This chanter began as recovered marine plastic.

The Lindsay System (Scottish bagpipes invented by Donald) began by asking what a Scottish smallpipe chanter might become. Here, that question becomes material as well as musical. What happens when waste from the shore is recovered, remade and returned to the world as music?

For an island-based instrument project, that question has special force. The sea carries work, weather, migration, memory and debris. To make an instrument from recovered marine plastic is to let the material carry part of the story.

Digital making allows the chanter to be tested in new materials as well as new forms. Recycled marine plastic connects instrument design with recovered waste, public workshops and local making.

This is not an ending. It is one way the instrument begins again.

This unique chanter will be on display as part of a touring exhibition across Scotland in 2026: "Dreaming Pipes: Ten years of the Lindsay system." Find out dates and more here.