Mechanical Flow Mural

Galashiels in the Scottish Borders has a long history of textile making, with roots in the 18th century. Back then it was a small village using water powered “waulk” mills, but with the advent of industrialisation and mechanisation the village grew rapidly into a global centre for the production of woollen tweed, tartan and yarn.

As with many traditional industries, the 20th century saw a decline, but the links always remained, with Heriot-Watt University's School of Textiles and Design (Originally the Scottish College of Textiles, founded in 1883) based there. To celebrate this history, a mural was commissioned by Energise Galashiels, while local traders came up with the idea to locate it on one of the bare gable wall of a town centre building.

The mural, known as “Mechanical Flow” was created by Global Street Art and was completed in April 2023. The main part of the mural depicts two women weaving and this was inspired by a photo found in the archives of the University of Glasgow with the title “Two Weaver Ladies: Chrissie Martin and Jessie Bell, weaving a Templeton carpet in 1955”.

Mechanical Flow is a very colourful mural and was designed to show how humans, machines and materials come together to create the elaborate textile designs that Galashiels is famous for. Indeed, the Houndstooth Tartan pattern adopted by Walter Scott forms a prominent part of the mural, along with an image of the mills that used to dominate Galashiels.