Multi-hyphenate spaces are becoming more and more common on our high streets. Why limit yourself to being a clothing shop, for instance, when you could add a gallery, café, venue or record shop into the mix? Staunch Industries Design, a boutique creative agency founded by designer Will Beeslaar along with partner Janeanne Gilchrist, are embodying this trend with their new studio/showroom/shop in the heart of Leith. 

After working for large advertising firms for many years, Beeslaar was seeking a more playful and expressive environment where he could bring together his love of the outdoors and multidisciplinary design.

‘I didn’t feel fulfilled working with big corporate clients anymore,’ he says. ‘I grew up influenced by comic books and youth culture; surf brands, clothing brands, very colourful kinds of graphical stuff. When you work in corporate stuff, you just don’t necessarily always get to do that. I wanted to create my own Scottish outdoor surf brand, something that would represent our surf culture here in Scotland. I’m from South Africa; I had never been here and I was sort of completely blown away that you could surf, ride on mountain bikes and go skiing here.’

Alongside designing for brands like Hot Wheels, Edinburgh Zoo and local brewery Pilot, this passion for surfing and diving has given Staunch Industries’ original brand a strong nautical theme, embodied by the kelpie in its logo. ‘The kelpie has always been haunting me. It’s a mythological Scottish creature that’s always calling you into the water to drown you. The more I’m living my life surfing, diving and losing myself in that kind of environment, I realise that there’s maybe a deeper meaning to this sea stallion spirit that is completely untameable. That’s basically Staunch in a nutshell.’

T-shirts, caps, hoodies, soaps, candles and mugs are the canvases for signature prints which feature waves, marine landmarks and wildlife. Gilchrist’s own water photography, which she’s presented in numerous solo exhibitions, line the walls, alongside more technical clothing and accessories for water-sport enthusiasts, including limited-edition bags made in partnership with Montrose Bag Company.

‘All of these outdoor activities are how I find my creativity,’ says Beeslaar, who hopes the new showroom will draw in customers with a similar curiosity for Scottish surfing and diving culture. Eventually the pair hope to host workshops to share their expertise on how to make the most of our coastlines. ‘That’s why we started the company,’ adds Gilchrist, ‘to celebrate the great places we have on our doorstep.’

Staunch Industries, 19 Bernard Street, Edinburgh.