Berry Blair Tallboy

Thanks to Jen and Kenny from Brodies Timber for inviting me to collaborate on this piece.  I loved adding a pop of colour and a local story to the piece of vintage furniture and they restored it and french polished the drawers.

This design is inspired by my summers as a child picking berries at my uncle Willie McIntyre’s fields in Essendy near Blairgowrie.

Memories of colourful berry baskets tied round my waist with string, popping red raspberries which were hanging from the bushes and hiding under the leaves, delicious juicy berries bursting with flavour and the stripes of the dreels up field.

In this bespoke hand painted piece, I’ve tried to capture a sense of place of my happy memories of picking berries, by playfully contrasting patterns and using meaningful references. 

I enjoyed re–naming the colour to:

  • Raspberry Red
  • Nabbler Green
  • Sun bleached baskets
  • Retro Teal
  • Orange String

It was great to be in the space and I loved the workshop with all the tools on display and so much lovely wood around with all the warm colours and patterns in the grains.

It was great to work alongside Suzanne Scott from Whimsical Lush who was also painting a vintage piece. You can see me painting another piece of wood that will be used in modern furniture. Looking forward to seeing what they turn it into.

Louise Kirby and Suzanne Scott at work in the workshop