An in-conversation with contemporary designers exploring tartan’s global roots and impact

Jamaican-Scottish designer Nicholas Daley and Lagos-born, Glasgow-raised, London-based designer Olubiyi Thomas both create garments that embrace tartan’s global roots. Join art historian, writer, and artist Ferren Gipson to untangle the stories and ideas that underpin both designers work, unpacking their relationship with tartan.

From a tartan that draws on the shared colour scheme of the Nigerian flag and Glasgow’s Celtic football club to reflect cross-cultural identity, to a kilt ensemble that unpacks the cultural legacies of madras and tartan – both designers use the textile to explore intertwined ideas of identity, kinship and heritage to celebrate contemporary multiculturalism.

Both designers’ work can be seen in our exhibition, Tartan, a radical new look at one of the world’s best-known textiles.