Glasgow Boutique: Factory 45

Scotland's creative community seems to be making more of an impact over the last couple of years, and I take my fedora hat off to those who are making a difference within the community. This most recently includes boutique manager David Black who runs Factory 45 in Merchant City, Glasgow. I first met David when he was promoting his impressive graduate collection for his label House of Black. Three years later when we met again, I found out that his passion for design has led him to help support other local creative talents. 

Along with David's own label, Factory 45 stocks an outstanding array of womenswear, menswear, vintage pieces, jewellery, accessories, homeware and illustrations. It's the perfect place to discover hidden talents and find eye-catching pieces to add to your wardrobe, home, or for a friend as a unique gift. The current talent you can find in the boutique includes Rebecca Torres, Abetwix, G69, Angel Pixie Love, Mandy Maria, Oh Corrin and many more. 

It's great that the designers are not required to pay rent, and the profits made go to a brilliant charity called Impact Arts. This community arts organisation helps people, who are mostly from vulnerable groups, to gain new skills and find work in the creative arts. Their Factory 45 project not only helps Scottish creatives gain exposure; it also includes retail training for young people. What better reason is there to shop than to help a wonderful charity?

Rebecca Torres collection

Since its launch in December last year, Factory 45 has already won a regional award for Fashion and Accessories at the 2015 Scottish Independent Retail Awards. I hope it continues its success and I plan to visit from now on whenever I'm in Glasgow. Make sure you do too!

Godiva's Blogger Party

On Wednesday evening, I was lucky enough to attend a lovely blogger event held at Godiva boutique on Edinburgh's Grassmarket. In my opinion, it is the most beautiful and unique shop in my hometown. There has been so much thought put into the decor, plus they stock the most amazing hand-made clothing and jewellery. 

Upon arrival, we were treated to glasses of Pimms, brownies made by Lovecrumbs and truffles made by Mary's Milk Bar. They were absolute heaven for a chocolate addict like me! We then spent a while catching up with old blogger friends and making new ones too! I love that Edinburgh is starting to build up a blogging community since more events are being held in our city. It's so much fun being a part of it. 

The activities for the night included making camera straps out of pretty vintage scarfs, and adding little charms. My camera has never looked so stylish! Also, Scottish jewellery designers Luis and Poppy from Runaway Fox talked us through their fascinating collections. Their current jewellery collection is made from castings of human body parts and dead animals. To show us the process, they got three bloggers to cast their fingers which were then turned into necklaces.  It was amazing that you could even see the detail of their finger prints. Talk about a one-off piece of jewellery!

The Runaway Fox designers doing a fab demonstration

Crab pincer necklace, castings of hands and breasts, fox's nose ring, nipple ring and crow's foot necklace

My favourite jewellery in Godiva, by And Mary

It was such a great night thanks to Godiva, and the Scottish brands that contributed. To top it all off, we each received a Godiva canvas bag filled with treats from some of the boutique's designers. Mine included a necklace from Runaway Fox's 'Flora Fatale' collection, a wasp brooch by Karen Mabon and a set of cards illustrated by Genevieve Ryan. 

My 'Angels Trumpet Fatal Flower' necklace by Runaway Fox

For those of you living outside of Scotland, you can still shop the brilliant independent designer pieces on Godiva's website here.

Love from Lou Lou