Meet the Inches Carr Craft Bursary 2026 Recipients
Emerging MakerGillian Finlay
Inches Carr Craft Bursary
Gillian Finlay studied Jewellery and Silversmithing at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, and now works from her studio in Edinburgh.
Her jewellery is inspired by the bamboo scaffold structures which captivated her during her childhood in Hong Kong. Gillian finds beauty in their complex patterns and reimagines them into playful and flowing forms. Her work reflects the contradictions in these bamboo structures, they are strong and structural, yet light and intricate.
Emerging MakerAimee Holt
Inches Carr Craft Bursary
East Lothian potter Aimee Holt specialises in functional homeware. Rooted in the idea of finding beauty in imperfection, her ceramics reflect the rawness, natural textures and irregularities of the landscape. Taking inspiration from the rich and varied Galloway coastline where she grew up, her forms draw directly on the rugged textures of rock and shoreline.
Each of Aimee’s pieces is an invitation to slow down and connect with land, tradition, and the quiet rituals of daily use.
Emerging MakerJonathan MacKinnon
Inches Carr Craft Bursary
Glasgow textile designer and weaver Jonathan MacKinnon has a background in science, informing his practice that merges creative innovation with technical precision.
His work explores materiality, process, and identity through combining traditional craftsmanship with experimental approaches. Alongside commissions and exhibitions, he runs an independent studio creating bespoke woven collections and textile pieces.
Photography by Jessica Jane Harle
Emerging MakerAlicia Matthews
Inches Carr Craft Bursary
Alicia Matthews is an artist and audio maker living and working in the Outer Hebrides. Trained in sculpture at Glasgow School of Art and the Royal College of Art, she now works with ceramics, investigating the liminal boundaries between the natural and synthetic, and how technologies, primitive and contemporary, heighten or unsettle them.
Her practice looks to the material culture and ecology of Lewis. Often finding shards of Iron Age pottery near her home, she is excited by the alchemy of glazing and the transformation of mud into enduring objects. Past projects explore technological hauntings, deep time, the maternal body, witches and the Gaelic Otherworld.
Emerging MakerKatie Dixon
Inches Carr Craft Bursary
Based in the East End of Glasgow, Katie Dixon is a self-taught maker of functional ceramic wares.
Her work is concerned with elevating everyday experiences with considered design, taking into account how pieces will occupy space and be interacted with. Inspiration is drawn from the accidental collage of textures seen in the weathered, gritty surfaces of both city and industrial coastline.
Photography by C. Wallace
Emerging MakerAbigail Cooper
Inches Carr Craft Bursary
Abigail Cooper is a ceramicist exploring themes of folklore, grief and place, specifically referencing the historical and folkloric links between Fife, where they live, and Norfolk, where they grew up.
Abigail’s recent work explores fishing history and heritage, weaving their own family history in with broader histories of fishing communities, and exploring the role of craft within coastal communities.
Established MakerBorja Moronta Alvarez
Inches Carr Craft Bursary
Originally from Asturias, northern Spain, Borja Moronta Alvarez settled in Edinburgh after graduating as an Architect in 2016 from Madrid Polytechnic University. His pottery practice began in 2018, as part of his recovery from a severe surgery due to nerve damage in his left hand.
Based in his studio in Newhaven, Borja makes ceramics that are a reflection of the states of mind he experiences while working with clay and its physical processes: from the mindfulness of throwing to the natural slow pace and physicality of preparing clay.
Established MakerSandra Wilson
Inches Carr Craft Bursary
Sandra Wilson is a jeweller, silversmith, researcher and Professor Emerita of Ecological Metal Design at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. She is interested in working with gold and other metals recovered from electronic waste and in more frugal ways of working. Her work is highly collaborative, working with chemists and anthropologists.
Sandra’s practice is inspired by the shapes found in circuit boards, and utilises a traditional Japanese metal damascening technique called nunome zogan that translates as ‘cloth weave’. This technique uses chisels to cross-hatch the metal before securing 0.02mm gold foils to create surface patterns.
Photography by Diarmid Weir
Established MakerCarol Sinclair
Inches Carr Craft Bursary
Forfar based ceramicist Carol Sinclair creates forms and vessels with porcelain. Her work is hand built using slabs of clay which are rolled, cut and hand formed, and incorporate her signature inlay technique which adds colour, imagery and pattern.
Living in rural Angus and the proximity to nature this offers has had a profound impact on Carol’s subject matter. Her carefully crafted pieces often explore the connections we have to one another and our shared environment.
Photography by Lydia Smith
