Artists vow to survive after St Margaret's House base sold off

FOR the hundreds of crafters, creatives and clients flocking through the doors every week, life and work at Edinburgh Palette always had a temporary feel.
Lubi Lyken - dressmaker at St Margaret's HouseLubi Lyken - dressmaker at St Margaret's House
Lubi Lyken - dressmaker at St Margaret's House

After all, the ethos of this community collaboration was to breathe life into a derelict former government building as developers circled.

Even so, news this week that the nine-storey neo-brutalist block has been sold off for £15m to make way for a hotel and student flats still came as a shock to many.

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Yet through the galleries, workshops and offices a pragmatic stoicism spread yesterday as the Capital’s biggest arts complex vowed to survive and thrive – elsewhere if necessary.

“If they want to build a hotel, they will do it,” says couturier Lubi Lykan, whose thread and fabric-lined studio dates back ten years and the start of the St Margaret’s House project.

“All we can do as a community is come together and go somewhere else – we will thrive.”

The 38-year-old, also Scotland’s premier customised boxing shorts maker, says of Edinburgh Palette: “They will find it, I believe in them. This will happen. We’re not defined by the building, we can take it elsewhere. If anything I will miss the view,” adds Lubi, gazing out towards Berwick.

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Specialising in Harris Tweed and intricate embroidery, designer Lubi describes St Margaret’s transformation from decaying shell to vibrant arts base.

“When we first moved in, it was horrible,” says Lubi, of the 1970s structure originally planned as a Commonwealth Games hotel before becoming home to the Registers of 
Scotland.

“It’s changed dramatically and what Edinburgh Palette have done is absolutely fantastic. Now it’s cosy and comfortable and it’s not just a space it’s the feeling people get – it was unattractive but I could see the light coming in.”

While polished wooden floors, ceiling-high shelving and mannequins contribute to the artist’s feel, for Lubi, her fellow creators complete the work.

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They include Will Phoenix – the bookbinder making leather-embossed fantasy props for the likes of Doctor Who, award-winning jewellery maker Jane North, potters, painters, sculptors and many more.

St Margaret’s art can be physical as well as aesthetic. Capital Judo legend George Kerr has his base here, a Shinto gateway beckoning exponents.

“If I need a website, I know where to go. If I need business cards, I know where to go,” says Lubi. “All my clients come from word of mouth,” she adds, in front of the half-finished wedding dress commissioned by Edinburgh Palette’s Johanna 
Crossley-Zels.

Not confined to the warren of workshops and artist studios, this collaborative culture is shared by the healers and helpers along criss-crossing corridors. Charity Upward Mobility enables those with severe learning difficulties to explore creative pursuits – many for the first time. Catering for adults diagnosed with autism and asperger’s syndrome, SAM Radio broadcasts from St Margaret’s – the first station of its kind in Scotland.

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“Every time you jump in the lift, you meet someone different – it feeds innovation and creativity,” enthuses Glenn Liddall, founder of People Know How.

Helping some of the Capital’s most vulnerable access anything from health services to a computer with internet connection, People Know How’s dynamism epitomises the place.

The charity survives month-to-month on a combination of grants and trust funds – that and its 100 volunteers.

“For us, being told we’ve got 18 months is quite a long time – I’m an optimist,” says Glenn, of the rumoured notice period before bulldozers move in.

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Acclaimed abstract artist Henry Fraser sells and shows his work at galleries across Scotland.

Henry fears most for the outreach studio he runs next to his studio, attracting hundreds to classes every week, be it painting, meditation or yoga. “My main concern is for the health and wellbeing of people,” says Henry, 55, below furrowed brow. “They come for art and come to socialise and get out of the house. People come from all over Edinburgh – there’s someone in the library from Bo’ness!”

No-one can have more invested in Edinburgh Palette than Eddie McVitie – the man who built the studios and workshops for artistry to flourish.

“It was totally open plan when we came. Some of the windows were down and pigeons were in the place,” recalls Eddie, 54.

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He too has benefitted from the exchange of crafts – with tiles made for his Midlothian cottage by an Edinburgh Palette potter. Yet even Eddie is sanguine at the prospect of a decade’s labour being undone by the wrecking ball.

“It’s a shame in a way,” he says thoughtfully, stirring his tea with a joiner’s ruler. But I don’t see it as moving. It was temporary all the time because we only have a short-term lease.

“We’re lucky to get ten years, it could’ve been six months. It’s not about me. If I get bombed out then so be it, it’s about the people. Just as long as I don’t have to carry out everything we brought in,” he jokes, before heading off down the corridor to another job.

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