21/10/2026
The second speaker we are meeting this week is Nysa Loudon, whose talk at our Anniversary Collections Conference is, “The materials, ecology, and sensations of wild plant use in Scottish vernacular cordage and basketry at the Highland Folk Museum Collection”.
Tell us about yourself.
I am a PhD Researcher in Archaeology at the University of Glasgow that studies the use of wild plants in basketry and fabric in Scotland.
Describe a career or lifetime highlight.
A lot of career highlights have come out of my time in Scotland, maybe it is a bit of a tie between standing at the foot of the massive Stones of Stenness in Orkney and teaching undergraduate students and kids visiting Glencoe how to make cordage from readily available grasses.
What is your favourite object in our collections?
My favourite object in the Highland Folk Collection is the ciosan baskets, they are baskets that held grain on the Western Isles, and each one is deceivingly unique.
What is your favourite place in the Highlands?
My favourite place in the Highlands is probably Glencoe because of how small you feel in the Glen surrounded by the most epic landscape with the most glorious colours. It was the first place in the Highlands that I travelled to with the folks in Glasgow Archaeology and made me want to paint again.
You can find Nysa on Instagram at . For tickets to the conference see the link in the comments!
