GRAS has combined Scottish Ash, concrete and stainless-steel to form the restrained interior of buff – a design-led manicure studio in Edinburgh. Sustainably sourced timber was layered with contemporary materials, transforming the Victorian stone arched interior into an evocative, tactile experience. A series of carefully proposed joinery items designed for the studio creates a harmonious offering, resonating with clients’ own ethos and rooted in a functional simplicity.

In the context of an increasingly visible ash dieback disease caused by the fungus, Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, that is still projected to affect up to 75% Scottish Ash, the project offered opportunity to address ecological but also ethical urgency of material choices and specification. The process of sourcing and making of the joinery was a result of another close collaboration with Edinburgh-based designer and maker, Daniel Brophy.