Our team

Edinburgh Kiltmakers Academy courses are taught by EKA Alumni themselves!

Helen, Rachel S and Rachel B are exceptionally passionate and well practiced in handmade kiltmaking. Our open-minded tutors are committed to ongoing learning development and are determined to establish new principles of skills and knowledge sharing within the kiltmaking industry. Their goal is to guarantee a strong and secure future for handmade kiltmaking, to underpin a collaborative and supportive workforce, with every kilt crafted to the highest standards.

Gordon Nicolson

The Edinburgh Kiltmakers Academy Founder

Gordon Nicolson, renowned highlandwear retailer and owner of Gordon Nicolson Kiltmakers, founded the Edinburgh Kiltmakers Academy in 2016 to realise a long-held dream; to standardise the practice of kiltmaking to the highest possible level and secure the future of handmade kilts.

The standard of this heritage craft had been under increasing threat for some time, suffering inconsistent kilt quality and limited knowledge sharing among skilled kiltmakers, as well as a market saturated with cheap, mass produced imports.

Gordon Nicolson founded EKA on a mission to protect and promote the skills involved, remove the mystery surrounding kiltmaking and to train a talented workforce of inspired kiltmakers who would set authoritative future standards.

At the EKA our courses are regularly evaluated and improved, thanks to the commitment and insight of our progressive tutors who respond to feedback from students and kiltwearing customers alike. As a result of this rigorous and responsive training, EKA-qualified kiltmakers can confidently and consistently craft handsewn kilts of the highest quality for every customer. A new generation of kiltmakers is being expertly trained, confidently preserving this craft and securing a bright future for cultural tradition.

Helen McDermott

EKA Tutor, Alumni and Kiltmaker

Helen is a fully fledged kiltmaker, who learnt her craft at Edinburgh Kiltmakers Academy. She has made hundreds of kilts for Gordon Nicolson Kiltmakers and continues to do so alongside her teaching.

Having completed a Fashion Design for Industry BAHons Degree at Heriot Watt University and previously working in the bridal industry and on the costume department of Game of Thrones, Helen has a wealth of sewing knowledge!​

Helen is hugely passionate about kiltmaking and all it entails - a trait EKA students benefit from a great deal. Always looking to learn, develop and improve, these attributes have benefitted the progression of EKA hugely.

Rachel Smith

EKA Tutor, Alumni and Kiltmaker

Rachel Smith has had a varied career, doing scientific research and, latterly, as a trainer in medical research law.

All the while, sewing has been Rachel's much loved hobby. She always loved making things and throughout the first lockdown, took
the plunge! She decided to leave all that travelling for work behind her and retrain at EKA as a kiltmaker.

Rachel never imagined how kiltmaking would get under her skin. She loved it from day one, and has never looked back.

Rachel finds passing on the skills that she was taught at EKA so rewarding; playing a tiny part in keeping the craft alive.

We're so happy to welcome Rachel back to EKA as a tutor and talented kiltmaker with a great deal of knowledge and enthusiasm to pass on to her lucky students!

Rachel Bell

EKA Tutor, Alumni, Kiltmaker and Social Media Assistant

We are very proud to announce the continued growth of the Edinburgh Kiltmakers Academy as we welcome another successful EKA graduate, Rachel Bell, to the tutoring team.

Rachel enrolled at the EKA after graduating college. In her own words; "Kiltmaking wasn’t something I'd considered as a career. I was going to use the experience to improve my hand sewing skills and then go onto uni after Covid lockdowns lifted ...but kiltmaking stuck ! The EKA full course showed me what a beautiful (and endangered) craft hand sewn kiltmaking is.

After graduating from EKA, I became a full-time kiltmaker at Gordon Nicolson Kiltmakers.My skills improve with every new tartan I work on and I've now completed almost 200 kilts!

I'm looking forward to passing on my knowledge to future students and learning much more myself, in the process ! I'm now assisting with EKA's Social Media and I’m hoping to help reach more potential kiltmakers from all walks of life!"

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