About us

We are accredited members of Icon, each with over 30 years of professional experience.

We take pride in our impartial advice and personal service.  We work to the highest technical and ethical standards according to The Institute of Conservation Code of Practice.  We limit our treatments to only what is necessary and use conservation-quality materials.  Our treatments are reversible as far as possible .  We can respond to exhibition deadlines and work to budgets.  Our secure and flexible studio space enables us to work, with the same attention to detail, on both large and small objects and projects.

Our clients from throughout Scotland and further afield include:

  • National Galleries of Scotland;
  • National Museums of Scotland;
  • National Trust for Scotland;
  • Historic Environment Scotland;
  • Local authority museums;
  • Independent museums;
  • University museums;
  • Archaeological contractors;
  • Historic houses and stately homes;
  • Local heritage organisations;
  • Businesses and business archives;
  • Art galleries, dealers and collectors;
  • Auction houses;
  • Framers;
  • Insurers and loss adjusters;
  • Churches and other religious organisations;
  • Display designers; and
  • Private clients. 

The Studio is located in the stunning grounds of Hopetoun House, about 10 miles to the north west of Edinburgh. 

Helen Creasy

 Paper and photographs 

Tuula Pardoe

 Costume and textiles 

Will Murray

 Artefacts and preventive 
Helen Creasy

Works on:

  • prints
  • drawings
  • watercolours
  • photographs
  • maps
  • plans
  • archive material
  • three-dimensional paper objects etc

Helen Creasy, Paper and photographs

Helen decided to become a conservator while completing a degree in the History of Art at the University of Manchester.  After a year of volunteering with conservators working in a wide range of disciplines she recognised her affinity for paper, and gained a place on the two year paper conservation course at Gateshead Technical College. She graduated with a Distinction, and secured her first paper conservation post at the Victoria and Albert Museum. This was followed by a two year fellowship at the Intermuseum Conservation Centre in Ohio. During her time in the USA she attended the six week course on the conservation of photographs at the University of Delaware / Winterthur Museum Art Conservation Programme.

Returning to the UK Helen worked first with Philip Stevens, a renowned paper conservator in private practice in London, before moving to Edinburgh to set up a paper conservation service for the Scottish Museums Council (SMC - now Museums Galleries Scotland). For 16 years under SMC she worked for museums all over Scotland doing treatments, surveys and training in paper conservation. In 2005 Helen, Tuula and Will established their own business, The Scottish Conservation Studio.

Helen gained accreditation with the National Council for Conservation – Restoration in 2000 and keeps up her professional accreditation through the Professional Accreditation of Conservator – Restorers (PACR) scheme of The Institute of Conservation.  Helen regularly attends professional training events to update her skills and knowledge, and contributes to the profession by hosting student interns, by organising training and social events, and through her work with the June Baker Trust and the Gordon Fraser Trust.

Tuula Pardoe

Works on:

  • banners and flags
  • samplers and embroideries
  • costumes
  • costume accessories
  • lace
  • ecclesiastical vestments and furnishings
  • domestic and interior textiles
  • wall-hangings
  • textile art
  • toys
  • carpets
  • rugs
  • upholstery etc

Tuula Pardoe, Costume and textiles

Tuula’s passion for textiles grew from her Finnish family background of tailors, dressmakers  and weavers several generations back.  She is a skilled weaver after having finished her two-year arts foundation degree in textiles at the Ikaalinen College of Arts and Design.  By the end of her next three years of industrial textile design studies at the Kuopio Academy of Design she had gained a thorough grounding in a wide range textile and costume techniques and materials.  Before her move to London in 1986, an internship started Tuula’s pathway into textile conservation at the Textile Conservation Department of The Satakunta Museum, a large local authority museum.

Having worked for the Imperial War Museum and the Old Royal Artillery Museum in London, and then, after three years of post-graduate studies, Tuula qualified as a textile conservator in 1991 when she gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Textile Conservation from The Textile Conservation Centre under The Courtauld Institute of Art.  Next Tuula worked at the Furnishing Textiles Department of The Historic Royal Palaces Textile Conservation Studio in London.   

In 1992 Tuula took up a post as a Textile Conservator in the Conservation and Collection Care Service of the Scottish Museums Council (SMC - now Museums Galleries Scotland) in Edinburgh.  Tuula’s 15 years of work as a textile conservator for the 300+ SMC member museums consolidated her experience in the conservation and care of textiles in museums.  

Tuula gained accreditation with the National Council for Conservation – Restoration in 2000.  She keeps up her professional accreditation through continuing professional development through the Professional Accreditation of Conservator – Restorers (PACR) scheme of The Institute of Conservation.  

2007 Tuula’s project to conserve an early 17th century man’s doublet won the prestigious Institute of Conservation Award for Conservation - see the case study ‘Conservation of a rare 17th century man’s silk doublet’ (the fourth study  on that page).

Will Murray

Works on:

  • archaeological material
  • social history
  • ethnographic items
  • applied art
  • arms and armour
  • war memorials
  • agricultural collections
  • coins, medals and tokens
  • Conservation Management Plans

Will Murray, Artefacts and preventive

Having graduated from Newcastle University with a degree in Environmental Science, Will found employment at Southampton City Museums as a conservation assistant and discovered the world of revealing, repairing and preserving archaeological objects from the great Saxon city of Hamwic.  After two years in the role, Will gained a place to study Archaeological Conservation at Durham University, which included one-year practical placements at the Museum of London and the Wiltshire County Museums Service in Salisbury.

Soon after graduation Will joined the team at the Scottish Museums Council as the Artefacts Conservator at a time when many museums were seeking to improve their facilities and collection care practices. Fifteen years in this role provided an excellent grounding in all aspects of artefacts conservation and a growing interest in preventive conservation and collection management. Research interests included developing new methods for the conservation of lead artefacts by electrolysis, and the creation of a collections condition survey database that eventually became the Condition Assessment Tool or CAT, available for download from this website.

When the Scottish Conservation Studio was founded in 2005 by the three partners, Will continued to develop his professional conservation practice with a greater variety of clients and objects, and is the Studio's lead on preventive conservation advice, environmental monitoring and integrated pest management.

Will has also helped many museums and historic houses with Collections Conservation Management Plans for refurbishment projects supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, where he either leads or works within teams to provide the significance assessments, documentation reviews and costed collection care advice that are important components of such projects.

Will gained accreditation with the National Council for Conservation – Restoration in 2000 and keeps up his professional accreditation through the Professional Accreditation of Conservator – Restorers (PACR) scheme of The Institute of Conservation.