Your hometown?
YOKE is based in Perth, a small Scottish city on the banks of the River Tay. It's a beautiful city and we feel lucky to be from such a picturesque place. Perth has changed a lot since we moved back and we love that it is starting to become better known for its local shops and boutiques. There are some real gems here and if you're looking for a place with great alternatives to the high street this is it!
 
Favourite food?
One of the perks of moving back to your hometown is that you can enjoy your mum's home cooked food again! Food always tastes better when your mum's made it! From a nice Sunday roast to soup, a hearty stew or a strawberry meringue - mum's know how to do it! Add a glass of pink lemonade and we're in heaven!
 
Favourite restaurant?
We both enjoy a wide variety of food and we would struggle to agree on a favourite! However, we really like Café Source at St Andrews Square in Glasgow. It's all Scottish food made using local produce. It doesn't get much better than that! (Sadly Mr YOKE doesn't wear a kilt when we go...)
 
Favourite recipe?
Mrs YOKE was taught how to make scones by her mum and nothing beats one fresh out the oven with plenty of butter and jam. Delicious! We don't mind what flavour they are but prefer the cherry ones!
 
Favourite market?
We don't have a specific favourite market but we are partial to a good wander round old flea markets- you never know what you might find! We'll still looking for somewhere to put our giant pug toby jug....
 
Favourite travel destination?
Mrs YOKE went travelling a few years ago and fell in love with Bali. She's never seen anything like it and would love to go back some day. We also love exploring what's on our doorstep and visiting different parts of Europe. Mr YOKE has just got back from Rome and loved it!
 
Dream travel destination?
Being big fans of Scandinavian design we would love to visit any of the Nordic countries. As well as the amazing design we've also heard great things about the saunas there! Plus who doesn't love an excuse to listen to Abba?!
 
What do you enjoy most about making your products?  Where do you draw your inspiration from?
We love being able to have fun with our illustrations. We are inspired by popular culture, things that make us laugh and the little things people take for granted. We think it's important to look outside the design world for inspiration.
 
How long does it take to make one of your creations?  Anything interesting about the process that you would like to mention?
Firstly we get a woweee light bulb inspiration moment, which can come from anything for example an overheard conversation or a funny situation we've encountered. Sometimes (if we've been very good that day) all the little YOKEY cells in our heads will line up and an idea will just come out of nowhere. This seems to happen to Mrs YOKE in the gym a lot. Make of that what you will.
 
Then we pull out our sketchbooks or whatever is closest, a receipt, burger wrapper or telephone bill will also do, and get doodling. This is a really fun stage because we can just play about with ideas, words and images. Some of it will be utter rubbish but it's all part of the process. You have to sieve through the bumf to get to the gold!
 
Next comes our favourite stage: We now start to draw with paper - cutting out shapes, trying new ideas and generally just having a bit of fun. We love how tactile paper is and how it doesn't conform like a pencil might. A pencil has a lot more control plus if you make a mistake you can always rub it out. With paper you only get one chance, once it's done it's done. This makes our work spontaneous and gives it our character wonky look.
 
Once we're happy with how our illustration will look we start on the final cut paper stage. This bit can take either minutes or hours depending on how intricate the design is. Always a good idea to have a nice sharp knife for this bit to make sure it's all clean and crisp!
 
Lastly we take all our paper pieces and scan them into the computer. Here we assemble our illustrations, clean them up where they need it and get them ready for the screen printing process.
 
We also love how the process creates two finished art works- the screen printed illustration and the beautiful delicate paper cut, which looks wonderful framed. We keep them all so who knows in the future you could own a YOKE paper cut yourself!
 
In your words, what makes your products unique?
By hand printing each product we put a little of ourselves into every one plus the unpredictability of screen-printing gives each one character making them one of a kind. Also because we always begin each illustration with a story or scenario every one has a personality giving our customers something truly unique and special to them.