Crafted in Edinburgh

Edinburgh hat eine florierende Kunsthandwerkszene. Erleben Sie mit LORRAINE MALLINDER die Highlights der schottischen Hauptstadt und entdecken Sie ungewöhnliche Hüte, traditionelle Dudelsäcke und kulinarische Köstlichkeiten.

Ask anyone where to get a pint in Edinburgh and they’re sure to point you in the direction of the Grassmarket. This cobbled square in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle was once the location of public hangings. Now famed for its pubs, it’s also home to some characterful boutiques and a great starting point from which to explore the city’s crafts scene.

Take Fabhatrix, hidden away in a corner of the square. With its window display of unusual hats, it’s like something from a long-gone era. People don’t seem to wear hats these days. The shop has always intrigued me, yet I’ve never dared go in to try on the boaters and berets.

The door tinkles as I step into a forest of hats. I take a narrow set of stairs down to an underground workshop, where I find Fawns Reid, chief milliner and owner of Fabhatrix. Its name, in case you hadn’t guessed, is an amalgam of “fabulous”, “hat” and “tricks”.

Reid started out back in the 1980s as a “punk recycler”, inspired by designers like Vivienne Westwood. “We were making tops out of Marks & Spencer’s carrier bags, cocking a snook at the middle class,” she says. Back then, everyone was shopping at jumble sales, but by the end of the decade, tastes were changing. “Everything became flash,” she says.

So she turned her talents to hats. It strikes me as ironic that this punk rebel seamstress ended up making a product associated with the upper class. But by the late 1980s, she points out, everyone wanted to look like Princess Diana, whose hats were part of her signature style. “People associate hats with royalty and the court,” says Reid.

The workshop is a sight to see, filled with piles of hats of every description: trilbies, fedoras, bowlers, wax hats and flat caps. There’s a half-finished hat on a hat block, which is basically a hat-shaped block of wood.

Reid likes to use Harris Tweed, a traditional Scottish fabric made from pure virgin wool. It comes in all sorts of colours, from earthy brown to shocking pink. True to her old punk spirit, she also uses pieces of old material and broken jewellery in her designs.

The results are amazing. Upstairs, we view some wonderful fascinators, one of which is made with peacock and ostrich feathers — and a brooch found on ebay! Right now, a lot of people are buying wax hats to wear in rainy weather. It’s also something you can wear while walking the dog, Reid says.

I’m very conscious that I haven’t tried anything on yet. Nervously, I place a 1920s-style cloche hat in bright mustard on my head. Do I look silly?

“Lots of people come in and say they’re not hat wearers,” says Reid, as if aware of my awkwardness. “But, once you start walking around with a hat, you get confident. Sometimes, the most surprising hat will suit you, encourage you to be the person you want to be.”

As if on cue, we’re approached by an American lady wearing a sporty wax hat. “What do you think?” she asks. “My husband says he doesn’t like it.”

“I think it looks fantastic!” exclaims Reid. “So do I,” says the woman, triumphantly turning to her husband, who’s looking a little sheepish. “You see that sometimes,” whispers Reid, when the pair are out of earshot, “husbands who don’t want to tell their wives they look great.”

Reid is full of interesting anecdotes. One woman, who bought her first hat a few years ago, admitted that she wished she’d started earlier. She was convinced that her classy hat earned her a flight upgrade at the airport.

Personally, I’m not quite ready for a hat just yet, but I could be one day. As I say farewell to Reid, I feel as if I’ve uncovered one of life’s great mysteries.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it

If shopping is your thing, you could spend hours looking through the boutiques in this area of the city, following the upward curve of Victoria Street on to the famous Royal Mile. You’ll find artisanal liqueurs, jewellery, crockery, tartans, silk scarves, vintage clothes and … bagpipes. Yes, Scotland’s national instrument! No tour of the city’s crafts scene would be complete without the pipes!

I could hang out all day at Kilberry Bagpipes, located just off the Royal Mile. Apprentice pipe-maker Ruari Black takes me into the workshop, showing off the handsome, cast-iron machinery with