Isle of Bute Artist Launches Colourful New Scottish Gift Brand with a Very Cheeky Cast of Characters

September 15, 2026

There is something new beginning on the Isle of Bute.

After more than 25 years of working across art, multimedia, product design, storytelling and Scottish-inspired creative projects, I have launched my latest venture — Braw Gifts™, a colourful new Scottish gift brand with humour, personality and a growing cast of characters at its heart.

Braw Gifts has been quietly taking shape behind the scenes for some time.

There have been sketches, patterns, products, websites, ideas, abandoned ideas, better ideas and the usual slightly chaotic process that happens when something creative begins finding its own identity.

Now it finally feels ready to step out into the world.

And apparently, I haven't launched alone.

I've brought a Highland cow, a sheep and a rather suspicious-looking seagull with me.

Meet the Braw Bunch™

At the heart of Braw Gifts is a growing character world known as The Braw Bunch™.

First came Mc Moo Coo™, our shaggy Highland cow — cosy, cheeky and always up for an adventure.

Then came Paddy Baa™, warm, woolly and baa-rilliant.

And finally, Mr Seagull™ arrived.

Cheeky. Noisy. And probably after your chips.

The characters are playful versions of familiar Scottish personalities and creatures, designed to make people smile while giving the brand a recognisable world of its own.

That part is important to me.

I've never really wanted to make just products.

I like creating the stories and worlds around them.

A character starts as a drawing. Then a personality develops. A phrase appears. That becomes a design. The design becomes a product. Before long, you're looking at an entire collection and wondering exactly when the imaginary Highland cow took over the business.

That's the fun of it.

A Scottish Gift Brand with a Different Personality

Scotland has an extraordinary visual identity.

We have tartan, Highland cows, thistles, islands, mountains, castles, dancing, music, language and traditions recognised around the world.

But there is another side of Scotland that I love just as much.

Our humour.

Our warmth.

Our ability to laugh at ourselves.

And our habit of describing something particularly good with one very simple word:

Braw.

That's the spirit behind Braw Gifts.

The aim is to create contemporary Scottish gifts that are colourful, useful, funny and full of character — something recognisably Scottish without feeling overly traditional.

The growing collections include homeware, mugs, bags, clothing, cosy products, school accessories and Braw Clogs™, alongside seasonal collections such as The Scottish Advent™.

I'm also developing The Braw Gift Box™, bringing products together into gift experiences designed to be enjoyable from the moment the box arrives.

Built on the Isle of Bute

Braw Gifts is being developed from my home on the Isle of Bute, where I have lived and worked for more than 25 years.

Bute has played an enormous part in my creative life.

Living on an island gives you an interesting relationship with creativity. You're surrounded by landscape, changing weather, wildlife, history and community, but you're also connected digitally to the rest of the world.

For someone who has always moved between art and technology, that combination suits me rather well.

I've spent years drawing inspiration from Bute and Scotland, creating products, developing projects, writing stories and watching ideas grow from tiny sketches into much larger things.

Braw Gifts is another chapter in that journey.

Building on Years of Scottish Design

Although Braw Gifts is new, the creative journey behind it isn't.

My background began in multimedia in Glasgow around the turn of the millennium, and since then my work has moved through digital media, photography, education, community projects, illustration, ecommerce, product development, publishing and storytelling.

Along the way I've created and developed several brands and creative projects, including The Highland Dancer®, Happy Tartan® and Bute Gifts.

Each has taught me something different.

The Highland Dancer taught me an enormous amount about building a niche Scottish brand and designing for a very specific community.

Happy Tartan allowed me to push further into character development, storytelling, fashion and colourful contemporary interpretations of tartan.

Bute Gifts grew from my relationship with the island itself and my interest in creating products inspired by place.

Braw Gifts brings together many of those lessons while becoming something completely of its own.

From Artist to Storyteller to Brand Builder

One thing I've realised over the years is that my work rarely fits neatly into one box.

I draw.

I write.

I build websites.

I develop products.

I research.

I photograph things.

I create characters.

I build brands.

I write stories around them.

And quite often I do several of those things in the same afternoon.

For a long time I probably thought of these as separate activities.

Increasingly, I realise they're all part of the same thing.

Storytelling.

A brand can tell a story.

A character can tell a story.

A product can carry a story.

And even something as simple as a mug can create a tiny moment between the person who buys it and the person who receives it.

That's the space Braw Gifts is beginning to occupy.

Creativity, Technology and a Changing World

Another part of this project has been exploring how rapidly creative technology is changing.

I started working with digital media long before today's creative tools existed.

Now artists can move between traditional ideas, digital illustration, photography, ecommerce, animation, publishing and AI-assisted creative workflows in ways that would once have required entire teams.

I find that fascinating.

But technology doesn't decide what Braw Gifts becomes.

I do.

Technology can help make something faster, test an idea or bring something visual to life, but the creative decisions still matter.

What belongs?

What doesn't?

What makes somebody smile?

What feels Scottish without becoming predictable?

And perhaps most importantly:

Would I actually want to give this to somebody?

If the answer is no, it doesn't belong in the box.

A Wee Brand with Big Plans

Braw Gifts is still at the beginning.

There are products being developed, samples arriving, photographs to take, gift boxes to build and plenty of ideas still sitting in notebooks waiting their turn.

The Braw Bunch are only just getting started too.

I suspect Mc Moo Coo, Paddy Baa and Mr Seagull have considerably more adventures ahead of them.

And that's perhaps the part I'm most excited about.

Because I'm not simply launching another collection of Scottish gifts.

I'm building another little world.

One character, one story and one slightly daft idea at a time.