The 'Yorkshire Tartan' Story
My 'Yorkshire Tartan' in blue, yellow, green and white is inspired by the Yorkshire county colours and reflects my personal heritage and love of tartan. Because my tartan was designed as an actual Scottish tartan weave pattern they can all be woven as well as printed. This provides a range of bespoke commission opportunities for anyone wanting my tartans for weddings, personal and corporate use.
In the beginning...
My authentic Scottish tartan in Yorkshire colours came to life as the result of my deciding that I wanted a flagship design that reflects my Yorkshire heritage, my thirty percent Scottish DNA and the fact that TVFMR is a Yorkshire-based brand.
The design process
Designing a tartan however is a very different process to my usual photographic approach and resulted in my using a specialist tartan weave pattern-maker. The result was a prominent blue, yellow, green and white design that can be woven as well as printed.
Officially registered Scottish Tartan
The Scottish Register of Tartans accepted my sett pattern as new and unique and officially registered it as the 'Merryn Wilderspin' tartan in the Scottish Register of Tartans.
'Yorkshire Tartan' design protection and trademarks
The design is registered as 'Yorkshire Tartan' and linked to a range of related trademarks. TVFMR accordingly markets its related product collections as 'Yorkshire Tartan'.
Woven as well as printed
Because the design process created a weave pattern means that the tartan can be woven as well as printed.
This potential offers all kinds of future new product possibilities as well as the ability to offer both personal and corporate customers a bespoke service for those who wish to commission woven products for weddings, events and other purposes. (The tartan cloth has to be woven to order before it can be used to create the product order and the wholoe process can take several months.)
The 'Yorkshire Tartan' fashion shoot
'Yorkshire Tartan' first came to life in late 2023 when the first product samples were made.
In spring 2024 a photoshoot took place at Grosmont on the North York Moors heritage railway. This was something that I had especially wanted to do as it's close to where I live and has been special to me ever since childhood.
In the press
In summer 2024, the Yorkshire and North-East fashion and lifestyle press provided good coverage about me and my 'Yorkshire Tartan' concept...
Fashion runway events
...I also participated in several fashion runway events held as part of York Fashion Week and at several University of York charity fundraisers.
More 'Yorkshire' tartans
In 2025 I created two new tartans to celebrate the North York Moors and Yorkshire coast which are both personally significant having been born in Scarborough and then lived for many years both in my younger and, now, later life on the southern edge of the Moors.
'Yorkshire Marine' in its pale blue and grey tones reflects the sea and coastline and which are both inherently associated with tourism, fishing and Jurassic history. 'Yorkshire Moorland' reflects the warm tones of the moorland heather and autumn especially.
Available to licence
All of my tartan print designs are available to licence together with a comprehensive set of trademark classes.