About
Dovecot Studios is one of Scotland's leading centres for contemporary art, craft and design, built around a genuinely rare attraction: a working tapestry studio where visitors can watch master weavers translate artists' designs into hand-woven tapestries in real time. The organisation traces its history back to 1912, when the 4th Marquess of Bute founded the Edinburgh Tapestry Company at a purpose-built studio near Corstorphine, constructed in the shape of a dovecot — the origin of the name that has stuck ever since. In 2008 the studio relocated to its current home at 10 Infirmary Street, a striking conversion of the former Victorian Infirmary Street Baths, a public swimming pool building whose original architecture was sensitively adapted by Page\Park Architects to create galleries, a shop and a viewing balcony overlooking the working looms below.
Over more than a century, Dovecot's weavers have collaborated with a remarkable roster of major artists, translating designs by figures including Henry Moore, Eduardo Paolozzi, Alan Davie and, more recently, Grayson Perry into large-scale woven tapestries — a genuinely unusual craft-meets-fine-art tradition that few other UK institutions can offer visitors direct sight of. The Tapestry Studio Viewing Balcony lets visitors observe this process directly, watching weavers at work on current commissions using techniques largely unchanged for decades.
Alongside its working studio, Dovecot runs a changing programme of contemporary art, craft and design exhibitions in its main gallery spaces, drawing on both its own archive and partnerships with lenders and other institutions, spanning fashion, textiles, photography and design history. The building's Victorian swimming-pool origins remain visible in places, giving the galleries an architectural character distinct from a purpose-built exhibition space. A shop showcasing contemporary Scottish makers and a café add to a visit that combines genuine craft heritage, an active working studio, and a rotating contemporary art programme in a single Edinburgh Old Town building just off South Bridge.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Entry to the Gallery, Shop and Tapestry Studio Viewing Balcony is free — a ticket is only needed for major ticketed exhibitions.
- Visit on a weekday to see the looms in action, since weavers are not present in the studio every day and the viewing balcony keeps more limited hours than the galleries.
- Check the current exhibition programme before visiting, as major shows sometimes carry a separate admission charge.
- The building has no cloakroom or left-luggage facilities, so plan accordingly if travelling with bags.
- Combine your visit with the nearby National Museum of Scotland or Surgeons' Hall Museums, both a short walk away.
- The café keeps shorter hours than the galleries — check before planning a visit built around lunch.
- Photography is generally welcome in the galleries, but check current signage for any exhibition-specific restrictions.
- Allow extra time to browse the shop, which sells work by contemporary Scottish and international makers.
Highlights
The Tapestry Studio Viewing Balcony
A dedicated balcony overlooking the working tapestry studio lets visitors watch Dovecot's master weavers at work on current commissions, using techniques and looms largely unchanged for decades. This is a genuinely rare sight in a UK museum context — most textile-history collections show finished works or historic looms, whereas Dovecot's weavers are actively producing new, large-scale tapestries in real time, often taking many months to complete a single commission.
The balcony's opening hours are more limited than the main galleries, since weavers are not present in the studio every day of the week, so checking the current schedule before visiting is worthwhile for anyone hoping to see the process in action rather than an empty studio floor.
Origins as the Edinburgh Tapestry Company, 1912
Dovecot's history stretches back to 1912, when the 4th Marquess of Bute founded the Edinburgh Tapestry Company at a purpose-built studio near Corstorphine, constructed in the distinctive shape of a dovecot — the direct origin of the name the organisation still carries today. This aristocratic patronage model, unusual for a working craft studio, gave the tapestry-making tradition a stable footing in Edinburgh for nearly a century before the move to the current Infirmary Street site, and the studio's continuous operation since 1912 makes it one of the longest-running tapestry ateliers in the UK.
The Infirmary Street Baths Conversion
Dovecot's current home, occupied since 2008, is a striking adaptive reuse of the former Victorian Infirmary Street Baths, a public swimming pool building whose original architecture was sensitively converted by Page\Park Architects into galleries, a shop, a café and the tapestry studio itself. Traces of the building's swimming-bath origins remain visible in places, giving the galleries an architectural character quite different from a purpose-built exhibition space, and the conversion has been widely recognised within Scottish architecture circles as an exemplary reuse of a historic civic building for a new cultural purpose.
Collaborations with Major Artists
Over more than a century, Dovecot's weavers have translated designs by a remarkable roster of major artists into large-scale hand-woven tapestries, including Henry Moore, Eduardo Paolozzi, Alan Davie and, more recently, Grayson Perry — a genuinely unusual craft-meets-fine-art tradition few other UK institutions can offer direct sight of.
These collaborations sit at the heart of Dovecot's identity, treating tapestry not as a purely decorative historic craft but as a living medium capable of realising the work of leading contemporary artists at a scale and texture impossible in painting or print.
Collections
Dovecot Studios' core identity rests on its status as a genuinely working tapestry studio rather than a static historic collection, with over a century of production since its 1912 founding as the Edinburgh Tapestry Company. Its archive includes historic tapestries and studio records documenting collaborations with major 20th- and 21st-century artists including Henry Moore, Eduardo Paolozzi, Alan Davie and Grayson Perry, alongside an active programme of new commissions produced on site and visible to visitors via the Tapestry Studio Viewing Balcony.
This is complemented by a changing programme of contemporary art, craft and design exhibitions in the main gallery spaces, drawing on partnerships with lenders and other UK institutions and spanning textiles, fashion, photography and design history.
The building itself, a converted Victorian swimming-baths, is part of the visitor experience, its adaptive reuse widely recognised within Scottish architecture circles.
The Tapestry Studio
Ongoing display of the working tapestry studio itself via the viewing balcony, showing weavers translating artists' designs into large-scale hand-woven tapestries using techniques largely unchanged for decades.
Dovecot Archive Highlights
Periodic displays drawing on Dovecot's own archive of historic tapestries and studio records, illustrating over a century of collaboration with major artists since the studio's 1912 founding.
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
A retrospective exhibition covering the influential 1960s-70s fashion brand Biba, running February-June 2026.