North
Grandtully, Perthshire
The Highland Chocolatier, Grandtully
At Grandtully, Iain Burnett turns Scotland's affection for something sweet into a refined piece of contemporary workmanship.
Back to Map & Compass
Compass Collection
Making, Design & Material Scotland
Follow materials through the decisions, skills, work and places that give them meaning. A curated journey across Scotland connecting letterpress printers, prehistoric timber engineering, hand-thrown ceramics, maritime craft and visionary architecture.
Featured Places & Stories
12 selected places exploring craft, materials and story across Scotland
North
Loch Tay, Perthshire
The Scottish Crannog Centre
Up at Loch Tay, waterlogged archaeology preserves the ordinary materials of daily life, allowing crannogs to tell us about a rich and varied role they have played in Scotland's history.
North
Dundee
Verdant Works
A little more than 150 years ago, a rough fibre from Bengal, then under British imperial rule, became one of the materials that transformed Dundee into an industrial city connected to the world's trade and economy.
East
Crail, East Neuk of Fife
Crail Pottery
In the heart of Crail, clay, glaze and firing have made a working family pottery part of the East Neuk for more than sixty years.
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East
St Andrews, Fife
St Andrews Clubmaking
In St Andrews, golf's history can be read not only across the Old Course, but in the clubs that local craftsmen shaped for the evolving game.
East
Leith, Edinburgh
Leith: Casks, Rope & Sail
In Leith, the old port can still be read through the things it needed to make and move: rope, sailcloth, bottles, casks, ships and the infrastructure that connected them.
South
Galashiels, Scottish Borders
The Great Tapestry of Scotland
In Galashiels, 160 embroidered panels bring thousands of years of Scotland's story together through the work of more than a thousand stitchers from communities across the country.
South
Monteviot Nurseries, Ancrum, Scottish Borders
Real Wood Studios
Down at Ancrum, deep in the Scottish Borders, the inspiration and act of making start before the workbench: with the idea, the tree, the woodland and the decision about what our Scottish wood can become.
South
Innerleithen, Scottish Borders
Robert Smail's Printing Works
At Robert Smail's Printing Works in Innerleithen, words are still assembled from individual pieces of type before historic presses put ink onto paper.
West
Govan, Glasgow
Fairfield Heritage
At Govan, Fairfield tells how Glasgow and the Clyde built ships for the world, and how that industrial inheritance still shapes the region today.
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West
Hillhead, Glasgow
The Mackintosh House
At the Mackintosh House, furniture, light, proportion, surface and artwork come together as parts of one designed environment shaped by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh.
West
Ballachulish, Glencoe
Ballachulish Slate: Quarry, Craft and Community
At Ballachulish, a Highland landscape became a building material, quarried beside Loch Leven and sent out to roof towns and cities far beyond the glen.
Connecting Stories & Places
Explore Scotland through craft and materials
Ross can weave these stories and visits into an unhurried private journey designed around your party.