Consultancy, Creative Direction, Design, Fabrication, Copywriting and Film (Creative Direction)

The Glenturret, in Perthshire, is arguably the oldest working distillery in Scotland, and at the time of writing the single cask of 1972 spirit they had just bottled was the oldest they had ever released. To augment this, Method was challenged with devising something equally unique, forming part of Lot #1, for decanter #1, at a special Sotheby’s auction.

It was to Loch Turret, and the brand’s own creed, ‘By Hand & Heart‘ that we turned for inspiration - commissioning Edinburgh based artist Matthew Draper to create a diptych artwork of the freshwater loch and river that has fed the distillery since it opened its doors in 1763.

Draper, whose work we have long admired, works with his hands, responding emotionally to the landscape, instinctively communicating the interplay between light, water and land. Perfect. It was to the oak cask itself – infused as it is with remnants of the historic spirit – that we turned for art supplies. (The film will explain.)

Our own team of craftsmen handmade the sculpted oak encasement, fluted and ebonised to evoke the remarkable black Lalique decanter that houses the liquid.

Ebonised oak, Ccarbonised oak, steel, perspex

Film: Edinburgh Film Company

Score: Engine7

Main Image: Shannon Tofts

Consultancy, Creative Direction, Project Management, Copywriting and Book Production, Film and Photography (Creative Direction), and Fabrication

Our working relationship with legendary wathmakers Vacheron Constantin began over a decade ago, with a project commissioned to celebrate the opening of the their first UK boutique (Bond St), and has continued ever since. We were delighted, then, to be invited to direct this very special wide-ranging project to celebrate the opening of the brand’s first Scottish boutique.

Working closely with the brand team, we developed The Provenance Collection: a multi-disciplinary craft commission bringing together some of Edinburgh’s finest artisans - inviting them to create new works for the Maison’s light-filled boutique on Frederick Street.

Chalk Plaster, Araminta Campbell, Juli Bolanos-Durman, Hazel Frost and Method Studio drew their inspiration from the themes of time, origin, provenance and exploration, and the fine craftsmanship of Vacheron Constantin’s master watchmakers, using a variety of material, mediums, forms, skills and techniques – some ancient, some innovative – to bring the brand’s creed ‘One of Not Many’ to life.

As well as developing, creatively directing and managing the project, our team worked closely with longtime collaborators the Edinburgh Film Company, and Edinburgh-based photographer Shannon Tofts, to create an atmospheric series of short films and a package of WIP and studio photography for the project. Working with graphic designers Because We Kan, we were also delighted to design and produce a limited-edition hard-bound book, detailing the project and its outcomes.

Mixed materials

Main Image: Hazel Frost, Edinburgh-Smoke-Glazed Vessels, by Shannon Tofts

Consultancy, Design, Fabrication and Copywriting

Designed to house a stunning jade-green Lalique crystal decanter, and filled with the Glenturret’s Uaine 1987 spirit, this one-off chest (for Sotheby’s One of One charity auction) was designed to evoke the rippling waters of the River Turret.

[The piece exceeded expectations, raising over £35,000 for charity]

We’re more than a little obsessed with nature, so paying homage to the Glenturret’s dramatic location, on the banks of the River Turret, and the flowing organic lines of Lalique’s crystalware was a challenge we relished.

The One of One Chest was sculpted by hand at our workshop from rippled Scottish sycamore, locally sourced and carefully selected for its pale, lustrous grain feature. A material and a quality of finish designed to call to mind pearl, bone, or ivory – as René Lalique might have – to allow the stunning jade-green crystal decanter and the liquid within to take centre stage.

Scottish sycamore, 24ct gold, brass, Scottish leather

Images: Marc Millar

What started as a fascination with the romance and industrial elegance of traditional travel trunks has grown over the years at Method, into something of an obsession.

Early passion projects led us to more and more complex designs, and to working with some of the world’s most talented craftspeople to realise our ideas.

Out of necessity, we often needed to unearth, decode, intuit and reverse-engineer traditional skills, and to track down the few remaining manufacturers of high quality fittings. But necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. And as so often happens when the old must be combined with the new, we filled the gaps in our knowledge with the skills we had. And where we could not find what we were looking for, we made it ourselves - first evolving our own design language and techniques, and then our very own distinctive trunks.

From this heritage emerged Method Trunk Works.

Each of our trunks is collaboratively designed with a client and made to order as a one-off, taking hundreds of hours to create, and making the finished articles among the rarest and most individual trunks in the world.

Of course, this quality comes at a price, so we know these pieces - more artworks than luggage - are not for everyone. But if you think they might be for you, we’d love to hear from you.

We have long been passionate about high quality furniture design, and the use of locally sourced natural materials, and in 2018 we opened a very special shop that strived to combine these things.

We wanted to create enduring products for private customer's homes; to bring something special and meaningful to our local high street; and to rediscover something we’d lost.

The story of that shop’s roots - and some of the fine folks who helped make it a reality - is far too long to be told on a website. But it can be delved into in some detail in the debut memoir of Method’s co-founder and creative director, Callum Robinson, Ingrained: The Making of a Craftsman

Sadly the shop is now closed, but especially for anyone who might have read Ingrained, we thought it might be fun to share a few memories…

Method's creative director and co-founder Callum Robinson was trained by his father. They then worked together for over a decade in the Robinson family’s tiny rural workshop on the east coast of Scotland. (About which more can be read in Callum’s book, Ingrained)

To properly explain who designer, furniture maker, landscape architect, housebuilder, master woodcarver and passionate outdoorsman David Robinson is - what he's done, where he's been (and what he's capable of) ...that's a story that can really only be told told over a dram.

Sufficed to say that virtually everything that makes its way out of the dusty recesses of his brain and into the physical realm is seriously impressive. With his years of broad ranging experience, David acts as an invaluable consultant and senior designer for Method. But just occasionally, when the right project comes along, we also collaborate, marrying his unique style of figurative woodcarving with our handcrafted designs.

There is something genuinely special about combining his work and ideas with that of the studio. So if you'd like to discuss commissioning a work which integrates David's work – or might simply be interested in commissioning David to create something utterly one-of-a-kind, please contact us directly. (He hates phones)

David has a lengthy waiting list, so a lead time applies to all projects

Images: Graeme Hunter Pictures & David Robinson

Consultancy, Design, Fabrication, Copywriting, Photography, Film and Score (Creative Direction)

“So. F&$#ING. COOL!”  - Panos Mytaros - Group CEO Ecco Shoes

The Factory Petit was created for the world's most progressive tannery, Ecco Leather, to de-mystify their groundbreaking R&D and artisanal craft production processes, by bringing them out into the world.

After working closely with Ecco Leather's leather in-house design team to fully understand their unique needs (a process that included attending their renowned 3-day Hotshop leather laboratory event in the Netherlands, and collaborating live at the Bread and Butter fashion event at Tempelhof in Berlin) we quickly realised that this project wasn’t just about sales and presentation, it had to be a genuine workshop. A robust, playful, interactive factory environment allowing visitors to create new leathers and customised leather accessories, from start to finish.

Internally the series of trunks houses a fully functional collection of heavy-duty industrial machinery (including concealed cast iron sewing machines on hydraulic lifts, multi-speed polishing machines, riveting machines, and hardwearing worktops) but the modular design and customised castor-wheel system allows each trunk to be moved, combined and set-up by virtually anyone with minimal effort.

The series has now been used as far afield as Dubai, Japan, and Australia, travelling in a specially outfitted shipping container, designed and tailored by Method’s team.

Ash, organic leather, brass, steel, HDPE, perspex and acrylic

Images: Graeme Hunter Pictures

Film: Edinburgh Film Co

Fim Score: Engine7

Collaborative Design, Fabrication and Installation

“We sincerely thank you for all the tremendous work and beautiful detailing”

Deidra Hodgson, UK Construction & Visual Merchandising, Aesop

Even with architecture woven into our DNA, it’s rare that we take on an interior fit-out project (the only other notable exception in recent years being Edinburgh Castle’s Mary Room: the birthplace of King James VI, future first monarch of Scotland, and a project designed not to date for “200 years”). But when Aesop approached us about the interior for their first Scottish boutique, it was an opportunity we simply couldn’t pass up.

Aesop’s design ethos, and the quality of their global interiors - created in sensitive collaboration with local artisans and materials - have always been incredibly inspiring to us, and we’re HUGE fans.

After working closely with the brand’s in-house design team to develop their elegant concepts into makeable furnishings, and spending time in the light-drenched space in Stockbridge, we headed out on a hunt for suitable materials.

Their pallete - muted and tactile, and drawing on the sandstone prevalent in Edinburgh's built forms and the raw beauty of the local landscape - made finding the right timber absolutely key to the project’s success. Luckily, we managed to track down a stand of local Scottish sycamore, perfect for the project.

The boutique’s floor to ceiling shelving and bespoke furniture was crafted entirely from this ghostly timber (give or take a few solid brass details and brackets), its sinuous ribbon-like grain offset by the angular geometry and dramatic shadow, and soft creamy tone harmonising beautifully with the traditional lime plasterwork finish to the walls.

Solid Scottish sycamore, solid brass, steel and toughened glass

Images c/o: Aesop

Design, Fabrication and Copywriting

Commissioned by legendary Swiss watchmakers Vacheron Constantin, this bespoke chest was designed to house a one-off tourbillon minute repeater (valued at $1M), created to celebrate the opening of the brand’s first UK boutique.

“We are delighted to have worked with Method Studio. Their quest to expand their traditional and deep-rooted skills into contemporary frontiers, coupled with their passion for meticulous finish and inscrutable attention to detail, is one wholeheartedly shared by Vacheron Constantin”

- Celine Larose, UK Brand Director, Vacheron Constantin

To pay homage to the brand’s heritage of remarkable complications, the chest requires the simultaneous turning of two small keys to be opened. Inside, the interior houses a collection of specialist watch tools, each recessed in its own individual oak jeweller’s drawer. A winder, resonator, and bespoke Method-designed calf leather and brown oak travel case are also hidden inside.

Strong material links with the England were important to the pallette for this project, so we used beautiful brown oak from the Althorp estate in Northampton (ancestral seat of Princess Diana). And in a nod to Vacheron Constantin’s tradition of supporting the next generation of artisan craftspeople, turned to Callum’s father, Master Carver David Robinson, to detail the piece with several exquisite Maltese cross carvings.

Exhibited at both the Royal Academy of the Arts in London and Edinburgh's prestigious Dovecot gallery

Brown oak, calf leather, bridle leather, superfine suede, bronze and brass

Images: Graeme Hunter Pictures & Andy Bell Images

Creative Direction, Collaborative Design and Fabrication

Designed to evoke the symbolic journey of DENHAM’s very own Journeyman Jeanmaker - founder, Jason Denham - this one-off trunk was created to encapsulate and (literally) transport the brand’s values.

“A Virtuoso piece of contemporary craftsmanship, combining a very down-to-earth and practical understanding of the project with their own remarkable conceptual sensitivity”

- Liam Maher, Design Director, DENHAM

Working closely with Denham’s design director, Liam Maher, and spurred on by our growing obsession with travel trunks, in 2009 we set out to create our own modern interpretation of the classic portmanteau steamer trunk - paying homage to the brand’s ethos that “The Truth is in the Details.”

Drawing inspiration from birch-bark canoes and bi-plane wing construction, the trunk’s lightweight birch-skinned construction contained over 600 interlocked components, all handcrafted from solid ash for supple flexibility and strength. This lightweight skeleton was skinned with 1.5mm thick birch - inwardly curved to protect the faces when in a horizontal position, whilst negating the need for chunky rib-protection - and knitted together with a series of black-Japanned steel fixings.

Internally, the trunk features a lockable drop-down work area (handcarved with Denham’s branding by Callum’s father, Master Carver David Robinson) fitted out with flexible tool straps and a column of swivelling solid-ash accessory carousels. There is also a generous garment hanging area with a selvedge denim flysheet (buttoned down with the brand’s own steel jeans buttons) and a series of storage/display shelves.

This one-off piece was exhibited widely in the UK and Europe, and was featured in Gestalten’s 2012 book TAKEN BY SURPRISE: CUTTING-EDGE COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN DESIGNERS, ARTISTS, AND BRANDS and FRAME as well as on Hypebeast.com and CoolHunting.com

Ash, birch, steel, iron, copper & selvedge denim

Images: Graeme Hunter Pictures

Creative Direction, Design, Small Batch Fabrication, Copywriting, Photography, Film and Score (Creative Direction)

Loch Lomond Whisky’s distillery, on the banks of the eponymous loch, is one of Scotland's best kept secrets, combining highly progressive techniques and a fiercely independent spirit.

From the very beginning, the team at Loch Lomond opened their doors and welcomed us in, meticulously leading us through their heritage, process and products. This time spent on site with their team really helped us get under the skin of the project, and hopefully to create something fitting, as well as special.

“The feeling you get when you see moonlight dancing on the water – that chill it sends down your spine…”

Drawing inspiration from the many moods of the loch, the exterior of each solid oak chest was sculpted to evoke tempestuous water at twilight. A method of randomised faceting that made each chest very tactile and visually arresting, and very much a one-of-a-kind.

Exterior surfaces were ebonised before being heavily waxed and brushed to best refract the light. Each chest was then lined in a distressed tobacco tan leather, blind de-bossed with the limited edtion number, LL branding, and a stylised map of the loch.

For the integrated miniature (a sample to taste) we turned to the distillery’s unique straight neck ‘Lomond Stills’ for inspiration. A slim glass container of the precious liquid was fitted into a lathe-milled vial of solid brass. These were hidden in plain sight within the chest, and used as a further opportunity to display some subtle LL branding - engraved into the cap.

[Limited to 60 decanters worldwide SOLD OUT IN PRE-SALE]

Ebonised oak, leather, brass and glass

Images: Graeme Hunter Pictures

Film: Edinburgh Film Co

Score: Engine7 + Edward & Mari Walton

Collaborative Design and Fabrication

Created in collaboration with the team at Glasgow's Pod Creative for one of the world's leading malt whisky specialists, Gordon & Macphail, this super detailed whisky tasting trunk was designed and handcrafted to enhance Director of Prestige Stephen Rankin's theatrical tasting sessions whilst on the move.

The trunk houses: sampling malts from thier vast collection, nosing glasses, water jug, aroma vials, pipettes, ipad, charred oak samples from barrel staves (sealed in individual wooden cases), journal, and interchangeable storytelling plaques.

Drawers are lined in friction-fit foam, and the trunk itself travels in a bespoke super-light peli-air wheeled & waterproof transit case.

Poplar, leather, oak, bridle leather, closed cell foam & gold

Images: Pod Creative

Design, Small-Batch Fabrcation and Copywriting

In 2011 Method were commissioned by the Glasgow School of Art to design and fabricate a suite of chairs for the school’s prestigious Mackintosh Room. This would be the first time the school had commissioned new bespoke furniture since legendary Charles Rennie Mackintosh. For Marisa Giannasi - Method’s co-founder and Design Director, and alumnus of the Mack - this one was personal.

 “…You nailed it” - Tony Chambers, Editor in Chief, Wallpaper* Magazine

“A significant modern re-imagining...” - Prof. Seona Ried CBE, Director, Glasgow School of Art

“Like a flower, our chair is born of a stamen; with the concept revolving around the beauty and vibrancy of the natural form” - Marisa Giannasi, Design Director, Method Studio & GSA Alumni

To sit comfortably amongst the Mackintosh Room’s irreplaceable original examples of Rennie Mackintosh’s work, the brief called for a sympathetic design, but we firmly believe that traditions are not honoured through repetition (rather, considered interpretation) so we also chose to embrace the artists passions for new materials, Asian styling and flamboyant nouveau influences.

Further honouring the great man’s innovative spirit (and somewhat out of necessity) we developed strong working relationships with precision engineers, industrial adhesives experts, industrial painters and artisanal leatherworkers to complete the commission.

After nearly a year in development, the 24 chairs – each handcrafted from solid ash, rose or pastel green precision-engineered solid aluminium and hand-stitched organic leather from the Tarnsjo tannery in Sweden - were completed, and now sit alongside some of the world’s most influential furniture. Comfortably, but not too deferentially, we hope

Ash, aluminium & organic leather

Images: Graeme Hunter Pictures

Consultation, Collaborative Design and Small-Batch Fabrication

The ‘Kist’ was developed with legendary designer Sruli Recht, and the team at Norlan - an international brand focused on modernising the whisky drinking experience through design, science, and ritual.

This first edition of the Norlan Kist was meticulously handcrafted in limited numbers at our workshop in Scotland, from solid oak, and featured a series of faceted edges and details evoking those found on the Norlan glass. 

Inside, a dusty white, custom laser-cut leather housing served to hold eight Norlan glasses like “A diamond holding sunlight.'“ The flat, removable lid was held in place with blackened rare-earth magnets, safely concealing the inverted glasses in their respective silos.

Ebonised oak and leather

Images: Marinó Thorlacius

Creative Direction, Design, Fabrcation and Copyriting

Over 180 individual pieces of oak, precision aligned with 120 mitre-joints, pay homage to the many unbroken connections that make the family business at Gordon & Macphail so very special.

“A partnership, based on mututal respect…of oak”

- Stephen Rankin, Director of Prestige, Gordon & Macphail

Gordon & Macphail's £100,000 Private Collection was the first of its type from the iconic malt whisky specialist in their 124-year history, so Method was privileged to partner with the brand’s close-knit team to develop and handcraft this unique showcase.

Each Private Collection bottle (including a 1953 Strathisla and 1966 Longmorn) was recessed into a solid oak block crafted from the cask's original staves. Internally the cabinet was lined with Andrew Muirhead Scottish leather and polished brass.

Smoked oak, original whisky cask oak, Scottish leather & brass

Images: Graeme Hunter

Film c/o: Edinbugh Film Company

Collaborative Design Development & Fabrication

Developed collaboratively with the creative team at MSL Global, this large-scale presentation trunk for Mulliner (Bentley Motors’ legendary bespoke coachbuilding arm) presented a highly complex production challenge.

Externally, the sculpted birch and poplar form was wrapped in Bentley’s own steer leather, built onto a steel subframe (with castors for mobility), and detailed with custom made steel profiles in a polished black nickel finish.

Internally, the trunk houses a folding magnetic steel door arrangement (CNC-milled with Bentley’s distinctive diamond quilting pattern) to dramatically display finish options. Profiled leather clad drawers allow for storage and also serve as a housing for the AV element’s CPU, and the drivers for the LED halo lighting.

Birch, poplar, steer leather, powder coated steel, polished black nickel and aluminium

Images: Paul T Cowan

Consultancy, Design, Fabrication and Copywriting

This series of tailor-made travelling trunks houses all of the instruments, rare liquids and glassware required by Johnnie Walker’s Master Blender, Dr Jim Beveridge, to create the John Walker & Sons™ signature blend with private clients, anywhere in the world.

In developing the trunk’s design, we had the privilege (and the pleasure) of consulting personally with Jim, to better understand his process and needs. This relationship continued into the design and fabrication of a second trunk series, refined and evolved after several global blending sessions.

For mobility (and theatre!) the series was split into three individual units, each with its own protective transit case, which could be built into one impactful main piece.

Scottish oak, brass, bridle leather and gold leaf

Images: Graeme Hunter Pictures

Design and Small Batch Fabrication

One of our proudest, and most enjoyable, longterm associations is with the wonderfully talented husband and wife team at multi-award-winning bespoke watchmakers Struthers Watchmakers

Craig and Rebecca lavish such an extraordinary amount of care and attention on their work, so the theatre and ritual of the initial reveal, and the way their watches are housed and stored over the years, are tremedously important aspects of the client experience. We’re incredibly proud, then, to have contributed a little to these experiences by creating many of their boxes.

This example was designed to house Struthers first pocket watch: the Carter, and is inspired by late C19th chronometer ‘deck’ boxes - chosen by Struthers to suit the era of the original movement that the watch was crafted around. (A recommissioned movement made by E.F. Ashley in London in around 1890.)

Deck Boxes were secure portable cases which allowed the very delicate and precious timepieces of the day (critical to non-lethal ocean navigation) to be safely housed on deck. The keys were held only by the captain and master, but even with the box only partially open and the delicate mechanics secure, the watch face was still visible.

The final box - which we crafted from Scottish oak and traditionally smoked for a dark finish - employed a very fine case-lock and a double hinged mechanism. One set of hinges is stopped at 91 degrees and one at 181 degrees, meaning the lids mechanically (and pleasingly theatrically) open one-another as the interior is gradually revealed.

The interior is lined with fine goat suede, and boasts numerous hidden compartments and lift out sections, all housing components from the original C19th movement. There is also a hidden compartment containng a USB, sheathed in oak, with over 100 images documenting the making of the watch.

Fumed Scottish oak, bridle leather, goat suede, stainless steel

Images: Andy Pilsbury

Consultancy, Collaborative Design and Small-Batch Fabrication

Developed from a Christopher Bailey brief – inspired by the furniture of art deco modernist Jacques Adnet – this small batch production run of chests was created to house the brand’s luxurious bespoke fragrance in global flagship boutiques, allowing clients to create and detail their own unique scent.

“Their projects are unique and shroud in beautiful craftsmanship”

- Neil Sharman, Design Director, Architecture, Burberry

Combining polished green Verde marble, full-grain leather, smoked oak, hand-oxidised brass, gold leaf, velvet and thick bridle leather, these pieces were a multi-disciplinary production challenge that stretched our workshop team (and our network of artisanal sub-contractors) to the limit!

Imagery: C/O Burberry

 Consultancy, Collaborative Design, Fabrication and Installation

This series of large-scale presentation trunks was designed in collaboration with Imagination London to showcase the features and finishes of the new Range Rover, for the car’s dramaticn Paris Motorshow Reveal

“...Absolutely fantastic quality and design’

- Steve Lidbury, European Creative Director – Automotive, Imagination Europe London

To create this complex series, we enlisted the help of the technical team at the Scottish Leather Group, a specialist leatherworker, and an AV/electronics team. All of these elements were finally assembled in-house by the Method team, before being installed on site in Paris by our team.

Initially constructed from poplar, each trunk was clad in a combination of specially tooled, semi-perforated leather and custom-made aluminium hardware and edge protection, designed to echo the lines and facets of the new Range Rover.

Internally, the series incorporated presentation drawers and shelves, light-box elements, LED 'halo' lighting, leather-bound material swatch presentation ‘books’ and a wirelessly fed audio-visual set-up.

Poplar, Scottish leather, aluminium, perspex, bridle leather and steel

Images: Graeme Hunter Pictures

Design and Fabrication

Continuing our exploration into organically inspired sculptural textures, the SABRE series was first designed as a statement piece for a private client in London.

Fluted at the base, merging into the sharp randomised gouges towards the top, the sabre’s distinctive forms were created by slicing down into solid Scottish sycamore in series of sweeping arcs.

The rich indigo stain has been layered up by hand, carefully cut-back between coats to create a unique wear pattern and depth of colour (like denim wear over time). This effect is further exaggerated by sycamore’s natural luminescence, and a layered hard-wax finish.

Internally, the cocktail cabinet has a drinks fridge in the base, while in the upper area this piece has storage shelving for bottles and barware, glass-hanging racks, worksurface, wine-rack, mirror and accessories drawers. Bespoke cutting boards are crafted from quarter-sawn Scottish oak.

The low credenza has a pair of sliding doors, each carved with the sabre texture and indigo finished in the same fashion as the cocktail cabinet. The top is a single slab of quarter sawn Scottish oak in an oiled finish, and all interior shelves are also in oak. This piece also features a wireless charger integrated into the top.

Indigo stained sycamore, quarter-sawn oak, leather, elm, bronze and peach mirrored glass

Images: Graeme Hunter

Design and Small Batch Fabrication

The design of the umbrella stand we created all those years ago for the good people at London Undercover is inspired by the form of … yes, you guessed it.

But the stand’s splayed hardwood staves aren’t just a styling feature, they promote air circulation (which is important or damp brollies), and the flexible elasticated webbing inside doesn’t just evoke the spokes of an umbrella, it grips and separates the larger models, and keeps smaller models within easy reach.

We think this is the prettiest umbrella stand there is, but don’t just take our word for it (we’re biased, after all, not to be trusted): Monocle HQ, Monocle Cafe and Moynat Paris all keep their umbrellas in one too…

- Not currently in production -

Oak, elastic, birch and powder coated steel

Images: Graeme Hunter Pictures