Ash Rise celebrates the material intelligence and craft potential of Scotland’s native ash tree.

Ash Rise lays bare the environmental impact of ash dieback in Scotland through a nationwide exhibition and education outreach programme.

Paying homage to the material brilliance of this at-risk tree species, Ash Rise is a collaboration between the Scottish Furniture Makers Association (SFMA), Scottish Forestry (SF) and the Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers (ASHS).

Many of Scotland’s ash trees are now blighted by ash dieback, caused by the fungus, Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. This disease leads to leaf loss, with many hundreds of ash trees perishing, or felled in the hope to stop the spread of the disease.

Seeking to raise public awareness of its effects, the Scottish Furniture Makers Association initiated Ash Rise to celebrate this spectacular tree, highlight its material brilliance, and champion the creative skills of Scotland’s many outstanding makers and artists.

One of the most versatile woods, ash has been used for centuries in crafting objects such as longbows and agricultural tools. Before synthetic materials flushed the market, it was used to craft tennis rackets and cricket bats.

When dried it is light, flexible and highly durable. Its distinctive grain makes it an ideal wood for furniture and objects such as spoons, bowls and candlesticks.

Exhibited first at The John Hope Gateway, Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, now at Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries and later Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, a roster of Scotland’s esteemed furniture makers, designers and craftspeople have been selected to respond to this environmental challenge, showcasing existing pieces or creating new.

A selection of the exhibited craftspeople have made new work from Scottish ash species affected by ash dieback. Felled ash trees spoiled by the disease in Killearn Estate Woodlands, Lanarkshire were milled and supplied to ten of the participating practitioners in order to create their exhibited pieces.

Never-before-seen designs of chairs, cabinets and tables join sculptural wall pieces, as well as a handmade kayak and guitar, amongst other works that showcase the potential of the country’s precious resource.

Inspired by the environmentally charged craft ingenuity on show and sense of resourcefulness towards the material, here follows some of our highlights from Ash Rise.

Alexander Johnston – Die Back

Glasgow based designer, Alexander Johnston is the maker behind ‘Die Back’. Comprising 12 ash columns repeatedly cut into parallel rows, Alexander interlays healthy and diseased ash in a uniform composition that reflects both the naturally beautiful qualities of the material and the devastation that it faces.

Alexander often explores unconventional methods of sculpting in his practice. The intricate patterns and textures revealed in Die Back serve as a symbolic reminder of the beauty and resilience of these trees.

Duke Christie – Fire Vessels

Morayshire based maker, Duke Christie exhibits ‘Fire Vessels’ - a series of sculptural pieces made from green ash logs. Duke’s practice employs a variety of techniques, such as sand blasting, scorching and scrubbing to enhance the grain of locally sourced timber. The results are deeply textural and tactile relics of the land.

Helena Robson – Agricultural Hand Tools

HEFT Studio is the craft practice of Helena Robson, specialising in contemporary furniture design. From her studio in East Lothian, Helena works with a mix of native hardwoods, fettling one of a kind pieces that reflect where they’ve come from and how they’re made.

Making historical reference to ash crafted farm tools, Helena showcases a series of five traditional agricultural hand tools for Ash Rise. A clod racan (rake), a stubble rake, a threshing flail, a grain shovel, and a smaller shovel carved from one continuous piece of ash.

Agricultural Hand Tools probes the concepts of functionality and sculpture, the material and form dictates a clear purpose, yet the pieces are so beautifully crafted that they feel almost ornamental.

Kate Owens – Thud

Investigating the print and pigment possibilities of the ash tree, ‘Thud’ by Kate Owens sources both colour and pattern from diseased ash to create a block print on re-purposed cotton.

Dyed with ash bark and printed with a solvent-free ink, Thud is stitched to an organic jute lining and suspended from an ash batten.

Featuring a motif of staggers and bumps, the Glasgow-based artist showcases a printed textile reminiscent of the surface qualities and natural palette of ash bark.

Naomi Mcintosh – Potential

Suspended slivers of steam bent ash form the spherical sculpture by Naomi Mcintosh, ‘Potential’.

Capturing the floating movement of ash seeds fluttering slowly to the ground, Potential pays homage to the ash tree’s delicate wing-like seed structures suspended in time.

Reflecting positively on possibilities of regeneration, Potential asks – through the power and potential of seed- can the ash tree rise again?

Artist and maker, Naomi Mcintosh is based in the Cairngorms National Park. She draws on both her education in architecture and jewellery design to create craft objects that respond to the Scottish landscape.

Richard Goldsworthy – Past, Present and Future

Situated in the Scottish Borders, sculptor, Richard Goldsworthy exhibits a wall installation of individually part charred ash pieces. Richard's artistic pursuits primarily focus on sculpture, reflecting his fascination with the interplay of light, darkness, form, and texture.

Each piece Richard hand crafts highlights the intricate patterns and textures inherent in ash wood.

Nicholas Denney & Rory Dowling – Concentric Harmony

Concentric Harmony is a collaboration between designers, Nicholas Denney and Rory Dowling. Based in Fife, Nicholas Denney Studio specialises in fine concrete design and fabrication for architects and specialist clients. Rory Dowling runs bespoke guitar design studio, Taran Guitars.

Celebrating the extraordinary flexibility of ash, together, they have created an innovative electric style guitar that pulls on the material’s bending capabilities.

They’re also challenging perceptions of an additional material - concrete – as a heavy and functional medium. By use of Nicholas’ artistry, concrete is used as a decorative element in the guitar’s creation.

Stevi Benson – Time & Space

Meticulously cut by hand, Stevi Benson presents Time and Space – skeletal paper structures of ash tree rings. Inspired by the life of the tree that was felled, Stevi focuses on the macroscopic details of the tree that once was.

Based in the Cairngorms National Park, Stevi creates intricately cut paper artworks of organic structures inherent in nature, including plants, trees and insects. These labour intensive pieces explore the under the microscope details of the flora and fauna in our landscape.

Angus Ross – Clova Chairs

Aberfeldy based Angus Ross is a designer, maker, woodsman and public artist. Best known for his sculptural steam-bent furniture for homes, gardens and public spaces, for Ash Rise, Angus creates a pair of comfortable carver chairs that are steam bent.

Angus’ Clova Chairs feature a narrow back and curved arms and employ efficient and fluid application of the ash wood through steam bending.

Working within the small window of time of when wood fibres are malleable and can be coaxed into a carpenter’s jig, Angus and his team bend the ash into complex forms.

The Clova Chairs were achieved by a team of four makers, moving in harmony to coax this material into the desired form with expertly judged speed, direction and pressure. The ash responds, achieving a beautiful stretching of material possibility.

Click here to find out more about Ash Rise’s impressive roster of Scottish makers. Visit the showcase currently at Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries, until Saturday 22nd March 2025. Inverness Museum and Art Gallery will showcase Ash Rise from 29th March – 17th May 2025.