Caithness Glass Review: Paperweights from the Scottish Highlands

Caithness Glass was born from necessity. In 1961, the Highlands and Islands Development Board established a glassworks in Wick — the most northerly town on the British mainland — to create skilled employment in a region that desperately needed it.

What began as a social enterprise became one of Scotland's most beloved craft brands, famous worldwide for its hand-made glass paperweights.

The Heritage

The Wick factory operated for decades, training local craftspeople in the art of glassblowing and lampwork. Caithness paperweights — with their swirling internal designs of coloured glass — became collector's items, displayed in homes across Britain and exported worldwide.

Heritage Crafts classifies glass making as Critically Endangered. The related craft of cut crystal has only 7-15 professional practitioners left in the UK. Caithness represents the broader Scottish glass tradition — a craft that has shrunk dramatically as energy costs have soared and skilled workers have retired.

The company has been through ownership changes but continues to produce hand-made glassware, keeping alive techniques that few in Britain still practise.

The Craft

Caithness paperweights are made using lampwork techniques:

Gathering — Molten glass is gathered on a pontil rod from the furnace
Shaping — The glass is worked while hot, using hand tools and gravity
Inclusion — Coloured glass rods, twists, and millefiori canes are embedded within the clear glass body
Encasing — The design is sealed within layers of crystal-clear glass
Annealing — Slow cooling in a controlled kiln to prevent stress fractures
Grinding and polishing — The base is ground flat and the surface polished to optical clarity

Each paperweight is unique. The internal designs — spirals, flowers, abstract colour fields — are created by manipulating hot glass at the precise moment it's fluid enough to move but solid enough to hold shape. It's a skill that takes years to develop.

The Product Range

Paperweights — The signature product. Limited editions, commemorative pieces, and classic designs
Vases — Hand-blown coloured glass
Ornaments — Decorative glass pieces
Commemorative pieces — Custom designs for events and organisations

Prices range from £30 for small paperweights to £200+ for limited edition and large format pieces.

The Verdict

Caithness Glass connects this directory to Scotland's glass heritage — a craft that sits alongside crystal cutting as one of Britain's most endangered. The paperweight tradition they helped popularise is a distinctly British contribution to glass art.

Pros:

Hand-made Scottish glass with 60+ years of heritage
Unique paperweight designs collected worldwide
Accessible pricing for handmade glasswork
Part of Britain's critically endangered glass tradition

Cons:

Ownership changes have complicated the brand story
Production scale has reduced from its peak