Islay’s
Summer Tour
2. Orkney at work
South of the Highlands and Islands, we can be misled into thinking that Orkney is a remote wilderness with little enterprise. Keen to find out what locals do for a job, I found two unusual industries – one established, the other expanding.
First, a visit to Ortak…
From design and adjustment with Kenny…
Not the easiest of jobs!
…to the casting department with Alistair preparing the moulded pieces to be finished by hand
Managing Director, Alistair Gray
Ortak has a distinctive brand of Celtic-influenced jewellery. Family-run, the company started over 40 years ago in Kirkwall – half of its 150 employees are still based there. Being goods of high value and light weight, shipping costs are no higher here than anywhere else. Managing Director Alistair Gray – son of founder Malcolm Gray – showed me round the workshop. When we make an order there are 27 steps of production from design to despatch. What makes Ortak stand out from others is its use of traditional techniques of the craftsman. Several wax casts are taken from moulds of each design, looking like bizarre blue and purple trees. These are placed in steel flasks to evaporate the wax, with molten silver or gold packed in under pressure. Once set, each piece is finished by hand. It can’t be an easy job to keep hand-eye coordination for eight hours every day.
Alistair tells me: ‘In the current economy, risk is vast. The price of gold and silver has more than doubled in just two years – particularly gold’. This became apparent when I saw a 6kg bag of small silver globes worth £3,000. The equivalent value of gold in a tray seemed tiny in comparison. Ortak aren’t shying away from the challenge though, with two new shops opening in Livingston and Glasgow. Keeping up-to-date with fashion is crucial in this industry. Contemporary, personalised design and coloured ceramics are the way forward.
Next I head to the most northerly winery in the UK – the Orkney Wine Company in St Ola.
What a corker!
A small selection of fruit wine on offer
A bright yellow sign above the shop beams in the distance as I tentatively make my way uphill on the rough track. The shop is small but packed with bottles various in colour and size. From gooseberries and cranberries, to rhubarb and blackberries, local fruit wine galore is produced here. Unlike grape wine, it doesn’t contain high levels of sulphites or animal-derived fining agents, making it suitable for allergy suffers and vegetarians.
Emile van Schayk has run this company for six years. Originating from the Netherlands, he sees himself as a local now, having lived in Orkney for 11 years. His small workshop is crammed with bottles, boilers, corks and the odd pair of wellies. The fruit is fermented for three weeks, pressed to mature and then bottled. I’m amused to discover the biggest stainless steel vessel used for fermentation is called the big yin. Emile tells me: ‘The next I buy will have to be called the even bigger yin’. His interest in wine was sparked off when a retired shepherdess, Sarah Lenaghan, gave him his first recipe. Emile now has 15 blends and plans more. With plenty of orders coming in from France, Spain and Italy, the company is moving into larger premises near the Italian Chapel, outside Kirkwall.
Although farming, the NHS and local government employ most people in Orkney, manufacturing industry is not all but lost. Our communicative, technology-driven age offers capability to anyone anywhere to do almost anything. Size really doesn’t matter – Orkney has as much scope in industry and enterprise as our major cities southward do.
