Eileen Gatt

Eileen Gatt is a skilled jeweller and silversmith, who turned a former post office in the Black Isle into her studio where she creates beautiful jewellery that uses ethically sourced stones and recycled materials. Eileen designs and makes a variety of cherished items from diamond rings, earrings and bangles to christening spoons and animal figurines. Her career has been far reaching, even selling her work through renowned department store Fortnum & Mason.

She is best known for creating stylised, miniature animal figurines which are incorporated into her jewellery. This is reflective of her passion for wildlife and love of winter landscapes. She puts climate change and protecting species at the heart of her work and has collaborated with environmental charities such as the RSPB.

With 25 years of her craft under her belt, the 50 year old mother of two has much to be proud of. As well as running a business as a sole trader and home schooling during the pandemic, she embarked on an exciting new design project when lockdown hit.

Like everyone, the COVID-19 pandemic brought many hurdles and disruption to Eileen Gatt’s business, but it also brought opportunities. A well-timed Small Innovation Grant from HIE in summer 2020 freed Eileen up to experiment with her craft when the world shut down.

Eileen is a self-confessed innovative designer but with young children, she can’t afford to invest heavily as failed attempts are too costly. The Small Innovation Grant allowed her to innovate and explore as it removed the risk factor associated with trying something new.

“As a designer, it is really important to keep everything fresh and try new creative processes and that’s exactly what the Small Innovation Grant from HIE allowed me to do. I was able to go off on a creative tangent while having the flexibility that if some ideas didn’t work, that didn’t matter.”