About
Edinburgh Printmakers is Scotland's leading centre for contemporary printmaking, combining a public exhibition gallery, an open-access print workshop, and a community of working artist studios under one roof. Founded in 1967, it was the first open-access print studio to be established in Britain, created to give artists without their own facilities the chance to work with etching presses, lithography stones, screenprinting beds, and other specialist print equipment that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive to own individually. That founding ethos of shared access has remained the organisation's guiding principle for almost sixty years, even as it has moved premises several times across the city in step with Edinburgh's changing property landscape.
Since the early 2020s, Edinburgh Printmakers has been based in Castle Mills, a former rubber and cable factory in Fountainbridge that has been extensively converted into a purpose-built home for the organisation, sitting directly on the towpath of the Union Canal a short walk from the West End. The move gave the organisation dramatically expanded facilities: a full-height gallery space capable of showing ambitious contemporary print-based exhibitions, an enlarged open-access workshop with dedicated etching, relief, lithography, letterpress, and screenprint areas, and a suite of studios let to professional printmakers who form the working heart of the building day to day.
The gallery's exhibition programme is dedicated specifically to print as an art form, presenting work by both established and emerging artists who use printmaking's particular combination of process, repetition, and reproducibility as a serious contemporary medium rather than a secondary craft. Alongside exhibitions, the organisation runs an extensive public education programme of courses, workshops, and taster sessions covering the full range of print techniques, aimed at everyone from complete beginners to practising artists wanting access to specialist equipment. A shop on site sells editioned prints produced by studio artists and workshop members, giving visitors the chance to buy original, affordable artwork directly connected to the building's working practice.
Edinburgh Printmakers operates as an independent charity, and its Castle Mills home has become a notable piece of adaptive-reuse architecture in its own right, restoring a piece of Fountainbridge's industrial past for a new creative purpose within a rapidly regenerating part of the city.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Check the current exhibition programme online before visiting, as the gallery changes shows regularly.
- Book onto a print course well in advance if interested — popular sessions can fill up quickly.
- Combine your visit with a walk along the Union Canal towpath, which passes directly outside the building.
- Look out for occasional open studio days, which let visitors see resident printmakers actually at work.
- The shop is a good place to buy an original, affordably priced piece of art directly from the artist community.
- Allow extra time if you want to browse both the gallery and the shop thoroughly.
- Public transport or the canal towpath are easier than driving, given limited on-site parking.
Highlights
Britain's First Open-Access Print Studio
Founded in 1967, Edinburgh Printmakers was the first organisation in Britain to offer open access to professional printmaking equipment, giving artists without their own studios the chance to work with etching presses, lithography stones, and other specialist apparatus that would otherwise be far beyond most individual budgets.
That founding ethos of shared, democratised access to expensive equipment has defined the organisation for almost six decades and remains its central mission today, even as the scale and sophistication of its facilities have grown enormously. Visitors interested in printmaking's history in Scotland can trace a direct line from this founding moment to the working studios and public workshop still in daily use in the building today.
The Castle Mills Building
Since the early 2020s Edinburgh Printmakers has occupied Castle Mills, a former rubber and cable factory in Fountainbridge that has been extensively converted into a purpose-built creative hub while retaining much of its industrial character and structure. The adaptive reuse of the building sits within a wider wave of regeneration along this stretch of the Union Canal, transforming a piece of Edinburgh's manufacturing past into a home for contemporary art production.
Exposed structural elements, tall gallery ceilings, and generous workshop floor space give the building a distinctive industrial atmosphere that shapes how visitors experience both the exhibitions and the working studios around them.
The Contemporary Print Gallery
The gallery's exhibition programme is dedicated specifically to print as a serious contemporary art form, presenting a changing roster of established and emerging artists who use printmaking's distinctive combination of process, repetition, and reproducibility as a deliberate creative strategy rather than a secondary craft.
Exhibitions typically run for several weeks to a few months and range from solo surveys of individual printmakers' practice to thematic group shows exploring particular techniques or ideas. Because the programme is curated in close dialogue with the working studios and workshop downstairs, exhibitions often connect directly to techniques visitors can then try for themselves in the open-access workshop.
The Open-Access Print Workshop
At the practical heart of the building is the open-access print workshop, with dedicated areas for etching and intaglio, relief printing, lithography, letterpress, and screenprint, available to trained members and course participants rather than gallery visitors alone. This is the direct descendant of the 1967 founding facility, expanded and modernised but still built on the same principle of shared access to equipment individual artists could rarely afford on their own.
Public open days and workshop viewings periodically let general visitors see the presses and equipment in action even without booking a course themselves.
Collections
Edinburgh Printmakers does not hold a conventional historic museum collection; instead its core resource is a living one, comprising the equipment, working studios, and exhibition programme that together sustain contemporary printmaking practice in Scotland. The organisation does hold an archive of editions produced across its almost sixty-year history, some of which are shown in occasional retrospective displays and referenced in the shop's programme of reissued or archival prints.
The changing exhibition programme is the most visible expression of this ongoing practice for general visitors, complemented by the open-access workshop and studios that keep the collection of print-making expertise and equipment in continuous, practical use rather than static display.
The Open-Access Print Workshop
The organisation's founding facility, expanded and modernised, offering etching, relief, lithography, letterpress, and screenprint equipment to trained members and course participants.
Working Studios Programme
A resident community of professional printmakers working in studios within the building, connected directly to the gallery's exhibition and course programmes.
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.
Nearby Museums (5 within 6 miles)
Regimental Museum of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
Military History
Edinburgh — ~10 min walk (0.5 mi)