We are incredibly honoured and excited to announce that a new tartan has been created for our upcoming production of Thrown. Artists Nat McCleary and Sabrina Henry, and Glasgow weavers, Vevar have collaborated to create the new tartan named Homegrown, and is being launched as part of the costume design for the upcoming tour.

Homegrown has been created by Glaswegian weavers, Vevar which was founded in 2020 by weavers Christopher McEvoy and Chantal Allen. Based in the East End of Glasgow, the city's historical weaving heart, they undertake various projects across art, design, and architecture as well as producing a line of lifestyle products that are uniquely Glaswegian. Whilst proud of their roots, they strive to innovate and challenge what is thought of as Scottish textiles.  

Nat McCleary, writer said 

“Homegrown is a new tartan telling a visual story of discordant unity; of belonging in tension.

It had always been my intention to create a tartan as a legacy of the play. My family name comes from an Irish slave trader and I didn’t want to adopt a tartan that I didn’t feel connected to. I knew I wouldn’t be the only person who, for many reasons, may feel that tartan was off-limits or couldn’t be authentically engaged with, so I resolved to create one for those of us home-grown. Tartan doesn’t have to be significant to everyone, but for those to whom it is, this tartan is a visual story of discordant unity; of belonging in tension, the mess of the past inescapably woven into the mess of the present.

 This is a tartan for all of us home-grown, without long ties to the land and her traditions who yet are tied, rooted in our Scottishness, ready to unapologetically rep the sh*t out of it with aplomb.”   

Sabrina Henry, costume designer said 

“Reading Nat’s script for Thrown, I immediately felt that the characters represented the many personalities, joys and complexities that we hold and that make a person. And learning about the process of tartan creation from Vevar Studios I could see this reflected in the process of making the pattern, selecting the colours, textures and their meanings. Homegrown represents an understanding that there is no singular identity that is unimpacted by the presence and legacies of others and therefore no singular Scottishness.”   

Written by Nat McCleary and directed by Johnny McKnight, Thrown is a punchy and playful new production inspired by Scottish Backhold Wrestling, featuring a diverse inter-generational all-female cast and tells the story of Glasgow’s most unlikely backhold wrestling team. 

Thrown embarks on a tour of venues on the Highland Games circuit in July, before a run at the Traverse, as part of the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2023. 

Find out more here.