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The House of Tartan Story
How it all began
In March 2024 we were proud to become the owners of the House of Tartan, acclaimed "original tartan website" and home of the world's first tartan database. With many clan partnerships in place and a fabulous local reputation, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to extend the ScotlandShop brand to the beautiful market town of Crieff on the Perthshire tourist route.
One of the founders of House of Tartan, Blair Urquhart, was the inspiration behind this very first tartan database. With a background in visual media and technology, and extensive experience in photography and film, Blair was a self trained software designer with a special interest in Tartan. His consultancy career in the textile industry with regard to the history of, and the design and development of Tartan. He is the author of the book "Identifying Tartans", published by Quintet, and co-author of "Tartan: The Facts and Myths", published by Jarrold.
During the development of the Textile Design computer program, he became a well known figure with both manufacturers and retailers in Scotland. His outstanding knowledge of Tartans, and the history of its design and development has been an enormous advantage in creating a computer tool that meets the expectations of designers, manufacturers and sellers alike.
House of Tartan came about in 1996 when the Internet in the UK was still a slightly eccentric hobby. The idea of merging 2500 tartans with the fabrics and products of Scotlands weavers and manufacturers was a daunting task, resulting in some 40 thousand database records.
Comrie to Crieff
The first home of House of Tartan was in the very picturesque village of Comrie, a conservation village sitting in the middle of Glen Lednock and Glen Artney. The Company remained at Davidson House in Comrie for over 16 years until late 2017, when it relocated to the High Street in Crieff. Davidson House was the founding home of the sadly now no longer Museum of Scottish Tartans.
In December 2009, textile industry veteran Phil Pass was brought in as Managing Director and along with key man, Alan Trivett, still with us today with his vast knowledge of every tartan under the sun. The Company immediately focussed on innovation as its path to growth, expanding its online offering and moving into product development. In-house manufacturing allows House of Tartan to turn product around faster than is traditionally seen in the industry, along with providing a high level of personal service.
Over the next few years, the company became a leader in Tartan Design & Registration, complemented by in-house fabric printing which allows for small quantities of the rarest tartans to be made into a huge range of products and accessories. And following 4 years of research and development House of Tartan became the first and only company to commercially produce Sateen Ribbon in any Tartan. Perfect for the wedding industry and the many celebrants, florists and events organisers around the world.
And very much in line with the ScotlandShop focus on celebrating our Scottish Clans, their history and the Societies working hard to build those communities with shared roots internationally, House of Tartan's partner clan programme includes over 20 Clans, including customised Clan labelling.
House of Tartan might be a small, rural business, however it has been a vocal and ardent supporter of the Scottish Tartans Authority (STA) over the years. Particularly in the matter of the Tartan Museum. Always arguing: “How is it that the country synonymous with tartan, a land with tartan as its icon, with a tartan industry this deep and as vital cannot manage to have a tartan museum? But the Americans can?” House of Tartan supported many initiatives to establish a Tartan Museum in Scotland and built and operated an Online Tartan Shop for the Authority to contribute to this mission. The STA is "dedicated to preserving, promoting and protecting Scottish Tartans and Highland Dress – their respective origins, history, manufacture, use and development." and ScotlandShop look forward to being a part of their future.
Famous Faces in Crieff
And over the years House of Tartan has also welcomed a few celebrities. Our fabulous Morag, who you will meet if you come in store, welcomed local man and international star, Ewan McGregor, in for a kilt. Ewan was born in Crieff and now has a home in the nearby Carse of Gowrie. Apparently he won the starring role in the blockbuster stop-motion animated version of Pinocchio because of his Perthshire accent. Ewan is a big supporter of the drive for a new cinema in Crieff which is just a few doors up from the shop so we are very excited to see this renovation and transformation of East High Street....and Morag will be hoping for another selfie!
Ewan's uncle, Denis Lawson, is another Scottish actor to make it big on the silver screen. He was born in Glasgow but grew up in Crieff having moved to the town when he has just three. Just like Ewan, he is perhaps best known for his role as the X-Wing pilot, Wedge Antilles in all three films of the original Star Wars trilogy.
The Future
This is no corporate takeover. ScotlandShop started out life as a rural business and our HQ remains in the market town of Duns in the Scottish Borders. Our community values remain the same and the knowledgeable and talented staff of House of Tartan will remain with us. The bespoke tartan print facility, vast product range and in-house embroidery service will remain along with the personal customer service. The shop itself has had a major refurbishment, and previous office space has become a beautiful new tailoring area, where we have space to welcome individuals, couples, families and groups for appointments and drop-in visits for our Clan, Ancestry and Tartan Experiences, Measuring and tailoring services or simply to have a good old chat. We always find fantastic old features and in our Edinburgh Shop we found a beautiful cornice. In Crieff we discovered gorgeous wood panelling under the plasterboard, dating back to the days when the shop was Frank Thomson's, the ironmongers!
We can't wait to welcome you and continue the story of this fabulous wee business.
