KEEPSAKES REBORN

Is it better to store a treasured keepsake intact, in an attic or jewellery box, or to rework it into something that can be used and admired more regularly in modern life? Many of us have repurposed great-uncle Johnny’s campaign trunk as a coffee table, or great-aunt Mary’s Champagne coupes as pudding bowls, but how about melting down granny’s engagement ring and making it into a pendant, or commissioning a painting of the family silver before taking the real thing to a saleroom? If you’re tempted to reimagine your family heirlooms more significantly, a growing group of artists and makers is helping clients find meaningful new ways of doing just that.

‘I had a client with a really big ring that had belonged to her grandmother,’ says Dumfriesshire jewellery designer Alison Macleod. ‘She was from a farming family and told me she remembers her grandmother going out and milking the