Visiting Artists

Melanie Muir was born in Scotland but spent part of her early life overseas. She graduated with a BA (Hons) in Design from Glasgow School of Art. After time spent in haute couture sales roles in London, she moved to Australia, where she continued her retail career in department stores, moving into sales and marketing. She became the Marketing Manager of the largest fashion retail centre in Brisbane and then became the Marketing Communications Manager for a major five star resort, before leaving to form her own marketing communications consultancy.
When she returned to Scotland in the mid 1990’s, Melanie opened Nairn Antiques, a boutique shop which included fine crafts. When she sold the business, it was to work as a professional china restorer.In 2009 Melanie returned to a more directly creative path as a maker. In a sense, she was starting over from scratch, in her late forties, but as she says, “It is never too late to become who you might have been!”. From her base in Nairn, she began life as a fledgling maker and pioneer in polymer and over the last few years has built a reputation as an innovative jewellery designer, winning awards and gaining increasing recognition for her work. 
Over the last three years, she has taken Gold (twice), Silver and Bronze in her category in the international “Bead Dreams” competition, in the USA. Melanie was also a Silver Award winner in the jewellery category of the UK Craft & Design awards.
She is in great demand as an international teacher. Her online classes are global bestsellers. She has also created her own ranges of tools to use with different craft mediums and also provides creative coaching and mentoring for fellow makers and creatives, with her “Cultivating Creative Excellence™” programme.