I have no excuse, no apology. I've just been too busy with minor things to get round to updating the blog, so it is almost eight weeks since I last posted. Unforgivable.

Music first and on a wet an windy night, I cycled out to "The Hare and Hounds" to hear Mats Gustafsson's blistering jazz trio, "…

Another busy week, this time hosting at Glasgow Kelvin College our first "Jewellery Technology Day" comprising demonstrations and visits from a variety of people connected with digital…

SO... it is that time of year again and the degree shows are in full-swing. Unfortunately, because of the timings of holidays, the exam board and external examiner for my own graduands, I didn't get to…

The main event this week has been completing my watch and chain for the ACJ exhibition "Sleight of Hand". The last element to be completed was the fitting of a glass to the 1838 silver watch-case which was…

Jan Donaldson

At last I can reveal the "secret project" I have been working on for the last month for "The Contemporary Jewellery Exchange 2015" in which various contemporary jewellers around the world create pieces which they send to each other. I didn't want to…

I remember hearing an article on Radio 4's "All in the Mind" programme about how the definitions of mental illness were changing due to the re-writing of a single book which is generally used to define all mental illnesses. A psychiatrist who disagreed with the new definitions pointed out,



"most people in the west do not consider themselves to be fundamentally happy... because the majority of the population do not consider themselves to be happy, we could say that anyone…

So I am not going to write about Robert Burns at all. I don't mind Robert Burns, but rather like too many things we were given in school, I have a limited tolerance for him and, as with Shakespeare, I regret the…

SO, it is 2015 and I've not made a post for almost a month, which is most remiss. First of all, I wish everyone a happy and successful 2015 and hope that we can overcome what has not, generally, been a particularly…

Gordon Millar, organiser of the "Scot Street Style" events.



What a whirlwind of a week!

It all kicked off on Saturday night with a visit to…

I feel really deflated after all the stress leading up to the referendum and although my sleeping patterns are back to normal - for the four or five days prior to the event, I was getting about 2 hours a night! - I'm still…

Today I headed off to Edinburgh with one aim: to see the show of work by the wonderful Judy Clark and her twin sister, Christine. I've written of Judy before - commissioning a…

What a week! Not only have we been finishing off with the students for the year - and sometimes for ever, really - but I've been doing my best to help Karen Dicken to get the "Handmade By Machines" exhibition and…

Yesterday I had the pleasure of going to my favourite Scottish city - Dundee - to see the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD for short) degree show. As usual, my main interest was in the…

Over the last week, I've just discovered two amazing resources for jewellers which are based in Scotland.

I've been working - as many of you know - on my "Fashion:Victim" piece for the ACJ…

What a crazy ten days! The highlight of which was definitely a long weekend in Rome, a city I have not visited since I was in school, aged 15. I went to Rome for the weekend to see the impressive exhibition "Il Tesoro Di Napoli", a collection of objects from the Museum of San Gennaro in Naples…

Last night was the event of the "Scottish Style Awards" for which I had been nominated as Scotland's "Most Stylish Male". I am really glad to be able to…

I don't know what has happened over the last few months but there seems to be an unstoppable maelstrom of creative energy centred over Scotland. Perhaps it is the fact that I've become more active in the creative culture around me but I feel that there is something amazing brewing here and I am not exactly sure what it is. Everywhere I go, I'm surrounded by people who are not only sparking with ideas but who spark ideas in me. There is a creative synergy which is driving everyone to new…

I completely forgot that I spent some time during the conference over the weekend speaking to Rachel Skene - a friend and colleague of Patty Niemann's in Caithness - talking about her project "You Love Local". This is a scheme which aims to promote handmade and craft products by not only tracking products from start to finish but also to by giving them a "narrative", something of their back-story. She is also planning a level of managed quality…

I have just returned from Dundee where I attended the Craft Scotland conference for 2013. As I have blogged before, I have a lot of time for Craft Scotland. I don't…

It is that time of year again, when the degree shows in Scotland all kick off. As usual, the roll is started by Dundee's Duncan of Jordanstone College of  Art & Design - DJCAD for short. Regular readers of my blog will…