It was a long road back to Shetland, for Hoswick jewellery designer Karlin Anderson, and not just in miles. From her family farm in Tingwall amidst the hubbub of siblings and cousins, she soldered, polished and hammered her way to a prestigious career on the mainland, working with celebrities and royals alike. But Hatton Garden, Notting Hill and London’s glitterati are a far cry from the rugged shores of Shetland where she played as a child, and even further from the people that make it ‘hame’.
“So when the time was right, I shipped all my things, jumped on my motorbike and took the long road home. I’ve never looked back,” she said. “There was something about catching that first glimpse of Scotland.
.. I could breathe again.
” ‘I had such a happy childhood,’ Karlin says The second of five kids, Karlin – now 47 – had no ambition to leave the island growing up. Daughter of Bobby Anderson and his wife Sylvia – one of the Irvine family of Setter Farm, Tingwall – Karlin and her siblings had an idyllic childhood. “We lived in one of four farm cottages.
My grandparents, great-grandparents and aunt and uncle were there too. I guess it was quite an insular way of life but one I’m incredibly grateful for. I was content.
So much so I had no idea what I wanted to do when I left school.” The Scalloway Junior High pupil, like many teens on the island, could follow in family traditions of farming, fishing and other businesses, or perhaps venture away for a ti.
