Dr John Rae

The greatest Arctic explorer of them all, Dr John Rae, was born in 1813 in Orphir, a small rural community on the archipelago of Orkney. Growing up here meant he learned to utilise what he had, which was a skill he honed on his travels. Unlike explorers of his time, John didn’t travel in a 3 piece suit or with tons of equipment, he travelled with what he could carry. He was the first European to utilise skills learned from the Inuit people, to make and maintain snowshoes, fur clothes, igloos and live off the land and the life within it, this ensured his survival in these harsh climates. As a boy John and his brothers sailed in and around Orkney. This gave him the experience to explore 600 miles of unchartered coastlines of Canada in a small boat. It was John who discovered the last link for the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific and also what happened to the ill-fated expedition of Sir John Franklin. He was a ‘Jack of all trades’ and this helped him adapt to all situations and rise up the ranks to Chief Factor in the Hudson Bay Company. The John Rae Society are raising funds to restore John’s 200 year home in Orphir. This will be a fantastic historical point of interest for this outstanding Orcadian explorer.

I was honoured to be approached by Andrew Appleby from the John Rae Society to design this collection based on John Rae’s snow shoes. On the larger pieces Dr John Rae has been written in Inuit letters. A donation from each piece sold will go to the society.