Fiodh
Next up in our ‘Meet our Maker’ blog is Fiodh.
Time for a dram – The Whisky Watch
“All watches have time, ours have history.”
Fiodh’, a Gaelic word for wood, has released a watch, crafted from reclaimed whisky casks, each piece is unique and produced in Glasgow by Michael Youmans since he established the company in 2017.
Michael graduated with a Masters in Product Design from the University of Strathclyde in 2016, after graduating he became frustrated with a lack of design opportunities. This was a big factor that motivated him to use his knowledge gained from the course to start designing.
He came up with the idea to make watches as he had always been a keen watch enthusiast, but his passion for watches came from his dad who sadly passed away due to cancer in 2015.
With very little funds, he bought a watch, took it apart and started to re-design it with a unique twist and his love for all things Scottish. He initially used the fabrication workshop at the University of Strathclyde to learn how to operate machinery and started prototyping. Knowing that he needed his own workshop due to the constraints, Michael moved into his own space and purchased some basic machinery.
All the watches are carefully handcrafted using reclaimed whisky casks that once held some of the finest whiskies in Scotland. The base is manufactured from stainless steel that provides extra strength and a striking contrast against the wood. The leather straps are all made in-house and hand stitched using fine Scottish leather with the watch housing a reliable and popular Swiss movement.
Fiodh products have been sold all over the world and Michael recently collaborated with big whisky brands such as Glen Scotia and Jura Distillery. Michael has big ambitions to continue expanding and to turn Fiodh into a recognised Scottish Lifestyle Brand.
Michael – “I am very competitive and ask a lot from myself, I know there will be plenty of challenges ahead but I also know I’m not one to give up on my ambitions”.
Fiodh has gone on to have a lot of big achievements in the past few years by winning the SIE Creative Industries Award, Scottish Edge Award and to have successfully run a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.
The business’ core value is to “Promote the beauty of Scotland with a modern twist and aims to be at the forefront of Scottish design by incorporating ideas inspired by Scotland.
The Fiodh brand was established to share the love we have for Scotland and its rich heritage. Time created that heritage, it’s now time to share our story.
Here at The Scotch Whisky Experience we are delighted to be stockists of Fiodh watches. The Whisky Watch with heritage black leather strap and brown leather strap can be bought from our shop on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.
Images kindly supplied by Fiodh.