Blending crafts:
AN innovative Collaboration
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) invited our team at the Glasgow School of Art Highlands and Islands campus to work with Skyeskyns, a pioneering small, female led, craft business on the Isle of Skye. The project focused on developing a new lifestyle accessories range that would allow Skyeskyns to extend their product offering beyond their renowned sheepskin rugs and soft furnishings. It marked an opportunity to explore new markets and product forms outside their established expertise.
In response, our Future Skills team collaborated with Skyeskyns to provide expertise in both storytelling and product design. We approached this challenge through the lens of the circular economy. Our ambition was to demonstrate how design can help rural craft businesses make use of every part of the materials available to them, reduce waste, and unlock new value streams. By embedding circular principles into the design process, we aimed not only to create a distinctive new product range but also to show how sustainable innovation can strengthen the resilience of small, rural businesses.
We visited the Skyeskyns tannery in Waternish, where we engaged in a dynamic exchange of ideas that revealed both the limitations and the creative opportunities of small-scale craft production. This initial encounter helped us to better understand the processes, values, and challenges that shape the company’s work. With this initial visit the design process began, opening up conversations around material qualities, potential applications, how every part of a skin, including offcuts and less conventional hides, might be used creatively, and the stories that could frame a new product range.
Motivated by a desire to introduce colour through marbling techniques, Managing Director of Skyeskyns, Jess Hartwell had begun experimenting with marbling leather. While initial trials using waste sheepskin suede showed potential, cowhide emerged as a more suitable and reliable surface for achieving consistent results.
The design process was led by our designer, Rachel Naysmith, whose creativity and critical approach shaped the direction of the project. Rachel’s work brought forward innovative solutions that responded directly to the brief while also opening up possibilities beyond its initial scope by exploring how circular thinking could be translated into tangible design outcomes. Her ability to balance experimentation with practical design considerations ensured that the emerging concepts were both imaginative and feasible for production within the context of a small craft business.
With assistance from colleagues, the project benefited from the expertise across the Glasgow School of Art. Ruth Cochrane, provided guidance and input on product design. Rachael Sleight, provided valuable insights into leather craft and small-scale product development. Erin McQuarrie contributed her knowledge of textiles and natural dye processes, helping to explore sustainable material directions. Technical expertise was further supported by Ashleigh Miller whose guidance ensured that design ideas were translated into workable prototypes. Together, this collective brought a breadth of perspectives that enriched the collaboration and grounded it in both creative experimentation and practical know-how.
Skye’s distinctive landscape and cultural identity became central to this design process. Colour palettes drew inspiration from the island’s black stone beaches, while flowing forms were influenced by the sweeping lines of its cliffs and shorelines. Materials and techniques were selected for their potential to minimise waste and create new forms of value. Offcuts became design opportunities, and alternative surface treatments were explored as ways to reduce environmental impact while enriching the product’s story. The resulting aesthetic is rooted in place, capturing both the natural beauty of Skye and the enduring craftsmanship traditions that define Skyeskyns.
The design process:
Through this process, the brand Tenter began to emerge. The name pays homage to the traditions of tanning and the heritage that underpins Skyeskyns’ practice. It is derived from the distinctive mark left by a tenter hook on the skin during the tanning process, a subtle reference that connects the new range to the company’s craft origins. Tenter embodies both respect for these traditions and a willingness to reimagine them in contemporary forms.
Building on the conceptual framework and the insights gathered throughout the project, we designed a cohesive product range, with a bag as a standout piece. The design thoughtfully incorporates all elements of the brief, from material exploration and sustainable practice to the storytelling and heritage connections central to Skyeskyns. At the same time, we introduced fresh, innovative touches that give the product a contemporary appeal, demonstrating how traditional craftsmanship can be reinterpreted in new and exciting ways without compromising its authenticity.
"Working with the team at GSA’s Highland Campus has been nothing short of transformational. They’re not only brilliant creative thinkers but also genuinely lovely people, and together we’ve created thoughtfully designed, sustainable products we’re really proud of.”
– Jess Hartwell (Skyeskyns)
This collaboration with Skyeskyns exemplifies the Glasgow School of Art’s approach to creative partnerships. By combining academic expertise, technical skill, and industry knowledge, the project demonstrates how the GSA can support small-scale craft businesses in exploring innovation while respecting tradition. The initiative highlights our commitment to fostering experimentation, sustaining heritage skills, and translating research-led design into practical outcomes. Through such collaborations, we create opportunities for meaningful knowledge exchange, showing how academic insight can directly inform and elevate real-world creative practice.
