Following the successful interior refurbishment of the buff concept store, GRAS embarked on a transformative journey with the clients, thoughtfully redecorating the office spaces within the A-listed former St Ninian’s Manse in Leith, Edinburgh. The client’s aim was to cultivate a serene oasis conducive to expanding the studio’s offerings towards contemplative well-being rituals. The project encompassed internal redecoration and bespoke furniture fabrication, drawing on GRAS’s fruitful collaboration with Edinburgh’s artisan, Daniel Brophy.
The chosen material palette for this understated intervention was neutral, tactile, and naturally derived. Marble paint was used for the lime-plastered internal stone walls, emphasising their elemental feel. Scottish Oak and Limestone were chosen the bespoke joinery, and powder-coated steel and painted timber for more conventional storage cabinetry. These choices seamlessly integrated with the historic fabric of the space, allowing GRAS to unearth and accentuate the lost domestic character of the former manse.
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.
GRAS are working closely with our clients at the heart of historic Gattonside, on the River Tweed, near Melrose. The project involves the careful restoration of the first-floor apartment, converting the attic and re-configuring the living spaces.
The proposal introduces a new stair to the attic, allowing for a new spacious bedroom to be neatly tucked above the large living room, dining and kitchen. The newly created bedroom benefits from a large, walk-in wardrobe with storage and culminating in a bathroom. The design is informed by an already present, minimal language punctuated by industrial elements. A carefully curated material palette reflects the clients’ sense of aesthetic along with their awareness of the environmental impact of the project. Interventions are formed in naturally finished larch and ash wood, lightly textured walls and durable floors. The project is due to begin construction in early 2022 and will seek to emphasise the collaborative process between local craftspeople and trades in its delivery.
GRAS were approached to reconfigure and amalgamate two A-listed properties into one at Royal Terrace in Edinburgh. The brief was to create a two story dwelling with 3 public rooms, 4 bedrooms and a large dining/kitchen linked by a new stair. As it was the most significant alteration to the property and pivotal to the success of the project the client was keen to explore the possibility the clients were keen to explore the possibilities of the stair. Positioned at the heart of the house the stair linking the two levels together allows as much light as possible into the lower ground floor level.
Inspired by the work of sculptors Locky Morris and Barbara Hepworth, the proposal endeavoured to abstract the floor surface to form a sculptural, flowing spiral. The conventional spiral stair plan has been twisted so that the leading edge of each tread runs perpendicular to the tangent of the central void, meaning that visually, each tread tapers into the next creating a continuous timber surface when viewed from above. In order to achieve this complex geometry while allowing light to pass through the structure, each tread is supported on a unique cantilevered steel profile tapering in plan and section. While forming a single solid surface when viewed from above, the profile of the treads mean that each step is viewed as an individual element from below: visually reminiscent of turbine blades or a wing profile. The light flows between the steps and creates different qualities of light and form when viewed from any point in the space. A central glazed balustrade is supported from the end of each cantilevered tread, while a recessed handrail runs around the perimeter wall.
