One to Watch: Yellow Broom
Yellow Broom aka Edinburgh College of Art graduates David Robson and Clare Waddle. From their studio in the Cairngorms National Park the duo are doing wonderful things with wood....
Words by Emily Martin
Who
Yellow Broom is a partnership of two Edinburgh College of Art graduates (1999), David Robson and Clare Waddle. Sited within the beautiful Cairngorms National Park it designs and hand-makes a range of wooden lighting, launching in 2014 with its first product, YB8.
YB12 / YB12.5 A hand-turned wooden pendant light, it hangs from a wall bracket with a standard plug, or is hard-wired into an existing ceiling rose. YB12.5 takes a cluster of pendants to produce a centrepiece, or can be supplied with extra-long cable so as to hang each pendant around the room
Yellow Broom puts an emphasis on quality, value for money and sustainability and has a zero-waste approach on product manufacture. ‘All excess materials including off-cuts are carefully reused,’ say Robson and Waddle. ‘Some are converted into wooden business cards, the rest is collected and carefully stored to create one-off lights; wood shavings from the turning process provide the packaging.’
YB12 / YB12.5 A hand-turned wooden pendant light, it hangs from a wall bracket with a standard plug, or is hard-wired into an existing ceiling rose. YB12.5 takes a cluster of pendants to produce a centre-piece, or can be supplied with extra-long cable so to hang each pendant around the room
Exhibiting at LDF last year Yellow Broom plans to return for this year’s event while also working closely with Craft Design House, at present, in Edinburgh.
YB8 / YB8.5 In steam-bent ash, the light’s design reflects two seasons in the Cairngorms National Park: spring and summer. The ‘spring’ form (YB8) resembles ‘a bud waiting to bloom’ in its closed arrangement. By moving the four lower ‘tears ‘of the shade the light transforms into a ‘summer’ alignment (YB8.5), a dramatic open shape that symbolises the area’s flora in full bloom
Why
‘After working for many years individually in the visual art sector, both of us, independently and consciously, concluded that we were very keen to explore our common interests in the craft and design market,’ says the duo. ‘We worked on our first collaboration, and subsequently we went on to create Yellow Broom and our first product.’
YB7 Inspired from a wildlife hide in the Cairngorms National Park, this characterful floor lamp gives a warm, elevated, ambient light. The hand-turned shade, in cherry wood, perches high on legs of locally sourced beech that appear to be ready to walk along the floor. It’s available in three heights and comes with a choice of coloured braided-silk cords.
Having produced a small range of hand-made products for stockists and galleries, Yellow Broom says it is committed to affordability: ‘A key objective is to create high-end design products without high-end price tags.’ it is also undertaking a number of commissions from interior designers and architects and plans to expand on site-specific commissions, as well as launching a new product this year.
