Project: Interweaving Scotland and Norway through Traditional Dress and Textiles

Research visit to the Edinburgh Kiltmakers Academy: Norwegian dress meets Scottish tartan.

I am currently working as the UK-based co-Director on a long-term project that looks at past and present similarities and differences between the design, use, understanding and power of Norwegian and Scottish traditional dress and textiles. This is in partnership with the Norwegian Institute for Bunad and Folk Costume, the National Museum Customs Lane in Edinburgh and is funded by Arts and Culture Norway - the main governmental operator for the implementation of Norwegian cultural policy.

The project, in its entirety, involves research into dress history in both nations and includes a seminar in Edinburgh, a conference in Oslo, an artist’s exchange and residency in Norway and Scotland. There are also publications and plans for an exhibition in Scotland and or Norway.

As part of the initial research, I joined the Norwegian Textile Research Network on a two-day research visit to Finnmark in late April 2025. We visited Sámi communities and their collections in Kirkenes, Vadsø and Varanger. Earlier, in March, I accompanied the Norwegian Institute for Bunad and Folk Costume on a visit to the Edinburgh Kiltmakers Academy whose mission is to support and promote heritage crafts as a fundamental part of the UK’s living heritage. This small team of artisan kiltmakers, and their students, are actively working towards a strong and viable future for handmade kiltmaking, protecting inherited skills heritage.