Welcome
First of all welcome to our new Skiradvie Crafts website. If this is your first visit here then we hope you enjoy looking through our products for the first time. If you are a returning visitor or customer welcome back and be assured that your return is very welcome to us. We are frequently adding new pictures of our existing products as well as adding new ones to our portfolio so please return often.
However you found us, we hope you enjoy your visit here. Even if you're not buying anything right now we hope you enjoy looking through our products and our blog and consider us the next time you are looking for gift ideas for yourself or your family and friends.
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Who are we?
We are a small, family run, company who specilise in the manufacture of bespoke hand crafted chess pieces and other strategy board games. We are based in the highlands of Scotland along the stunning Spey Valley and just outside the Cairngorms National Park. I live here with my son (Lochlan), 2 dogs, 2 geese and five chickens as well as the plethora of wild animals who are gradually taking over my garden and I'm sure will occasionally show up in the site blog.
Our more than 40 years experience started when my father took to making chess pieces in the 1970's while living as a lighthouse keeper at Tiumpan Head Lighthouse on the Isle of Lewis. This as a means to while away the long, and I can only imagine slow, hours. He passed this skill onto me in the 1990's while he ran a small local craft shop in Santa Claus Land (Aviemore) and I was a none to cooperative teenager. He now takes great delight in watching me try to do the same with my own teenage son in the 2020's.
The Craft Village was part of Santa Claus Land in Aviemore. This was where Skiradvie Crafts or as it was known then, Checkmate Crafts, first opened its doors.
What's in a name?
Since adding other strategy board games and products to our range it was time to move away from the Checkmate Crafts name. Although our Chess Pieces still remain under that branding. Our new company name 'Skiradvie' originates from our location in the Highlands, a small village named Advie. As a bit of a Scottish history buff I wanted our name to have a strong link with the past just as our products themselves do. After studying some maps from the late 18th century which refers to the village as Skiradvie I decided that fit nicely.
As for our logo, this is a simple homage to the mountain - Ben Rinnes - which dominates our landscape for miles around.
