Make Works do Valentines day

What was once an occasion in which lovers presented eachother with hand picked flowers, homemade confectionary and greeting cards has become yet another festival in the calender of consumption. If you're wondering where all the Valentines day tat that lines our pound shop aisles comes from you can presume that it's been keeping the factory workers from the Zhejiang Province busy since they shipped all their Christmas goods - Gemma Lord wrote us an account of her experience in a factory in Zhejiang Province called 'Christmas, handmade in China'  back in December.

Make Works love a bit of matchmaking though. In a bid to avoid further exploitation of our global workforce and resources, we have been using the directory to source suppliers to make things that we have designed ourselves, or are made locally. Here are some of our tips for those classic Valentines gifts. 

1. Where should I get a card from? 

Keen to make your own card? Get some local paper (handmade in Glasgow) from Pulp Paper, if you're looking for something a bit more flashy you can make your card electronic using Bare Conductive Ink.

You should check our favourite Riso printers Risotto Press and Workhorse Press if you want to get your own design printed somewhere. They are also great for printing romantic mixed-tape sleeves, graphic novels, zines or postcards!

2. What kind of flowers shall I buy?

Buy local flowers. The most popular cut flower of choice, Roses, are typically grown in Colombia or Ecuador. Not only are they flying thousands of miles to reach us, but they are using up huge swathes of land and local water which could be used for food production. 

If you don't have time to go for a walk and collect your own flowers, check out Cambo, they grow their own Snowdrops in Fife and have a special Valentines bouquet which you can order from their website. You could even buy a potted plant, if you're worried that you'll forget to water them try out DIY Thirsty Plant Kit from our friends at Technology Will Save Us.

3. What kind of gift should I buy?

A ceramics class

For that time-honoured activity of tacit romance book a crafternoon at CyanClayworks or Glasgow Ceramics Studio 

A framed picture 

Kelvin Framers will lovingly make bespoke frames for your 'precious moments' You can pick the wood, wood finish and colours.

Scotland's network of print studios such as Dundee Contemporary Arts have high resolution photography printing too. 

A handmade jumper 

In these cold times we're sure that a handmade woolen jumper would be a great comfort on your romantic Valentines walk. Di Gilpin produce jumpers for some fantastic fashion labels such as Topshop, but they also produce one-off jumpers to order.

If you are knitting something yourself check out Shilasdair on Skye for yarn. 

Romantic Novels

If you're keen to share knowledge and dreams this Valentines, look for a copy of News From Nowhere, written by Arts and Crafts hero William Morris. It's a Utopian novel in which a Victorian man finds himself in the future (2102) to find that society has changed into a pastoral paradise, free from capitalism, isolation and industrialisation. 

A Knife

Our friends at Blackhorse Workshop down in Walthamstow, London have some impressive classes on offer. Give your partner the gift of a good quality, hand-made Knife. (Think how much goodness you can cook!) If you don't want to make it yourself check out Skye Knives, a small metal workshop producing bespoke Knifewear in Skye. 

A magazine

Invisible Bookshop have a great selection of mouth-wateringly beautiful print on offer, and can order in specific titles of geekery if you have something special in mind. Our fave is Riposte Magazine which profiles bold and fascinating women in a refreshing format of five ideas, four meetings, three features, two essays and one icon. It's not just for girls. 

Photograph by Bex Robo

A Tote Bag

Well, you need a bag to put all these gifts in right? As well as producing denimware, our friends at Dawson Denim make these fantastic tote bags. They're made out of unwashed fabric, straight from the loom and the bags are silk-screened by hand in Brighton.  

A keyring

Planning to do some U-hauling this February? ;) Better get yourself one of the last few Scotland Can Make It tenement keyrings to do so. Made at Carlton Die Castings in Glasgow. 

Alternatively laser-cut something more personal at MAKLab, Flux Laser Studio or Podbox Glasgow. 

A ring

What! You're going to propose! How about a bespoke ring made specifically for the man or woman you'll be taking down the aisle? Check out Hamilton and Inches in Edinburgh, they've been around since 1866 and they have their own bustling silversmithers working away in workshops above their shop in George Street. If you're not quite ready for the ring, they also make other types of jewellery and silverware.

We hope you've enjoyed reading our guide to Valentines day, if there's anything you think that we've missed out, let us know, if we like it we'll post it up!

If you fancy reading more about local manufacturing check out Anna McKenzie: Part of Glasgow's East End's fabric