Unique Ness was founded by Scottish charity New Start Highland, who aim to bring practical skills and kinship to vulnerable people through furniture making
Unique Ness is a new interiors destination in Inverness that offers original and distinctive furniture items and soft furnishings, each expertly and imaginatively created or restored by highly skilled local crafts people.
“We want to take our customers on a journey to discovering the perfect piece of furniture that resonates with their style, something that feels like it was made just for them,” says Mairi Macaulay, deputy chief executive of New Start Highland.
But Unique Ness isn’t just about creating beautiful pieces of furniture; it helps people across the Highlands learn new skills and build relationships, too.
The Unique Ness ethos
The ethos behind Unique Ness can be split into three key areas: individuality, craftmanship and sustainability. Mairi explains, “Our commitment to regeneration and upcycling goes beyond aesthetics, it’s about transforming unwanted or overlooked items into something extraordinary, whilst providing a tangible benefit to the local community.
“All profits made at Unique Ness are reinvested back into New Start Highland to fund our charitable services.”
For Unique Ness, furniture design is about more than beauty
The team at Unique Ness work with a wide range of people, including those with disabilities, refugees, people experiencing mental health crises or substance misuse and those leaving prison or the care system.
“One of our main operations is furniture reuse,” Mairi says, “where we rely on the generosity of our community to donate their unwanted furniture for us to clean and repair. This is distributed to families exiting homelessness or entering a tenancy at no cost, or we sell at low cost in five of our pre-loved retail outlets.”
Every piece of furniture comes with a story
The stories behind the Unique Ness furniture and its people are what set them apart from other upcycling brands. “Our upholstery experts help trainees and volunteers overcome challenges and equip them with new skills and in the process, pre-loved furniture is transformed into something new and striking. It’s quite an amazing process.”
The pieces of furniture that are upholstered and recycled at Unique Ness are one-of-a-kind and cannot be replicated, which is very special. “Every person who buys from Unique Ness is giving back to people who need some help in some way, whether that’s due to poverty, homelessness or long term unemployment.”
The power of handcrafting
We wonder, is there power in using one’s hands in projects like upholstery and upcycling to help mental health? Mairi believes there is. “There is absolutely power there. I’ve been involved with New Start Highland for almost 20 years and I’ve seen first-hand that what people need to thrive is community, belonging and a sense of purpose.”
It is the sense of purpose that drives the Unique Ness team. “This feeling of purpose can come from any project, large or small. I see it in our upholstery workshops, our bike refurb hut, our wellbeing gardens and our joinery workshops.”
Many of Mairi’s trainees come to Unique Ness and New Start Highland after finding themselves in a challenging place. Creative endeavours can provide a therapeutic outlet, offering satisfaction and validation from breathing new life into a piece of furniture, taking a project from start to finish and connecting with new people who share a similar passion.
“With no creative boundaries and the ultimate freedom to experiment to create something entirely unique, we provide a space that encourages creativity and self-expression which often subsequently leads to a positive impact on mental health.”
How the Unique Ness shop works
“With fresh items landing on our shop floor each week, the turnaround of stock can be quite fast. We are lucky to receive donations of furniture every day, which means our upholstery team works round the clock, ensuring a steady stream of new pieces are available at our shop in Inverness.
“Currently we have some beautiful table and chairs sets, some lovely bedside table units and a stunning dresser which looks like it’s come from the Victorian era.
“We also work with a small variety of local partners to stock additional products which compliment our furniture, like KG Scotland – handcrafted glassware using resin and sand from Nairn beach.
“We have some fabulous clocks in store too from the world-renowned Harris Tweed. They are always very popular, especially with tourists to the area.”
Why is it important to support local makers and craftspeople?
“We strongly believe that every one of us has unlimited potential. We live in a society that focuses on individual responsibility but instead, we should concentrate on how we alter the environment around that individual to create significant impact. That is exactly what Unique Ness does.”
When people buy from Unique Ness, they’re not buying from a multi-national corporation whose purpose is to make a profit; they’re buying from a social enterprise that creates meaningful change.
Unique Ness
Eastgate Shopping Centre
11 Eastgate
Inverness
IV2 3PP
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