Learn about Tartan Design
Here at Houston Kiltmakers we have 2 of the most renowned tartan designers in Scotland. Our 4th generation family business is owned by father & son Ken & Ewan MacDonald. They are experts in all areas of their field, continuing the legacy of the business in its 4th generation. Both have demonstrated extreme flair for tartan design, designing for a multitude of clients from families, couples to corporate tartans & even designed our own exclusive range of hire tartans too.
Many people are opting to design a tartan for a variety of reasons, many couples & families chose to design a tartan for them to unite families or increase further family heritage & symbolism. Corporate tartans have become increasingly popular as an excellent use of branding, especially for Scottish brands. Tartan design is a great branding tool, enhancing brand identity, heritage and appeal to Scottish consumers.
Sounds interesting? keep reading below to learn more about tartan design at Houston Kiltmakers.
What is tartan design?–
There is thousands of tartans many dating back to centuries ago, tartan is intertwined with Scottish & fashion history. Initial tartans were limited and simple in design due to lack of dyes & materials, over the past few centuries the textile industry has innovated and grown exponentially.
Due to modern technology we can now even design tartans digitally and have them registered officially & woven. But what actually is tartan design?– well using specialised software, tartan designers can digitally create tartan designs by creating a stitch count. This is done by generating initial designs by experimenting with yarn colours & composition i.e. a tartan design pattern could be 3 black threads > 20 red threads > 3 black threads. The whole process is essentially creating a pattern repeat for the tartan and this is referred to as a stitch count.
But not to worry, that’s not what the client would be doing, when designing a tartan you would be working closely with a tartan design expert such as Ken or Ewan MacDonald who would collaborate with you to bring your vision to life.
Tartan design process-
If you are interested in designing a tartan we advise you to read a bit more about it this blog post is a great start but we have our tartan design home page here which allows you to fully understand the process of tartan design alongside reading more about our designers & body of past work.
We have a special weave (tartan design) section within our gallery just so you can browse our past work and get a feel for what you would like from your design. When approaching us for tartan design usually one of our experts would consulate with you on the reasons & ideas for your tartan design. It is a key aspect to understand the meanings behind your design idea and allows our designers to fully amerce in creating you the most perfect fitting tartan for you. This is what makes them such experts in their field, some tartan designers just skim through the process and don’t put in half the effort they do. Our designers go to extreme lengths to understand what you want and collaborate with you in artistic direction to ensure your vision become a reality.
Often you will be shown through swatch books of existing tartans, to select tartans you already like and the qualities about them, this helps our designers understand what you could be looking for in your tartan this includes, tartan colours, scale of pattern, complexity of pattern & much more. After consolidating your idea they will get to work on drafting you initial design samples to help understand even further the direction you want to go in often this also helps the client understand what they want from their design and their expectations.
After many design samples, the client eventually approves the final tartan design, for some clients this can be after very samples but for some others it can require multiple rounds of sampling. Both of our designers are committed to making you the best tartan for you and more than happy to draft samples until you are happy.
Once the final design is approved, you can have it registered on the tartan register which is essentially a list of registered tartan designs this essentially means you own the design and acknowledged the design as a real tartan and you can chose to keep your design for private use or have it public for anyone to weave. This identifies you as the design keeper anyone who wishes to weave your design needs your approval & prevents anyone from copying your design too.
Upon being registered you may chose to have the tartan woven at some point, we would work closely with our trusted exceptional quality Scottish mills to weave your design in the requested amounts. This can later be made into kilts, trews, accessories & well almost anything. Some chose not to weave their design & some opt to have theirs woven multiple times, this all comes down to your own preference & use of the tartan.
Our Experts Ewan & Ken-
Houston kiltmakers is a 4th generation business started by Kens great grandfather in 1909. leading the business into its 12 decade of operation, Ken and Ewan have established themselves at the top of the Scottish highland wear industry being some of the most knowledge and best tartan designers in industry.
Ken MacDonald has become well known within the industry from being the past Vice Chairman of the Scottish Tartan Authority and 3 times past Deacon on the incorporation of Weavers of Glasgow (Est. 1514). Ken has worked on multiple significant projects including designing our very own Houston’s Bute heather collection which innovated the kilt hire scene in Scotland with his refreshing contemporary designs which have been our best sellers for well over a decade.
Ken also presented the American national tartan to George W. Bush himself & presented the Glasgow miles better tartan to Prince Charles whom has now become the countries current king & Prince’s William & Harry.
Ken has worked on a vast range of corporate tartans from a wide range of clients including London northern east railway, Wallace society, accord hospice & RAF Kinross. The Apollo 12 tartan design was a highlight of his career, presenting this tartan to Allan Bean who was the 4th man to walk on the moon.
Ewan MacDonald is the 4th generation of the business as Ken MacDonalds son Ewan has followed in his dad’s famous footsteps. Ewan is an innovator in the highland wear industry, advancing the shops & its projects alongside establishing himself as a lead tartan designer.
In only the earliest stages of his career he has the spotlight after working on multiple big name client tartan designs & weave projects including big names such as Dominoes, Aldi, Nasa, Barclays, Skyrora & Robert Burns World Federation. Working alongside his father & connecting with many industry partners Ewan is well knowledged and experienced in every aspect of highland wear and design.
Ewan has a keen eye for kilt outfit styling, curation & trend forecasting. His eye for detail has landed him in projects such as the tartan design for the clan chief Buchanan Inauguration. Ewan also has lots of experience in designing personal & wedding tartans for a variety of customers.
Our Portfolio-
There has been so many personal, wedding, corporate & other tartans designed by both Ken & Ewan but here’s just some to name a few.
Corporate:
Skyrora-
Skyrora is a private aerospace company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2017, the company focuses on the development and launch of small satellite launch vehicles. Skyrora’s goal is to provide responsive and flexible access to space for small satellites and payloads.
This tartan looks fantastic and even has subtle Lurex metallic yarn woven through it.
Frasers property–
This tartan was created for Fraser’s property, a local business to us, this tartan was designed to celebrate their 80th year at Hillington Park, Scotland’s largest business park, in 2018 and the acquisition by Frasers Property. The colours were selected to represent the Frasers Property brand primary colours.
Frasers Property UK is a leading multinational real estate company with over 60 years of experience. They own, develop, and manage properties across Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and North Africa. As the largest owner of UK business parks, they focus on creating sustainable, innovative environments that enhance community, wellness, and social cohesion.
This tartan turned out exactly as imaged and fits perfectly with their branding & logo and can be used for their commercial use.
Dominoes–
This tartan was designed for Domino’s Scotland. The final design, with equal parts dominos blue and red, along with white and black accents, draws inspiration from their iconic logo. This striking design was woven into cloth and made into kilts to celebrate the opening of a supply chain of stores in Scotland. Crafting this unique tartan involved numerous drafts before arriving at the impressive final design, which serves as a great asset for Dominoes’ branding. It was a long process to get right but looked incredible when made into the Kilt
Non Corporate (Personal & Weddings)
Consentino–
Designed for a client’s family; these beautiful tartans were designed for the client who was a tartan & kilt enthusiast & connoisseur who heavily wanted their own tartan to treasure and using colours with personal significance to them.
This tartan was a slow process to design as the client wanted the most perfect classic tartans for their family and what a magnificent outcome. This was a very complex & long process of design to ensure the perfect tartans for the client as it was very special to them & they wanted to treasure it for a lifetime.
Dowell wedding & Family–
The tartan was inspired by the tartan of the Dowell family’s parent clan, MacDougall. It was designed for the marriage of John Dowell to his French fiancée Paloma Rossetti.
The colours are intended to represent the landscapes that are important to the couple: green represents the green Scottish hills; blue and grey represent Scottish waters and the sky; soft purple was chosen to reflect the native flowers of three landscapes: the heather of Scotland, the lavender fields of Provence (where Paloma was born) and the blossoms of the Jacaranda tree in Nairobi, Kenya.
Christie –
A tartan for Keith Christie and his family. Colours: light blue is intended to represent the background of the flag of Scotland; the various shades of red are intended to represent the courage and blood
sacrificed by the family’s Christie ancestors, at the Battle of Bannockburn, 1314; dark blue is intended to represent
fresh-water lochs; green and browns are intended to reflect Scotland’s beautiful lush forest, glens and majestic
mountains.
Why Design a Tartan With Us?-
As mentioned before our experts Ken & Ewan MacDonald are industry leaders in tartan design, designing for clients globally and families all over Scotland. They have an impeccable reputation for their innovative & class tartan designs and extensive experience.
They don’t skip the finer details, they ensure your tartan is exactly what you dreamed it could be and more. If you want a truly unique and bespoke design there is no ideas too little or too big for the Houston kiltmakers tartan design team.
You can browse their tartan design portfolio here & brochures are available here.
For any enquires or questions on tartan design we would love to welcome you instore or alternatively you can reach us at [email protected] or call us on 0141 889 4879
You can browse & read more about our tartan design services, process, pricing & gallery here.
You can keep with our socials to see the latest in our tartan designs & highland wear, please see below:
