Not For Squares

I used to live in Scot­land. At the very top. In the High­lands. With views of purple heather clad hills and the wild north sea.

The air was cold and clean. Whisky was pure single malt. Made in the vil­lage where I lived. And ven­ison was a staple.

So I thought I’d revel in a little bit of Scottishness.

The first is ANTA. Their fact­ory shop was just down the road. And I fell head over heels in love with their hand­made tartan stoneware.

Everything from ANTA is made in Scot­land. The woolen yarn used for their car­pets and tweeds is sourced in the West­ern Isles and is woven in the Bor­ders. The oak fur­niture is made in the High­lands and some of the wood is homegrown. ANTA was cre­ated by design­ers Annie and Lach­lan Stew­art. And this is their amaz­ing home.

The second bit of Scot­tish love­li­ness is Papa Stour. An online mar­ket­place for all things hand­made in Scot­land.  Papa Stour embraces art, crafts­man­ship and design in its purest form, like this bone china pod…

or this hand­sewn notebook…

or this lambswood baby blanket…

Slainte Mhath!

Yes I know it’s a Bill Wither’s song, but there really is just the two of us. And we can make it if we try (I’ll ignore the castles in the sky bit).

Coulson Macleod is a teeny weeny company.

There’s Mark, he’s the Coulson half. And there’s me, Han­nah, the Macleod half.

The busi­ness is built on love and driven by pas­sion. This is true. This is not some made-up mar­ket­ing spiel.

Mark and I met, fell in love, moved in together and then got bored of star­ing at blank walls. We knew what we liked. But couldn’t find it to buy. Or if we did, we couldn’t afford it.

Then we said, “I bet there are other people out there just like us,” (or words to that effect).

Coulson Macleod is our baby. We love it and nur­ture it. We wake in the night to think about it. We proudly tell oth­ers about it. We glow with pride when it does well. It is ours. And we’re on a won­der­ful journey.

Per­haps Mark and I are build­ing big castles way on high. Just the two of us. You and I.

Lim­ited edi­tion vintage-style art print by Coulson Macleod

“What is love?

To solve that riddle with just one answer is bey­ond me, for love is many dif­fer­ent and con­tra­dict­ory things.

In the early stages love is excite­ment and breath­less­ness, it is the ache of sep­ar­a­tion and the com­fort of togeth­er­ness, and it builds inex­or­ably to that moment when ‘I’ becomes ‘we’.

Later, if blessed, love becomes a stronger, less trans­it­ory thing, a found­a­tion for two lives lived as one.

It is all around us, there for the tak­ing, yet to seek it out is futile.

It can­not be bought or stolen or given.  It can­not be avoided or denied.

Love is the beau­ti­ful, won­der­ful, mys­ter­i­ous mor­tar that binds two souls together and I first heard its voice on the day I met you.

It has been with me every moment since.

This is what love is.”

Love Birds card cour­tesy of Ruby Wren

Writ­ten by Coulson Macleod.

Our latest typo­graphic col­lec­tion ‘Words’ is now avail­able to buy online at Coulson Macleod.

Coulson Macleod’s oak-framed typo­graphic art. £125

Coulson Macleod’s oak-framed typo­graphic art. £125

Coulson Macleod’s oak-framed typo­graphic art. £125

Our ‘Words’ col­lec­tion is made in the exactly same way as our hugely pop­u­lar ‘Love’ col­lec­tion. Gor­geous chunky hand­made prints. But only half the size, just 29cm x 29cm x 8cm.

We’ve kept the lovely vintage-style, with a rough-sawn solid oak frame sur­round­ing a white-washed oak panel prin­ted with dis­tressed typo­graphy. All hand­made with love in the UK.

Our ‘Words’ col­lec­tion is unlim­ited in print quantity.

For any­one inter­ested in know­ing just what goes into a Coulson Macleod wooden art piece… the oak panel is cut and sanded by hand before being covered with a coat of diluted white lac­quer wash to fill the grain, and then sanded and re-washed with the lac­quer a second time. The panel is then over-printed with UV ink. The mitred frame is hand­made using rough-sawn solid oak with a shadow rebate on the groove. We pur­pose­fully retain any defects in the oak to add to the charm and char­ac­ter of the piece. These can include knot holes, warps and water marks, so each frame is totally unique. The prin­ted panel is then encased into the frame which is then glued and pinned, ready for hanging.

Inspired by a cus­tomer who wanted a ‘Love’ print, but just half the size. And we loved it so much, we just had to cre­ate some more. Let us know if you like them!

Coulson Macleod is fea­tured in this month’s issue of Coun­try & Town House magazine.

Coulson Macleod is fea­tured in this month’s issue of Easy Liv­ing Magazine.

Our art­work ‘Love Makes The Ride Worth­while’ is on page 11 on the Editor’s let­ter page. Susie For­bes says, “Finally — this Coulson Macleod panel (£149) with its sweet and poignant mes­sage takes us right back to feel­ing the love — and let’s face it, there’s noth­ing quite like it!”

So thank you very much Susie For­bes, Editor of Easy Liv­ing. You have great taste!

Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saat­chi & Saat­chi World­wide wrote this lovely piece about us on his blog KR Con­nect,

“A few weeks ago, I dis­covered Coulson Macleod, an art busi­ness mak­ing waves from Northamp­ton­shire. It’s the cre­ation of Mark Coulson and Han­nah Macleod, a couple who share a strik­ing design aes­thetic, rad­ic­ally pos­it­ive ambi­tion, and, most import­antly, love.

I’ve bought sev­eral of their pieces, which are all hand-finished in lim­ited edi­tions. The works in the Love Col­lec­tion are favor­ites of mine – bold typo­graphic designs fea­tur­ing declar­a­tions of feel­ing and fam­ous romantic lines from clas­sic movies. Other col­lec­tions cel­eb­rate the pop cul­ture of dec­ades past, the icons of music his­tory and the spirit of Cool Brit­an­nia – all top­ics close to the heart.

After I sent the team a note of encour­age­ment, Han­nah Macleod shared the company’s “simple little love story” with me. It’s also a story of smart, down-to-earth entre­pren­eur­ship. After fall­ing in love, the couple began work­ing together. Want­ing new art for their home, but not able to afford high-end prices, they decided to design their own rather than deign to buy mass-produced prints, and thus Coulson Macleod was born.

Start­ing small in March 2009, Han­nah and Mark didn’t have big dol­lars for pro­mo­tion, but built their own web­site and show­cased their designs online. The work spoke for itself, and with grow­ing sales they could soon begin advert­ising in top interi­ors magazines. Now, Coulson Macleod fields orders from all over the world, and tracks the buzz on their blog. Brides-to-be have con­tac­ted them to ask if they can read out the quote from the “What Is Love?” piece at their wed­ding – a spe­cial request as this was writ­ten by Mark.

As Han­nah described it to me, the com­pany is “built on love and driven by pas­sion”. The world needs more entre­pren­eurs like this. Here’s to spread­ing the Love.”

Coulson Macleod lim­ited edi­tion typo­graphic art

The ulti­mate romantic gift. Writ­ten by Coulson for Macleod when he fell in love with her.

If any of you received a Coulson Macleod Love print for Valentine’s Day, do let us know. x

Coulson Macleod lim­ited edi­tion typo­graphic art

The per­fect gift for Valentine’s Day.

Coulson Macleod lim­ited edi­tion (x 250) vintage-style typo­graphic art print. £149.

Free deliv­ery within the UK.

Coulson Macleod lim­ited edi­tion typo­graphic art

The per­fect gift for Valentine’s Day.

Coulson Macleod lim­ited edi­tion (x 250) vintage-style typo­graphic art print. £149.

Free deliv­ery within the UK.