Exhibition: The Fabric of Dundee

16 September 2026 – September 2027

Included in museum admission

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The Fabric of Dundee, a new, year-long exhibition of jute-related imagery and artefacts from within the Trust’s Recognised Collections of National Significance will open on 16 September throughout Verdant Works Museum.  

From May – September 2026, visitors to Verdant Works Museum were invited to co-curate the exhibition, through a Weaving Our Story project; allowing visitors to vote on which images and items were selected for inclusion, from a wide array selected by the Trust’s curatorial team. The selection included images of jute stowers, mills dressed for celebrations, and of workers using machinery, alongside award certificates given for spinning, a jute sack dress, and more. 

The Fabric of Dundee offers a chance to view lesser-seen items and images from Dundee Heritage Trust’s Recognised Collections of National Significance whilst reflecting on Dundee’s jute past; visitors’ connections to the city’s historic textile trades; and three decades of Dundee’s rich past being shared with visitors from all over the world in the Victorian mill at Verdant Works Museum.

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The Fabric of Dundee exhibition comes as part of wider celebrations to mark Verdant Works Museum’s 30th anniversary.

The site dates back to 1833, and has been used as a flax mill, a jute mill, and has been the home of a recycling merchants in its near-200-year past. 

The rare courtyard-type mill was acquired by the Dundee Heritage Trust in 1991, and, over the course of five years, was transformed from a derelict scrap metal merchants into an interactive museum, filled with galleries portraying the jute and industrial story of Dundee. Since then, the jute-mill-turned-attraction has continued to grow and develop, with the remarkable restoration of the High Mill – the oldest area in the building – in 2015 cementing the mill’s future as not only an attraction, but a space for exhibitions, weddings, functions and community activities.  

The attraction now sees over 11,000 visitors from around the globe annually, and is consecutively awarded Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards, for its inclusion in the top 10% of attractions worldwide, according to Tripadvisor reviews and rankings.