Meet the Maker - Scout & Boo

Scout & Boo are husband & wife team, David & Teresa Beswick.  Together they create a range of beautiful ceramics and upcycle furniture with their graphic designs.  We are super delighted to have their work on sale in our Christmas Design Temporium shop this year. We chatted to them both recently about their inspirations and love of good design...

Please can you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your work? 

Scout & Boo are David & Teresa Beswick (and helpful toddler Gracie too). S&B started as a dream whilst living in London 10 years ago, we dreamt of having our own interiors business incorporating recycled pieces and making and designing our own ceramics range and furniture too. We moved to Bradford on Avon six years ago and we’ve been going full time on our dream since June of this year. We have a range of graphic upcycled furniture, artwork, ceramics and lighting, fabrics and our own furniture range will be coming in 2015. 

What do you love most about working in your chosen discipline? 

Teresa: I love the diversity of our work. No two days are the same. One day is working on colour schemes for the furniture and the next is designing packaging for our ceramics line. Bringing together the various aspects of each product to build a brand that we’re happy with inspires me daily. 

David: Having graduated twenty something years ago with a Degree in Furniture Design and spent the last 18 years working as an illustrator and graphic designer, I am now able to bring together my two passions into creating products which utilise both disciplines. Not having a boss to answer to (other than Teresa) gives you free range to explore creative possibilities. It doesn’t always go to plan but the sense of achievement when it does and you finally see a completed piece is unsurpassable. It also enables me to spend more time with my family. 

What is your favourite family Christmas tradition? 

Teresa: Turkey! Got to love the turkey (and sherry for breakfast) This year our daughter will be almost two at Christmas so we’re getting very excited about building some new family traditions with her to help make her some special childhood memories. I’m sure there will be a letter or two to Santa and some homemade decorations. 

David: Baileys Irish Cream! 

What handmade item is high on your Christmas wish list? 

Teresa: Oh so many! I am in love with Mister Finch’s work at the moment and would love one of his very special pieces; maybe a hare, or a bee (or ideally all of them). I’d also quite like a Fornasetti incense burner, I love them a lot. 

David: Gracie made a 2014 calendar at nursery last year, complete with foot print sleigh and hand print reindeer – genius. Can’t wait to see what they come up with this year. 

Do you have any tips on selling over the Christmas period? 

This is our first Christmas for selling so we’re pretty excited about it. We’re focusing on getting our display absolutely perfect along with our packaging and always having a smile. We’re finding organisation is key too. Every element of the brand and what we’re about has to reflect our aspirations to deliver a stylish, quality product. 

If you could choose a fellow artist/maker to collaborate with, who would it be and why? 

David: Growing up in Manchester, it would have to be two designers who have influenced me the most - graphic designer, Peter Saville and interior designer Ben Kelly. Peter Saville designed record sleeves and posters for Factory Records and often used visual references from other genres and historical imagery which he reinterprets in his work. 

Ben Kelly designed the Hacienda nightclub, formerly a yacht showroom. The design utilised the existing industrial structures and materials which he transformed through colour, light and texture. The result was an industrial aesthetic which stayed true to the building’s warehouse origins. This ethos of using existing objects and images and reinterpreting them are what our upcycle projects are all about. Creating pieces to fit in with modern living doesn't necessarily mean throwing out the old, merely reinventing it. Construction methods and materials used in household furniture 50 years ago produced pieces that were made to last. By recycling them we hope that they live on and are used and enjoyed for generations to come. 

Which artist do you find inspiring to follow on Facebook or Twitter? 

Teresa: I love the updates and photography from Mister Finch (as I mentioned before he is a bit of a fave of mine at the moment) he makes me want to get the sewing machine out and start making beautiful work, unlikely as I cannot sew but he inspires me! I also love a local artist Patricia Volk who produces some amazing sculptures and Yvonne Ellen is a new favourite too with her quirky ceramics. 

David: What is Facebook and Twitter? (Social Media-phobe) 

Finally if you could design a Christmas decoration, what would it be and why? 

This is a long-standing joke in our house. The crowning glory on top of our Christmas tree has been a star made out of a green coat hanger that has been with us for 9 years. We really need to make more of an effort this year - saying that I’m quite fond of our slightly imperfect tree topper.

Thank you David & Teresa, we adore your designs.  We are also huge Mister Finch fans here too, those mushrooms!  You can discover the world of Scout & Boo in our Christmas Design Temporium shop which is at The Architecture Centre on Bristol's historic harbourside.

Join us TONIGHT for our shop launch and party!  More information can be found on our Facebook page.

Christmas Design Temporium

The Architecture Centre

Narrow Quay

Bristol

Tues - Sun: 10am - 6pm