John Seddon

It could be said that John is a bit out of his element in Kintyre; or maybe he just found a new one to perfect. Cheshire-born John made his way in the world of photography both in London and Manchester until 2000. That’s when he sold his advertising studio and, along with his wife Michele, moved to Glenbarr on The Mull of Kintyre to the old cottage they had spent a decade renovating. To know that for most of his life he was decidedly urban and then get a voice mail apologising that when you called he was out plucking chickens seems the largest incongruity in the world to me.

His ability to rehab his home needed an outlet with that task complete, and after picking up some old whisky barrels from Springbank distillery in Campbeltown which were surplus to the firms’ requirements he set to making garden tubs and some huge garden chairs. Like many who choose to live in rural areas, where a single road in and out is still the only means of reaching more populated areas of the Scottish Mainland, John lets nothing goes to waste. The barrel staves leftover from the garden chairs standing in the barn were no exception. From a blackened old oak of a whisky barrel a secret jewel awaits John’s tender sawing, planing, turning and ultimately polishing; the smell of single malt that still lingers in the wood as he works it a special bonus.

In a world of disposable Roller-ball pens, John’s work renews our connection to the rarity of literacy, of reverence for the written word and the tools for creating art with a bit of ink and paper.