling and setting the artwork and calling our amazing print suppliers who made the final magic happen.  It's a very technical job to get just right (trying to make sure there's a tree trunk along all those shut lines!) and we're delighted with the results.


If you're ever looking for a great place to stay in Edinburgh, you need to meet Wallace.  He's awfully sociable and runs absolutely the nicest boutique B&B we've ever come across.  

Find out more or say hello at www.wallacesarthousescotland.com

What do you think?

 

Shared vision for Edinburgh City Centre

 

 

We designed a series of focus groups for Essential Edinburgh, the City Centre's Business Improvement District. The objective was to understand the issues that they should either champion or challenge on behalf of their membership; then find a way of describing the City Centre that businesses within the BID would like to see develop in the future. This 'Vision Book' is the result, a shared vision for Scotland's capital city, written for its city centre businesses

Discover Edinburgh's West End

We've enjoyed producing a "West End Passport" for the City of Edinburgh Council as a promotional tool for this area of the city.

 

 

Easily explored from the city centre, Edinburgh’s West End is a vibrant and eclectic mix of highly individual shops, cafés, bars, restaurants and more. Alongside big name brands, you’ll discover a bustling group of independent, unique and characterful businesses, each with something special to offer.

 

Pandamonium in Corstorphine :-)

 

Home to Edinburgh Zoo, Corstorphine has seen a lot of media attention this year as the home of giant pandas Sunshine an Sweetie.

With their help, the City of Edinburgh Council wants to let people know about the great selection of shops, services, eateries and businesses that call Corstorphine home. We captured things on camera, to create a number of banners can be seen on lamp-posts in the area.

There's also a chance to find and win a gorgeous Panda soft-toy each month, hidden away in a local business. To find out more and get clues, follow @edinshopper on twitter.

Wind Energy for a Greener Leith!

In 2010, two community-led not-for-private-profit groups, PEDAL (Portobello Transition Town) and Greener Leith, started working together to explore the feasibility of a wind turbine on land at Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works, Marine Esplanade, Edinburgh.

The aim of the project is to:
- Generate enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of 300-1300 homes each year;
- Reduce CO2 equivalent emmissions from electricity generation by between 400 and 2000 tonnes per year (dependent on actual wind resource and capacity of turbine installed) over the lifetime of the installation (25 years);
- Generate an independent income stream that will be distributed to local not-for-private-profit groups for projects focussed on sustainable development. The funds will be disbursed on an open, transparent and inclusive basis.
- Increase local awareness of issues relating to energy and the potential for generating clean energy using local renewable resources, and provide learning and inspiration for other communities to undertake similar projects

They could do with your support in this initiative, and you can find out much more, or show your support online here

To keep up to date with the latest goings on at Greener Leith, why not follow their posts on twitter or facebook

Independents Day

On July 4th people are being encouraged to buy at least one item from a local, independent retailer.What a brilliant idea - but you should try it every week!

Based in Leith, Edinburgh, we already like to do that and are great fans of the Leith Village Store, a locally sourced, fairly traded 'farmers market' held every week at the Out Of The Blue Drill Hall on Dalmeny Street.

There's no shortage of independent retailers in our area and indeed, almost wherever you are. Supporting independent retailers helps keep a buoyant and vibrant mix of businesses in your local area, rather than seeing everything turn into more of the same 'big-name brands.' When it comes to food, it also supports local producers and reduces the number of 'food miles' in your shopping basket considerably.

So look after the small businesses and keep your area diverse, competitive and unique!