A Message from Ian Giles, Chair of North Lands Creative

We’re still here, and we’d welcome your support.

For nearly 25 years North Lands Creative, housed in the small village of Lybster in Scotland’s beautiful Caithness coast, has been one of the world’s leading centres for artistic glass and creativity.

We were founded to continue the proud tradition of Caithness glass-making and open up specialist skills to local communities, visitors and a worldwide family of leading glass artists who have travelled from across the globe to teach, learn and experience our wild and beautiful landscape.

Since Covid 19 to keep our community and staff team safe, we’ve had to close our campus doors. But our specialist team are now coming back to campus to help us adapt our studio and exhibition facilities for a new era. We are looking forward to re-opening and celebrating our 25^th anniversary with you next year.

Throughout lockdown North Lands has kept the spirit of creativity alive. We have used our social media to showcase the work of makers from Scotland and around the world, staged an online festival of glass artists’ film and kept Caithness on the map by sustaining our digital projects with partners from Venice to Tokyo.

Behind the scenes our staff team have been working hard to ensure that this precious resource is kept safe for the Highlands, for Scotland and for a world-wide community of artists and art lovers. And now we need your help. Shutting our doors has meant losing the earned income we rely on. Adapting our workshop and working practices will bring new financial demands.

It is quick and easy to donate here

With your help, we look forward to sharing the creative potential of glass and glassmaking for generations to come.

Thank you

Ian Giles, Chair North Lands Creative

support north lands creative

We’re asking visitors like you to support our organisation. As a national charity our income goes directly into helping build a stronger glass community, which benefits artists and craft makers globally. Your donation will help artists gain valuable scholarship, internship and residency opportunities, from Scotland and beyond. It also benefits visitors of all ages, whose lives are enriched by our free admission exhibitions and free creative activities on campus and online festivals and events.

Authenticity is at the heart of our work. Centred on a core belief in conservation, education and sustainability of glass as an art form, North Lands Creative has an outstanding reputation as a centre of excellence in glass. This would not be possible without financial contributions from our supporters who now support our work from around the world.