We are Velvet Antlers

I’ll start this blog by introducing ourselves and Velvet Antlers. Velvet Antlers is new company selling luxury hampers filled with the very best food and gifts that Scotland has to offer. It is run by Claire (me!) and Dave MacLeod; Dave being my wingman, there to provide moral and technical support when called upon, which is quite often, as it happens. My background is quite varied, like a lot of people I guess.

My professional background is in retail management in Glasgow, which all changed when we took the life changing decision to move to the Scottish Highlands. I still wanted to carry on doing what I was doing though as I had worked hard to get where I was and the perfect outlet for this was combing my passion of fine food with the joys of internet shopping. The decision to move to the Scottish Highlands was borne out of the desire for Dave to be nearer the mountains (more later!) and a keen willingness from me to live in a place that I have fallen in love with. Who can argue with this as a view out of their office window?

So what do I do when not making hampers?

Another big passion of mine is photography. I trained in photography, graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 2003. I’m still as keen as ever to take photos, and I will regularly post my latest work on here to keep you up to date. They are usually of this guy...

Dave, being a keen (and rather well known) climber, finds living at the foot of Ben Nevis is pretty much an ideal spot for him to live. In between finding new climbs and helping me run Velvet Antlers, he gives lectures to international audiences and coaches climbers around the UK and Europe.

Velvet Antlers is here to provide you with amazing Scottish food and gifts. I’ve used my art-school training, fine food tasting, retail experience and knowledge of Scotland to provide something that not only looks contemporary and unique but tastes pretty damn good too. So welcome on board the Velvet Antlers blog, subscribe to our RSS feed to keep up to date with all the latest about Claire and Dave MacLeod and the latest in our adventures with Scottish food.