Made Works: Edward Smith x V&A Dundee

Born and raised in Buckie, Edward now lives in the village of Fochabers on the north east of Scotland. Trained in Graphic Design at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, his seaside surroundings have always provided inspiration for his artwork and modelmaking.

He first began making model boats as toys for his three young children thirty years ago. To complement Ocean Liners: Speed and Style, Edward created a small set of hand-made ocean liner models to sell in the V&A Dundee shop, including RMS Scythia, Empress of Britain and RMS Carpathia. Find out more about Edward's inspiration, process and beautiful studio in the video.

Starting with a sketch, each piece is hand-cut and carved from wood before being decorated. Since making them for his children, his models have developed into a range for adult collectors and they are now sold in museum shops, art galleries and design-led gift shops across the UK.

Back in 2018 we were asked by V&A Dundee to create a series of videos to celebrate their collaborations with Scottish makers and designers for their gift shop. We wanted to really tell the story behind their inspiration and the work that they created. Over the course of a year we spent time with each designer to learn about how they work. For the project we teamed up with Paved With Gold, and photographer Garry Maclennan.