The first Big Craft Give-Away, will take place on Saturday 22 September 2012 when thousands of craft objects will be given away as gifts to inspire people to go and see craft.

(Photo: Shannon Tofts)

Part of the Year of Creative Scotland the craft objects have been created by craft artists working with local communities, and will have been influenced in some way by the place where they were made.

On 22 September the objects will be given away at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery and Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Gardens. Some will be given to friends by the people who helped create them, or geocached, left at random for people to find, or sent to individuals who have registered online at bigcraftgiveaway.org.

Each object given away will have its own story – who made it, where and how it was made, what it’s made from and what inspired it – and now it will become part of another person’s life-story and will continue its journey.

The two-year Big Craft Give-Away has been made possible thanks to over £90,000 from Creative Scotland’s First in a Lifetime initiative which aims to create new opportunities for people to enjoy, or take part in, creative activity during 2012 the Year of Creative Scotland. Iain Munro, Director of Creative Development at Creative Scotland, said:

‘We are delighted to have invested in this project through the Year of Creative Scotland 2012 programme.  Bringing together leading craft artists with communities in Inverness and Edinburgh The Big Craft Giveaway will create First in a Lifetime experiences for people to get involved in making crafts objects and sharing them with the wider community.’

At Inverness Museum and Art Gallery jeweller Dorothy Hogg will be working with groups using metal, creating aluminium discs with emblems inspired by the objects in the museum and jewellery using the ancient skill of metal twisting. In the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh ceramicist Lorna Fraser will be running workshops with community groups to make porcelain leaves, and she has created an exclusive object inspired by a Malaysian seed pod.  The two craft artists will be in the venues on the Big Craft Give-Away day where drop-in workshops will give visitors a chance to make their own object.

The project takes place over two years with the number of venues increasing to over ten venues across Scotland creating an even bigger celebration and give away on Saturday 21 September 2013. 

The Big Craft Give-Away introduces new opportunities for people to get involved in making and is a celebration of craft in Scotland – the amazing quality, creativity and skills of our craft artists and the exciting places to see traditional and contemporary craft.  

The event is an initiative by Really Interesting Objects working in collaboration with High Life and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

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